Origins of Psychology in Ancient Greece

This report will primarily focus on the known origins of psychology in ancient Greece. The first focus will be the general background on the situation of the times and the general history surrounding the major thinkers and theories of the times. Next will be specific information on 3 major philosophical thinkers from ancient Greece; Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Also, their major philosophies and how they contributed to modern psychology

Some well known ancient Greek names could be Homer, the Greek poet who wrote the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” or Pythagoras, best known for the “Pythagorean theorem”. However, in terms of psychology and philosophy, none may have been more influential than Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. Pre-Socratic Greece was very dependent on a polytheistic religion that they would often look at for answers, they even had different gods for different problems: Athena for wisdom and war, Aphrodite for love and fertility, and Dionysus of wine and parties (most college students would probably love him). The ancient philosophers looked at the world a little differently, the began to look at the world itself in a more natural state rather than divine, this gave them a new perspective on how to look the world and life itself. There were philosophers that came before Socrates and they had very good philosophies on their own such as Thales of Miletus who is attributed by historians as the “Father of Greek Philosophy” and Empedocles who stated that all matter was made up of four elements (earth, fire, water, and air). But Socrates’ thinking was incredibly revolutionary and focused more on how philosophy could be used practically throughout our ordinary lives which was new for the time. Thus the first philosopher that will be discussed is Socrates.

As was stated above the first great ancient Greek philosopher is Socrates, Socrates was born in 470 BCE and died 399 BCE, for context he was born after the second Persian war but actually participated in 3 military campaigns as an Athenian soldier during the Peloponnesian war which may have affected many of his philosophies in the future. The Peloponnesian war was the war between Sparta and Athens, which Athens ended up losing. This lose cause instability within Athens due to the feeling of humiliation and doubt of their pride and place in the world. Because of this, they began to put more values on past victories and material things such as beauty and wealth, Socrates challenged these ideas by putting greater importance on the mind. He believed that the search for truth was most important as well as believing that there is an immortal soul that has all knowledge within us. This immortal soul is reborn, and his teachings remind rather than teaching something completely new. He went about doing this by using a certain dialectic method that we would now call the “Socratic method”, he did not lecture what he knew but would instead implore the audience to think on the problem and come up with a logical conclusion. Socrates believed “the unexamined life is not worth living.” (Plato’s Apology (38a5–6)) and because of this, he focused more on an “ethical system based on human reason rather than theological doctrine.” (“Socrates biography” 2018 para.7). Socrates believed that wisdom could be achieved through logic and understanding himself, as proof of this Socrates himself never claimed to know anything and actually claimed ignorance and was considered wise due to him acknowledging his ignorance. He believed what we considered as good as what is useful to us in our attempt to be better and happier people, not necessarily what the gods say is good. Socrates treated all of Athens as a classroom and spoke with both elites and common man alike. Due to his controversial ideas and him speaking to almost everyone equally he began to offend some people, and they felt he threatened their way of life. The charge of corrupting the young. Socrates was considered to be quite humorous and while on trial, Athens allows the accused to propose an alternative form of punishment. However, in Socrates’s case, instead of proposing exile he “suggested he be honored by the city for his contribution to their enlightenment and be paid for his services.” (“Socrates Biography” 2018). Which the jury did not find as funny as he would have hoped because they sentenced him to drink a mixture of hemlock as a form of execution. Socrates never wrote down any of his teachings which makes what we really know about him relatively little, what we do know about him was written by his student Plato who will be the next focus of the next paragraph. 

