Classical theories on human nature

Aristotle & Plato

PLATO (427-347 BCE)

Basic interest: The world of truth (Absolutes) beyond the unreliable senses.

-> Ideas or Forms are beyond phenomena -> Everything in the empirical world is a manifestation of a pure

Form (Idea) (Chairs, rocks, cats, and people are inferior manifestations of pure forms).

-> Sensory experience --> Ignorance or opinion. -> True knowledge: Grasping forms by rational thought.

OBJECTS STATES

WORLD OF

Forms Knowledge

Truth Mathematics Thinking

WORLD OF

Visible things Belief

Phenomena Images Imagining

Platonism in psychology?

Are personality factors more real than manifestations? How real are the five factors? “We believe it is an empirical fact, like the fact that there are

seven continents on earth and eight American presidents from Virginia” (McCrae, & John, 1992, p. 194).

Story of the Cave:

“Story of the Cave” is part of “The Republic”Prisoners represent humans who confuse the shadowy world of sense experience with reality.

Interpretations: Human condition / human nature: Are we condemned to remain

prisoners of sense experience / appearance? Historical interpretation: Socrates' life. Christian interpretation: Jesus Christ.

The Nature of the Soul

How many parts does the soul have? Soul has three parts:

(a) rational component (the soul reflects) (immortal)(b) spirited, courageous component (mortal)(c) appetitive component (desires) (mortal)

True knowledge: Person must suppress the needs of the body and concentrate on rational pursuits.

Differential theory of human nature: In some individuals: appetitive aspect of the soul dominates -> workers and slaves; in others the courageous aspect of the soul dominates -> soldiers; and in still others the rational aspect dominates -> philosopher kings.

Plato’s Reminiscence Theory of Knowledge

How does one come to know the forms if they cannot be known through sensory experience?

-> The soul is implanted in the body. It dwells in pure and complete knowledge; that is, it dwells among the forms.

-> After the soul enters the body, this knowledge begins to be contaminated by sensory information.

-> True knowledge -> ignore sensory experience. All knowledge comes from remembering the experiences the soul had before entering the body.

Plato on Gender

Was Plato a feminist? Equal opportunity but difference in ability. One education for both sexes, for example, in training to become a

guardian. Both sexes should be taught the art of war, carry arms, ride on

horseback, and receive the same treatment. Women have the same nature as men -> every occupation should

be accessible to them. The difference: Women were not quite as strong as men.

ARISTOTLE (384-322 BCE)

Aristotle was the first philosopher to treat extensively topics that were later to become part of psychology.

Tutor to Philip's son, Alexander, who was to become Alexander the Great. Athens. Founded a school: Lyceum (empirical and philosophical)

The works of Aristotle

Collected works: Arranged many centuries after his death (e.g., physics, metaphysics)

Topics: Logic, dialectic, metaphysics (founded the field of logic; e.g.

syllogism). Science and philosophy of science Psychology and philosophy of mind

Soul, senses, memory, sleep, dreams, developmental stages, death, etc.

The psychological master work: De Anima (On the Soul). Ethics and politics Aesthetics

Divergence from Plato

Aristotle: Forms do not have a separate existence from particulars. Interested in studying the things in the empirical world and their

functions. Nothing can exist without matter, and matter cannot exist without

form.

On knowledge

Every kind of knowledge is to be prized. Psyche is a substance capable of receiving knowledge. Three kinds of knowledge:

Theoretical knowledge. Practical knowledge. Productive knowledge.

Without sensation thought is not possible. Compared the mind to a blank writing tablet (tabula rasa).

Not the senses fool us but our incorrect interpretations of the sensory information.

However, knowledge is not possible through sense perception alone, since the senses give us only particulars.

Deduction and induction.

“Cause”and Teleology

Everything has four causes: Material cause. What an object or thing is made of. Formal cause. The particular form or pattern of an object. Efficient cause. The force that transforms the matter into a certain

form. Final cause. The purpose for which an object exists.

Aristotle was a teleologist: He believed there was a plan or design to the universe. Developing and moving to an end, the final cause of motion

Aristotle's Psychology: De Anima

Psyche: Of primary interest to Aristotle All knowledge is valuable but that knowledge of the psyche is to be

prized above all. Psyche is not confined to humans alone. Psyche marks the

distinction, not between thinking and unthinking beings, but between the organic and the inorganic.

Body and psyche are an inseparable unit. Aristotle: Psyche is in the heart. Rejects the Platonic doctrine of the

brain as the organ of the psyche. He divides functions into growing, sensing, remembering, desiring,

reacting, and thinking.

The Hierarchy of Souls

Three kinds of souls: Vegetative souls: Possessed by plants. It allows only growth, the

assimilation of food, and reproduction. Sensitive souls: Possessed by animals and people, but not by

plants. The ability to sense is a means for distinguishing an animal from a plant. Locomotion, sensation and memory.

Rational souls: Possessed only by humans. It provides all of the functions of the other two souls, and in addition allows thinking or rational thought.

Psychological Topics

1. Growing 2. Sensing Possessed by animals and people, but not by plants. Five senses: sight,

hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Common sense: synthesizing the sensory elements into perceptual units

(perception and consciousness). Sensory information: Isolated experiences Common sense: Synthesized experience Passive reason: Utilization of synthesized experience Active reason: Abstraction of principles from synthesized experience

Sleep: Caused by fatigue of the common sense. Dreaming: Sensory stimulation that occurred during the waking state is

carried over into sleeping.

Psychological Topics

3. Remembering Effect of sensing that persists after the object is removed. Remembering: Spontaneous reproduction of past perceptions. Recall: Active search to recover these past perceptions. Laws of association: Similarity, contrast, frequency, and contiguity.

Psychological Topics

4. Desiring and Reacting Pleasure and pain follow upon sensing. Some objects are perceived as

pleasurable, and others as unpleasurable. Once these feelings are experienced, desire is introduced. When an activity

is pleasurable, it tends to be exercised

Psychological Topics

5. Thinking The human being is the only animal that thinks.

Middle ground

Golden mean: The desirable middle ground between any two extremes.

Examples: Appetite, humor, spending money, etc. Education: The right sort of habituation for establishing the virtue of

character must avoid excess and deficiency. Age: Middle age is more desirable than youth or old age. Q: Is the middle ground always the best choice?

Happiness

An end in itself. It is not amusement but virtuous action. Theoretical study is the supreme element.

Politics

Humans have a natural desire to leave behind them an image of themselves.

Man is by nature a political animal. Man is the only animal endowed with speech. Some men are by nature free, some men are by nature slaves. Comment: Rhetoric of “by nature”.