Abstract
To develop an emancipatory psychology I propose three sets of complementary human, moral, and political values. Human values inform conceptions of the good life and the good society, whereas moral principles help us resolve conflict among competing values. Political values, in turn, clarify the role of oppression and power structures in the pursuit of emancipation. Following a discussion of these values I examine their application in six scenarios involving psychologists.
San Salvador, November 16, 1989. U.S.-trained troops of the Salvadoran Army enter the University of Central America and kill six Jesuit brothers, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter. Among the dead is Ignacio Martin Baro, Jesuit Priest, academic, psychologist, and proponent of Liberation Psychology. Martin Baro believed psychology could help the poor and the oppressed overcome tyranny and domination (Martin Baro, 1994). He paid for it with his life. My paper pays tribute to his work.