This is a summary of 2.3 History and Methods of Psychology. Some of the literature might differ as this is based on literature used during covid and online tutorials. I added a few tables to summarise the main points which really helped me for the exam, I hope this helps you too!
- Who are these philosophers & what are their theories? -> how they define knowledge/truth
- What do they say about knowledge & the mind?
- What are the differences between the different views?
Reading 1: Leahey (2017):
-> PLATO (p. 51-62) – (Rationalist + Idealist + Nativist + Dualist + metaphysical realist)
• Student of Socrates (focussed on idea of the “good”)
o Plato => pursuit of justice (in the state & in the individual) -> his view later makes its
way into Christianity
• WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE?
o He created the field of epistemology (= study of knowledge)
Later gave rise to cognitive psychology
o Points out that what seems true today may be overturned tomorrow
o Truth = permanent & knowable with certainty
• Wrestling with scepticism:
o A belief is True only IF it is true in all times/places
(Wanted to know what justice or beauty is other than acts/beautiful things)
o Knowledge has to be rationally justifiable
Need to be bale to explain your judgement & convince others they are correct
through arguments
o -> Sense perception doesn’t lead to knowledge (≠ empiricism)
How people perceive the world is personal
• Mathematics & the theory of the Forms:
o Belief transcendental (= supernatural/religious) Truth exists
o Math with Pythagoreans:
Truth = inward path of logical reasoning about ideas (> perception)
-> Pythagorean Theorem => provable – logical argument in support
o Forms = general term encompassing many things in that theme
E.g. every courageous act resembles the Form of Courage
≠ What you would typically think of beauty
• You -> individual differences on what we find pretty (culture)
• Plato -> things are pretty if they resemble the Form of beauty
o Beauty is a property one possesses
o If cultures differ on opinions of this -> 1 has to be wrong
Greek word used similar to “idea” (!!! Did not mean idea but Form)
-> Truth is not physical (consists of Forms)
• Imagining the Forms:
o Used metaphors to describe Forms (“child of Goodness”)
The Sun, the Line, the Cave (in the Republic) + the Ladder of Love (Symposium)
o The Simile of the SUN: Illumination by the good: (sun = form of good)
The Form of Good (in intelligible world) = Sun (in physical world)
1
, Reason has power to grasp the Form (need Form of Good to reason)
• Like eye has the power to see (need light from sun to see – ‘3rd thing’)
o The Metaphor of the LINE: The Hierarchy of Opinion & Knowledge:
Bottom = world of appearance ->
perception/beliefs without truth
Top = Forms -> world of knowledge
• Bottom to top = lowest to highest forms
of knowledge
Math = rests on assumptions that cannot be
Object
proven (= imperfect) s
• Not all knowledge concerns math
Form of the Good = greatest Form
o The Allegory of the CAVE: The Prison of Culture:
People chained can only look at back wall of cave
Messengers carry statues/objects in front of fire so prisoners can see the
reflection on the walls
• Shadows = prisoner’s only reality
When one is released he would feel distress at first – then joy
• No one would believe him if he came back to explain his journey
=> Cave represents the human body/culture (beliefs)
• Each soul is imprisoned in an imperfect body
• Like prisoner did with looking over the shadows, we need to look over
our ordinary world into the world of Forms
= Learning the truth (through philosophy/education) will free us
= Difficulty/dangers of this path
• ‘Most people don’t want to be free’
-> Link to Christ & Christianity
o The LADDER OF LOVE: Being Drawn to the Good: (type of learning)
The love of beauty -> easiest path to the Forms
Athenian men had sexist view of women – only ones allowed in the
symposium were the most expensive prostitutes
• Diotima
• Homosexual relations surfaced from separation of men & women
(platonic – only sexual)
• Teacher-student sexual relations
st
1 step – but must be abandoned for love of wisdom
• (1) Intellectual (soul) > (2) physical (body)
• “Truth is beauty & beauty is truth”
In the Republic => focus on education (regulate music, texts)
• Only elite are selected for higher academic achievement
• Learning as remembering: knowledge is within us:
o Idea of reincarnation (souls have seen the Forms in heaven)
Some spend more time in heaven = see Forms for longer (higher)
Others less time (e.g. come back as farmers)
o Knowledge is in us – need right stimuli to recollect it
-> Living = process of recollecting to consciousness what we already know
2
,• MOTIVATION: WHY WE ACT AS WE DO?
