Aristotles Contribution in Understanding of Human Behavior - Term Paper Example

Aristotle’s Contribution in Understanding of Human Behavior As an ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle has made a great contribution towards various subjects ranging from physics, zoology, linguistics, poetry to music. He remains to be one of the most influential founding figures when it comes to western philosophy. All his work remains to be center stage in the current active academic research work and learning. Therefore, to have a deeper understanding of the history and systems of psychology, it is important to first, understand Aristotle’s philosophy and contribution towards this subject. Background Aristotle was the student of Plato and he taught Alexander the Great. He was born in Stagirus in 384 BC, a Greek colony which no longer exists. His father was a physician to the king of Macedonia and he began his life with influence of the Macedonian Court. His father passed away when he was a little boy and he was appointed in Athens to study by his guardian, which was the ‘intellectual center of the world.’ He began lectures later after his studies. He was married twice and had a son, Alexander who would later go on to conquer the world. Aristotle also set up his own school called the Lyceum where he also taught. He was connected to his members of the school and he walked around a great deal, connecting with them, and they came to be known as ‘peripatetics’ in later years, which mean to walk about. He spent thirteen years of his life teaching and involved in treatises about philosophy. He contributed to the world by not only giving lectures to students interested in philosophy but more popular lectures for those who were interested in gaining knowledge (Aristotle, Cooke, Longinus, Demetrius., et al., 1926). He died in 322 BC of a mysterious stomach condition and this happened soon after Alexander’s sudden death. Aristotle and the beginning of Cognitive Psychology Aristotle is believed to be the first information theorist and modern cognition takes its basic roots from there. Since the time of Aristotle, perception has been a relevant phenomenon and audition in cognitive processes takes its roots from there as well. We are bombarded with tones of information daily, however perception is the ability to separate it and make meaning of the world using audition. Language and logic were also a part of this relation with the world that was formed due to the theories advanced by Aristotle. Since the time of the Greeks, language was believed to have two parts, and even though there is very little research on it then, there is a fair share of research done today. Thus Aristotle also plays a significant role in the importance that counseling psychology has today. There are two types of psychology; one is related to discovery and one is related to theory. Both are important, yet groundbreaking discoveries and the theory of Aristotle points towards moving counseling psychology forward in the modern era to mix laboratory and field study and become beneficial for mankind (Gelso, 1991). Aristotle on Soul and Psychology Aristotle believed that soul is realizing one’s own natural body in its entirety. This means that all our psychological states are connected closely as well as the psychological processes that follow. Soul and body are therefore one and the same life wax and an impression formed on it. Before Aristotle, physicians didn’t regard the connection between the body and the soul and this was thought to be a mistake by Aristotle and his followers. The soul should not be considered as an outcome of physiological conditions but as the part of the body which has the real true meaning and thus is called the ‘truth’. The soul has many ways in manifesting itself which are aligned to the biological stage that the body is in and they depend on whether the body is that of a plant, animal or human. Plants manifest soul via nutrition, animals by movement and humans by reason. These are called ‘faculties’ and they are like sub sections of the same category of physical parts. The mind is a single united entity and the thought that it feels anger, pain, fear, love and many other emotions in different parts of the brain was absurd to Aristotle. The perception of senses is to simply take on the impression of the outward physical matter, without taking on the object itself; such as a wax candle would take on the impression of anything on it such as gold or silver, however it wouldn’t take on the gold or silver itself. The body is simply a medium for the soul to flow through and thus this is the purpose of the impression that the soul has on the body (Cloonan, 2005). Senses and their objects may be divided into three categories: Special, for example the seeing of color is the special aspect of the sense sight as is sound the special object of hearing ability. Common, which is perceived by several different senses such as the figure of something or motion. Incidental, which means that we get to know the object due to its sensation such as the fact that an object is white because when we see it we are overwhelmed with a white sensation. The special senses aforementioned are five; touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell. Touch is the most basic sense and sight the most advanced. The organ is never in direct contact with the senses and what they receive but through a certain medium only such as air. The heart is believed by Aristotle to be the main organ for sense. It sees the different objects and brings them to the conscious. It also helps us distinguish between the different senses before our knowledge takes action in the mind Imagination is the action that results in the actual sensation feeling. It is the impression on the wax candle, the impression that the senses receive and maintain in their memory. They are the input for reason. The organ gets excited when dreams and illusions occur and this also because of the presence of sensibility. Memory is the permanent impression which will represent the object in our minds in the form of a picture (Barnes, 1974). Recalling back a part of memory depends how we associate ideas in our mind. We trace back from associations by using the object that is there and figuring out what would be similar or different. Knowledge has many subsections and principled. Reason is the primary source and it is individualistic in nature as well universal. Senses deal with the material from of nature and something that is tangible where as reason takes into account the intangible and abstract