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Summary Problem 1 to 7 - History and Methods of Psychology (FSWP2-032-A)
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Summary Problem 1 to 7 - History and Methods of Psychology (FSWP2-032-A) + some class notes!
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Problem 1PLATO (427 B.C.– 347 B.C)
- Plato was the first to inquire about how knowledge = It is not observable
- He created the field of epistemology (=study of knowledge) that gave rise to
cognitive psychology
Truth (& our knowledge of it) can be assessed through logical reasoning (rationalist) and
has 2 characteristics:
1. Universal = A belief is true if it is true all times and in all places absolutely
2. Rational justification = The person needs to be able to explain his judgments
and convince others
Plato believed that:
o The sense perception is not the path to knowledge → Truth cannot
derive from the changing world because knowledge is eternally and
unchangeably true
o Observation is influenced by individual differences → Perception of
the world subjective
WORLD OF FORMS
Forms = Ideas; higher way of thinking
o Abstract, perfect, unchanging concepts that transcend time and space
o Genuine knowledge is knowledge of the Form of things
o The concept of forms is not subjective and they exist as nonphysical
objects
Four metaphors
- Metaphor of sun
o Reason (= Eye) has the power to grasp the Forms of the Good (= Sun)
Form of the Good is the highest form of knowledge
o The senses lack the power to perceive the world accurately, but need the
help of “divine illumination” that illuminate the Forms
- Metaphor of the line (Hierarchical model of knowledge)
o Intelligible world = It can only be accessed by reasoning
Thinking = Move from mere opinion (belief and imagining) to real
knowledge, beginning with mathematical ones
Forms = The Forms, the place of all Truth, mathematical or
otherwise
o World of appearances
Imagining = Lowest level of cognition because it deals
with mere images of concrete objects (e.g., Images
cast in water, portraits etc.)
Belief = Looking at object themselves is slightly better
than imagining
- The Allegory of the Cave
o Human condition → Each soul is imprisoned in an imperfect body, forced to
look though imperfect physical eyes and copies of the Forms
o We should turn our souls around to the better world of the Forms, the true
Reality
, Optimistic = Through philosophy and education people can escape
from the cave of opinion and appearances to the realm of
knowledge and Reality
Pessimistic = The path is only for an Elite (=genuine knowledge is
not for everyone). Most people do not want to be free; they will
greet their liberators with jeers/death
- The Ladder of Love
o Easiest path world-Forms – One can move toward enlightenment beginning
with physical love
o From profane physical love To sacred love of the Form of Beauty
o Sexual love = First rung of the ladder guided toward loving a single
body
Love of women
Inferior to homosexual love; procreation of children for
seeking immortality
Women were sexual temptresses that distracted men them
from politics, philosophy, war and the pursuit of the Good
Love of men
Seeking immortality in the soul itself and through teaching
students; better than physical procreation
Having learned to love one body, student learns that soul
has better value
Beauty in practices (music and art) and studies (as math and
philosophy)
- Plato believed in nativism (=nature) (instead of empiricism (nurture))
o Knowledge are innate = Souls have previous incarnation; learning is
recollecting to consciousness what we already know but forgot
Knowledge is within us
- Citizens of the Republic into 3 classes
o The Guardians = Innate greatness of soul and high academic education
o The Auxiliaries = Aid the Guardians by acting as soldiers, magistrates
and other functionaries
o The mass of citizens = Productive class, least inherently virtuous
- The three forms of soul in every human are parallel to the citizen classes; class
membership is determined by which soul rules each citizen
o Rational soul (=head) = Highest soul, round, in the roundest and highest
part of the body
o Spirited soul (=chest) = Dominant in Auxiliaries, motivated by glory and
fame; it can feel shame and guilt
o Desiring soul (=belly and genitals) = Irrational wants, bodily desires
(Hunger, lust, money) shared with animals; pursuit of self-interest
Metaphor = Personality is a chariot pulled by two horses: the
spirted soul and the desiring soul; the charioteer is the rational soul
which master the horses
ARTISTOTLE (384 B.C.–322 B.C.)
