|
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese
English
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Malay
Polish
Portuguese
Spanish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese|
Lecture notes, cheat sheets
History of psychology. Development of psychological knowledge within the framework of the doctrine of the soul (lecture notes)
Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets Table of contents (expand) LECTURE No. 1. The development of psychological knowledge in the framework of the doctrine of the soul 1. The idea of the soul of the philosophers of the Milesian school XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries BC represent the period of decomposition of primitive society and the transition to the slave system. Fundamental changes in the social way of life (colonization, the development of trade relations, the formation of cities, etc.) created the conditions for the flourishing of ancient Greek culture, led to significant changes in the field of thinking. These changes consisted in the transition from religious and mythological ideas about the world to the emergence of scientific knowledge. The first leading centers of ancient Greek culture and science, along with others, were the cities of Miletus and Ephesus. The first philosophical schools that arose also bore the names of these cities. The beginning of the scientific worldview is associated with the Miletus school, which existed in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries. BC e. Its representatives were Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes. They are the first to be credited with isolating the psyche, or soul, from material phenomena. Common to the philosophers of the Milesian school is the position that all things and phenomena of the surrounding world are characterized by the unity of their origin, and the diversity of the world is only different states of a single material principle, fundamental principle or primary matter. This position was extended by ancient thinkers to the area of the mental that they singled out. They believed that the material and the spiritual, the corporeal and the psychic are fundamentally one; the difference between them is only phenomenal, and not substantial, that is, according to the state, manifestation and expression of this first principle. The difference between the views of the scientists of this school consisted in what kind of concrete matter each of these philosophers accepted as the fundamental principle of the universe. Thales (624-547 BC) indicated water as the fundamental principle of the omnipresent. Proving that it is water that is the real beginning of the whole world, Thales referred to the fact that the Earth floats on water, is surrounded by it, and itself comes from water. Water is mobile and changeable, it can go into different states. When water evaporates, it turns into a gaseous state, and when it freezes, it turns into a solid state. The soul is also a special state of water. The essential characteristic of the soul is the ability to give bodies movement; it is that which makes them move. This ability to give things movement is inherent in everything. Extending the mental to the whole of nature, Thales was the first to express that point of view on the boundaries of the mental, which is commonly called hylozoism. This philosophical doctrine was a great step towards understanding the nature of the psychic. It opposed animism. Hylozoism for the first time placed the soul (psyche) under the general laws of nature, asserting the postulate, which is immutable for modern science, about the initial involvement of mental phenomena in the cycle of nature. Considering the soul in connection with the bodily organization, Thales made mental states dependent on the physical health of the body. Those who have a healthy body also have the best spiritual abilities and gifts, and therefore have more opportunities to find happiness in our day. The modern psychologist cannot but be attracted by Thales' subtle observations in the field of human moral behavior. A person, he believed, should strive to live according to the law of justice. And justice consists in not doing yourself what a person reproaches other people. If Thales associated the entire universe with special transformations and forms of water and moisture, then his fellow city dweller Anaximander (610-547 BC) takes "apeiron" as the source of all things - a state of matter that does not have a qualitative certainty, but which, thanks to its internal development and combination, gives rise to the diversity of the world. Anaximander, denying the qualitative certainty of the fundamental principle, believed that it could not be the fundamental principle if it coincided with its manifestations. Like Thales, the soul was interpreted by Anaximander as one of the states of the apeiron. Anaximander was the first of the ancient philosophers who made an attempt to explain the origin and origin of man and living beings. He was the first to come up with the idea of the origin of the living from the inanimate. The emergence of the organic world seemed to Anaximander as follows. Under the influence of sunlight, moisture evaporates from the earth, from a clot of which plants arise. Animals develop from plants, and humans develop from animals. According to the philosopher, man descended from fish. The main feature that distinguishes man from animals is the longer period of breastfeeding and longer extraneous care for him. Unlike Thales and Anaximander, another philosopher of the Milesian school Anaximenes (588-522 BC) took air as the fundamental principle. The soul also has an airy nature. She connected them with the breath. The idea of the closeness of the soul and breath was quite widespread among ancient thinkers. 2. Heraclitus. The idea of development as a law (Logos). Soul ("psyche") as a special state of the fiery principle Representatives of the Milesian school, pointing to the material nature of the mental, did not give a relatively detailed picture of the spiritual life of man. The first step in this direction belongs to the largest ancient Greek philosopher from Ephesus, Heraclitus (530-470 BC). Heraclitus is connected with the representatives of the Milesian school by the idea of the beginning, but only for the fundamental principle he took not water, not apeiron and not air, but fire in its eternal movement and change caused by the struggle of opposites. The development of fire occurs out of necessity, or according to the Logos, which creates everything that exists from the opposite movement. This term "logos", introduced by Heraclitus, but still used today, has acquired a great variety of meanings. But for himself, it meant the law according to which "everything flows" and phenomena pass into each other. The small world (microcosm) of an individual soul is identical to the macrocosm of the entire world order. Therefore, to comprehend oneself (one's "psyche") means to delve into the law (Logos), which gives the universal course of things dynamic harmony woven from contradictions and cataclysms. Everything arises and disappears through struggle. "War," Heraclitus pointed out, "is the father of everything." Fire transformations occur in two directions: "the way up" and "the way down". The "way up" as a way of transforming fire is its transition from earth to water, from water to air, from air to fire. "Way down" is the reverse transition from fire to air - water - earth. These two oppositely directed transitions of fire from one state to another can proceed simultaneously, causing the eternal movement and development of the world in all its diversity. Just as a commodity is exchanged for gold and gold for a commodity, so fire, according to Heraclitus, is transformed into everything, and everything passes into fire. The soul is a special transitional state of the fiery principle in the body, to which Heraclitus gave the name "psyche". The name