Summary
Summary - History and Methods of Psychology (FSWP2-032-A)
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This is a summary for the course History and Methods of Psychology. The literature required for this course is integrated in this summary.
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Problem 1History and Methods of
course
Psychology
progress done
date @November 17, 2023
Plato (427-347 B.C.)
Plato build on Socrates’ moral concerns
He dedicated his philosophy to the pursuit of justice both in the state and in the individual
Tried to lead his students from conventional Greek understaning of justice to doing good for its own sake
Plato’s new understanding of virtue would later influence Christianity
What is Knowledge?
According to the Greeks, what sets humans apart from animals is the capacity ot abstract knowledge
Plato was the first thinker to inquire how knowledge is possible and justified
Plato created epistemology = study of knowledge (field in philosphy) → eventually gave rise to cognitive psychology
Problem 1 1
, Plato was the firts to point out what seems true by today’s data may be overturned by tommorow’s → generalizations
based on past experiences
According to Plato, truth had to be permanent and knowable with certainty
The Truth
Truth, and our knowledge of it, had two defining characteristics:
1. Belief is true → all times and all places
2. Rationally justifiable → can explain judgements and convince others through argument
Aporia = an enpuzzlement/confusion in philosphical dialogue
There was Truth to replace aporia, meaning you can move past it since its seen as the starting point for intellectual
exploration
He accepted that sense perception was not the path to knowledge
Phusis = concept of nature (something innate)
From Heraclitus → phusis was fire, meaning the constant change inherent to the natural world
The truth Plato sought in the realm of Being (eternally and unchangeabley True), it could not be derive from material
senses (ever changing)
Problem 1 2
, From the Sophists → how the world seems to each person and culture is relative
Observation is therefore tained by individual differences
Plato rejected psychology(empirical) for an idealistic metaphysics
Theory of Forms
In mathematics, he found that the Way of Truth was the inward path of logical reasoning about ideas rather than the
outwards path of Seeming about physical objects
The Pythagorean Theorem was provable, and therefore True → supported by logical argument rather than
observation and measurement
Anyone who followed the steps of the proof is compelled to believe the theorem
Gemoetry supported rationalism’s claim that logic was the Way of Truth
Plato claimed, Form of the Right-Angled Triangle, an externally existing, perfect right-angled-triangle of no particular
size
Forms belong to the realm of Being, subsisting eternally → their material (ephemral) copies belong to the realm of
Becoming
From Socates → societies might instill different views of beauty, but unlike Sophists, Plato did not conclude that
judgemements of beauty were therefore matters of subjectivity
If two people disagreed on whether a person was beautiful or an act was virtuous, at least one of them would be
wrong
Problem 1 3
, Socrates’ idea into metaphysical realm: The Forms really exist as nonphysical objects
For Plato the Forms were more real than their observable copies → they were eternal and exist outside of the
physical realm of Becoming
The Simile of the Sun
The Simile of the Sun: Illumination by the Good = an allegory, found in his work “The Republic”, where he uses the
image of the sun to explain the concept of the Form of Good
There is an ultimate source of good (Form of Good) that helps us see and understand the world more clearly, like the
sun enables us to see things in the physical world
The Metaphor of the Line
The Metaphor of the Line: The Hierarchy of
Opinion and Knowledge = an allegory, found in his
work “The Republic”, where he illustrates different
levels of reality
The lower shorter section of the line → the world of
Appearnces and opinions (without proof, based on
perception)
The higher longer section of the line → the worls of
the Forms and provable knowledge
Problem 1 4
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