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Rene descartes philosophy summary reflection
Rene descartes philosophy summary reflection
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Philosophy and Physiology joined in an entangled romance of the mind to breed and nurture a new science called Psychology. Of the many pursuits and endeavors or Philosophers and Physiologists they probably did not intend to influence a new science in the way that they did. The beginning of psychology started with the debates of mind and body. Psychology was forming from the work of philosophers like Rene Descartes, and Physiologists like Hermann Helmholtz, and was developing its own prevalence in the world. For instance one very influential philosopher of the new psychology was Rene Descartes. Descartes took on the mind and body controversy. Descartes held that everything should be doubted until tested and proven. While Descartes did not …show more content…
One physiologist that contributed to psychology was Hermann Helmholtz. Helmholtz believed the deductive method and the strength at which results were defended were not stable, or reliable. Helmholtz, along with fellow colleagues called for a change in the way research was done (Jurkowitz, 2010). Helmholtz made many advances in physiology developing tools to aid the medical community. Of his many contributions to society his contributions to psychology were game changers. Helmholtz compared the mind to the function of a machine and believed that it was possible to scientifically test its functions. Helmholtz was able to successfully determine a way to accurately test the rate of a neural impulse. His results determined that the thought and movement happened separate from each other and it can be measured. With this advancement he was able to disprove that a nerve impulse was simultaneous and too fast to measure (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). This opened the door for the experimental nature of many concepts previously thought to be impossible. Now that there was an empirical value that could be applied to the mind and the body a new science was preparing to be formed. All it needed were motivated individuals willing to dedicate the time to perfect and analyze the scientific nature of the human …show more content…
From machines to minds, and reality to consciousness, the thoughts and research combined, progressed, and contributed to the coming field. Descartes separated the mind and the body. Helmholtz applied his empirical views and theories of machine comparison to test and prove measurements of neural sensors. Wundt and Thitchener dove into the measurements of sensory and physical stimuli to break the consciousness into elements. Darwin and Galton turned attention to evolution, the necessity of adaption and survival of the fittest. William James and his colleagues changed the direction of research on the consciousness to relate to how it adapts and continually flows. Like a family tree, psychology has its roots in philosophy and physiology and its branches have spanned the lengths of many schools, uses, and theories. A family tree that can continue to grow and nurture new ideas and research due to the roots so firmly planted in the soil of its
Many people attribute modern psychology to psychologist such as Sigmund Freud, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner. Though, they were a part of developing modern psychology, many forget to recognize important founders such as William James. According to King, Viney and Woody, James came from a family with a strict father, raised in tolerance. James and his father had many encounters because of their different views. They were a wealthy and cultured family. James attended Harvard, studying a broad spectrum of just about everything. He finally received his medical degree in 1869, but then became depressed and anxious about life. He was not fond of medicine and was then offered to teach a course in the Relations between Psychology and Physiology. He was also the founder of Harvard’s first psychology laboratory. James then began to teach psychology as well as writing the first U.S. psychology text, Principles of Psychology, in 1890; this book was the main psychology textbook for many years to come (p.284). James was well known for his philosophy, which he explored many areas. For example individualism, which he believed that circumstances shape individuals and then individuals shape the world also that we understand reality only through individual experiences. Pluralism was another view which he believed that there are many ways to understand the world, and a variety of methods and topics to study. Also, for James pragmatism was a belief that if an idea worked it was valid; these ideas should have “cash value” as he stated. He meant that these ideas should be useful and apply them to the real world. Although philosophy was a major part of his work, he was also known as the American founder of psychology (King, Viney &Woody 2013, p.286). Wi...
The development of psychology like all other sciences started with great minds debating unknown topics and searching for unknown answers. Early philosophers and psychologists such as Sir Francis Bacon and Charles Darwin took a scientific approach to psychology by introducing the ideas of measurement and biology into the way an indi...