introduced by Heraclitus for the designation of psychic reality was the first psychological term. "Psyche" as special states of fire arise from water and pass into it. The best state of "psyche" is its dryness. "Psyche death - to become water." Heraclitus made the activity of the soul dependent both on the external world and on the body. He believed that the fiery element penetrates the body from the external environment and any violation of the connection of the soul with the external world can lead to coarsening of the "psyche". Heraclitus noticed that people often do not remember their dreams. This memory loss occurs because the connection with the outside world is weakened during sleep. A complete break with the external environment leads to the death of the organism, just as coals go out far from a fire. The soul is in the same close contact with the body. On the question of the external bodily determination of the psyche in what would later be called the psychophysical and psychophysiological problem, Heraclitus acted as a consistent materialist. He also tried to isolate and characterize certain aspects of the soul. The philosopher devoted much attention to cognitive acts. He attached great importance to the senses, and among them especially to sight and hearing. Mind was recognized as leading in man, since the sense organs allow only the external harmony of nature to be established, while the mind, relying on feelings, reveals its internal laws. "Psyche" and thoughts have a self-growing Logos. A person's thought develops itself, passing from one truth to another. The main purpose of knowledge is to discover the truth, listen to the voice of nature and act in accordance with its laws. Heraclitus examines in some detail the motive forces, inclinations, needs. Touching on this side of mental life, Heraclitus expresses a number of important provisions that reveal the correlation of motive forces and reason, the influence of previous states on subsequent ones, the relative nature of the motives and needs of various living beings. Pointing to the dependence of the experienced states of the organism on the previous ones, the philosopher emphasizes that the feelings of pleasure and displeasure associated with the needs are recognized through their opposite. Hunger makes satiety pleasant, tiredness makes rest, illness makes health. Revealing the connection between motivating forces and reason, Heraclitus noted that every desire is bought at the price of "psyche", that is, the abuse of desires and lower needs weakens the "psyche". But, on the other hand, moderation in meeting needs contributes to the development and improvement of human intellectual abilities. The happiness of a person does not consist in a passion for bodily pleasures, but in proceeding from the voice of reason, which allows a person to manifest natural behavior associated with an understanding of the laws of necessity (Logos). The main thing in a person is the character, understood by Heraclitus as fate, as the dominant psychological factor that determines the fate of a person throughout his life. The views of Heraclitus had a great influence on the development of the philosophical and psychological systems of subsequent ancient thinkers, in whom the ideas put forward by Heraclitus would receive further concretization. Among the most important provisions of the teachings of Heraclitus, it is necessary to highlight: 1) the idea of the material (fiery) nature of the soul and the dependence of the mental on the general laws of nature (Logos); 2) the provision on the external and bodily determination of the mental; 3) preservation of vital activity (sleep, wakefulness) and psyche (cognitive and motivating forces); 4) internal dependence and correlation of cognitive and motivating forces, the relative nature of the latter; 5) variability of mental states, their transition from one to another; 6) the procedural nature of the mental and its development (self-growth); 7) the introduction of the first psychological term "psyche" to denote mental phenomena. 3. Alcmaeon. The principle of nervosa. Neuropsychism. Similarity principle Questions about the nature of the soul, its external conditioning and bodily foundations were raised in ancient times not only by philosophers, but also by representatives of medicine. The appeal of ancient doctors to these questions was prompted by their medical practice, their personal experience and their own observations of the work of various body systems, the behavior of animals and humans. Among the ancients, the greatest doctor and philosopher of the ancient era Alcmaeon (VI-V centuries BC), known in the history of psychology as the founder of the principle of nervism, stands out. He was the first to connect the psyche with the work of the brain and the nervous system as a whole. The practice of dissecting corpses for scientific purposes allowed Alcmaeon to provide the first systematic description of the general structure of the body and the supposed functions of the body. When studying individual systems of the body, including the brain and nervous system, Alcmaeon discovered the presence of conductors going from the brain to the sense organs. He found that the brain, the sense organs and the conductors opened by him are available both in humans and in animals, and therefore, experiences, sensations and perceptions should be characteristic of both. Alcmaeon's assumption about the presence of the psyche in humans and animals as creatures with a nervous system and a brain expressed a new look at the boundaries of the mental, which is currently called neuropsychism. Endowing animals with a soul, Alcmaeon was not inclined to identify the psyche of animals and humans. Man differs from animals in mind, and the anatomical basis for the difference between them is the overall volume and structure of the brain, as well as the sense organs. Although the mind distinguishes man from animals, it takes its origin in the sensations that arise in the senses. Considering sensations as the initial form of cognitive activity, Alcmaeon for the first time tries to describe the conditions for the emergence of sensations and formulates in this regard the similarity rule as an explanatory principle of sensitivity. For the occurrence of any sensation, the homogeneity of the physical nature of the external stimulus and the sense organs is necessary. The principle of similarity was extended by Alcmaeon not only to sensations and perceptions, but also to emotional experiences. Levels of vital activity were associated by Alcmaeon with the peculiarities of the dynamics and movement of blood in the body. The rush of blood into the veins causes awakening, the ebb of blood from the veins leads to sleep, and the complete outflow of blood leads to the death of the body. The general condition of the body is determined by the ratio of the four elements - water, earth, air and fire, which are the building material of the body. Proper coordination, balance, harmony of these four elements ensure the physical health of the body and the cheerfulness of the human spirit. An imbalance leads to various diseases and, in the worst case, to death. The balance and harmony of the elements in the body and the health of a person depend on the food he eats, on the climatic and geographical conditions in which a person lives, and finally, on the characteristics of the organism itself. The provisions put forward by Alcmaeon on the connection of the psyche with the brain, the principle of nervism, the principle of similarity in explaining the emergence of sensations and perceptions, the idea of external and internal factors that determine the overall activity and vital activity of the body, left a noticeable mark on the further development of ancient medicine, philosophy and psychology. The whole medicine of Hippocrates and, in particular, his doctrine of the four types of temperament will be based on the ideas of Alcmaeon. The principle of nervism will become the basis for the development of a brain-centric point of view on the localization of the soul. The principle of similarity in explaining the mechanism of sensations and perceptions will be followed by Empedocles, the atomists. 