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-Plato -
Wrote the Republic. Duality of the Psyche. Plato was author of some 31 philosophical dialogues, and founder, in 387, of the Academy, in Athens. He was considered one of the most significant thinkers of antiquity. Plato, despite his aristocratic origin and his parents' plans for his political or petic career, devoted his life to philosophy, first as a devoted pupil of Socrates, and later by founding his own school of philosophy, the Academy. Plato held far-reaching views on the creation of the world, which have been preserved in the dialogue Timaeus, while his work the Republic, is perhaps the world's most important political science text.
Plato defined 3 aspects of the psyche--reason, feeling and appetite. He also wrote about the duality of the psyche and the relationship between mind and body. He believed the action of the humors of the body affects one's mental state. Madness and ignorance for Plato were diseases of the mind brought about by the body. He also discussed sense perception. He believed that excessive pain and pleasure are the greatest diseases of the mind. He indicated that people in great joy or great pain cannot reason properly. Hence, sense perception, desire, feeling and appetite are products of the body and are at war with the mind. This is similar to Freud's notions about the id, ego and superego.
Plato also delved into the realms of neuroscience. He believed that the seat of the psyche and its aspects (reason, feeling and appetite) reside in the cerebrospinal marrow. The immortal (rational) aspect has a separate place in the brain; the mortal (irrational) aspects of feeling and appetite are located in the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The heart serves as an advance post of the immortal part when wrong is committed; the heart can be stimulated to anger and these emotions (of anger) can be carried by the blood vessels to all parts of the body. He believed that the blood vessels serve as the means for conveying sensations through the body. He also believed that the psyche itself is immortal, but some of the functions it assumes when connected to the body are not (Watson, p. 59).
Plato used storytelling and literature to illustrate points about the psyche, as did Homer. In his story of the charioteer in Phaedrus, Plato likened the human being to a chariot team.
"[As part of the team] there is a powerful, unrully horse intent on having its own way at all costs (appetite). The other horse is a thoroughbred, spirited but manageable (spirit). On catching sight of his beloved, the charioteer (reason) attempts with some difficulty to direct the two horses toward the goal, which he alone (not they) can comprehend." (Watson, p.62)
This is an illustration of Plato's theory about conflict based on reason,emotion and drive.
Plato also made early contributions to motivational psychology with his delineation of the drive characteristics of the psyche--that drives have a striving toward attainment of a goal and an affective coloring of pleasure and pain.
In Plato's Symposium, he presents a dialogue on the meaning of Eros or love, in which each participant offers their interpretations. He discusses 2 kinds of love: profane and sacred. The first is concerned with the body and the second with the psyche, mind and character. Physical sexual desire is not merely concerned with sex, but a masked deisre for parenthood, an attempt to perpetuate oneself. Plato believed this passion for physical parenthood was the most rudimentary fruition of the good and the eternal. He also believed that only higher love could lead to happiness. For Plato, the love of wisdom is the highest form of love. Love can be equated with life force, as it is akin to the biological will to live and the life energy.
Many scholars have used Plato's notions to draw conclusions about human nature. Freud's notions about the personality being dependent on the id, ego and superego are similar to Plato's 3 aspects of the psyche. Carl Jung's notions about the libido and its general nonspecialized drive character seem to stem from the early drive theories of Plato. Evolutionary psychologists discuss humans' need to reproduce copies of themselves and their gene pool. In the psychology of emotion and social psychology, psychologists have studied and outlined the different forms of love. Personality psychologists define the core form of energy residing in man, most frequently, as "psychic energy." The field of energy medicine discusses the relationship of energy centers in the body to the mental state and nature of humans.
Wrote the Republic. Duality of the Psyche. Plato was author of some 31 philosophical dialogues, and founder, in 387, of the Academy, in Athens. He was considered one of the most significant thinkers of antiquity. Plato, despite his aristocratic origin and his parents' plans for his political or petic career, devoted his life to philosophy, first as a devoted pupil of Socrates, and later by founding his own school of philosophy, the Academy. Plato held far-reaching views on the creation of the world, which have been preserved in the dialogue Timaeus, while his work the Republic, is perhaps the world's most important political science text.
Plato defined 3 aspects of the psyche--reason, feeling and appetite. He also wrote about the duality of the psyche and the relationship between mind and body. He believed the action of the humors of the body affects one's mental state. Madness and ignorance for Plato were diseases of the mind brought about by the body. He also discussed sense perception. He believed that excessive pain and pleasure are the greatest diseases of the mind. He indicated that people in great joy or great pain cannot reason properly. Hence, sense perception, desire, feeling and appetite are products of the body and are at war with the mind. This is similar to Freud's notions about the id, ego and superego.
Plato also delved into the realms of neuroscience. He believed that the seat of the psyche and its aspects (reason, feeling and appetite) reside in the cerebrospinal marrow. The immortal (rational) aspect has a separate place in the brain; the mortal (irrational) aspects of feeling and appetite are located in the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The heart serves as an advance post of the immortal part when wrong is committed; the heart can be stimulated to anger and these emotions (of anger) can be carried by the blood vessels to all parts of the body. He believed that the blood vessels serve as the means for conveying sensations through the body. He also believed that the psyche itself is immortal, but some of the functions it assumes when connected to the body are not (Watson, p. 59).
Plato used storytelling and literature to illustrate points about the psyche, as did Homer. In his story of the charioteer in Phaedrus, Plato likened the human being to a chariot team.
"[As part of the team] there is a powerful, unrully horse intent on having its own way at all costs (appetite). The other horse is a thoroughbred, spirited but manageable (spirit). On catching sight of his beloved, the charioteer (reason) attempts with some difficulty to direct the two horses toward the goal, which he alone (not they) can comprehend." (Watson, p.62)
This is an illustration of Plato's theory about conflict based on reason,emotion and drive.
Plato also made early contributions to motivational psychology with his delineation of the drive characteristics of the psyche--that drives have a striving toward attainment of a goal and an affective coloring of pleasure and pain.
In Plato's Symposium, he presents a dialogue on the meaning of Eros or love, in which each participant offers their interpretations. He discusses 2 kinds of love: profane and sacred. The first is concerned with the body and the second with the psyche, mind and character. Physical sexual desire is not merely concerned with sex, but a masked deisre for parenthood, an attempt to perpetuate oneself. Plato believed this passion for physical parenthood was the most rudimentary fruition of the good and the eternal. He also believed that only higher love could lead to happiness. For Plato, the love of wisdom is the highest form of love. Love can be equated with life force, as it is akin to the biological will to live and the life energy.
Many scholars have used Plato's notions to draw conclusions about human nature. Freud's notions about the personality being dependent on the id, ego and superego are similar to Plato's 3 aspects of the psyche. Carl Jung's notions about the libido and its general nonspecialized drive character seem to stem from the early drive theories of Plato. Evolutionary psychologists discuss humans' need to reproduce copies of themselves and their gene pool. In the psychology of emotion and social psychology, psychologists have studied and outlined the different forms of love. Personality psychologists define the core form of energy residing in man, most frequently, as "psychic energy." The field of energy medicine discusses the relationship of energy centers in the body to the mental state and nature of humans.
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