Chapter 2: The Origins of Psychological Thought

1. Chapter 2: The Origins of Psychological Thought A History of Psychology (3rd Edition) John G. Benjafield

2. Origins of Psychological Thought • Western psychology has its roots among the ancient Greeks • Psychology is not a purely Western invention

3. Pythagoras (570–495 BCE) • Myth and real person • Pythagorean myth: • He founded a semi-secret society in Italy • Members were supposed to have been able to attune themselves to the harmony that ordered the universe

4. Pythagoreans • Convinced of the virtue of unity • Opposite of unity leads to chaos • Our experience can only be described in terms of contradictory tendencies

5. Pythagorean Cosmology • Similarities to yin/yang philosophy of Chinese Taoism • Universe as a unity that becomes differentiated into pairs of opposites • Opposites are then reunited to generate the forms of life we witness

6. The Pythagorean Opposites • Believed that some pairs of opposites particularly useful for describing our experience • Most important: limited vs. unlimited • Crucial to the process of creation • Everything we experience has a limit • Union of limited and unlimited produces the world we experience

7. The Pythagorean Opposites • Harmony: result that occurs when the mixture of opposite tendencies is just right • Union of opposites: the harmonious outcome of the mixing of opposites in the right proportion • The psyche or soul seeks such a harmony

8. The Pythagorean Opposites • Good vs. Evil • Light vs. Dark • Odd vs. Even • Unity vs. Disunity • Square vs. Oblong • Left = positive quality • Right = negative quality

9. Pythagorean Mathematics • Numbers underlie all phenomena • Numbers are responsible for uniting the opposites in a harmonious manner • A number is the property of everything

10. Pythagorean Mathematics • Theorem of Pythagoras: a demonstration of invariant proportions • The square on the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle always equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides

11. The Irrational • Right-angled triangle: the numbers describing the lengths of the sides were rational • Other triangles: no rational solution possible • = Problem of the irrational • Pythagoreans considered the irrational an unavoidable aspect of reality

12. The Golden Section • An attempt to solve the problem of the irrational • Golden section: an irrational proportion • Obtained by dividing a line into two segments such that the smaller is to the larger as the larger is to the whole line • Used frequently by artists in their work • Its value can be approximated using Fibonacci numbers

13. Plato (427–347 BCE) • Philosophy has been the benchmark against which all other subsequent systems of thought have been measured • Much of Platonic thought was an extension of Pythagorean doctrines/dùal

14. The Forms • Plato advanced the notion that there are: • Perfect forms • Imperfect appearances • Possible outcome of the search for the irrational: • A belief in perfect forms that underlie the world of appearances

15. The Meno • Plato advanced his theories by means of dialogues • Socrates was the protagonist • The Meno contains famous example of the process of awakening innate knowledge • Innate knowledge: knowledge that is known without learning

16. Confucius (551–479 BCE) • Chinese sage • Emphasized the importance of developing one’s intelligence through education and by following traditional values • Emphasized social and moral order

17. Lao-tzu (6th century BCE) • As much a mythical figure as Pythagoras • Is said to have lived a long life • One of the meanings of ‘Lao-tzu’ is ‘old man’ • Sage: a person of profound wisdom • Taosim: the wisdom of Lao-tzu

18. What is Tao? • Tao: • ‘The Way’ • The way in which the Universe works • Tao cannot be discovered or named • Tao Te Ching: the writings attributed to Lao-tzu • Emphasis on the pervasiveness of change

19. The Book of Changes • Has an affinity with both Confucian and Taoist ideas • Superficial level = fortune-telling device • Binary system: yang and yin • Represent the fundamental cosmic forces • Yang = masculine, firm, light • Yin = feminine, yielding, dark • Change is cyclical • I Ching uses a circular diagram generated by combining trigrams which are composed of three lines • Eight unique trigrams = Circumplex: circular model • Ex. Galen’s typology

20. Aristotle (384–323 BCE) • Studied at the Academy in Athens with Plato • Left Athens after Plato’s death • Tutored Alexander the Great • Returned to Athens to found his own school, the Lyceum

21. Aristotle’s Differences with Plato • Aristotle rejected Plato’s theory of forms • Plato believed there was a world of ideal forms existing independently of the world of ordinary experience • Aristotle argued that form and matter were intertwined • Potentiality: substances have a potential to take on different forms • Actuality: what a substance actually becomes depends on the form it takes

22. Aristotle’s Syllogisms • Syllogism: consists of two premises and a conclusion • Valid syllogism: the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises • Practical syllogism: the conclusion drawn from the two premises becomes an action

23. Aristotle and The Nature of Human Action • Human behaviour can be regulated by reason • Human behaviour appears to be purposive • Action vs. Motion • Teleological explanation: explanations in terms of goals

24. Aristotle and Memory • Memory: the process by which a person revives a previous experience • Memory is governed by associations • When we try to remember something we follow a chain of associated ideas until we succeed in recovering what we want to recall • Laws of Association: • Similarity • Contrast • Continguity

25. Mnemonics • Mnemonic techniques: ways of improving one’s memory • Ad Herennium (1st century BCE) • Describes artifical memory • Two parts: • Places (loci) • Images • Training required to develop artifical memory

26. The Scala Naturae • Scala naturae = scale of nature • Hierarchy with humans at the top, followed by animals, and then plants • Aristotle conceived of this scale as a measure of the degree of perfection of each creature

27. St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) • Catholic theologian • Demonstrated that much of what Aristotle said was consistent with a Christian world view • Ex. Scala naturae consistent with Catholic theology (‘great chain of being’) • Creatures are ordered hierarchically, reflecting God’s purpose • Nothing in the plan occurs by chance • Consistent with what is told in the Bible