4. Empedocles. The doctrine of the four "roots". Biopsychism. The principle of similarity and the theory of outflows Alcmaeon already shows a transition from the recognition of a single material principle and an appeal to the four elements as the main elements that determine the general structure of the organism and its physical condition. The philosophical scheme of the structure of man and the world as a whole based on the four elements, or "roots" (earth, water, air, fire), was developed by the great philosopher and physician of antiquity Empedocles (490-430 BC). Empedocles continued to develop the materialistic line in philosophy and psychology, but, unlike his predecessors, he replaces the theory of a single principle with the doctrine of four "roots". The primary elements of the universe are not one element, but four - earth, water, air, fire. The organism of plants and animals, like the world as a whole, consists of four elements, and the difference between plants and animals lies in the unequal proportion and degree of expression in both of the original elements. The most perfect in their proportions are in plants - juice, in animals and humans - blood. Thus, blood is represented by one part fire, one part earth, and two parts water. Plant juice and blood in animals and humans are the leading structure of the body, and it was blood and juice, due to the most perfect combination of elements in them, that Empedocles considered as carriers of spiritual, mental functions. Since the "psychic" was attributed by the philosopher not only to animals and humans, but also to plants, therefore, Empedocles expressed a different point of view from Thales and Alcmaeon on the boundaries of the mental, called biopsychism. Subsequently, the principle of biopsychism will be followed by Aristotle, Avicenna and other philosophers. In humans, the heart is the center of blood flow, therefore it, and not the brain, as Alcmaeon suggested, is the organ of the soul. Blood determines sensations, feelings, and thoughts. Features of the general activity and mobility of a person are also associated with blood. The extent to which one or another organ of the body is supplied with blood determines the capabilities of these parts of the body. Empedocles expresses thoughts similar to Alcmaeon when considering the mechanism of perception. For Empedocles, the principle of similarity acquires a universal meaning. It extends to sensations, and to motivating forces, and even to world-forming forces - Love and Enmity. The nature of incentive states is such that all living things strive for the lacking like. Love, Friendship, Happiness arise when like meets like. Compared with Alcmaeon, Empedocles introduces a new position in the theory of the mechanisms of perception, putting forward the theory of outflows, with the help of which he first tries to answer the question of how external objects act on the sense organs and how sensations and perceptions arise in them. Empedocles presented the process of perception as a mechanism of outflows. This mechanism of outflows is most fully described by the philosopher in relation to vision. Outflows of small particles come from external objects, which, penetrating into the pores of the sense organs, evoke the image of an external object. Outflows come not only from external objects, but also from the sense organs themselves. The outflows coming from the eyes testify to the active participation of the sense organs themselves in the act of perception. The principle of similarity and the mechanism of outflows were the basis for explanation and color vision. Empedocles was the first to be credited with building the theory of color vision. The perception of colors, according to the philosopher, is determined both by the properties of objects affecting the eye, and by the characteristics of the perceiving organ itself. Empedocles is also the first to suggest that it is possible to reduce the entire color gamut to four primary colors. In sensations and perceptions, the philosopher saw the initial form of knowledge, from which the mind grows. He did not doubt the reality of visible objects and the adequacy of their perception by the senses. However, sensory knowledge, according to the scientist, should be controlled by reason, which allows us to better use our feelings. In the development of ancient psychology, the views of Empedocles occupy a prominent place, both in their novelty and in relation to their influence on the formation of later ideas about man and his psyche. The views of Empedocles contributed to the strengthening of the evolutionary approach in explaining the emergence and development of animals, the assertion of the idea of the material nature of the soul, its external and bodily determination. Empedocles redefined the boundaries of the psychic. The heart-centric point of view of Empedocles on the problem of localization of the soul will be one of the most widespread hypotheses regarding the substratum of the psychic. The principle of similarity and the theory of outflows, put forward by the ancient scientist to explain the mechanism of perception, will later be adhered to by Democritus and all supporters of the atomistic doctrine. The humoral theory of the general activity and mobility of a person, based on the principle of the ratio of various elements of blood, will become a prerequisite for the construction by Hippocrates of the doctrine of the four types of temperament. 5. Atomistic philosophical and psychological concept of Democritus. Hippocrates and Temperaments Among the contemporaries of Anaxagoras and Hippocrates, Democritus (460-370 BC) stands out among the most prominent philosophers of the ancient era. Democritus is considered to be the true founder of the atomistic trend, since it was he who gave a systematic exposition of the atomic picture of the world. The starting position in the philosophical system of Democritus is that he takes not the elements as the fundamental principle of the world, for they themselves are already complex formations in their composition, but atoms. The nature of atoms was interpreted by Democritus differently than Anaxagoras described the properties of homeomerism. Unlike homeomerism, atoms are smaller, lighter, indivisible and not identical to visible objects. Democritus believed that the fundamental principle should be fundamentally different from its specific manifestations. There is an infinite variety of atoms, the collision and separation of which give rise to their various combinations, which eventually form various bodies and things. The main and necessary condition for the movement of atoms, their connection and separation is emptiness. Without it, the world would be motionless, it would take on a statically dead character. As a result of the mechanical processes of combining atoms, everything that surrounds a person, including himself, arises. Life is not the product of a divine act, it is generated by the cohesion of wet and warm atoms, animals originated from water and silt. Man originated from animals. All living beings are constantly changing. The soul of animals and man is what makes them move. It is of a bodily nature and consists of atoms of a special kind, distinguished by their shape and extreme mobility. The atoms of the soul are round, smooth and akin to the atoms of fire. Fire atoms penetrate into the body when inhaled. With the help of breathing, they are replenished in the body. Penetrating into the body, soul atoms are dispersed throughout the body, but at the same time they accumulate in separate parts of it. These areas of congestion are the area of the head, heart and liver. In the region of the head, the fiery and most mobile atoms linger, the movement of