o Believed happiness = virtue BUT wrong deeds ≠ ignorance alone
o Citizens divided into 3 classes + each have 3 forms of soul:
Class membership is determined by which soul rules each member
1. The rational soul = highest + immortal
• In the head
• (The chariot driver)
2. The spirited soul = can feel shame & guilt (≠ 3)
• In the chest – quest for glory
• (The White controlled horse – soldiers)
3. The desiring soul = irrational wants
• In the belly & genitals – desire of hunger, lust, money (like animals)
• Mainly think of self
• (The ugly horse that needs demands – slaves)
-> Probably based off of Hinduism (had 4 rulers similarly separated)
• (2 + 3) = want stuff irrationally
o Said this was the productive class (e.g. merchant) but they do
know how to calculate/make stuff
o They must have some measure of reasoning
Metaphor of two horses (pretty one is 1 & ugly one that needs commands is 2)
o Bad behaviour ≠ only ignorance
-> Insufficient mastery of the rational soul
o Reason ≠ irrational passion
= More than a calculator -> motive of it’s own (= justice)
(a) Reason – (b) motivation & emotion
• Most favour (like Plato) a > b
• ≠ Hume (reason is slave to passion/emotion)
Freud -> rational ego – struggling to master the horse of the id
o Homunculus (“little man”) problem -> who is the rational soul within the charioteer
(chariot driver)
The charioteer = a little man of reason in our head
• Does he have a little man in his head too?
-> Unexplained (Plato’s mistake)
• CONCLUSION: PLATO’S SPIRITUAL VISION:
o Link to religion
Christianity -> Forms (heaven)
Hinduism + Buddhism -> Ladder of Love
o (Socrates -> enjoy current life – don’t focus on afterlife)
o Elitist => reserved education for wise ruling class (Guardians)
Study of philosophy only for mature (over 30 years)
o For long time after -> philosophical thought = abstract – no active experimental
inquiry
o “Life was something to escape, not embrace and improve”
Don’t apply Truth directly to it
o Republic = his ideal state
3
, -> ARISTOTLE (p. 62-71) – (Empiricist + Rationalist + Nativist + Determinist + perceptual realist) (!!!
NOT a dualist)
• Student of Plato – more scientific/empirical approach
o Biologist + 1st truly systematic philosopher
o Tutored Alexander (king’s son)
o ≠ Plato (shared his thoughts in an unorganized manner)
A = practical/down to earth – clear scientific writing
“Nature philosopher” (old term for scientist) -> looks into physical world >
idealistic view of Plato
• PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE:
• The four fashions of explanation:
o Focus on understanding what a thing is
o Form vs matter
Matter has to me joined/mixed to be knowable (e.g. object)
• ≠ Today’s view of separate particles
Form of Plato -> without heavenly feature = form
• What makes a thing what it is – what we recognize it by
E.g. of a statue:
• Matter = what it is made of (bronze)
• Form = makes the statue what it is in its essence (represent a goddess)
• -> In perception = the mind sees form of object (not matter)
(≠ Plato) A -> there is no 1 perfect Form of a Cat
o 3 causes of form:
Essential cause = form defines what something is
Efficient cause = how things are made
Final cause = purpose for which a thing exists
o Science ≠ modern science
Experimentation = unnatural (distort natural setting > revealing them)
Conception of causation ->
• Causes = natural behaviour of things given their essence
o (Not one thing leading to another – it’s just natural)
o E.g. heavy object fall cause it’s in its’ nature – not gravity
• Every event has a natural purpose behind it
• Potentiality & actuality:
o Everything in the universe has potentiality (ability to become anything) + actuality (it
is what it is – can’t change) – (creative replacement of DNA?)
o EXCEPT =>
Pure matter (= pure potentiality ≠ actuality) (e.g. atoms)
Unmoved mover (God in Christianity) – (pure actuality)
• Moves by being desired ≠ actuality of its own
Hierarchy of natural scale/Great Chain of Being:
• Actualization is the goal – the more something is actualized, the closer
it is to the unmoved mover
o Saw purpose everywhere in nature (e.g. tomato seed grows into tomato – it will
never turn into an apple tree) – predetermined
4
Les avantages d'acheter des résumés chez Stuvia:
Qualité garantie par les avis des clients
Les clients de Stuvia ont évalués plus de 700 000 résumés. C'est comme ça que vous savez que vous achetez les meilleurs documents.
L’achat facile et rapide
Vous pouvez payer rapidement avec iDeal, carte de crédit ou Stuvia-crédit pour les résumés. Il n'y a pas d'adhésion nécessaire.
Focus sur l’essentiel
Vos camarades écrivent eux-mêmes les notes d’étude, c’est pourquoi les documents sont toujours fiables et à jour. Cela garantit que vous arrivez rapidement au coeur du matériel.
Foire aux questions
Qu'est-ce que j'obtiens en achetant ce document ?
Vous obtenez un PDF, disponible immédiatement après votre achat. Le document acheté est accessible à tout moment, n'importe où et indéfiniment via votre profil.
Garantie de remboursement : comment ça marche ?
Notre garantie de satisfaction garantit que vous trouverez toujours un document d'étude qui vous convient. Vous remplissez un formulaire et notre équipe du service client s'occupe du reste.
Auprès de qui est-ce que j'achète ce résumé ?
Stuvia est une place de marché. Alors, vous n'achetez donc pas ce document chez nous, mais auprès du vendeur eurpsychology. Stuvia facilite les paiements au vendeur.
Est-ce que j'aurai un abonnement?
Non, vous n'achetez ce résumé que pour 10,49 €. Vous n'êtes lié à rien après votre achat.
