copyright © allyn & bacon 2008 chapter 4 - the roman period and the middle ages a history of...

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Chapter 4 - The Roman Period and the Middle Ages

A History of Psychology:Ideas and Context (4th edition)

D. Brett King, Wayne Viney, andWilliam Douglas Woody

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Roman Medicine• The Roman period was approximately the 7th

century B.C. to 476 C.E.• Galen was the most prominent Roman

physician.– Galen accepted the Greek theory of four bodily humors

• He argued that four qualities (cold, warm, dry, and moist) were involved in the balance required for health.

– Mental disorders were also caused by imbalance in the four humors.

– He advocated an early form of psychotherapy to induce balance.– Galen was a vitalist.

• He accepted three types of pneuma (natural spirit, vital spirit, and animal spirit).

– The Christian church assimilated Galen’s ideasas part of church dogma.

– The church did not assimilate his emphasis on research.


Roman Philosophy

• Roman Philosophy focused on the good life.– Stoicism advocated the calm acceptance of

one’s fate and the removal of oneself from appetitive pursuits.

• Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Cyprus.• Stoicism was influenced by Epictetus.


Roman Philosophy

– Epicureanism emphasized the powers of pleasure and pain over human decisions and advocated a simple life in the middle ground.

• Lucretius approached a number of psychological topics.

• He argued for the unity of mind and body.• He advocated an atomistic materialism, but he

allowed room for human free will.• Lucretius wrote extensively on sensation, morals,

and the evolution of social groups, religion, and language.


Roman Philosophy

• Neoplatonism reflected Greek, Jewish, and Christian traditions.– It was explicitly theological version of Platonic ideas.

• Plotinus accepted a hierarchy of being.– God existing as pure being and the highest level of reality and

then descending in being from God to intellectual principle followed by the soul.

• Plotinus also addressed questions of sensation and happiness through self-knowledge.

• Hypatia of Alexandria was the leader of the neo-Platonic school and an expert in geometry and astronomy.– She advocated music therapy for mental disorders.– Music therapy may have led to her murder by Christian monks.


Roman Philosophy

• Roman skepticism was founded by Pyrrho.

• Skepticism denied the possibility of knowledge.– It advocated an untroubled existence and

avoiding the possibility of disappointment by suspending belief in all theories.


The Fall of Rome and the Emergence of Christianity• The fall of Rome was a complex and gradual

decline influenced by several factors.• The early Christian Faith was a diverse and

complicated system including many factions.– Theological leaders did not always agree.– The early Christian faith was shaped by the conflict

with the Roman government and the final victory when the Roman emperor converted to Christianity and the church ascended to power.


The Medieval Period

• The medieval period extends from approximately 400 C.E. through about 1400 C.E.

• Many practical inventions and new forms of architecture reached new heights.

• Medical and psychological inquiry largely stagnated.– Knowledge was based almost exclusively in

theological authority.– Tertullian helped to set the stage for the medieval

period by elevating revelation over reason.


Aurelius Augustine

• Augustine combined Greek and Christian thought with other theological and philosophical systems of his day.

• He described grief, habit breaking, and his perceptions of infant motivation.

• Some of his notions regarding memory are surprisingly current.

• Augustine’s explorations of psychological topics reflect his Christian theology.

• He acted against the values of curiosity, doubt, and openness that would eventually lead to development of scientific inquiry.


Boethius

• Boethius struggled to combine reason, authority, and revelation in his search for truth.

• Boethius described true happiness in terms of oneness with God.


Islam in the Middle Ages

• Islam swept through Arab lands and into Europe in the 7th century.– Rhazes challenged demonology, raised doubts about

traditional authorities, and advocated diversions for melancholia.

– Avicenna wrote extensively on medical topics.• He struggled to reconcile faith and reason.• He accepted Galen’s description of four humors and believed

that balance was essential.• He argued for a tripartite soul including the vegetative soul,

the animal soul, and the human soul.


Islam in the Middle Ages

• Alhazen studied on optical phenomena.• Al-Ghazali believed that God, not nature or

cause, explains everything in experience.– Al-Ghazali argued against empiricism and

rationalism as epistemological methods.

• Averroës wrote extensive commentaries on the works of Aristotle.– His commentaries became available

throughout Europe.


Judaism in the middle ages

• The history of Judaism in the middle ages is largely a history of persecution.– Maimonides struggled to reconcile faith and

reason.• His Guide for the Perplexed argued for the use of

reason in inquiry.


The rise of European universities

• Peter Abelard argued that faith, reason, and doubt were all acceptable ways to truth.

• Héloise wrote extensively on the nature of love.

• Roger Bacon addressed a number of psychological topics in his classic, Opum Majus.



• Thomas Aquinas was deeply committed to reconciling faith and reason– He extensively studied the known works of Aristotle.– His views reflect Aristotle’s conceptions of the mind-

body problem, sensation, and emotion. – Aquinas was instrumental in bringing Aristotle’s work

into the church, where it became unchallengeable church doctrine.

– Aquinas started with sensory perceptions and used reason to interpret these perceptions.

– He maintained that the church had nothing to fear from empiricism or rationalism.



• William of Ockham continued the empirical tradition.– He argued for the principle of parsimony,

sometimes called “Ockham’s Razor.”

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