which determines the course of cognitive processes - sensations, perceptions and thinking. Round-shaped atoms are concentrated in the region of the heart, but less mobile. This kind of atoms is associated with emotional and affective states. The atoms accumulated in the region of the liver determine the sphere of inclinations, aspirations and needs. Thus, Democritus, regarding the localization of the soul, does not accept either the brain-centric point of view of Alcmaeon, or the heart-centric position of Empedocles. Outlining different levels of mental activity, he tries to correlate them with different parts of the body. Delimiting the individual aspects of the soul, Democritus tries to more fully reveal the nature, conditions and mechanisms of the emergence of the cognitive and motivating forces of a person, to determine their place in the overall picture of his mental life. The cognitive sphere of the soul included sensations, perceptions and thinking. Democritus considered sensations and perceptions to be the initial form of cognitive activity. Thinking is based on them. Without sensations and perceptions, thoughts do not arise. Considering sensations and perceptions as the initial link in the cognitive process, he clearly imagined that feelings cannot reflect the essence of things. Sensations and perceptions skim over the surface and grasp only the external. Only thinking, which performs a function similar to a microscope, allows you to see what remains beyond the senses. The starting points in explaining the emergence of sensations and perceptions are the principle of similarity and the mechanism of outflows. Democritus noticed that there are only atoms in bodies, and such qualities as taste, color, smell, warmth, etc., are not characteristic of the atoms themselves and the bodies consisting of them. They arise only during the interaction of atoms with the sense organs, which gives rise in our mind to sensations of salty, sweet, red, yellow, warm, cold, etc. The listed qualities are, as it were, secondary, derivative, not entirely dependent on the physical nature of atoms. Those colors and sensations that a person experiences are subjective experiences, the objective basis of which is the external world, composed only of atoms and emptiness. Thus, in the teaching of Democritus on sensations, for the first time, attention is drawn to the objective and subjective aspects of sensitivity. The mechanism of perception of integral objects was described by the philosopher from the standpoint of the theory of outflows. The outflows, called idols by Democritus, are a combination of thin atoms that reproduces the shape of a perceived object. Emotions and affects are determined by the various properties of the atoms that penetrate the body. In addition to the physical properties of atoms, emotional states depend on needs. Positive emotions are caused by the smooth flow of round, spherical atoms, provided that needs are met. Negative emotions arise as a result of the action of unevenly moving angular and hooked atoms in case of unfulfilled needs. Democritus attached great importance to human needs. They were considered by him as the main driving forces that actuate not only emotional experiences. Without needs, man could never get out of the wild state. Much of what a person has learned happened, according to the scientist, as a result of imitation. Imitating the sounds of animals, a person begins to designate them with these sounds. After that, people agree on the general use of sounds and their combinations. Of particular interest is the ethics of Democritus, which is addressed to an individual and is of a psychological nature. Subtle observations of people and their actions and behavior are reflected in a number of teachings and instructions. The doctrine of Democritus marked the beginning of a causal explanation of mental processes: sensations, perceptions and motive forces. Democritus' indication of the connection of thinking as the highest level of cognitive activity with sensations and perceptions and its growth from them was an important guess. The teaching of Heraclitus that the course of things depends on the law (and not on the arbitrariness of the gods - the rulers of heaven and earth) passed to Democritus. The gods themselves in his image are nothing but spherical clusters of fiery atoms. Man is also created from various kinds of atoms, the most mobile of which are the atoms of fire. They form the soul. He recognized as one for the soul and for the cosmos not the law itself, but the law according to which there are no causeless phenomena, but all of them are the inevitable result of the collision of atoms. Random events seem to be the cause of which we do not know. Subsequently, the principle of causality was called determinism. Thanks to him, scientific knowledge about the psyche was mined bit by bit. Democritus was friends with the famous physician Hippocrates. For a physician, it was important to know the structure of a living organism, the causes on which health and disease depend. Hippocrates considered the determining cause to be the proportion in which various "juices" (blood, bile, mucus) are mixed in the body. The proportion in the mixture was called temperament. The names of four temperaments that have survived to this day are associated with the name of Hippocrates: sanguine (blood predominates), choleric (yellow bile), melancholic (black bile), phlegmatic (mucus). For future psychology, this explanatory principle, for all its naivety, was of great importance. No wonder the names of temperaments have survived to this day. First, the hypothesis was brought to the fore, according to which the countless differences between people fit into a few general patterns of behavior. Thus, Hippocrates laid the foundation for scientific typology, without which modern teachings about individual differences between people (primarily differential psychophysiology) would not have arisen. Secondly, Hippocrates looked for the source and cause of differences within the organism. Mental qualities were made dependent on bodily ones. The role of the nervous system in that era was not yet known. Therefore, the typology was, in today's language, humoral. From now on, both doctors and psychologists talk about a single neurohumoral regulation of behavior. 6. Philosophical and ethical system of Socrates. The purpose of philosophy. Socratic conversation method The whole ethical concept of Socrates is built on the desire to understand the true purpose of a person, expressed in the acquisition of goodness, virtues, beauty, happiness and wealth. The true meaning of human life lies in how a person understands, appreciates and uses all this. The main principle of Socrates is the principle of moderation. Passion for bodily pleasures destroys the body and suppresses mental activity. A person should strive to have minimal needs, and they need to be satisfied only when they reach their highest tension. All this would bring a person closer to a god-like state, in which he, the main effort of the will and mind, would be directed to the search for truth and the meaning of life. The psychological part of the teachings of Socrates is abstract and idealistic in nature. Man and his soul are given by God. Compared to animals, God gave man a more perfect structure and spiritual abilities. From the Divine, man was given upright posture, which freed his hands and expanded the horizon of vision, language with its ability to pronounce articulate sounds, sense organs with their desire to see, hear, touch, etc. The basis of mental activity is not sensations and perceptions imposed on a person from outside but understanding, which is a purely spiritual act, expressed in the awakening, revitalization and recall of knowledge that was originally embedded in the soul itself. In expanding the field of awakened innate knowledge and ideas with the help of leading questions, or the method of Socratic conversation, Socrates saw