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ancient psychology

Introduction

Philosophy arose in the era of the replacement of the primitive communal system by a class slave-owning society almost simultaneously both in the East - in Ancient India, Ancient China, and in the West - in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Already during this period, the main problems of psychology were formulated: what are the functions of the soul, what is its content, how does the knowledge of the world take place, what is the regulator of behavior, does a person have the freedom of this regulation.

In the psychology of antiquity, three stages can be conventionally distinguished- the origin and formation of psychology (7-4 centuries BC), the period of classical Greek science (3-2 centuries BC) and the period of Hellenism (2 centuries BC -3-4 centuries .n.e.).

1. The first psychological theories of antiquity

Pythagoras (6th century BC) denied the equality of souls, there is no equality in nature at all. All people have different abilities. He considered it necessary to search for capable people and their special training. The ideas of Pythagoras left their mark on Plato's theory of an ideal society. Pythagoras came to the conclusion that the soul does not die with the body, it develops according to its own laws, its goal is purification (an imprint of the Buddhism idea of karma and reincarnations of the soul).

Heraclitus (6-5 centuries BC) believed that the formation and development of the world, nature and man is carried out according to immutable laws that no one, neither people nor gods, can change. This law is the logos, expressed primarily in the word, and is the force that man calls fate. Heraclitus introduced into psychology the idea of constant development and change, the saying: "Everything flows." He was the first to suggest that there are two stages in the processing of knowledge - sensations and reason. Mind above. Heraclitus believed that the human soul is born, grows and improves, then gradually grows old and finally dies.

Sophists - teachers of wisdom, taught not only philosophy, but also psychology, rhetoric, general culture. Protagoras. Saying: "Man is the measure of all things." He spoke about the relativity and subjectivity of human knowledge, about the blurring of the concepts of good and evil. He attached great importance to oratory.

Democritus (470-370 BC). The book "Great Worldbuilding". Man, like all surrounding nature, consists of atoms that form his body and soul. Breathing is one of the most important processes for life, the atoms of the soul are constantly renewed in it, which ensures mental and somatic health. The soul is mortal. After the death of the body, the soul dissipates in the air. The soul resides in several parts of the body. Theory of outflows: theory of knowledge. The contact of 8YD0LY (copies of surrounding objects invisible to the eye) with the atoms of the soul is the basis of sensation, in this way a person learns the properties of surrounding objects. All our sensations are contact. The theory of outflows explained the phenomena of perception. In the theory of Democritus, there are two stages in the cognitive process - sensations and thinking, which arise simultaneously and develop in parallel. Moreover, thinking will give us more knowledge than sensations. Democritus introduced the concept of primary and secondary qualities of objects. Primary - these are the qualities that really exist in objects: mass, surface texture, shape. Secondary qualities are color, smell, taste, they were invented by people for their convenience. Democritus argued that there are no accidents in the world, everything happens for a predetermined reason. Education was considered difficult.

Hippocrates (460-370 BC) Developed a well-known doctrine of temperaments based on a combination of four types of fluid and the body: blood, mucus, black bile and yellow bile. He was the first to talk about the individual differences of a person.

2. Classical period of ancient psychology

Socrates (469-399 BC) first approached the soul as the source of reason and morality. Knowing the difference between good and evil, a person begins to know himself. Quote: "Know thyself." He believed that there is absolute knowledge, absolute truth, which a person in his reflection can know and convey to others. For the first time he connected the thought process with the word. Against the opinion that man is the measure of all things. Socrates was one of the first to raise the issue of the need to develop a method by which one can help actualize the knowledge that is already embedded in the human soul. This is the method of Socratic conversation, his famous dialectic, which was based on the dialogue developed by Socrates. He never presented his interlocutor with knowledge in its final form, believing that the most important thing is to lead a person to an independent discovery of the truth.

Plato (428-348 BC) was born into a noble Athenian family, an excellent gymnast, poet, traveled, was sold into slavery, ransomed. He founded his own school called the Academy. Plato arrived at objective idealism. He singled out being - the soul and non-being - matter, which is nothing without a soul. The idea, or soul, is permanent, unchanging, and immortal. The soul is the guardian of reason and morality. The soul consists of three parts - lusty, passionate and rational. The lusty and passionate parts of the soul must obey the rational, which alone can make behavior moral. Plato for the first time presented the soul as a certain structure, formulated a position on the internal conflict of the soul. Exploring cognitive processes, Plato considered several stages in the formation of knowledge, speaking of sensation, memory and thinking. Thinking is active, while rubbing and sensations are passive. Plato considered knowledge as a remembrance, awareness of the old, of what was already stored in the soul. A person has the opportunity to penetrate into the true essence of things and it is associated with intuitive thinking, with penetration into the depths of the soul, which stores true knowledge. They are revealed to a person immediately, entirely, and this instant process is to some extent similar to insight (enlightenment), which was later described by Gestalt psychology. Saying: "In vain, artist, you think that you are the creator of your creations, they have always hovered over the earth, invisible to the eye." The identity of the creator is insignificant. Limit the role of art. He paid attention to the study of individual inclinations and abilities, professional suitability.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek scientist. Work "About the Soul". Born into a family of doctors and himself received a medical education. In Athens he studied philosophy at the school of Plato. He was a mentor to the son of Alexander the Great. He created his own school-lyceum, which existed for 6 centuries. He believed that the separation of soul and body is an impossible and senseless act. The soul is a form of realization of a body capable of life, cannot exist without a body and is not a body.

There are three types of soul: plant (capable of reproduction and nutrition), animal (has four more functions: aspiration, movement, sensation and memory), rational (only in humans, has the ability to think). For the first time he proposed the idea of genesis, development - the transition from one form of life to another, namely from the plant to the animal world and to man. Conclusion: plant and animal souls are mortal, i.e. appears and disappears simultaneously with the body. The rational soul is not material and immortal. Introduced the concept of nous - the universal mind. Mus serves as a repository of the rational part of a person's soul after his death. In a newborn, knowledge is not realized, but is actualized in the process of learning or reasoning (Plato, Socrates). The new generation of people adds something of their own, i.e. it is forever changing. Introduced the concept of common sensibility and association. At the stage of knowledge processing in a common sensory area, modal sensations (color, taste, smell, etc.) are isolated, and then they are stored and the images of objects are combined into their primary systems. He singled out two types of thinking: logical and intuitive. Intuitive - actualization of the knowledge that a person has (Plato). He made a distinction between reason - practical (aimed at directing behavior) and theoretical (accumulation of knowledge). Regulation of behavior can be carried out emotionally and by reason.

psychology thinking temperament hellenism

3. Psychological concepts of Hellenism

The school of cynics proceeded from the fact that each person is self-sufficient, i.e. has the essentials for spiritual life in itself. The only path for moral self-improvement is the path to oneself, the path that limits contacts and dependence on the outside world. Therefore, they refused comfort, the benefits that society gives, wandered.

School of Epicurus ("Garden of Epicurus"). An inscription was placed on its gate: "Wanderer, you will feel good here, here pleasure is the highest good." The Epicurians believed that everything that causes pleasant feelings is moral. They lacked the criteria of good and evil. A follower of Epicurus, Lucretius, believed that all our delusions are from incorrect generalizations, from the mind, while the senses give us absolutely correct information, which we cannot always dispose of correctly. Not reason, but feelings control behavior.

Stoics. They talked about internal independence, autonomy, obedience to laws, fulfillment of role duties (Seneca, Cato, Cicero, Brutus, Emperor Marcus Aurelius). We studied the process of cognition, which was reflected in the understanding of the soul. The Stoics identified 8 parts of the soul, of which only one is not associated with the process of cognition, but is responsible for the continuation of the family. One of the main postulates of this school was that a person cannot be absolutely free, since he lives according to the laws of the world he enters. They argued that man is only an actor in the play that fate has given him. The concept of the Stoics was based on the faith of man, in the power of his mind. The only limitation for freedom and moral self-improvement of a person are affects.

Literature

1. R.V. Petrunnikova, I.I. Hare, I.I. Akhremenko. History of psychology - Minsk.: Izd-vo MIU, 2009

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The first psychological theories of antiquity

Pythagoras (6th century BC) denied the equality of souls, there is no equality in nature at all. All people have different abilities. He considered it necessary to search for capable people and their special needs. The ideas of Pythagoras left their mark on Plato's theory of an ideal society. Pythagoras came to the conclusion that the soul does not die with the body, it develops according to its own laws, its goal is purification (an imprint of the idea of karma and reincarnations of the soul).

Heraclitus (6-5 centuries BC) believed that the formation and development of the world, nature and man is carried out according to immutable laws that no one, neither people nor gods, can change. This law is the logos, expressed primarily in the word, and is the force that man calls fate. Heraclitus introduced into psychology the idea of constant development and change, the saying: "Everything flows." For the first time he suggested that there are two stages in the processing of knowledge - and the mind. Mind above. Heraclitus believed that the human soul is born, grows and improves, then gradually grows old and finally dies.

