He is the author or editor of more than 20 books and research monographs as well as many papers published in professional journals in the fields of epistemology, psychology, mathematical logic, and philosophy of science.
His work in both disciplines has been supported by well-known authors and researchers including Paul Ricoeur,[9] Robert Hutchins,[10] Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker,[11] Thomas Szasz,[12] M. Scott Peck,[13] Irving Greenberg,[13] and others.
He applied the resulting methodology to a number of traditionally understood epistemological problems, as well as to portions of everyday, conventional conceptual vocabulary, to show that many of these must be recognized to be self-referentially inconsistent.
The Critique of Impure Reason then applies the method to a wide group of conceptually basic concepts (for example, space, time, causality, consciousness, the self, other minds, etc.)
[28] In critical responses to the book, the study was commended by The Journal of Analytical Psychology: "Bartlett is a lucid, painstaking and illuminating writer.
"[29] The Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic appraised the book as "a challenging and thought provoking approach that makes a significant contribution to an aspect of human psychopathology that is rarely or so comprehensively addressed.
"[13] Eric Zillmer, Carl R. Pacifico Professor of Neuropsychology at Drexel University, commended the book: "Steven James Bartlett's The Pathology of Man marks the most comprehensive examination of evil to date.
Drawing from different fields of study, including psychology and epistemology, Bartlett sets out on a Tour de Force of delineating the parameters on human evil....
[T]he semiotic analysis of nosologies offered in Chapter 2 of Normality [is] a most promising organizing conceptual framework, helpful in understanding the problems with DSM classifications.
Bartlett follows a regular expository pattern by explaining objectives, logically and systematically developing arguments and conclusions, and presenting frequent summaries.
[38] The book presents a self-diagnosing algorithm to help readers identify, based on effectiveness studies, potentially most promising forms of therapeutic care.
[38] The book was followed by the publication of the author's summary appraisal of the effectiveness of psychotherapy,[39] about which psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, a long-time critic of psychiatry, commented: "It is one of the best, if not the best, that I have read on this subject.
"[12] Similarly, psychologist Hans H. Strupp, who has extensively studied the effectiveness of psychotherapy, commented: "I find myself in substantial agreement with [Bartlett's] major points which are well stated.
"[40][41] Bartlett studied these issues in a series of published papers that seek to explain faculty demoralization that can result from deteriorating conditions affecting the state of higher education in America.
[42][43][44][45] Bartlett published a psychological and epistemological analysis of the blocks that prevent the majority of people from recognizing and respecting the sentience of members of other species.
[32] Bartlett has argued that this is not only short-sighted, but it questionably presumes that the psychology of normality should serve as arbiter for mentally healthy emotional, aesthetic, and cognitive characteristics and abilities.
In this context, he has sought to understand the challenges posed by the psychological profile of philosophers that can obstruct the development and implementation of the skills associated with epistemological intelligence.