the intellectual development of man. For the successful acquisition of knowledge, a person must have certain abilities, among which he attributed the speed of grasping, the strength of memorization and interest in or attitude to the acquired knowledge. In the history of philosophy and psychology, Socrates acted as the initiator of the idealistic direction. His ideas became the starting point in subsequent systems of idealistic psychology. The idealistic system of Socrates also contained important, from the point of view of psychology, provisions. One of them consists in the transfer of scientific interest from the question of nature in general and the fundamental principles of the universe to the problem of man himself. Addressing a person, his inner, spiritual world, Socrates for the first time emphasized the leading importance of the activity of the subject himself, his ability to manage himself in accordance with social and ethical concepts and principles that act as regulators of human actions and behavior. Some essential features distinguishing man from animals are indicated. Among them, the philosopher attributed upright posture, the presence of a freed hand, mind, language and articulate speech. Although the origin of these distinctive features was interpreted by Socrates in an idealistic form, the very indication of the listed properties, inherent only in man and distinguishing him from the animal world, was of fundamental importance for subsequent materialistic interpretations of the problem of anthropogenesis. 7. Plato: true being and the world of ideas. Sensual world and non-existence. The highest idea of the Good and the world soul of Evil. Soul Immortality In a more detailed form, the ideas of Socrates were presented by his closest student and follower - Plato. Since then, the development of ancient philosophy and psychology, as well as the philosophy and psychology of all subsequent centuries, has been going on in the ongoing struggle of two opposite currents - materialism and idealism. Although Plato's creative heritage is great (in total, he wrote 36 works that have almost completely survived to this day), he does not have any special works on psychology. Psychological issues are touched upon by Plato in a number of works. The Meno expounds on the theory of recollection. In the work "Phaedrus" a religious description of the soul is given, "Theaetetus" is devoted to criticism of the teachings of Heraclitus about the soul. The treatise "Phaedo" presents the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The work "The State" contains the teachings of Plato about the structure of the soul, dividing it into parts. The main position of Plato is to recognize as true being not the material world, but the world of ideas. According to Plato, we are surrounded by many beautiful and beautiful individual concrete things. Each of them loses its beauty over time, and they are replaced by other beautiful phenomena, things, objects. But what makes all these beautiful separate things beautiful? There must be something that embraces the beauty and beauty of everything individual, concrete and transient, that is, there must be something common to everything visible. This common, which is the source of beauty and a model for all manifestations of the material world, was called by Plato the idea, which is a universally valid ideal form. All that exists, according to Plato, consists of three sides: being, the sensual world and non-being. Being constitutes the world of ideas. Non-existence is the material world created by God from four elements - water, earth, air and fire. The world of sensible things is the result of the penetration of being into non-being, since all concrete things, on the one hand, are involved in the idea, because they are distorted similarities, or shadows, of ideas, on the other hand, things are involved in non-being, or matter, because they are filled with it. . The idea of beauty is only one of the highest ideas. The highest idea is the idea of the Good. The highest idea of the Good constitutes the world soul. Since everything in the world is contradictory and opposite, Plato introduces the second world soul of Evil. These two supreme souls give rise to everything. In addition to them, according to Plato, there are souls of stars, planets, people, animals, etc. The world soul gives movement and activity to the Cosmos. A similar role is played by the souls of individual bodies, living beings, including humans. Each of these souls is called upon to dominate and control the body. Plato attributed an active function to souls. The sensuously comprehended is the union of the corporeal with its standard, which are ideas. Everything visible is changeable, fleeting, impermanent, while ideas exist eternally, they are unchanging and constant. The world around us is a world of dim, distorted, ghostly images or shadows of immortal and unchanging ideas. The human soul does not depend on the body. It exists before birth, and after the death of an individual bodily organism, it can move from one body to another. In an effort to justify the immortality of the soul, Plato gives four proofs. The first of these is based on the principle of opposites. The world is full of contradictions: beautiful - ugly; good evil; sleep - wakefulness, etc. Through a series of intermediate states, one opposite arises from another. Thus, during the transition from the highest pure soul, semi-spiritual states take place, which gradually, becoming more and more closely connected with the body, lead to such qualities that, together with the body, can be destroyed. The change of death to revival occurs with the help of the soul. In order for such a change from the living to the mortal and vice versa to take place, it is necessary that the souls of the dead exist, always ready to move into other emerging bodies. In this case, the soul must exist, both after death and before the birth of the body, that is, it must be eternal and immortal. The second proof of the immortality of the soul is built on the basis of the theory of recollection. Man establishes the similarity and difference in things without any teaching and learning. A person acquires knowledge thanks to the innate ability of the soul to remember. But the human soul can only remember what it could already know in the past. To do this, the soul must have knowledge before it settles in the body. However, this would be impossible if the soul did not exist before its settlement in the nascent body. But if the soul exists before the birth of the body, then it can and must exist after the death of the body, and therefore, it is by its nature eternal and immortal. The third proof is based on the proposition about the identity of the idea and the soul, about its belonging and proximity to everything divine. All composite, complex disintegrates and perishes; only the simple and the incomposable cannot be destroyed. From this point of view, the human body is always something visible, composite, changeable, and therefore it tends to collapse and die. In contrast to the body, the human soul and ideas are invisible, incomposable and indecomposable, and therefore they are not subject to destruction and are eternal. If the soul uses bodily organs during cognition, it goes astray from the true path, it becomes as if drunk. When she learns on her own, then she leads to the divine world of ideas, where everything is simple, indivisible, invisible and eternal. Therefore, the soul is related to the divine and similar to it. And what is from God and like him must be eternal and immortal. The world is arranged in such a way that everything bodily obeys the divine. When the soul settles in the body, the latter begins to obey it. And what is created for power and control is of divine origin. Everything divine is eternal. Therefore, the human soul is immortal. The fourth proof follows from the statement that the soul is the source of life. The soul, plunging into