Sophists - teachers of wisdom, taught not only philosophy, but also psychology, rhetoric, general culture. Protagoras. Saying: "there is a measure of all things." He spoke about the relativity and subjectivity of human knowledge, about the blurring of the concepts of good and evil. He attached great importance to oratory.

Democritus (470-370 BC). The book "Great Worldbuilding". Man, like all surrounding nature, consists of atoms that form his body and soul. Breathing is one of the most important processes for life, the atoms of the soul are constantly updated in it, which provides mental and somatic. The soul is mortal. After the death of the body, the soul dissipates in the air. The soul resides in several parts of the body. Theory of outflows: theory of knowledge. The contact of 8YD0LY (copies of surrounding objects invisible to the eye) with the atoms of the soul is the basis of sensation, in this way a person learns the properties of surrounding objects. All our sensations are contact. The theory of outflows explained the phenomena of perception. In the theory of Democritus, there are two stages in the cognitive process - and which arise simultaneously and develop in parallel. Moreover, thinking will give us more knowledge than sensations. Democritus introduced the concept of primary and secondary qualities of objects. Primary - these are the qualities that really exist in objects: mass, surface texture, shape. Secondary qualities are color, smell, taste, they were invented by people for their convenience. Democritus argued that there are no accidents in the world, everything happens for a predetermined reason. considered it difficult.

Hippocrates (460-370 BC) Developed a well-known doctrine of, based on a combination of four types of fluid and the body: mucus, black bile and yellow bile. He was the first to speak of a man.

Classical period of ancient psychology

There are three types of soul: plant (capable of reproduction and nutrition), animal (has four more functions: aspiration, movement, sensation and memory), rational (only in humans, has the ability to think). For the first time he proposed the idea of genesis, development - the transition from one form of life to another, namely from the plant to the animal world and to man. Conclusion: plant and animal souls are mortal, i.e. appears and disappears simultaneously with the body. The rational soul is not material and immortal. Introduced the concept of nous - the universal mind. Mus serves as a repository of the rational part of a person's soul after his death. In a newborn, knowledge is not realized, but is actualized in the process of learning or reasoning (Plato, Socrates). The new generation of people adds something of their own, i.e. it is forever changing. Introduced the concept of common sensibility and association. At the stage of knowledge processing in a common sensory area, modal sensations (color, taste, smell, etc.) are isolated, and then they are stored and the images of objects are combined into their primary systems. He singled out two types of thinking: logical and intuitive. Intuitive - actualization of the knowledge that a person has (Plato). He made a distinction between reason - practical (aimed at guiding behavior) and theoretical (accumulation of knowledge). Regulation of behavior can be carried out emotionally and by reason.

Psychological concepts of Hellenism

Stoics. They talked about internal independence, autonomy, obedience to laws, fulfillment of role duties (Seneca, Cato, Cicero, Brutus, Emperor Marcus Aurelius). We studied the process of cognition, which was reflected in the understanding of the soul. The Stoics identified 8 parts of the soul, of which only one is not associated with the process of cognition, but is responsible for the continuation of the family. One of the main postulates of this school was that a person cannot be absolutely free, since he lives according to the laws of the world he enters. They argued that man is only an actor in the play that fate has given him. The concept of the Stoics was based on man, on the power of his mind. The only limitation for freedom and moral self-improvement of a person are affects.

As already mentioned, the first psychological theories appeared at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC. They were developed by scientists who belonged to the well-known philosophical schools of that time - Milesian and Elean. Thales, one of the leading scientists of the Milesian school, believed that the fundamental principle of the world, and therefore of man, that is, his soul, is water, without which there is no life. His followers - Anaximander and Anaximenes, sharing the view of Thales that what is, the fundamental principle is a material substance, attached more importance to air, considering it to be its eternally living and changing basis.

In these first psychological concepts, the soul was considered mainly as a source of activity, energy, while other functions of the soul, including the most important questions of cognition and regulation of behavior for subsequent scientists, have not yet been studied.

One of the first to speak about the purpose of the soul and its various properties Pythagoras(VI century BC) - not only a famous mathematician, but also a philosopher and psychologist. Pythagoras became the founder of one of the most significant scientific schools of that time, which was built more on the principle of a secret lodge than a scientific school. Its goal was the formation of such a group of people ("scientific aristocracy", as Pythagoras himself called it), which could take responsibility for society, directing its development and eliminating its shortcomings. Pythagoras denied the equality of souls, believing that there is no equality in nature at all. In the same way, it is not among people, of whom some are more capable and active, while others are less capable and inclined to obedience. These differences, Pythagoras emphasized, are not hereditary, therefore, in the most aristocratic and wealthy family, a person incapable of governing can be born. Based on this, he considered it necessary to search for such capable people and their special training. Opposition to these ideas, both on the part of Greek democracy and on the part of aristocrats, led to the fact that the school of Pythagoras and his followers was persecuted and took the form of a closed party, with initiations and oaths of allegiance. The ideas of Pythagoras about the need to form a class of rulers from the most wise and enlightened people left their mark on Plato's theory of an ideal society.

Pythagoras was also the first to come to the conclusion that the soul cannot die with the body of a particular person, that it must develop according to its own laws, in accordance with its purpose. He considered purification as this goal, that is, the soul in the process of its life (its own, not the body) should become more and more perfect and pure. His concept was influenced by the ideas of Buddhism about karma and the reincarnations of the soul, as well as the Orphic religion, which believed that after the death of the body, the soul moves to another body, depending on the moral assessment of its existence.

Pythagoras, as an evaluation criterion, chose the correspondence of an object (including a person) to strict mathematical laws - harmony, parity, etc. Thus, for the first time in psychology, the idea appeared that the world of mathematics, the world of perfect geometric and logical formulas, is more important and objective than the world of real objects. The essence of objects here is evaluated not by purpose, but by their numerical expression, and the more perfect it is, the more perfect the object itself. Such an understanding of the essence of a number is perfectly expressed in a poem by N. Gumilyov: “... a smart number conveys all shades of meaning ...” So the goal is set for reality - to become as perfect as an ideal logical world. So far, we are not talking about the fact that it is the ideal world that is primary, that it gave rise to the world of real objects, but the prerequisites for these views are already laid down in the theory of Pythagoras.

However, while exploring the functions of the soul and its purpose, Pythagoras and his school did not yet ask themselves the question of how a person cognizes the world, a question that will become one of the main ones for psychological science. Among the first to study the process of cognition by analyzing the stages of knowledge processing began the Greek scientist Heraclitus(VI-V centuries BC).

Heraclitus believed that the formation and development of the world, nature and man is carried out according to immutable laws that no one, neither people nor gods, can change. This law is the Logos, expressed primarily in the word, and is the force that man calls fate. The fundamental principle of all things is fire, which, through condensation, turns into air, water and earth. Logos determines the direction and time of these transformations, which form the basis of the world year (by analogy with the seasons). Therefore, as winter gives way to spring, and summer to autumn, so the flourishing of society is replaced by its decline and the emergence of a new society. This theory of the world year of Heraclitus gained particular popularity in moments of social crises, which, for example, Roman historians explained on the basis of this theory.

In the same way, a person and his soul change. Therefore, according to Heraclitus, it is possible to investigate the patterns of the life of the soul, its development and extinction. Along with Anaxagoras' theory of determinism, the idea of the Logos expressed by Heraclitus opened up new possibilities for the scientific study of the psyche.

Of great importance is the fact that Heraclitus introduced the idea of constant development and change into psychology. His famous saying “everything flows” later became one of the most important provisions not only for philosophical dialectics, but also for theories of consciousness, for example, for theories stream of consciousness James. Heraclitus also believed that everything moves and changes and there is no unambiguous assessment for the surrounding things, for the world as a whole. Thus, gold, which is very important for a man, is of no value to a donkey who prefers hay to it. This idea of the subjectivity of evaluation subsequently became one of the reasons for the denial of the possibility of knowing the world by subsequent psychologists, such as Democritus. Heraclitus, however, considered such subjectivism and variability to be completely natural and arising from the Logos, from the laws of nature, and did not oppose their ability to understand the world.

He was also the first to suggest that there are two stages in the processing of knowledge - sensations and reason. At the same time, the mind is able to comprehend more general and invisible things, for example, the Logos, the essence of things. Therefore, the mind is higher than the sensations.

He transferred his understanding of the development of the world to the development of the soul. He believed that the human soul is born, grows and improves, then gradually grows old and, finally, dies. Making a comparison between the soul and fire (the fundamental principle of the world), Heraclitus measured the degree of perfection and maturity of the soul according to the degree of its fieryness. So, the soul of a child is still damp, damp, gradually it dries up, becomes more and more fiery, mature, capable of clear and clear thinking. In old age, the soul is again gradually saturated with moisture, becomes damp, and the person begins to think badly and slowly. Thus, Heraclitus not only spoke for the first time about the development of the soul, but also connected this development with thinking, identifying mental development with the development of the intellect. Such an approach was later characteristic of many psychological theories, in which the intellect, knowledge of the world, was considered as the main function of the mental. This made it possible already in the 19th century. W. Wundt to accuse psychology of intellectualism.