- Aristotle was an empiricist (knowledge from experience)
- He was a scientistic concerned with discovering what is natural
o Difference with modern science: causality → Things happen because it is
their natural behavior in their essence (Heavy object fall because it is their
intention to fall, not gravity)
,Things and events are explained by distinguishing form and matter:
Matter = Sheer, undifferentiated physical existence, that has to be joined to form
(e.g., Bronze)
Form = What makes something what is it (e.g., Bronze casted → Ashe) - Form
does not exist without being physically embodied in a matter (Difference with
Plato)
The form consists of other three causes:
1. The essential cause = Defines what something is in essence (e.g., Statue
essence = Human)
2. The efficient cause = How things are created or made (e.g., Casting a metal for
bronze statue)
3. The final cause = Purpose for which a thing exist (e.g., Statue honors a person)
- Potentiality and actuality
o Everything in the universe has potentiality and actuality
If there is full potential there should be pure actuality
Two exceptions: pure matter and impassive mover (= God for
Christians)
o The natural scale/ Great Chain of Being = Something is the thing it is but
has the potential of becoming something else (= due to DNA, later on)
o Forms are dynamic, directing the development of life processes of living
things
- Psychology: soul and body
o All living things have souls as their form; without the
soul the body is just matter
o Organism is a unity: no body without soul and no soul
without body (difference with Plato)
o There are different types of soul:
Nutritive soul = Possessed by plants:
preserving the plant through nutrition, maintenance of the species
by reproduction and directing growth
Sensitive soul = Possessed by animals, nutritive functions +
pain/pleasure: imagination and memory and movement due to
desire
Rational soul = Possessed by humans, sensitive functions +
power to think (highest)
- Structure and Functions of the Rational, Human soul
o Special senses = First stage of observation; each sense is dedicated to
the reception of a certain information which is unconscious
Information from senses goes to common sense (conscious)
o Common sense (hearth) = Sensory integration/binding problem
Imagination = Judging what an object is
Memory = Ability to recall events (common sense + imagination)
o Mind = Rational part of the human soul
Passive = Potency, takes form of experienced object and
knowledge is realized
Active = Actualization, pure thought that acts on passive mind’s
content; immortal
- Motivation
o All actions is motivated by desire
, Appetite = Animals; motivation driven by pleasurable images, and
animal seek pleasure and avoidance of pain
Wish = People; distinguish between right and wrong, long-term
pleasure and moral choices
DESCARTES (1596–1650)
- Descartes is the founder of Psychology as the study of consciousness
- Cogito ergo sum - “I think, therefore I am”
His lifework can be divided into two phases:
1. Scientific and mathematic projects –Rules by which the mind search for
the truth
2. Philosophical phase – Needed careful and convincing justification to
gain acceptance
Descartes as a physiological psychologist
o He distinguished between awareness (animals) and self-awareness
(people)
Animals = They respond in reflective ways; unclear whether
they thought or not
People = Thinking and language are critical to human self-
awareness
Descartes as philosopher
o He was radically reflexive and focused primarily on himself and not God
o Res cogitans = Own existence as self-conscious, thinking thing
Body and soul are completely different and separate
Soul lives in the mechanical body as a kind of spirit
Soul controllers a body (they can interact) and meet at
the pineal gland
Cartesian Theater - Model of mind
o From the retina, the nerves carry the image to the brain and the image
appears on the pineal gland → It connects soul and body
o Psychological explanation: our non-physical souls do not see the world
directly but as a projection through the pineal gland
Skepticism: The real world can never be really seen; thinking is
trapped in the Cartesian theater in which only is a projection of
the world, not the world itself
Consciousness is still very subjective
Difficulties with cartesian philosophy and psychology
o Descartes identified two problems with Cartesian dualism:
The interaction mind/soul and body = The pineal gland controls
the body, so the mind cause the gland to “tilt” so that the body
could move
How can a non-material mind/soul influence the material
pineal gland?
o He denied that the mind and body interact
The problem of other minds
How can I know that my soul is not the only soul in the
universe?
o Language → Who speaks language thinks, hence
has a mind
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