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The second of these great thinkers was Plato, Plato was born 427 BCE in Athens and died 348 BCE. Plato was a student of Socrates who is best known for witting influential philosophical works and founded the academy in Athens. We know that Socrates was very influential on Plato because Plato put Socrates in many of his works almost as a memento to his mentor. After Socrates’ death Plato began to travel, one of the more interesting parts of his travels is when he went to Syracuse and became the instructor to Dion, the brother-in-law of Dionysius I. At some point Dionysius I decided he no longer wanted Plato there and attempted to sell him into slavery, however he ended up escaping and returning to Athens. (Diod. 15.7; Plut. Dion 5; D.L. 3.19-21) After returning to Athens, Plato founded his Academy which was a place of learning, and where questions would be asked and they would attempt to answer them through studies and discussion. Although there were lectures done there was no specific rule saying that you must teach while in the academy and was more a place to express thoughts and learning. Because of this, the academy is generally regarded as the first university or a place for higher learning. Despite this the Academy did not charge a fee for entry it wasn’t open to the public, rather it was quite exclusive however not gender locked because there is evidence that there were 2 women there during the time of Plato (“Women in the Academy, Dialogues on Themes from Plato’s Republic” 2001). One of Plato’s most recognizable works is The Republic. The Republic takes the form of many different discussions between two individuals usually talking about many things from the immorality of the soul to philosopher kings, but the story that I would like to focus on is the “Allegory of the Cave”. In the “Allegory of the Cave” men are chained to a rock inside a cave and all they know of the real world are the shapes on the wall of the cave, however, when they are released some may leave the cave and begin to learn true understanding of the true forms of things. This analogy related to Plato’s’ most well know theory known as the “Theory of Forms”. This theory states that in terms of drawing the perfect triangle, no matter how hard you try you won’t be able to draw the perfect triangle because your mind already knows what a perfect triangle looks like because everything in our world is an imperfect version of its perfect Form. Despite no one actually being able to see the perfect form, if we can conceive the Idea or Form of the triangle in our mind it must exist (“Plato: A Theory of Forms” 2012). The “Allegory of the Cave” is a representation of this theory with the people in the cave only being able to see the imperfect versions of our real life and the people outside being able to see the Ideal versions of reality.

The last great thinker that will be looked at during this research assignment is Aristotle, Aristotle was born in 384 BCE and died 322 BCE. Aristotle is probably the most influential of the 3 in terms of contributions to western history and our way of thinking. At the age of 17 Aristotle was sent to Plato’s academy and attended lectures there for roughly 20 years. While there he was considered Plato’s prized student despite disagreeing with him on many points. After Plato’s death, Aristotle on the invitation of Phillip of Macedonia to he became the tutor to his son who would later be known as Alexander the great. He taught Alexander for 4 years until Phillip died meaning that Aristotle’s job was done and went back to Athens. Upon returning to Athens in 334 BCE he discovered Plato’s academy doing quite well under the leadership of Xenocrates and Plato’s philosophies becoming quite dominant across Athens, he decided to establish his own school in a building called the “Lyceum”. For the next 13 years he dedicated his time to his school and his philosophical writings. In 323 BCE Alexander died causing the pro Macedonian government to fall apart and because of his time spent with Alexander, Aristotle was charged with Impiety which he escaped from by fleeing to Euboea where he died a year later from an illness. Not only was Aristotle a philosopher but he was also a scientist, he seemed to be quite fascinated with nature and spent time trying to classify the plants and animals found in Greece while also researching their anatomy and their natural behaviour. Aristotle also taught the equivalent to modern logic in the Lyceum, it could be referred to as the 4 causes. The first cause is the material cause, what is it made of. The second cause is the formal cause, what is it or its form. The third cause is the efficient cause, what causes it to change. The last cause is the final cause, to what end are things done. These 4 causes can be used in our modern world as well as in psychology. Aristotle also wrote the first book specifically about psychology called “De Anima”, in it we can find the first mentions of many ideas fundamental to modern psychology such as the laws of association, libido, the id and superego, pleasure and reality principals, and self-actualization.

Altogether all three of these philosophers were very influential to both understanding their society and the world we live in. Socrates looked at what makes you good and had the courage to stand with for his beliefs, Plato had us examine what it meant to be human and was determined to share his ideas, and finally Aristotle came up with revolutionary ideas we still use today and was first to write on psychology itself. The real start for psychology in Greece may have begun with Aristotle however it is important to understand the philosophers who directly impacted him with their theories and ideas.

References

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