By the 4th century BC e. in Greek society, there was an urgent need for teachers who could teach people who held high political positions in the elected Greek republics, but did not have a good primary education. At the same time, it was important to teach them not so much the rudiments of knowledge (literacy, arithmetic), but the art of expressing one's thoughts, thinking logically and convincing others. Teachers - mostly philosophers - taught not only philosophy, but also psychology, rhetoric, i.e. common culture, wisdom, therefore they were called "teachers of wisdom" - sophists.

The most famous representatives of this school were Protagoras(c. 481-410 BC) and his student Gorgias(c. 483-375 BC). From their point of view, the ability to reason develops the ability to prove any truth, as well as to refute any judgment. For their speeches, in which they publicly demonstrated this ability, and for the lessons, the sophists began to receive significant amounts of money, which distinguished them from most other scientists. We can say that their activities marked the beginning of paid education in science.

The ability to avoid a direct answer and give several ways to solve the same problem is called sophistry. Proving the importance of the personal opinion of a particular person and its priority over other beliefs, Protagoras expressed the famous saying: "Man is the measure of all things." Proceeding from this, he spoke about the relativity and subjectivity of human knowledge, the impossibility of developing common concepts for all, including the concepts of good and evil, since what is good from the point of view of one person, another can evaluate as evil.

At the same time, Protagoras said that from the point of view of society, there are concepts of good and evil, good and bad behavior. It was he who first raised the question of whether it is possible, by systematically influencing a person in personal communication, to make him better in the moral sense, to help him overcome the difficulties of life. At the same time, the purpose of such an impact was not only the improvement of a person in terms of objective criteria of morality, but also the search for optimal ways to adapt to the social conditions in which a person lives. From the point of view of Protagoras, the natural development of the child's soul, without a purposeful social impact on him, cannot help him in such socialization. So, already in ancient Greece, the question was first raised about what conditions are optimal for the formation of a socially active and adapted personality. Protagoras came to the conclusion that from the point of view of social adaptation, the most important thing is external influence, which consists in teaching people how to influence others. Under the conditions of Greek democracy, one of the significant conditions for such an impact was just oratory, the ability to captivate people with a word and convince them of the correctness of their own point of view. Therefore, it was precisely the teaching of the techniques of oratory that Protagoras considered the main thing in the lessons that the sophists gave. This point of view was shared by many scientists of ancient Greece and Rome, and therefore the possession of oratory was considered one of the main criteria for giftedness. The ability for eloquence made it possible to participate more actively in public life, helped to achieve a higher status place. Therefore, Protagoras believed that through learning and exercise, a person can become more moral and more civic.

The views of the first Greek psychologists on certain psychological issues were analyzed and systematized in the theory of the famous Greek philosopher and psychologist Democritus(470-370 BC). He was born in the city of Abdera, in northern Greece, into a noble and wealthy family. His parents tried to give him the best education, but Democritus himself found it necessary to undertake several long journeys in order to gain knowledge not only in Greece, but also in other countries, primarily in Egypt, Persia and India. On these trips, he spent almost all the money left to him by his parents, and therefore, when he returned to his homeland, his fellow citizens considered him guilty of embezzlement and appointed a court session at which Democritus had to justify his behavior or leave his home forever. Proving the usefulness of his knowledge, Democritus read to the people's assembly the main provisions of his book "The Great World Construction", which, according to many contemporaries, was his best work. The strength of Democritus's conviction and understanding of the importance of science were so great that fellow citizens recognized his innocence and considered that the money was well spent by him. Not only was he acquitted, but he was awarded 500 Talans (a very large sum of money at the time) and copper statues were erected in his honour. The stories about him testify to his deep worldly wisdom, observation and extensive knowledge, it was not for nothing that fellow citizens turned to him for advice in difficult situations. Traveling not only gave Democritus the opportunity to obtain a variety of knowledge, but also showed their relativity and subjectivity. Perhaps due to this, he became the first author of the theory of the primary and secondary qualities of things, which, as will be shown below, proves the subjectivity and incompleteness of our knowledge about the world. Purposefulness and immersion in scientific research helped Democritus create one of the first complex psychological theories, in which all the important questions for psychology were analyzed for the first time - about the soul, cognition, free will and regulation of behavior. At the same time, it is possible that it was precisely these qualities that did not allow him to create his own school (Democritus is one of the few outstanding scientists of that time who did not have direct students).

The erudition of Democritus was also manifested in his writings, which, unfortunately, have come down to us only in fragments. The wanderings, which were initially blamed on him, allowed Democritus to become the first systematizer of knowledge accumulated in various psychological and philosophical systems of that time. The foundation of his theory is the atomistic concept, the foundations of which were developed by the teacher Democritus Leucippus. According to this view, the whole world consists of the smallest, invisible particles - atoms. Democritus explains the whole variety of properties and objects of nature, the surrounding world and people by the fact that atoms differ from each other in shape, they can be differently oriented in space and are connected to each other in different combinations.

According to Democritus, man, like all the surrounding nature, consists of atoms that form his body and soul. At the same time, the soul, which, as in the previous teachings, is the cause of the activity of the body, is built from small round atoms, the most mobile, since they must give movement to an inert body. Thus, from the point of view of Democritus, such a structure of the soul can ensure the fulfillment of its most important function - the source of energy for the body.

Small round atoms form the basis not only of the soul, but also of air. They are scattered throughout space, falling into the body of a living being when inhaled. When exhaling, part of the soul's atoms flies out of the body, dissolving in the air. Therefore, breathing is one of the most important processes for life, the atoms of the soul are constantly renewed in it, which ensures mental and somatic health. Thus, echoes of Indian philosophy, gleaned by Democritus in his travels, appear again in Greek psychology. After the death of a person, the body can no longer serve as a shell for these atoms, and the soul is scattered in the air, and therefore the soul is also mortal.

The soul is not only in humans, but in all living beings. Moreover, the difference between man, animals and lower forms of life is not qualitative (after all, the structure of the soul is the same for everyone - these are small round atoms), but quantitative - a person has more atoms of the soul than animals.

This quantitative rather than qualitative approach to explaining the differences is characteristic both of the theory of knowledge of Democritus and of the entire first period in the development of ancient psychology, in which, as noted above, the fact that the laws that determine human life are not questioned was not questioned. the same as for the rest of nature. This is the same Logos about which Heraclitus wrote that “even the sun cannot violate the Logos”, even the gods are subject to its laws, and even more so man and his environment, both social and natural.

Democritus believed that the soul is located in several parts of the body - in the head (reasonable part), chest (masculine part), liver (lustful part) and in the senses. At the same time, in the sense organs, the atoms of the soul are very close to the surface and can come into contact with microscopic copies of surrounding objects that are not visible to the eye. (idols), which are carried in the air, getting into the senses.

These copies are separated (expire) from all objects of the external world, and therefore this theory of knowledge is called theory of outflows . The contact of the eidola with the atoms of the soul is the basis of sensation, it is in this way that a person learns the properties of surrounding objects. At the same time, all our sensations (including visual and auditory) are contact, since sensation cannot occur without direct contact of the eidola with the atoms of the soul. Eidols can get not only into the sense organs, but also into other parts of the body - then our sensations are wrong, they deceive us. So, according to Democritus, illusions and errors of perception arise. The fact that eidols can be blown far away from the object of which they are copies explains, he suggested, the cause of mirages when we see objects that are not in reality. Dreams are also associated with eidols that fall to a person during his sleep. Thus, the theory of outflows of Democritus explained at the level of science of that time almost all the phenomena of perception, which modern psychology also speaks of.

Summarizing the data of several sense organs, a person builds a picture of the world, moving to the next level - the conceptual one, which is the result of the activity of thinking. Thus, in the theory of Democritus, there are two stages in the cognitive process - sensations and thinking, which arise simultaneously and develop in parallel. At the same time, he emphasized that thinking gives us more knowledge than sensations. Thus, sensations do not allow us to see atoms, but through reflection we come to the conclusion about their existence, i.e., larger objects can be known through sensation, and smaller ones through thinking. In other words, as in the understanding of the soul, the difference between different types of knowledge is quantitative, but not qualitative. The theory of outflows (albeit with some modifications) was recognized as the basis for the formation of our sensory knowledge about the objective world by all the materialists of ancient Greece.

Democritus also introduced the concept of primary and secondary qualities of objects. Primary - these are the qualities that really exist in objects: mass, surface texture (smooth or rough), shape. Secondary qualities are color, smell, taste. The listed properties are not in objects, they were invented by people for their own convenience, since “only in opinion there is sour and sweet, red and green, but in reality there is only emptiness and atoms,” wrote Democritus. Thus, for the first time he said that a person cannot quite correctly, adequately know the world around him, and in order to compensate for his ignorance, he comes up with some properties for different objects. At the same time, Democritus emphasized that this is not an empty fantasy, although secondary qualities are subjective (what seems too sweet to one, for example, may seem sour to another, etc.), but are based on a combination of several primary qualities.

