Are There Universals and Why? A Reply to Minoura and Weisz et al.

In response to Minoura (1996) it is argued that a hypothesis-generating orientation has to be followed by a hypothesis-testing approach, a sequence which was also pursued with the structural levels of the concept of human nature. The role of culture in stimulating both universal levels of construction and culture-specific shaping of knowledge is discussed, and there is an attempt to answer Minoura's questions with regard to this issue. In response to the suggestions of Weisz, Eastman and McCarty (1996) it is proposed to extend the concept of control beyond the hitherto existing conceptualization in order to arrive at a universal construct of control