any body, always gives it life, but that which brings life does not itself accept death, i.e., it cannot be mortal. Hence the human soul must be indestructible and immortal. It can be seen from the above arguments that all of them are aimed at substantiating the independence of the soul from the body. The human body is only a temporary shelter for the soul. But her main place of stay is in divine heights, where she finds peace and rest from bodily passions and joins the world of ideas, not all human souls are destined to reach divine heights. The souls of those who were slaves to bodily lusts, who indulged in gluttony or other bodily excesses, through a number of generations degenerate into the souls of animals. Only the souls of philosophers approach the heights of the divine world of ideas, since only they are characterized by almost complete liberation from bodily slavery. In man, Plato distinguished two levels of the soul - the highest and the lowest. The highest level is represented by the rational part of the soul. It is immortal, incorporeal, is the basis of wisdom and has a controlling function in relation to the lower soul and to the whole body. The temporary home of the rational soul is the brain. The lower soul is represented by two parts or levels: the lower noble part of the soul and the lower lusty soul. The noble or ardent soul includes the area of affective states and aspirations. Associated with it: will, courage, courage, fearlessness, etc. It acts entirely at the behest of the rational part of the soul. Plato distinguished three levels of the structure of the soul. Figuratively, this threefold division of the soul is called the "chariot of the soul", where an ardent horse pulls the charioteer to the Divine; lustful - to the earth, but both of them are controlled by the mind. Based on the division of the soul into three parts, Plato gives a classification of individual characters, the characters of various peoples, forms of government, and the division of society into estates. People were distinguished by Plato on the basis of the predominance of one or another part of the soul. Sages and philosophers are characterized by the predominance of the rational soul. In brave and courageous people, the noble soul dominates, and in people who indulge in bodily excesses, the lustful part of the soul is leading. In a similar way, individual peoples also differed. The predominance of the rational soul is characteristic, according to Plato, of the Greeks; the dominance of a noble soul - to the peoples of the north, and a lustful soul - to the Egyptians and other peoples of the East. The estate hierarchy was also built on a psychological principle. A great mind is inherent in aristocrats, courage - in warriors, passions and inclinations - in artisans and slaves. From this conclusions were drawn regarding the forms of government. The ideal state was considered to be ruled by aristocrats, guards in it are warriors, and artisans and slaves work and obey. The political meaning of Plato's psychology was entirely aimed at protecting the interests of the ruling class and the aristocracy. Based on the experience of Socrates, who proved the inseparability of thinking and communication (dialogue), Plato took the next step. He assessed the process of thinking from a new angle, which did not receive expression in the Socratic external dialogue. Plato opened the internal dialogue. This phenomenon is known to modern psychology as inner speech. 8. Aristotle's doctrine of the soul The existing difficulties and contradictions in understanding the nature of the mental, which arose, on the one hand, from the ideas about the soul of Democritus, on the other hand, from Plato's doctrine of the soul, required their resolution. An attempt to remove the opposite of two polar points of view was carried out by the closest student of Plato, Aristotle (384-324 BC), one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity. According to Aristotle, the ideological wealth of the world is hidden in sensually perceived earthly things and is revealed in their research based on experience. The decisive result of Aristotle's reflections: "The soul cannot be separated from the body," made all the questions that were at the center of Plato's teaching about the past and future of the soul meaningless. His views are a generalization, the result and the pinnacle of all ancient Greek science. Giving psychological knowledge the enormous importance that they have for the study of nature as a whole was for Aristotle the basis for separating knowledge about the soul into an independent section of philosophy. Aristotle was the first to write a special treatise on the soul. Since in this work Aristotle's own views are preceded by a review of the ideas about the soul of his predecessors, the mentioned work of the philosopher can also be considered as the first historiographic study in the field of philosophy and psychology. The psychological concept of Aristotle was closely connected and followed from his general philosophical doctrine of matter and form. The world and its development were understood by Aristotle as the result of the constant interpenetration of two principles - a passive (matter) and an active principle, called by Aristotle a form. Matter is everything that surrounds a person, and the person himself. All concrete material things arise due to the form, which, due to its organizing function, gives them a qualitative certainty. Matter and form are beginnings mutually presupposed and inseparable from each other. The soul as a form is the essence of all living things. Aristotle's doctrine of matter and form and of the soul as a living form had a number of important consequences. The soul, in his opinion, cannot be considered either as one of the states of the primary matter, or as an independent entity torn off from the body. The soul is an active, active principle in the material body, its form, but not the substance or body itself. Performing an organizing, active function in relation to the body, the soul cannot exist without the latter, just as the existence of the organism itself is impossible without a form or soul. Soul and body are inextricably linked, and "the soul cannot be separated from the body." Thinking, according to Aristotle, is impossible without sensory experience. It is always addressed to him and arises on his basis. "The soul," the philosopher asserted, "never thinks without images." At the same time, thinking penetrates into the essence of things inaccessible to the senses. This essence of things is given in the senses only in the form of possibilities. Thinking is a form of sensory forms or simply a form of forms in which everything sensible and visual disappears and what remains is generalized and universally valid. Growing out of sensual forms, thinking cannot proceed in isolation from the body. And what is the cause that kindles the individual mind and actualizes the generalized forms contained in sensory images in the form of potency into concepts? Aristotle considers this reason to be supra-individual, generic thinking, or the supreme mind, which is built up in a person over the cognitive forms of the soul already known to him and completes their hierarchy. It is under the influence of the supreme mind that the formation or realization of ideal generalized forms, given in sensual forms in the form of possibilities, takes place. Inseparable from the cognitive abilities of the soul are its other specific properties - aspirations and affective experiences. The emergence of emotions and aspirations is caused by natural causes: the needs of the body and external objects that lead to their satisfaction. Any volitional movement, any emotional state, as the leading driving forces of the soul, determining the activity of the organism, have natural foundations. Aristotle associated the general motor activity of a person with blood, in which he saw the main source of the body's vital