Subsequently, the idea that based on the generalization of the data of our senses, we cannot fully and adequately know the world around us, began to dominate the theory of knowledge of almost all sensationalists. The concept of two types of qualities, expressed by Democritus, acquired a more complete form in D. Locke, who added a third to the two types of qualities, which made it even more difficult to correctly understand the world.

Democritus' views on the role of emotions in this process had a strong influence on the development of the theory of behavior regulation. He believed that it is emotions that guide behavior, since a person (and any other living being) strives for what brings pleasure, avoiding what brings displeasure, suffering. Subsequently, these views of Democritus were developed by Epicurus in theories hedonism (pleasure), in which it was proved that human behavior is stimulated and directed by the objects of the surrounding world, causing him certain emotional experiences. Democritus himself wrote that emotions only regulate activity, but it is directed by a universal law, the Logos.

The inability to fully understand the surrounding reality also applies to the understanding of the laws that govern the world and the fate of man. Democritus argued that there are no accidents in the world and everything happens for a predetermined reason. He wrote that people came up with a case to cover up ignorance of the matter and inability to manage. In fact, there are no accidents and everything is causally conditioned. This approach is called universal determinism , and the recognition of the necessity of all events taking place in the world gives rise to a fatalistic tendency in the understanding of human life, denies the free will of man. Critics of Democritus, analyzing these views, emphasized that with such an understanding it is impossible not only to control one's own behavior, but also to evaluate the actions of people, since they depend not on their moral principles, but on fate. These views of Democritus were especially negatively evaluated from the point of view of the development of human morality, since in the event that everything is conditioned, it is impossible to influence a person’s behavior, just as it is impossible to judge or praise him. Socrates and Plato, considering such a deterministic approach from the point of view of ethics, said that one cannot judge a person who stole, if we assume that he acted on the basis of his natural and natural emotions in a certain situation (for example, he wanted to eat, but money for there was no food), and the situation in which he could steal the money he needed was set from the very beginning, laid down in his fate.

At the same time, Democritus himself sought to combine a fatalistic approach to fate with human activity in choosing moral criteria for behavior. He wrote that moral principles are not given to a person from birth, but are the result of upbringing, so people become good through exercise, and not nature. Education, according to Democritus, should teach a person to think well, speak well and do well. He also wrote that people who have grown up in ignorance are like a person who dances between swords placed upside down. They die if they don't hit the only place where they should put their feet when jumping. So ignorant people, evading following the right example, usually perish. Democritus himself considered education such a difficult matter that he deliberately refused marriage and did not want to have children, because he believed that many troubles come from them; while in case of success, the latter is acquired at the cost of great labor and care, in case of failure, grief is incomparable with any other.

However, the desire to combine the idea of human activity with the principle of universal determinism, universal conditioning, including conditioning and all human actions, both good and bad, remained the bottleneck in the theory of Democritus (especially in the era of Hellenism, when ethical issues were one of the central for psychology and philosophy). Numerous attempts followed to revise this part of the theory of Democritus, which, in particular, was done by Epicurus. However, the theory itself remained the leading materialist concept for six centuries.

Of great importance for the development of psychology were the concepts of the psyche developed by doctors, primarily in medical school. Hippocrates(c. 460 - c. 370 BC). He collected and systematized, like Democritus in psychology and philosophy, almost all scientific views on medicine of his and previous time. The main thing that Hippocrates defended was the empirical nature of medical knowledge. He argued that it cannot be built without experimental research, on the basis of reasoning alone, that the abstract concepts of cold or warm, good or bad are not applicable to medicine. There is no concept of warmth in general, there are more or less warm or cold substances that bring benefit or harm to a sick person in different situations. So the dialectical approach to concepts, laid down by Heraclitus, was reflected in the medical and psychological works of Hippocrates.

Another idea of Heraclitus, used by Hippocrates in his works, was the idea of four principles that make up the environment. Although he considered air to be the leading life force that provides a connection between a person and the environment, making it possible to breathe, the basis of the person himself, his bodily organization, is humoral, liquid. Proceeding from this, Hippocrates developed his well-known doctrine of temperaments, based on a combination of four types of fluid in the body - blood, mucus, black bile and yellow bile. As Hippocrates believed, "the nature of the body consists of them, and through them it both gets sick and is healthy."

An important point in his theory was the concept of measure, which he considered leading in empirical medicine, proving that, although there is no abstract concept of measure, an experienced doctor who can observe can derive this measure in each case and for each patient. The concept of measure (crasis) became the main one in the concept of temperament, while it was believed that deviation from the norm, violation (acrasia) of the combination of four types of liquid leads to vivid manifestations of one or another temperament.

Studying the manifestations of temperament, Hippocrates raised the question of its connection with the way of life of a person, understood in the broadest sense - from food and drink to natural conditions and communication features. Thus, in the teachings of Hippocrates, for the first time, thoughts appeared about differentiation, the diversity of individual variations of the general concept Human. Therefore, to a certain extent, we can say that Hippocrates was the first psychologist who spoke about individual differences, about differential psychology.

Leading psychological theories of antiquity (classical period)

A fundamentally new approach to the human psyche began to take shape in the 3rd century BC. BC, more precisely, from the appearance of the theories of Socrates and Plato.

Socrates(469-399 BC) for the first time questioned the truth of the former point of view on a person, considering him only as one of the links in the chain of universal laws, and argued that nothing is more important than the study of a person, his soul cannot be . He also believed that natural laws cannot be fully extended to a person who is subject to other laws, the laws of reason.

Most scholars who have analyzed Socrates' views have emphasized that the success of his views cannot be understood in isolation from his personality. Literally all memories of him speak of the unusually strong impact of Socrates on those around him. He was born in the capital of Greece, Athens. Having received the usual primary education for that time, Socrates became a warrior, participated in several battles and showed himself to be a brave and hardy soldier. Although the military art itself did not interest him, he considered it his duty to participate in those undertakings that were recognized as important and obligatory for all by the laws of Athens. The same attitude subsequently became characteristic of him in other areas of public life, including his behavior in court. In military campaigns, for the first time, Socrates' ability to completely immerse himself in his thoughts, not paying attention to his surroundings, as well as his special way of talking, helping the interlocutor to come to a certain opinion, manifested itself.

Upon returning to his homeland, he took an active part in the cultural and political life of Athens, where at that time the most common philosophical school was sophistry, with representatives of which Socrates argued. At the same time, he did not always agree with the opinion of the majority in the national assembly and in the jury, which required considerable courage, especially during the reign of the "thirty tyrants." Socrates considered his disagreement with the majority the result of the fact that he always strived for the observance of laws and justice, which the majority of people often do not care about. His unusual appearance, the desire for active communication and the ability to influence listeners attracted people to him. He had many students from all walks of life who followed him and sought to understand and continue his teachings. However, the rejection of his views by most of his fellow citizens, his rejection of money for education, an open position and the dialogic nature of the learning process led to the fact that in 399 BC. e. he was accused of disrespecting the gods and corrupting youth and sentenced to death by a court of law by 361 votes out of 500. Socrates courageously accepted the sentence by drinking poison, although many students sought to save him by arranging an escape from Athens. The worthy behavior of Socrates at the trial, as well as his death, contributed to the wide dissemination of his views, since it proved that Socrates' life was inseparable from his theoretical ethical views. One of his students later wrote that just as others create music with their musical instruments, so Socrates created a melody from his personality, his life.

Socrates did not write down his reasoning, believing that only oral communication in a live conversation leads to the desired result - the self-improvement of a person, in whose education he singled out two stages: the study of ethics and the study of special practical life issues. We know about his views from three main sources - the comedies of Aristophanes, the memoirs of Xenophon and the writings of Plato.

All authors emphasize that it was Socrates who first approached the soul primarily as a source of human reason and morality, and not as a source of body activity, which was accepted before him in the theories of Heraclitus and Democritus. Socrates said that the soul is the mental quality of the individual, characteristic of him as a rational being, acting in accordance with moral ideals. Such an approach to the soul could not proceed from the idea of its materiality, and therefore, simultaneously with the emergence of a view on the connection of the soul with morality, a new, idealistic view of it arose, which was later developed by Plato, a student of Socrates.

Socrates associated morality with human behavior, saying that this is a good realized in people's actions. However, in order to evaluate this or that act as moral, one must first know what good is. Therefore, Socrates was forced to connect morality with reason, emphasizing that virtue consists in the knowledge of good and in action in accordance with this knowledge. For example, a brave person is one who knows how to behave in danger, and acts according to his knowledge. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to show people the difference between good and bad, and then evaluate their behavior.

Knowing the difference between good and evil, a person begins to know himself. Thus, Socrates came to the most important position of his theory, to the transfer of research interest from the surrounding reality to the person, expressed in the famous saying of Socrates: "Know thyself."

