chapter 2: the origins of psychological thought a history of psychology (3rd edition) john g....
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 2: The Origins of Psychological
Thought
A History of Psychology
(3rd Edition)
John G. Benjafield
Origins of Psychological Thought
• Western psychology has its roots among the ancient Greeks
• Psychology is not a purely Western invention
Pythagoras (570–495 BCE)
• Myth and real person
• Pythagorean myth:– He founded a semi-secret society in Italy– Members were supposed to have been able
to attune themselves to the harmony that ordered the universe
Pythagoreans
• Convinced of the virtue of unity – Opposite of unity leads to chaos
• Our experience can only be described in terms of contradictory tendencies
Pythagorean Cosmology
• Similarities to yin/yang philosophy of Chinese Taoism– Universe as a unity that becomes
differentiated into pairs of opposites– Opposites are then reunited to generate the
forms of life we witness
The Pythagorean Opposites
• Believed that some pairs of opposites particularly useful for describing our experience– Most important: limited vs. unlimited– Crucial to the process of creation– Everything we experience has a limit– Union of limited and unlimited produces the
world we experience
The Pythagorean Opposites
• Harmony: result that occurs when the mixture of opposite tendencies is just right
• Union of opposites: the harmonious outcome of the mixing of opposites in the right proportion– The psyche or soul seeks such a harmony
The Pythagorean Opposites
• Good vs. Evil• Light vs. Dark• Odd vs. Even• Unity vs. Disunity• Square vs. Oblong
• Left = positive quality• Right = negative quality
Pythagorean Mathematics
• Numbers underlie all phenomena
• Numbers are responsible for uniting the opposites in a harmonious manner
• A number is the property of everything
Pythagorean Mathematics
• Theorem of Pythagoras: a demonstration of invariant proportions– The square on the hypothenuse of a right-
angled triangle always equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides
The Irrational
• Right-angled triangle: the numbers describing the lengths of the sides were rational
• Other triangles: no rational solution possible
• = Problem of the irrational– Pythagoreans considered the irrational an
unavoidable aspect of reality
The Golden Section
• An attempt to solve the problem of the irrational
• Golden section: an irrational proportion– Obtained by dividing a line into two segments
such that the smaller is to the larger as the larger is to the whole line
– Used frequently by artists in their work– Its value can be approximated using
Fibonacci numbers
Plato (427–347 BCE)
• Philosophy has been the benchmark against which all other subsequent systems of thought have been measured
• Much of Platonic thought was an extension of Pythagorean doctrines/dùal
The Forms
• Plato advanced the notion that there are:– Perfect forms – Imperfect appearances
• Possible outcome of the search for the irrational: – A belief in perfect forms that underlie the
world of appearances
The Meno
• Plato advanced his theories by means of dialogues– Socrates was the protagonist
• The Meno contains famous example of the process of awakening innate knowledge– Innate knowledge: knowledge that is known
without learning
Confucius (551–479 BCE)
• Chinese sage
• Emphasized the importance of developing one’s intelligence through education and by following traditional values
• Emphasized social and moral order
Lao-tzu (6th century BCE)
• As much a mythical figure as Pythagoras
• Is said to have lived a long life– One of the meanings of ‘Lao-tzu’ is ‘old man’
• Sage: a person of profound wisdom
• Taosim: the wisdom of Lao-tzu
What is Tao?
• Tao: – ‘The Way’– The way in which the Universe works– Tao cannot be discovered or named
• Tao Te Ching: the writings attributed to Lao-tzu– Emphasis on the pervasiveness of change
The Book of Changes
• Has an affinity with both Confucian and Taoist ideas
• Superficial level = fortune-telling device• Binary system: yang and yin• Represent the fundamental cosmic forces
– Yang = masculine, firm, light– Yin = feminine, yielding, dark
• Change is cyclical– I Ching uses a circular diagram generated by
combining trigrams which are composed of three lines– Eight unique trigrams= Circumplex: circular model
• Ex. Galen’s typology
Aristotle (384–323 BCE)
• Studied at the Academy in Athens with Plato
• Left Athens after Plato’s death– Tutored Alexander the Great
• Returned to Athens to found his own school, the Lyceum
Aristotle’s Differences with Plato
• Aristotle rejected Plato’s theory of forms– Plato believed there was a world of ideal
forms existing independently of the world of ordinary experience
– Aristotle argued that form and matter were intertwined
• Potentiality: substances have a potential to take on different forms
• Actuality: what a substance actually becomes depends on the form it takes
Aristotle’s Syllogisms
• Syllogism: consists of two premises and a conclusion
• Valid syllogism: the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises
• Practical syllogism: the conclusion drawn from the two premises becomes an action
Aristotle and The Nature of Human Action
• Human behaviour can be regulated by reason
• Human behaviour appears to be purposive
• Action vs. Motion
• Teleological explanation: explanations in terms of goals
Aristotle and Memory
• Memory: the process by which a person revives a previous experience
• Memory is governed by associations– When we try to remember something we follow a
chain of associated ideas until we succeed in recovering what we want to recall
• Laws of Association:– Similarity– Contrast– Continguity
Mnemonics
• Mnemonic techniques: ways of improving one’s memory
• Ad Herennium (1st century BCE)– Describes artifical memory
• Two parts:– Places (loci)– Images
– Training required to develop artifical memory
The Scala Naturae
• Scala naturae = scale of nature
• Hierarchy with humans at the top, followed by animals, and then plants
• Aristotle conceived of this scale as a measure of the degree of perfection of each creature
St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)
• Catholic theologian
• Demonstrated that much of what Aristotle said was consistent with a Christian world view– Ex. Scala naturae consistent with Catholic
theology (‘great chain of being’)• Creatures are ordered hierarchically, reflecting
God’s purpose• Nothing in the plan occurs by chance• Consistent with what is told in the Bible