activity. Blood was considered by Aristotle as the material carrier of all mental functions from the lowest to the highest. Spreading throughout the body, it gives life to his senses and muscles. Through it, they are connected with the heart, which acted as the central organ of the soul. As for the brain, it was considered by Aristotle as a reservoir for cooling the blood. The most important section in the general system of Aristotle's ideas about the soul is his doctrine of the abilities of the soul. It expresses a new look at the structure of the soul and the ratio of its main properties. The novelty in Aristotle's views on the structure of the soul lies in two essential points. First, a holistic approach found expression in them, in which the soul was conceived as something unified and indivisible into parts. Secondly, the Aristotelian scheme of the structure of the soul is imbued with the idea of development, which was implemented by the philosopher, both in phylogenetic and ontogenetic aspects. On the one hand, the individual abilities of the soul act as successive stages of its evolution, and on the other hand, the development of the individual human soul as a repetition of these stages of evolution. The development of the soul in ontogenesis is a gradual transition and transformation of lower abilities into higher ones. From the doctrine of the three basic abilities of the soul, pedagogical tasks also followed, which were reduced by Aristotle to the development of these three abilities. The development of plant abilities forms in a person body dexterity, muscle strength, normal activity of various organs, and general physical health. Due to the development of feeling abilities, a person develops observation, emotionality, courage, will, etc. The development of reasonable abilities leads to the formation of a person's system of knowledge, mind and intellect as a whole. 9. Psychological views of the Stoics The Stoic school arose in the XNUMXth century. BC e. The history of Stoicism covers three periods: ancient, middle and late. The birthplace of the ancient standing is Athens, and the middle and late standing developed in Rome. The founders of the ancient stand were Zeno, Chrysippus and their followers Ariston and Perseus. The first and major representatives of the Roman standing were Seneca and Epictetus. There are significant differences between the ancient and late stands. All representatives of this philosophical school are united by the ideas of the universal inevitability of events, fatal inevitability, predestination, both in relation to natural phenomena and in relation to the fate and life of every person. According to this teaching, the world pneuma is identical with the world soul, the divine fire, which is the Logos, or destiny. The happiness of man was seen in living according to the Logos. All phenomena of the Cosmos are connected by the unity of their origin. The Stoics believed that the emergence of all things occurs as a result of the interaction of two world-forming principles - passive and active. The active world-forming force is the air-fire element, called by the Stoics pneuma, or "creative fire." The passive principle is matter, which is a semi-liquid cold mass consisting of water and earth. The diversity of the material world is the result of the diverse linkages and splittings of the passive elements, i.e., water and earth, under the influence of the active activity of the pneuma. Depending on the degree of manifestation and activity of pneuma, the entire cosmos was presented to the Stoics, consisting of four levels. The first level of inanimate nature, in which there is a weak manifestation of pneuma. At the second level - the level of plants - pneuma reaches a certain development, it is more mobile and active, as a result of which it is able to provide the functions of growth, nutrition and reproduction in plant organisms. Pneuma becomes even more developed and active at the third level - the level of animals, at which it can be expressed not only in the functions of growth, nutrition and reproduction, but also manifest itself in sensuality, urges and instincts. Pneuma receives its highest expression at the level of man. Pneuma in its most perfect manifestations is what makes up the human soul. From the foregoing, it can be seen that the human soul is material in nature. It is like warm breath. At its core, the soul is one, indivisible into parts, but it can manifest itself in various abilities, each of which is determined by a different degree of development and intensity of pneuma. In total, the Stoics distinguished eight abilities of the soul. Inherent in man, as in all living things, the ability to reproduce and grow, the ability to speak, the five main types of sensitivity and hegemonicon, acting as the carrier of the highest and leading ability associated with the processing of all incoming impressions into general ideas, concepts, volitional and incentive acts. 10. Epicurus and Lucretius Car on the soul After Aristotle and the Stoics in ancient psychology, noticeable changes are outlined in the understanding of the essence of the soul. The new point of view was most clearly expressed in the views of Epicurus (341-271 BC) and Lucretius Cara (99-45 BC). Epicurus assumed that the living body, like the soul, consists of atoms moving in the void. With death they disperse according to the general laws of the same eternal Cosmos. "Death has nothing to do with us; when we exist, then there is no death yet; when death comes, then we are no more." The picture of nature presented in the teachings of Epicurus and the place of man in it served to achieve serenity of the spirit, freedom from fears and, above all, before death and the gods (who, living between the worlds, do not interfere in the affairs of people, because this would violate their serene existence) . The Epicureans thought about the ways of independence of the individual from everything external. They saw the best way in self-withdrawal from all public affairs. It is this behavior that will allow you to avoid grief, anxiety, negative emotions and thereby experience pleasure, because it is nothing but the absence of suffering. The material world, according to Lucretius, is not dependent on man, it existed before him, exists with him, will exist after him. A single substance of all things are atoms, which exist regardless of whether we see them or not. Atoms are in constant motion, they are eternal, indivisible and indestructible. Things arise from the collision of atoms moving in the void in various directions. The development of the world occurs according to the laws inherent in nature itself, according to the laws of necessity and reason. All living things arise from non-living matter. Complex organisms come from simple ones. Humans originated from animals. At first they led an animal way of life, then the need forced them to use tools. The philosopher also approached the field of mental phenomena from a materialistic position. Animation is inherent only in highly organized matter. The soul does not exist either before birth or after death. The soul arises along with the birth of a bodily organism, develops and becomes more complex along with its growth, and perishes along with its death. The soul is inseparable from the body and is limited by the limits of the life of the organism. The soul has a bodily nature. Its material carrier is the air-fiery atoms. Atoms by themselves do not form a soul unless they are associated with a body. Only by connecting with each other and clinging to the body, these atoms form sensitivity, or soul. The ratio of fiery and air atoms in the soul determines its general activity. The human soul is fundamentally heterogeneous. One of its sides is formed by anima, that is, such a part of it that is scattered throughout the body, is responsible for the plant functions of the body and is controlled by a more perfect part of the soul, called animus by Lucretius - "spirit". The spirit is the thinnest atoms concentrated in the chest area and acting as the material basis of mental functions - sensitivity and reason. The sphere of stimulation of feelings and affects was considered by him as the leading driving forces of the soul. He saw the ideal of a happy life in eliminating the causes of suffering, anxiety and fear. Fear of the elements of nature and of death made people "create gods for themselves." Only through overcoming fears and superstition can a person ensure peace and spiritual comfort. Lucretius considered his teaching to be an instruction in the art of living in a whirlpool of disasters, so that people would forever get rid of fears of the afterlife punishment and otherworldly forces, for there is nothing in the world but atoms and emptiness. The principle of pleasure, militant atheism, with which Epicurus, and after him Lucretius, came forward, became the subject of fierce criticism and general indignation on the part of the clergy. Lucretius was declared mad by theologians, and the books of Epicurus are subject to almost complete destruction. 