One of the most important provisions of Socrates was the idea that there is absolute knowledge, absolute truth, which a person in his reflection on the nature of things can know and convey to others. The importance of this thought is explained by the sharp polemic between Socrates and the sophists, who denied the existence of an absolute truth for all, emphasizing the relativity of our ideas about the world, good and evil. Against the position of the sophists about the subjectivity and relativity of truth, their opinion that "man is the measure of all things," Socrates spoke out. In his theory, in the developed concepts of knowledge and ethics, he sought to prove that in any knowledge, despite its relativity, there is a grain of truth common to all, especially moral truth.

Proving that such absolute knowledge not only exists, but can also be transmitted from one person to another, Socrates was one of the first in psychology to turn to speech, arguing that the truth is fixed in general concepts, in words, and in this form is transmitted from generation to generation. . Thus, for the first time, he connected the thought process with the word. Later, this position was developed by his student Plato, who identified thinking and inner speech.

Socrates argued that knowledge is the concept of a subject. The attainment of knowledge is a definite action having a particular goal. However, there is a common goal for all knowledge - the understanding of the highest good, which is also the highest truth. The ultimate source of all actions is the formation and development of the mind itself, which, in turn, develops new general concepts.

However, although absolute knowledge exists objectively, it cannot be given to a person in finished form. It is impossible not only to transfer ready-made knowledge, but also to transfer attitudes towards it, ethical norms and concepts of morality and virtue. These feelings can only be developed from those germs that are in the soul of everyone, i.e., according to Socrates, the truth exists in the human soul from birth, although the mind is not aware of this. Moreover, the person himself must develop this knowledge that exists in the soul, and the interlocutor (teacher) only helps him in this process. In fact, we are talking about the fact that unconscious knowledge, which until a certain time dormant in the soul, must be made conscious, and therefore actively and consciously controlling behavior.

Actualization of innate knowledge is possible under the influence of an internal need for this knowledge or external motivation. Such an external motivation can be the perception of some thing, or maybe learning. Socrates, one of the first psychologists, raised the question of the need to develop a method by which one can help actualize the knowledge that is already embedded in the human soul. He believed that such a method is based on a dialogue between a teacher and a student, in which the teacher directs the flow of the student's thoughts, helping him to realize the knowledge necessary to solve a specific problem.

This method, discovered by Socrates and applied by him in his reflections, his famous dialectics , called the method of Socratic conversation. It was based on the dialogue developed by Socrates, based on the method of "suggestive reflections", with the help of which the student is brought to a certain knowledge. Socrates never presented his interlocutor with knowledge in its final form, believing that the most important thing is to lead a person to an independent discovery of the truth. Leading questions should help him in this process, with which Socrates gradually led his listeners to the necessary conclusions. Introducing the concept of a hypothesis, he showed in a conversation how an incorrect assumption gives rise to contradictions and, consequently, the need to put forward another hypothesis leading to the truth. The main discovery, to which Socrates led his interlocutors, was that the universal, the absolute is in the mind and only from it should be derived. Socrates himself said about himself that he is an "obstetrician of thought", helping a person himself to come to the right idea, find, "give birth" to it in his own soul.

In fact, this was the first attempt to develop a problem-based learning technology, since a certain problem was posed to the student in the form of a question-statement, and then they helped to prove this statement (or refute it), leading to the correct answer with a system of questions that help build an algorithm for solving this problem.

Thus, Socrates laid the foundations for a new understanding of the soul and knowledge, linking the soul not with activity, but with the mind and morality of man. This opened the way to Plato's theory of objective idealism.

Plato(428-348 BC) was born into a noble Athenian family, his versatile abilities began to manifest themselves very early and served as the basis for many legends, the most common of which ascribes divine origin to him, making him the son of Apollo. Plato was an excellent gymnast, possessed an undoubted poetic gift, his philosophical works are written in good literary language, they contain many artistic descriptions and metaphors. However, the passion for philosophy, the ideas of his teacher Socrates alienated Plato from his original intention to devote his life to poetry. Plato carried loyalty to philosophy and his mentor through his whole life. After the tragic death of Socrates, Plato left Athens, swearing an oath never to enter this city again, which condemned the outstanding scientist to death.

His travels lasted about 10 years and ended tragically - he was sold into slavery by the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius, who at first called on Plato to help him build an ideal state. However, disappointed in knowledge and in the philosopher himself, fearing his growing popularity, Dionysius ordered his courtiers to expel Plato from the island and sell him into slavery. His friends, having learned about this, collected the amount necessary for the ransom, but Plato had already been redeemed by this time. Then the collected money was handed over to Plato, and he bought a plot of land on the northwestern outskirts of Athens (which were not officially part of the city, and therefore, entering this territory, he did not violate his oath) and founded his school there, which he called Academy named after the hero and patron of this area Academ. Tragic events in the life of Plato left a serious imprint on his views; as V. Solovyov wrote, his "abandoned" idealism, in which the ideal world was sharply opposed to ethically imperfect, bad reality, appears precisely at this time. In the works of Plato, written in those years, the lower and higher parts of the soul are in constant conflict with each other, and the victory of the mind is not final. At the same time, thoughts about the imperfection of human cognition appeared in his theory, which most often cognizes only the shadows of real truths.

Already in his advanced years, Plato made a second attempt to participate in public affairs, trying to bring to life the theoretical concepts of the ideal state developed by him together with the son of Dionysius, Dionysius the Younger, however, this attempt was doomed to failure. In these, although unrealized, attempts, Plato also remained a follower of Socrates, who believed that a scientist should take an active part in public life without shying away from his duty. From this point of view - the fulfillment of duty, enlightenment, appeal to knowledge - Plato also considered his Academy. However, his ideal aspirations were divorced from reality. Disappointment in society, in the environment, overshadowed the last years of Plato's life, although he was surrounded by many students and followers, among whom was the outstanding scientist Aristotle. At the same time, life experience somewhat softened his negative position in relation to reality, making, according to the same V. Solovyov, his idealism more practical, aimed at finding ways to improve the world.

In constructing his theory, Plato relied both on the ideas of Socrates and on some provisions of the Pythagoreans, in particular on their understanding of number as the basis of world order and harmony. Above the gates of the Academy of Plato was written: "He who does not know geometry, let him not enter here."

In an effort to create a universal concept that unites man and the cosmos, Plato came to objective idealism. In his comprehensive theory, the problems of understanding the world of man, his connection with society, issues of state structure and ways of optimal interaction between the individual and the state were studied.

In the surrounding world, he singled out being - the soul and non-being - matter, which is nothing without a soul. He believed that the surrounding objects are the result of the connection of the soul, ideas with inanimate matter. The soul, in his opinion, is not only an idea, but also the goal of a thing. Plato believed that there is an ideal world in which the souls or ideas of things are located, that is, those perfect samples that become prototypes of real objects. The perfection of samples is unattainable for these objects, but it makes them strive to be similar, to correspond to them. Thus, the soul becomes not only an idea, but also the goal of a real thing. In principle, Plato's idea is a general concept, a word that does not exist in real life and whose reflection is all the things included in this concept, signified by the given word. So, there is no generalized person, but each of the people is a certain variation of the concept of "man".

Since the concept is immutable, then the idea or soul, from the point of view of Plato, is constant, unchanging and immortal. No less important for Plato was the connection of the soul with ethics, since he believed that the human soul differs from the soul of an animal in that it is not only a source of activity, but also the guardian of his mind and morality. Thus, for the first time in psychology, the idea appeared about the qualitative (and not just quantitative) difference between the human soul and the souls of other living beings. At the same time, following Socrates, Plato argued that this difference in the content of the soul is associated with the existence of ethical categories in it, which a person comprehends with reason.

Being a rationalist, Plato believed that behavior should be prompted and guided by reason, not feelings, and opposed the theory of determinism of Democritus, asserting the possibility of human freedom, the freedom of his rational behavior. According to Plato, the mind not only allows you to understand where is good and where is evil, but also helps to build behavior in accordance with this knowledge. In this, a person differs from an animal, whose behavior is stimulated by passions, is not comprehended and therefore is involuntary and not free. Thus, an important idea appeared in psychology that human freedom, the possibility of voluntary behavior are connected with the need to comprehend this behavior, its causes, that is, the mind is the basis, the guarantee of this freedom.

Both reason and passions are included in the content of the soul, which, according to Plato, consists of three parts - lustful, passionate and rational. He introduced an ethical criterion according to which he divided the soul into parts, since the lustful and passionate parts of the soul must obey the rational, which alone can make behavior moral.

In his dialogues, Plato likens the soul to a chariot drawn by two horses. The black horse - a lustful soul - does not listen to orders and needs a constant bridle, as it seeks to turn the chariot over, throw it into the abyss. The white horse is a noble (passionate soul), although it tries to go its own way; he also does not always obey the driver and needs constant supervision. And finally, he identifies the rational part of the soul with the charioteer, who is looking for the right path and directs the chariot along it, controlling the movement of the horses. In describing the soul, Plato adheres to clear, black-and-white criteria, proving that there are bad and good parts of the soul, and the rational part for him is unequivocally good, while the lustful and passionate are bad, lower parts.

