Observed and latent variables: Discussion of a basic LISREL paradigm

The aim of the present paper is to discuss a general paradigm of LISREL: that observed psychologocal variables are causally determined by non-observed, latent variables. An example from the LISREL manual is used to show that this basic assumption is not generally meaningful. The possibility of understanding the theoretical variables of LISREL in an instrumentalist way is also considered. But instrumentalism, it is concluded, does not provide a tenable way of defending the LISREL paradigm. For LISREL conceives latent variables as causes of observed variables, and this is not compatible with an instrumentalist understanding of theoretical terms.