11. Alexandria Medical School Noticeable shifts in the experimental study of the anatomy and functions of the body were outlined in the III century. BC e. They are associated with the names of two major doctors from Alexandria - Herophilus and Erazistrat. In the period when the Alexandrian doctors lived and worked, there was still no ban on dissecting the corpses of dead people. The free dissection of human bodies opened up the possibility of more carefully examining the structure of various parts of the body. Doctors were most interested in the nervous system and the brain. All these studies led the Alexandrian physicians to the firm conviction that the real organ of the soul is the brain. Moreover, they established some specialization in the localization of mental functions. Herophilus associated the functions of the animal or sentient soul, i.e. sensations and perceptions, with the cerebral ventricles. Erazistrat correlated sensations and perceptions with the membranes and convolutions of the brain, and attributed motor functions to the medulla itself. In addition, he discovered that different nerve fibers emanate from these two named brain structures. The established connection of each of the nerve pathways with different parts of the brain that carry out different functions made it possible to make an assumption that these two types of nerves should also perform different functions. Having established the anatomical basis of the psyche and connected mental phenomena with the brain, the Alexandrian physicians attempted to reveal the mechanisms of those changes in the nervous system and brain that lie behind the numerous functions of the soul. Here they were forced to turn to the concept of pneuma introduced by the Stoics. Pneuma was considered as a material carrier of life and psyche. When inhaled, air from the lungs enters the heart. Mixing with blood in it, the air forms a vital pneuma, which spreads throughout the body, filling all its parts, including the brain. In the brain, plant pneuma is transformed into animal (psychic) pneuma, which is sent to the nerves, and through them to the sense organs and muscles, bringing both into action. 12. Psychophysiology of Claudius Galen The experience of Alexandrian doctors in studying the structure and functioning of nerves, the brain, other parts of the body and the organism as a whole did not remain without a trace and forgotten. It was generalized, expanded and deepened by a prominent representative of ancient medicine, Galen (130-200 BC). Galen is a famous ancient Roman thinker who worked for a number of years as a doctor for gladiators, later at the court of the Roman emperor. He systematically engaged in the dissection of corpses, thanks to which he was able to describe the structure of the respiratory, circulatory, muscular and nervous systems. According to Galen, life arose as a result of the gradual development of nature, and the mental is the product of organic life. He took blood as the initial basis of activity and all manifestations of the soul. Galen believed that blood is formed in the liver as a result of the combination of digested food with air. Further, through the veins, it enters the heart, and from it it spreads through the arteries throughout the body. On the way to the brain, the blood, evaporating and purifying, turns into psychic pneuma. Galen singled out two types of pneuma: vital (blood) and mental (brain), arising from vital pneuma by purification. The organs of the psyche were considered the liver, heart and brain. Galen accepted the Platonic scheme of localization of the soul and rejected both the brain-centric point of view of Alcmaeon and the heart-centric concept of Empedocles and Aristotle. Each of the three named organs of the soul is responsible for certain of its functions. The liver, as an organ filled with unpurified, cold, venous blood, is the bearer of the lower manifestations of the soul - impulses, inclinations, needs. In the heart, where the blood is purified and warm, emotions, affects, passions are localized. The brain, in which cerebral blood circulates, psychic pneuma is produced and stored, acts as the bearer of the mind. Galen's ideas about emotions and affects are connected with the doctrine of movements. Affects were understood by him as such mental states that are caused by changes in the blood. Anger, for example, arises as a result of an increase in the warmth of the blood, its boiling. In a person, Galen believed, affects should not go beyond the boundaries established by nature, because this leads both to the suffering of the body and to the suffering of the soul. Therefore, strong emotions should be moderated and removed by the mind, which returns the state of balance to the soul. The state and dynamics of blood determine not only the emotional side of the soul, but also the general activity of a person, his temperament and even character. The type of temperament depends on the proportion or predominance of arterial or venous blood. People with a predominance of arterial blood are more mobile, energetic, courageous, etc. Those who dominate in the mixture of venous blood are slow and inactive. So, all the functions of the soul, starting from sensations and ending with the individual mind, temperament and character, are based on humoral-brain processes. Since all these manifestations of the soul are dependent on the body, they disappear with the death of the latter. However, Galen could not remain a consistent supporter of the materialistic line to the end. Like Aristotle, in addition to the individual rational soul, he also attributed to man the divine mind, making a concession to idealism. In general, the teachings of Galen occupied at that time leading positions in the field of natural science and philosophy. Moreover, the anatomy, physiology, psychophysiology of Galen remained the last word in science until the New Age. Author: Luchinin A.S. >> Forward: Philosophical doctrine of consciousness (Plotinus: psychology as a science of consciousness. Augustine: Christian early medieval worldview)
▪ The economics of the firm. Lecture notes
The existence of an entropy rule for quantum entanglement has been proven
09.05.2024 Mini air conditioner Sony Reon Pocket 5
09.05.2024 Energy from space for Starship
08.05.2024
▪ Room lock is opened by smartphone ▪ It's too hot on the London Underground ▪ Social networks are becoming the main source of information
▪ section of the site Metal detectors. Article selection ▪ article Windshield wipers. History of invention and production ▪ article What is Kevlar? Detailed answer ▪ Shesek article. Legends, cultivation, methods of application
Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews
www.diagram.com.ua |
We recommend interesting articles Section 
See other articles Section 
Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:
All languages of this page