In another dialogue, Plato, describing the soul, compares it to a flock of sheep guarded by dogs and a shepherd. At the same time, the lustful soul is naturally like senseless sheep, which, prompted by their desires, can stray anywhere and perish. A passionate soul, like a dog, tries to protect a person from delusions, but it can only be effective if it obeys the command of the shepherd, that is, the mind.

Plato wrote that in the practical activity of a person, the success of his actions depends entirely on the consciousness of what this action is, what is its meaning, and without a reasonable understanding it is impossible to live or act. Knowledge also guarantees against errors, misconceptions associated with confusion about what is good and what is bad: only he who has acquired knowledge, carried out in concepts, is guaranteed that things that are essentially different, due to their accidental properties and secondary similarities are considered identical.

Thus, Plato for the first time presented the soul not as an integral organization, but as a certain structure, under the pressure of opposing tendencies, conflicting motives dictated by a lustful and passionate soul, which cannot always be reconciled with the help of reason. At the same time, as mentioned above, Plato assessed the possibility of such reconciliation over the years as more likely, although thoughts about the confrontation between good and evil, passions and reason in the human soul have always remained the most important for him. This idea of Plato about the internal conflict of the soul later became especially relevant in psychoanalysis.

Exploring cognitive processes, Plato considered several stages in the formation of knowledge, speaking of sensation, memory and thinking, and he was the first among scientists to speak of memory as an independent mental process. He gave it the definition of "an imprint of a ring on wax" and considered it one of the most important stages in the process of learning about the environment. The important role of memory is also connected with the fact that the very process of cognition in Plato appeared as a reminder of what the soul knew in its cosmic life, but forgot when moving into the body. Memory he considered the repository of all knowledge, both conscious and not conscious at the moment.

Plato's idea of knowledge as recollection made it possible to correlate the relationship between the sensual and the rational in the human soul. Plato most fully developed this position in the Meno dialogue, in which, showing how the knowledge of mathematics is actualized in the soul of a slave boy, he proved that this knowledge was always in him, but only under the influence of the conversation was it actualized into a conscious concept.

However, despite such attention to memory, Plato considered it, like sensations, a passive process and opposed them to thinking, emphasizing its active character. The activity of thinking is ensured by its connection with speech, as Socrates spoke about. Plato developed the ideas of Socrates, proved that thinking is a dialogue of the soul with itself, i.e., in fact, he identified thinking with inner speech. Connecting these mental processes with each other, Plato actually for the first time raised the question of the similarity and difference in their development and their genetic roots. It is these questions that eventually became central to psychology and acquired new aspects over the centuries, especially since the beginning of the experimental study of thinking and speech in the 20th century.

No less important for psychology was the fact that Plato's system of education was based on the principle of transferring knowledge through the formation of concepts. Analyzing the process of updating knowledge, Plato first came to the study of the genesis of concepts, trying to establish the main stages of their formation. Since that time, psychology has studied mainly the development of verbal thinking, which until the beginning of the 20th century. was considered the main (and only) type of thinking. At the same time, the position appeared that it was concepts that were the main product of thinking. So, Plato wrote that "the truth of thinking is only where there is a concept as its principle and the beginning of knowledge." Therefore, the study of thinking, the stages of its development, as well as the study of methods for the development and correction of thinking, revolved around the stages of concept formation. Echoes of this approach can be seen in the studies of L. S. Vygotsky and J. Piaget, who assigned the most important place in their theories to the study of products and the process of concept formation.

At the same time, Plato argued that the process of logical thinking unfolded in time and consciously cannot convey the fullness of knowledge about a thing, since it relies on the study of surrounding objects, i.e. copies of real knowledge about them. Describing the process of cognition, Plato cites as an example people walled up in a cave, who, by the shadows and reflections of the outside world penetrating into the cave, try to make a judgment about this world. Similarly, a person wants to understand their true essence from one copy of objects and is doomed to failure in such attempts. Nevertheless, a person has the opportunity to penetrate into the true essence of things and it is associated with intuitive thinking, with penetration into the depths of the soul, which stores true knowledge. They are revealed to a person immediately, in their entirety, and this instant process is to some extent similar to insight (insight), which was later described by Gestalt psychology. Nevertheless, despite the procedural similarity of intuitive thinking with insight, they are completely different in content, since Plato's insight is not associated with the discovery of the new, but only with the awareness of the old, of what was already stored in the soul.

According to Plato, since the soul is permanent and a person cannot change it, the content of the knowledge that is stored in the soul is also unchanged. Therefore, the discoveries made by a person are not, in fact, the discoveries of something fundamentally new, but only the actualization of what was already stored in the soul, although it was not realized by the person. And thinking itself, which Plato considered the main cognitive process, is essentially a reproductive act, not a creative one, although it operates with the concept intuition , leading for creative thinking.

This also determined the very approach to creativity (both scientific and artistic) in Plato's theory. He understood creativity as the soul's own activity, manifested by it when the knowledge dormant in it is actualized, that is, the process of realizing those vague images that already existed in the soul, this is the process of creativity. However, this process is based not on creative, but on reproductive imagination, since in this case the artist only reproduces that knowledge and those connections between individual concepts that already existed in the universal soul (and, accordingly, in him too), although they were not anyone before him. recognized and reflected in art. It is this approach to creativity that is reflected in the following lines: “In vain, artist, you imagine that you are the creator of your creations, they have always hovered over the earth, invisible to the eye.” With this understanding, the identity of the creator is insignificant, since the artist only broadcasts what was laid in him, and he broadcasts not only the content, but also the form in which it is given. That is why, Plato believed, one should not teach people the technical, instrumental side of the arts, one should not strive to individualize their personality, since it still does not leave an imprint on either the form or the content of works of art created by the author. In the process of enlightenment, the thought itself will take the right form, will be cast in the right words, if the artist is correctly aware of what was already circling in vague images in his soul.

Art itself, from the point of view of Plato, can bring not only good, but also evil. This is due to the fact that by influencing feelings (the passionate part of the soul), art obscures the mind and interferes with the conscious regulation of behavior. Therefore, under the influence of art, people can do wrong, unnecessary things. They may suddenly cry or laugh, say unexpected words, etc. Therefore, in his ideal state, Plato severely limited the role of art. He even considered it necessary to make a selection of fairy tales and myths that mothers and nannies tell young children so as not to spoil them with bad examples. Likewise, he banished theatre, with the exception of a few highly moral epics, but by no means comedies. After theatrical masks, he also expelled musical instruments, with the exception of the lyre and cithara for the city and the shepherd's pipe for the village. At the same time, he proceeded from the fact that only a small circle of musical works is suitable for the education of youth and is capable of forming socially significant and approved ideals. In his opinion, a positive role is played by the music that gives the words an additional tone, a new meaning. Plato wrote that children should be taught to combine poetic (epic) stanzas with music, since such exercises make the souls of children get used to the correct alternations and modes, make them more meek, sedate and balanced.

Plato also paid great attention to the study of individual inclinations and abilities of people at an early age. He believed that this knowledge is important not only for the development of their morality, but also for the analysis of the professional suitability of the child and his future status place in the state. The requirements for professional identification, as well as for the formation of conceptual thinking and arbitrary and conscious regulation of behavior, were one of the main provisions of Plato's theory of collective education, the foundations of which are detailed in his dialogue "On the State". He wrote about the need for professional selection and testing of children, saying that already in childhood it is possible to determine not only the intellectual level, but also the inclinations of the child and educate him according to his intended purpose. To do this, one should study the characteristics of the soul of each child, revealing the qualities inherent in a sage, warrior or artisan. In addition to observing the behavior and inclinations of children in the learning process, Plato considered it necessary to be based on the conscious preferences and self-reports of the children themselves, who should be aware of their inclinations and abilities. Adequate self-esteem and knowledge of one's abilities for a certain type of activity are, according to Plato, one of the most important qualities of an adult reasonable person. But it is important to teach self-awareness and form this adequate self-esteem already in childhood, revealing to children the content of those activities that are necessary to fulfill the duties associated with a particular profession, and helping to realize the presence of these abilities in oneself.

Plato's research laid down new trends not only in philosophy, where he is recognized as the creator of the theory of objective idealism, but also in psychology. Plato for the first time singled out the stages in the process of cognition, discovering the role of inner speech and the activity of thinking, substantiated the role of memory in the development of human experience, and also for the first time formulated a position on the internal conflict of the soul. The problem of internal conflict of motives later became especially relevant in psychoanalysis, and his approach to the problem of cognition was reflected in the position of rationalists.

Plato's ideas about the psyche, its functions and stages of development were rethought in the concept Aristotle(384-322 BC), one of the most prominent scientists in Greece. His work "On the Soul" is rightfully considered the first psychological monograph. This book not only summarized everything that was done by Aristotle's predecessors, but also built psychological knowledge into a new system, opened up new perspectives for science, posing questions that many generations of psychologists sought to find answers to.