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
Rieber, R. W. (2001). Wilhelm Wundt in history: the making of a scientific psychology. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
The cognitive revolution in psychology was a period during the 1950’s and 1960’s which involved radical changes to two major concepts in psychology, consciousness and causality. It was also a period that saw the abolishment of traditional science values of dichotomy and the worship of atomisation in science, replacing reductive micro deterministic views of personhood with holistic top-down view (Overskeid, 2008). The aim of this essay is to give an account of what constitutes the cognitive revolution, and also assess the contributions that the cognitive revolution has made to the scientific study of psychology. The cognitive revolution represents a diametric turn around in the century’s old treatment of mind and consciousness in science, such as the contents of conscious experience, whose subjective qualities were being discarded as mere causal epiphenomena (Sperry 1993). This paradigm shift brought with it alternative beliefs about the ultimate nature of things, thereby bringing forth new answers to some of humanity's deepest questions.
Rationalism and empiricism were two philosophical schools in the 17th and 18th centuries, that were expressing opposite views on some subjects, including knowledge. While the debate between the rationalist and empiricist schools did not have any relationship to the study of psychology at the time, it has contributed greatly to facilitating the possibility of establishing the discipline of Psychology. This essay will describe the empiricist and rationalist debate, and will relate this debate to the history of psychology.
Psychology is the investigation of the mind and how it processes and directs our thoughts, actions and conceptions. However, in 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nevertheless, the origins of psychology go all the way back thousands of years starting with the early Greeks. This foundation is closely connected to biology and philosophy; and especially the subfields of physiology which is the study of the roles of living things and epistemology, which is the study of comprehension and how we understand what we have learned. The connection to physiology and epistemology is often viewed as psychology, which is the hybrid offspring of those two fields of investigation.
Hothersall, David. (1995). History of Psychology. 4th ed. McGraw Hill Co: New York, New York.
The personalistic theory of modern psychology suggests that changes made in society are the direct result of an individual(s). The focus of the personalistic theory places emphasis on those thought to be unique individuals that have contributed to the progress of psychology and accomplished known achievements McCauley (2008, p. 5). Andreas Vesalius has been considered by many to be the originator of the human anatomy and William Harvey has been describing to have taken the role of laying the foundation for modern psychology Fearing (1929, p.1). Vesalius and Harvey were men both scholars of biological science, in which this field had not begun to advance until the seventeenth century.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) officially opened an institution and laboratory for Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany. Many students were also taught here on experimental psychology. Wundt was touted as a great lecturer, and some of those taught, emulated Wundt's work and made a significant contribution to psychology; for example Edward Titchner (1867-1927), who introduced 'Structuralism' to the United States of America. This facility was renowned through out the world as the premise on which psychology became a science, because, it was there Wundt carried out extensive research on several hypotheses.
Psychology started, and had a long history, as a topic within the fields of philosophy and physiology. It then became an independent field of its own through the work of the German Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology and structuralism. Wundt stressed the use of scientific methods in psychology, particularly through the use of introspection. In 1875, a room was set-aside for Wundt for demonstrations in what we now call sensation and perception. This is the same year that William James set up a similar lab at Harvard. Wilhelm Wundt and William James are usually thought of as the fathers of psychology, as well as the founders of psychology?s first two great ?schools? Structuralism and Functionalism. Psychologist Edward B Titchner said; ?to study the brain and the unconscious we should break it into its structural elements, after that we can construct it into a whole and understand what it does.? (psicafe.com)
There have been many theorists when in comes to Psychology but the main three are Sigmund Freud, who discovered psychoanalysis, Carl Rogers, who founded the Humanistic approach, and Albert Bandura who discovered the social cognitive theory. All three of these individuals are important and their opinions are highly valued. Each of them gives different ideas and attempt to give an explanation about the way personality develops.
The future of psychology is getting more and more precise. For instance advance science, understanding how the brain functions and the nerve system, scientific advance in genetics and gene therapy, will let psychologists to prevent any disorders rather than other treatment.
Psychology is the study of the mind, its biology, and behavior if the individual. The father of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, used objective measurement and controlled analyzing to find and emphasize separation between psychology and philosophy (McLeod). Wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879, using his background in physiology to study reactions and sensations (McLeod). There is no doubt that he, along with the later help of Sigmund Freud, launched what is now modern psychology. Psychology and its research helped the world understand the inner workings of the mind and how it affects everyone around us.
From 300-400 BC there was a rise in philosophers who wrote topics on psychology, biology, psychology and a host of others. There was Euclid the founder of modern geometry, Archimedes the founder of engineering mechanics who calculated a value for pi which we still use up to this very day and he also invented the first water pump.