Apr
Exploring Psychology with Plato
Reading the original texts that are highlighted in psychology textbooks aids the student in understanding what was actually being said. Remember, textbooks, journal articles and reviews etc. are another person’s interpretation of a text. Be a good scientist and have a read of the primary sources :-)
Exploring psychology is a subject that aims to provide students with the roots to psychology as a discipline. Like the great man said, “If you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you are going”. This post hopes to aid students in their exam prep.
Plato (427-347 BC) was a Greek philosopher who strongly rejected the concept of the mind being a separate entity to the body. He felt that ideas were innate and also put forth the idea that mental processes arose in the brain of a person. Plato avidly taught, theorized and shared his understanding of the meaning of life and human purpose; he even opened an Academy in 367 BC.
He established a form of thought that is now referred to as “Moral Psychology”. He stated that rationality requires that a person put their own interests first, except in circumstances when society or groups are all expected to put their own interests aside. Hence it is rational to accept moral behavior as an expectation of oneself when others are expected to act morally as well.
Plato was influenced by Heraclitus of Ephesus (late 6th century BC) who advocated that the universe was always changing (Heraclitus represented this concept of change using the symbol of Fire). Another great influence for Plato was his teacher Socrates, evident in his main characters in his texts being named after his teacher.
The writings of Plato contain many of the foundations of psychological concepts that are used today For example, his text Meno, Plato writes about how to define “virtue” and then discusses where people’s belief systems come from and where knowledge arises from. His main character (Socrates) states that all knowledge can be found within each person, and that psyche is immortal in essence.
Another of his famous texts is Republic which focuses on Utopia or the ideal State for a society. In this text Plato draws analogies about Utopia to the human psyche. For example, the psyche has as having multiple dimensions, which according to Plato included; intellectual, courageous and appetitive. In the same way a society (in his time) has philosophers, soldiers and workers. Continuing with the analogy, just as a person need to be ruled by their intellect and not their emotions, so too did a State need to be ruled by wise leaders and not emotional soldiers or greedy workers.
Here is a video link to an interpretation of Plato’s analogy of “The Cave”…do you agree with the analogy given here…?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ei7LqbYb8M&feature=related]
Further Reading:
Classics in the History of Psychology
Plato on the Attribution of Conative Attitudes