Aristotle was born in Macedonia, in northern Greece, in the family of a well-known doctor at the court of the ruler of Macedonia, Philip. His father came from a family of hereditary doctors, and therefore Aristotle from childhood connected his future with this profession. However, having received a medical education, he went to Athens to study philosophy, enrolling for this in the school of Plato. Returning to Macedonia, he became the mentor of Philip's son, Alexander, the future famous commander Alexander of Macedon. His disciple always remembered the lessons of Aristotle with gratitude and sent him rare manuscripts, books, herbariums from all campaigns. These books later helped Aristotle to systematize the psychological knowledge accumulated by his predecessors. After Alexander grew up, Aristotle returned to Athens and, like his teacher Plato, bought a plot of land on which he built his school, calling it Lyceum (Lyceum). This school, like the Academy of Plato, existed for almost six centuries and was closed in the III century. Although the very principle of teaching students, as well as the nature of communication between teachers and students, were borrowed from Plato, the structure of the Lyceum and the content of the courses taught differed significantly from Plato's. The main difference was that, a physician by education, Aristotle approached the problems of the psyche from a natural-scientific position, putting biology, medicine, and not mathematics, at the basis of psychology. Not without reason, in Raphael's famous painting "The School of Athens", located in the Vatican Palace in Rome, Plato raises his hand, pointing to the sky, while Aristotle stretches it forward to the earth. Not only scientific, but also personal positions of scientists differed, since, apparently, for a more balanced and cold-blooded Aristotle, the struggle of motives, disappointment and striving for an unattainable ideal, characteristic of Plato, were uncharacteristic. His views were distinguished by greater integrity and harmony, and his teaching about the soul contained not the idea of conflict, but the idea of development, an evolutionary transition from one level to another. The same contradictions in Aristotle's theory, which we will discuss below, are not connected with the desire to overcome experiences, passions, but with the problems of a rational explanation of reality at the modern level of development of science for him.

First of all, Aristotle revised Plato's approach to the soul. From his point of view, the separation of the soul and body is an impossible and meaningless act, since the “idea”, “concept” cannot be a real physical object, which is a person. Based on the inseparability of the soul from the body, Aristotle gave his interpretation of the soul - the soul is a form of realization of a body capable of life, cannot exist without a body and is not a body. Explaining this approach, Aristotle says that if we wanted to find the soul of the eye, then vision would become it, i.e. the soul is the essence of this object, expressing the purpose of its existence. Matter without a soul is pure potentiality, it is nothing and at the same time can become everything, like molten metal that has not yet taken a definite form. But if cast in the shape of a sword, or a knife, or a hammer, it immediately acquires a purpose that can be determined from its shape. Thus, the soul really cannot exist without the body, since the form is always the form of something. At the same time, in these reasonings of Aristotle there is something in common with the approach of Plato, since both in one and in the other the soul is the goal towards which the thing aspires. Therefore, based on the soul, one can understand to which class this object belongs, why it is needed.

However, the concept of Aristotle is not only the most complete and original in Greek psychology, but also the most complex and controversial. The first contradictions appear already in his interpretation of the functions or abilities of the soul. He wrote that there are three types of soul - plant, animal and rational. Each of them has certain functions. Thus, the vegetative soul is capable of reproduction and nourishment. In addition to these, the animal soul has four more functions - aspiration (feelings), movement, sensation and memory. And the rational soul, which only man has, also has the ability to think. Each higher form of the soul builds on the previous one, acquiring the functions that were inherent in it. Therefore, if the plant soul has only two functions, then the animal soul has six, and the rational soul has seven. Thus, the idea first appeared in psychology genesis , development, although this is not yet development in the process of human life or humanity, but the development of the psyche during the transition from one form of life to another - from plants to the animal world and to man.

The initial education of Aristotle was reflected not only in his thoughts about the connection of higher forms of life with elementary ones, but also in the fact that he correlated the development of an individual organism with the development of the entire living world. At the same time, in an individual person, during his transformation from an infant into a mature being, those steps are repeated that the entire organic world has passed in its history. In this generalization, in an embryonic form, the idea was laid, which was later called biogenetic by law.

Considering the relationship between the types and abilities of the soul, Aristotle emphasized that all these functions cannot be carried out without the body. Indeed, it is impossible to feel, move or strive for something without possessing a material shell. From this, Aristotle concluded that both plant and animal souls are mortal, i.e. appear and disappear simultaneously with the body.

It would seem, based on these considerations, Aristotle should have come to the idea of the mortality of the rational soul. But then he would have to conclude that all the knowledge that is in the soul is formed only in the process of a person's life, dying with him. However, not only his pedagogical experience, but also the research activities in which he was engaged, proved that a person cannot exist in the world without using the knowledge that was accumulated before him. If people could not transfer knowledge to each other, they would have to invent, rediscover laws already discovered by someone. At the same time, a person would not only not be able to come up with something essentially new, but simply would not be able to live in a complex world. Thus, for Aristotle and the psychology of that time, it was clear that a person not only lives in the space of culture, but is also its bearer in his soul.

Then a natural question arose about how the knowledge discovered by others becomes the property of a particular person. Plato and Socrates found the answer to this question based on the assumption that this knowledge is in the human soul from birth, and learning, reading books only help to update them. Aristotle shared the same point of view, since from the position of science of that time he could not explain the fact of internalization of knowledge external to man. On the contrary, his observations showed that someone else's experience, gleaned through reading, lectures, even by a respected teacher, does not become one's own for a person, does not convince him, but at best helps to cope with a certain problem or forms behavior that persists only if there is control. The possibility of internalization, emotional mediation in the process of cultural appropriation was not yet discovered at that time, and therefore Aristotle came to the conclusion, natural for that time, about the existence of innate knowledge, i.e., about the immortality and immateriality of the rational soul.

Although this conclusion did not correspond to his views on the primary forms of the soul, it did not contradict his conviction that culture is an internal property of the human soul, and not an external factor in relation to it. Thus, unlike Democritus, Aristotle did not face the question of whether our knowledge is true - it is true already in its origin, as part of the immortal mind. Later, already in modern times, Descartes, proceeding from similar premises, also came to the idea of the existence of innate knowledge, innate ideas.

These considerations led to the emergence of a very significant concept in Aristotle's concept nous (general mind). Nous serves as a repository of the rational part of a person's soul after his death. At the birth of a child, a part of this mind, forming a new rational part of the soul, enters the body of the newborn, uniting with the plant and animal parts. This is how the transfer of experience takes place, since the rational part of the soul stores all the knowledge that exists in nous, that is, the entire culture accumulated by mankind by the time the child was born. This knowledge is not realized by a person, but is actualized in the process of learning or reasoning, which is similar to the position of Plato and Socrates.

At the same time, there is an important point in Aristotle's interpretation of the concept nous, which distinguishes him from the immutable soul of Plato. Nous is not a constant idea, but an ever-changing culture, to which each new generation of people adds something of its own, i.e. nous is ever changing, its content is impermanent. Every person who has learned something new, made some kind of discovery, carries it in his soul. After his death, the rational part of the soul, together with the knowledge that was accumulated by this person, merges with the world mind, changing and enriching it. Therefore, a rational soul with a different content is passed on to the next generation. Thus, Aristotle not only emphasized the variability and development of the universal mind, but also insisted on the ability of man to both reproductive and creative thinking.

The process of cognition described by Aristotle also differs significantly from what scientists, in particular Plato, described before him. First of all, Aristotle rejects the rationalism of Plato. The biological education he received and the information that he gleaned from the manuscripts sent by Alexander the Great showed the importance of sensory experience in the formation of a generalized picture of the world. Aristotle's research led him to create the first comprehensive theory of knowledge in psychology, which not only reveals the specifics of each stage, but also analyzes the process of transition from individual knowledge, knowledge not even about an object, but about one of its properties, to a generalized judgment and concept.

To explain this transition, Aristotle introduced the concepts common sense and associations which, in his opinion, represent an important mechanism for processing knowledge. The first stage of knowledge, according to Aristotle, is sensation, which he understood as an active process of interaction of the sense organs with the outside world. At the same time, the soul is likened to the form of the body that it perceives, although it is not a passive cast from this body. It must be emphasized that Aristotle is one of

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1. The first mythological (religious) doctrine of the soul is animism(from lat. anima, animus soul, spirit). This term was introduced into ethnographic science by the English scientist E. B. Tylor, who considered faith in spirits that exist independently of the body as the basis of religions. Animism denotes religious ideas about spirits and the soul. Spirits personified thunder, lightning, wind, trees, etc. and could harm people, die, be born - in general, they had everything like people. Animists considered the soul to be external to the body. It was believed that the soul enters a person at birth and leaves him after death, by the will of the gods. During sleep, the soul also leaves the body, wanders around the world.

