History of Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY, HISTORY OF. In the earliest times psychology is a part of the general description of human conduct. Though the details are no longer valuable, the general classifica tions originally used are historically interesting on account of the way in which they have persisted.

Greek Psychology.

The oldest records which are sufficiently elaborate to be important belong to the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. and constitute part of the natural philosophy of the Greeks. Earlier traces are found in Homer and the Greek tradition repre sents a growth of opinion from the tenth century before Christ or even earlier. The medical schools of the sixth century B.c. seem to have advanced far enough to establish the common dis tinction between sense and reason on anatomical grounds : the importance of the brain was recognized and an attempt made to connect the sense-organs with the brain. The physiology was very crude but the important principle established was the neces sity of integration so that the different sense impressions could be unified. The clear assertion that the mind sees and hears (not the external organs separately) is the beginning of psycho logical investigation. At the same period the original doctrine of temperaments appeared. A temperament was regarded as a pecu liar disposition, both physical and mental, which owed its char acter to the ratio in which the humours were mixed in the body. These humours were four substances which, by analogy with the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) were regarded as com posing the body. They were called blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. The terms for the different temperaments (sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, choleric) were introduced in the Middle Ages by an Arab physician : though not actually Greek they repre sent faithfully the original idea. The work done at this period (600-400 B.c.) is part of the development of medicine. While common observation referred to the "wits" of men or to their senses as different kinds of ability, there is throughout this period complete lack of any idea of a soul as the distinct agent in any activities either of sense or reason. The origin of Western Psy chology was in the study of the organism and not in speculations about a supernatural "soul." This is so far the case that Aris totle considers the thinkers before Socrates were exclusively con cerned with physical nature, and for that reason unphilosophical. The idea of a soul as something distinct from the body and capable of existence apart from the body, seems to have become definite at the close of the fifth century B.C. The Pythagoreans are credited with the view that the body is the tomb of the soul and that life on earth is a period of time during which the soul uses the body as its instrument. This leads naturally to a doctrine

of release by purification and a theory of immortality. Such mat ters do not belong to the sphere of psychology. But they need to be mentioned because the first elaborate synthesis of doctrine was deeply affected by this type of thought. Plato was responsible for this synthesis and his work was destined to persist for many centuries as the kind of psychology most acceptable to western Christianity. Its most obvious characteristic was the dualism of soul and body which satisfied ethical and religious demands. But while the dualism can be admitted as a characteristic of the Pla tonic philosophy, there has been a tendency to exaggerate its sig nificance for the actual teaching of Plato as to the functions of the soul. In harmony with the trend of Greek thought Plato empha sizes first the idea of activity : the soul is the origin of all move ment, it is self-moving, in other words it is the dynamic factor as opposed to matter. The functions ascribed to the soul fall into three classes. These functions are nutritive, sensitive and rational. They may be regarded as the kinds of activity which are found at different levels of development in the scale of nature. They are seen distinctly in the plant, the animal and the human forms of organization. Of these the higher includes the lower and man may be regarded as a complex nature in which are included the capacities for assimilation of food, reception of sense-impres sions and ideation. Though Plato was chiefly interested in the problems of moral conduct he was well acquainted with the natural science of his day and employs it to formulate his gen eral psychology. The basis for this is the concept of Eros, the fundamental drive or conation which fulfils itself in all the forms of life. This appears at different levels in the forms of desire or natural appetite, courage or aggressiveness and reason or the love of truth and beauty. The idea of development is introduced as a progress from the first random impulses to fully co-ordinated and purposive action. In the course of this development there is a stage at which desire and reason are in conflict. The recognition and the analysis of this moral conflict is one of the most signifi cant points in Platonic psychology. The argument is based on the sound principle that character implies definite aims, co-ordination of effort and selection of impulses. This requires the acts of deliberation and reason, the full waking consciousness of prin ciples. In dreams Plato sees the tendency of desire to satisfy itself in imagery when the higher faculties no longer inhibit the passions.