The Psychology Book (5 page)

PHILOSO

ROOTS

PSYCHOLOGY

IN THE MAKING

PHICAL

16 INTRODUCTION

René Descartes

Francis Galton’s

publishes
The

Charles Darwin

research suggests

Passions of the Soul
,

Abbé Faria

publishes
On the

that
nurture is

claiming that
the

investigates
hypnosis

Origin of the Species
,

more important

body and soul are

in his book
On the

proposing that all our

than nature
, in

separate
.

Cause of Lucid Sleep
.

traits are inherited.

Hereditary Genius
.

1649

1819

1859

1869

1816

1849

1861

1874

Johann Friedrich Herbart

Søren Kierkegaard’s book

Neurosurgeon
Pierre

Carl Wernicke

describes a dynamic mind

The Sickness Unto Death

Paul Broca
discovers

provides evidence

with
a conscious and an

marks the beginning of

that the left and right

that damage to a

unconscious
in
A Text-book

existentialism
.

hemispheres of the brain

specific area of the

in Psychology
.

have separate functions.

brain causes the loss

of specific skills.

M
any of the issues that many of the questions about the among them Johann Friedrich are examined in modern

world we live in, they were still

Herbart, were to extend the

psychology had been

not capable of explaining the

machine analogy to include

the subject of philosophical debate

workings of our minds. Science and

the brain as well, describing

long before the development of

technology did, however, provide

the processes of the mind as the

science as we know it today. The

models from which we could start

working of the brain-machine.

very earliest philosophers of ancient

asking the right questions, and

The degree to which mind and

Greece sought answers to questions

begin to test theories through the

body are separate became a topic

about the world around us, and the

collection of relevant data.

for debate. Scientists wondered

way we think and behave. Since

how much the mind is formed by

then we have wrestled with ideas

Separating mind and body

physical factors, and how much is

of consciousness and self, mind and

One of the key figures in the

shaped by our environment. The

body, knowledge and perception,

scientific revolution of the 17th

“nature versus nurture” debate,

how to structure society, and how

century, the philosopher and

fueled by British naturalist

to live a “good life.”

mathematician René Descartes,

Charles Darwin’s evolutionary

The various branches of science

outlined a distinction between mind

theory and taken up by Francis

evolved from philosophy, gaining

and body that was to prove critical

Galton, brought subjects such

momentum from the 16th century

to the development of psychology.

as free will, personality,

onward, until finally exploding

He claimed that all human beings

development, and learning to the

into a “scientific revolution,” which

have a dualistic existence—with

fore. These areas had not yet been

ushered in the Age of Reason in the

a separate machinelike body and

fully described by philosophical

18th century. While these advances

a nonmaterial, thinking mind, or

inquiry, and were now ripe

in scientific knowledge answered

soul. Later psychological thinkers,