2. Hylozoism(from Greek. hyle- matter and zoe- life) - a term introduced by Cadworth in 1678 to refer to early, mainly ancient Greek concepts that denied the boundary between living and non-living. Hylozoists believed that everything that exists in nature has a soul. For the hylozoist Heraclitus of Ephesus, the soul is a spark of the cosmos, which he considered to be an ever-living fire. “Everything flows, everything changes”, “Our bodies and souls flow like streams” - these words are attributed to him, as well as “You cannot enter the same river twice”. This is how the principle of development was born - that is, everything is constantly changing. Heraclitus believed that everything on earth obeys the world law (logos), and not the will of the gods.

According to the ancient Greek sage Thales from Miletus, also a hylozoist, a magnet attracts metal, a woman attracts a man, because a magnet, like a woman, has a soul. Thales is also known as the author of the famous call "Man! Know thyself!".

3. Democritus(born c. 460 - 5th century BC) an ancient Greek philosopher and encyclopedic scientist, materialist, taught that a person consists of atoms of the body and atoms of the soul. The soul consists of the most mobile atoms - the atoms of fire. He rejected the immortality of the soul and believed that when the body dies, the atoms of the soul disperse into space.

He said that there are no causeless phenomena, causality is a universal law that everything on Earth obeys, events seem to be random, the causes of which we simply do not yet know. “I would prefer at least one causal explanation to royal power over Persia,” said Democritus.

Subsequently called the principle of causation principle of determinism.

purpose of life considered a serene and happy state when a person is not subject to the action of passions and fear.

4. Athenian philosopher Anaxagoras(500-428 BC), the founder of the Athenian philosophical school, was looking for that beginning, those particles that make up whole things, an organized, ordered world is formed from chaos. He decided that such a beginning is "noos" - the mind. The more it is in the body, the more perfect it is. Man has the most of it, therefore he is the most perfect.

He also said that "Everything has a part of everything." “Nothing is created anew or destroyed, but is united from existing things and divided.” Everything is contained in everything, in everything there is a part of everything, only the proportions are different. He considered all phenomena as a system, not reducible to the sum of its parts. System(Greek - a whole made up of parts) - a whole consisting of interconnected parts, and having properties that none of these parts separately have. That is, it acts in nature systemic principle.

Thus, the predecessors of Aristotle, the "father of psychology", discovered the principles that for all time became the basis for explaining mental phenomena.

Heraclitus discovered the principle regular development;

Democritus discovered the principle determinism;

Anaxagoras discovered the principle system (organization).

5. Hippocrates(460-370 BC) - the father of medicine, philosopher, poet, friend of Democritus - believed that mental qualities depend on bodily, and bodily - on the proportions in which the body's juices are mixed (blood, bile, mucus ). This proportion has been called temperament.

He identified 4 types of temperament:

· sanguine (the blood that is produced in the heart predominates);

choleric (yellow bile predominates);

phlegmatic (mucus predominates);

melancholic (black bile predominates).

These names have survived to the present, but the reasons for the existence of different temperaments are different, namely: different nervous systems. At that time, they did not know about the role of the nervous system in the body.

Hippocrates laid the foundation for typology, without which modern teachings about individual differences between people would not have arisen. This typology has been humoral(Latin "humor" - liquid).

6. Not to mention Plato(427–347 BC), student of Socrates and later teacher Aristotle. Plato was an idealist, that is, he believed that the soul is primary and immortal. Aristotle first studied at Plato's academy, then taught there, and after Plato's death, his views began to change, and he became a materialist, that is, he began to believe that matter, including the body, is primary. Plato said: “The soul is immortal, it only changes the body in which it lives. Instilling in a born person, she forgets her past. In the process of learning, she "remembers" what she knew.

He introduced for the first time into the understanding of mental life the concept conflict of motives(one of the types of intrapersonal conflicts) and showed the role of the mind in overcoming this conflict.

In a figurative form, he reflected the struggle of the soul and mind in the myth of a charioteer who rules a chariot drawn by two horses. 1st horse - wild, these are instincts that give lower, immoral, immoral inclinations and motives (malice, greed, envy, selfishness, aggressiveness, cruelty, adultery, laziness, etc.); 2nd horse - thoroughbred and noble, these are the highest drives and motives (duty, conscience, altruism, kindness, etc.). The charioteer is the mind trying to cope with the horses, to combine base and noble motives, and experiencing great difficulties in doing so.

A few centuries later, the idea of a person torn apart by conflicts will come to life in the psychoanalysis of S. Freud.

"Instincts are good servants, but bad masters." And who will win? Reason with its logic or soul with its feelings, often instinctive (for brevity, let's say - the heart)? Probably friendship, that is, behavior, is the resultant between them. Guided by the voice of the heart, feelings is often dangerous. Marina Tsvetaeva said: “There is a head on the heart, but there is an ax on the head.” And if the head is not able to cope with the heart, with feelings, sooner or later it will “fly off”.

Even Plato said: "It is impossible to want what you have." Now there is a saying: "What we have, we do not store, having lost, we cry."

Plato discovered inner speech as an internalized dialogue.

considered the highest virtue justice, said that it was more precious than gold and that "injustice is the greatest evil that the soul can contain, and justice is the greatest good."

In addition to the discoveries mentioned above, there were others in the ancient era:

7. In the VI century. BC e. Ancient Greek physician Alcmaeon discovered that the organ of the soul is the brain. (Although Aristotle, who worked 200 years later, still believed that the brain is a refrigerator for blood, and the place of the soul is the heart.)

8. In the III century. BC e. Ancient Greek doctors discovered the reflexes of the brain. Reflex - involuntary reaction of the body to external or internal stimuli. Then, in the 17th century, they were rediscovered by René Descartes, a French scientist.

9. Socrates (c. 470–399 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, made dialogue the primary method of finding truth. And early thinkers simply postulated the principles of their teachings. He argued that the main virtue is knowledge and that a man who knows what good is will not do evil. He was convinced that power in the state should belong to the "best", i.e., moral, fair and skillful citizens in government.

Already in our era, in the 2nd century, Roman physician Galen divided movements into voluntary and involuntary, revealed the role of the retina in the mechanism of vision [Enikeev, p. 22].

In the III century. AD Flesh "n (204 / 205–270), a Greek philosopher, discovered such a mechanism of brain activity as reflection(lat. - reflection) - this is reflection, analysis of feelings and thoughts; as well as reflection, full of doubts and hesitations. For him, for the first time in history, psychology becomes the science of consciousness understood as self-awareness.

A special place among scientists who are considered the forerunners of modern psychologists is occupied by Aristotle. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and encyclopedist who lived in the 4th century BC. BC (384-322 BC), belongs to the first work on psychology. This work (treatise) is called “On the Soul” and is considered the first course in general psychology. Aristotle himself is considered the father of psychology as a science.

Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander the Great, created his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum. Then privileged educational institutions began to be called lyceums.

Aristotle said that the soul cannot be separated from the body, the soul is a function of the body, the result of its activity, and not an independent entity; the soul cannot exist without the body.

Aristotle singled out target cause actions (that is, the cause of the action is the goal that a person sets for himself). It is the goal that influences the course of life in advance, i.e. human behavior depends not only on his past, but also on the desired future. This was a new word in understanding the causes of mental life (determination). Target It is "what the action is for." "Nature does nothing in vain." Aristotle believed that knowledge of a person is possible only through knowledge of the Universe and the order existing in it [L. D. Stolyarenko, Fundamentals of Psychology, p. 48].

Aristotle discovered and studied many psychological phenomena:

Representations (fantasies according to Aristotle) as a trace of sensations;

The mechanism of associations, i.e., the connection of ideas, images in memory and imagination (looking at the lyre, the girl remembers her lover who played on it, Plato said); This is still used today, giving gifts as a keepsake. He singled out associations for similarity, adjacency and contrast.

Differences between theoretical and practical intelligence;

the concept of ability as a function of the soul;

The relationship of the body and feelings: the activity of the body is associated with feelings pleasure and displeasure; actions associated with pleasure, a person tends to repeat, and the learning mechanism is based on this;

proportionality of reactions and conditions that caused them: behavioral reactions should be adequate to external conditions and influences, they should not be either excessive or insufficient, etc.

Aristotle paid much attention justice. Justice, he said, is the most perfect virtue (he considered other virtues to be wisdom, courage, restraint, and moral qualities).

At first he thought that the principle of justice is the principle of equality- when dividing something, you need to divide everything equally. But people are different, they work differently, so the principle of equality is not always fair. On reflection, Aristotle introduced an additional principle - the principle of proportional equality . It consists in the fact that the one who works hard gets more, the one who works little gets less, that is, people are endowed with benefits in proportion to their work.

The one who has a large property contributes more than the one who has less property. For example, income tax - to take from all the same, or depending on income?

There is justice by nature and justice by law. Justice by nature is proportional: the left hand in justice does less than the right, the child less than the adult.

What about a woman and a man? Are they supposed to work the same way, or are there jobs for men and women?

Figure 4 - Types of observation

TOPIC 2. HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE [Petrovsky AV, Yaroshevsky MG History and theory of psychology. 1996 and others]

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