ideas. Reasons usually generates ideas however this is just potential and temporary. There is a gradual process of development in which thought is unified and there is an interpretation of the senses. Reason questions and asks how material aspects are received by immaterial things such as reason. Aristotle believed that there was an active reason and a passive reason. An active reason made the objects in thought and a passive one received these images and unified them so that they were comparable to other objects of thought. Reason is constantly aided by the intelligent world. Reason it was believed came from God the omnipresent and into the souls of human beings. Reason does realize that the main characteristic of absolute thought is the unity of thought with the thought of the object. Aristotle also believed that the soul or the ‘psyche’ was divided into three souls or psyches in humans and the world as mentioned above: the sensitive, rational and vegetative soul. Humans and all living things share a vegetative soul, humans and animals share a sensitive soul where as only humans alone can have a rational soul. The soul was perceived to be similar as compared to it today. It simply meant the form of our being and all beings had a soul since they had a form (Cooper, 1989). Findings Aristotle’s philosophies have a great deal of importance in modern day concepts such as the topic of perception. In his book ‘De Anima’ he devoted a separate essay on perceptions. This overlooks many parts of our personality such as our desires, phantasia, and dreams etc. all of which constitute the perceptual system. Aristotle created his causal model taking into consideration the cognitive perceptions. The three categories of sensation are taken into account and for example, Aristotle believed that the color of a particular thing had the ability to affect the medium through which it was transmitted, which in turn affected perception which is restricted to each individual and at the same time is universal. Therefore in psychology and the real world, not only is reality an important phenomenon, but the efficacy is also important. Color is the most effective quality since it catches the eye instantly due to the special sense of sight. Over the years the concept of instinct also disappeared, but it has become extremely important, becoming part of a psychoanalytic school of thought. Psychoanalysts such as Freud believed that the unconscious desires and aims in the mind also held a certain importance in our daily, in fact they dominated it. Scientific evidence replaced instinct but Aristotle also believed in this construct and its importance and it plays a large role in psychology today Aristotle also didn’t believe in subjectivity and he believed that changes in form will lead to changes in how we see and their outcomes. Literalism has its shortcomings as well such as it doesn’t just believe that material change will lead to a change in perception but there needs to be a specific change in an aspect. When we come in contact with a quality, the organ perceives object the same way that senses do. However Aristotle believes that the object and the subject cannot be the same. The sense is the sensible quality or is close to one and therefore it cannot be the same as an object as this would mean there is replication in our soul which isn’t possible and erases the gap that actually does exist (Barry Schwartz, 2006). Aristotle created his causal model taking into consideration the cognitive perceptions. The three categories of sensation are taken into account and for example, Aristotle believed that the color of a particular thing had the ability to affect the medium through which it was transmitted, which in turn affected perception which is restricted to each individual and at the same time is universal. Therefore in psychology and the real world, not only is reality an important phenomenon, but the efficacy is also important. Color is the most effective quality since it catches the eye instantly due to the special sense of sight. Aristotle also didn’t believe in subjectivity and he believed that changes in form will lead to changes in how we see and their outcomes. Literalism has its shortcomings as well such as it doesn’t just believe that material change will lead to a change in perception but there needs to be a specific change in an aspect. When we come in contact with a quality, the organ perceives object the same way that senses do. However Aristotle believes that the object and the subject cannot be the same. The sense is the sensible quality or is close to one and therefore it cannot be the same as an object as this would mean there is replication in our soul which isn’t possible and erases the gap that actually does exist (Bostock, Aristotle metaphysics. / Books [zeta] and [eta], 1994). Similar is the case with objects that are huge or at a distance and we perceive them by means of the changes inside us rather than the object in questions, which we don’t see with the same magnitude. The internal changes model is relevant here as it indicates that the objects that we have in our thoughts have a physical magnitude that has the same proportions and powers. This means that the proportion of an object can be same without being an internal replica. Colors etc. are also an outcome of different senses and qualities. Such as one color is perceived when we see crimson, however it is a mix of colors, however it appears one and we see one. This shows that there is a gap in our perception and there is a space both logical and textual in nature that is the result of material change. Aristotle and his concept of consciousness seem to be unclear even in respect to psychology. He believes in the higher order awareness of mental states such as our ability to sense things without the senses called an ‘inner sense.’ This is common sense however and not vision. We have the same perception while viewing something new and unique as well as something we might see daily such as the sky. This sense is the result of the whole perceptual system and doesn’t rely on any single perception. Aristotle also believed that we have a new ability called ‘phantasia’ which was different from all out other abilities which is central to thoughts of desire, memory, passion, dreams and other sensations that we have. However it is especially important for understanding and it can be separated from other senses. Thought however is never accompanied without phantasia according to Aristotle especially in imagination (Aristotle, 1951). Thought is also an important aspect of our psyche and according to Aristotle is called ‘nous.’ And this is perceived to be the most important parts of psychology as well as the most conflicted issue since it has many grey areas including duality. Thought like perception has many elements and forms, the basic one of which includes reasoning or understanding; either one understand something or they don’t, it can be nothing in between. The causal model can be used in this regard as well. Understanding means to understand the form and not necessarily the object itself. Thus understanding can be traced back to phantasia and perception eventually. Without the senses, humans couldn’t understand anything and there are also experiences that exist in out memory which allows us to think and understand whenever certain associations are available and trigger that memory. These objects which are the objects of understanding are called ‘phantasma’ and hence they depend on perception. However, even if objects and their perception are not reduced to phantasma, their understanding is still considered to be universal and the difference is small. The basic thought form is called ‘dianoia’ and involves the combining and dividing of basic underlying concepts in order to form a new united concept which then differs from the basic concept and this could be subject to falsification as well or accepted as the truth. One concept can be applied to another without changing the basic underlying concept. Understanding as well is a completely different matter, such as saying something and understanding the word or hearing is a different matter (Simpson, 1997). Metaphysics of understanding are also an important aspect to study then and now. Understanding is not just an activity but also a capacity of human beings as compared to the body. This brings about the importance of the aspect called the ‘agent intellect.’ It is important to separate understanding because it is distinct from other capacities. It doesn’t belong to an organ alone to perform this function and is ‘uncompounded’ because if it were then it would block understanding of the things that we actually do understand if it were related to a sole organ. Understanding actually grasps all aspects and being compounded would actually hinder that ability. And challenging objects don’t demean our intelligence strength but rather enhance it because understanding itself is like a slate that we keep writing on and furnishing. Understanding however in no way can exist on its own apart from the body even though it doesn’t have a sole organ of its own. Also it isn’t immortal and will not last forever; certain bodily functions will carry it for certain duration. This shows and is applicable today as well that psychology is not just related to a particular bodily function but a host of them, and cannot exist without the bodily functions thus making cognition and behavior both important. Another significant aspect of this paper is to highlight Aristotle’s contribution to urges and desires. Before Freud, Aristotle believed that apart from libido, or sexual drives, we have ‘id’ and ‘ego’ which are the voices of desire and reason and determine our actions and in the certain direction. The id is the uncompromising part of self that needs instant gratification and the ego is the part which tries to reach a higher moral ground and there is usually a conflict between the two and our action or behavior determines which voice has one; that of desire or reason (Barnes, 1984). It is also believed till today that allowing desire to override reason and other capacities would lead to the tendency to do bad things and an unhealthy internal balance. This paradigm has remained unchallenged over the years and is one of the major aspects of psychology and philosophy. Desire is now labeled emotion and reason is called rational. There was an importance placed on the timings of the actions of an individual, which included reason to be more of the voice for the future where as desire overruled in the present and both had similar consequences. This concept of desire and short-term results has usually resulted in the degradation of the environment due to unhealthy practices, the collapse and political issues in the society because our human nature is to look for instant gratification, yet we need to develop a moral understanding to lead to better consequences in the future (Randall, 1960). Aristotle could also be considered one of the earliest behaviorist psychologists and the role model for Skinner and Pavlov which later revolutionized psychology. He also indulged in the nature and nurture debate that influenced every aspect of an individual’s life such as his academics, sociology, psychology etc. He believed, unlike his father Plato, that nurture was more important that nature and that our human mind was like a tabula rasa, or a blank slate when we are born and that the formation of the mind was due to experiences and gaining knowledge from them and storing them in our knowledge base and recalling them (Bok, 2010). Lastly, as it was figured out that the brain was indeed one of the most influential parts of the body and it intricacies needed to be studied further, cognitive psychology dominated behavioral psychology since what met the eye wasn’t considered the be all and end all of psychology. It became important in all fields of psychology, and established a link with business. A study shows that several models which measured intellectual capital using several objects and theories such as partial least squares, were compared to performance. And those that had greater intellectual capital were to perform better, even if they were currently not behaving the best in the organization. The mind is a powerful construct and all information processed in it has a long term impact on an individual’s life (Bontis, 1998) Aristotle could also be considered one of the earliest behaviorist psychologists and the role model for Skinner and Pavlov which later revolutionized psychology. He also indulged in the nature and nurture debate that influenced every aspect of an individual’s life such as his academics, sociology, psychology etc. He believed, unlike his father Plato, that nurture was more important that nature and that our human mind was like a tabula rasa, or a blank slate when we are born and that the formation of the mind was due to experiences and gaining knowledge from them and storing them in our knowledge base and recalling them (Bok, 2010). Conclusion Psychology is a broad subject that requires those specializing in it to have a broader understanding of human behavior. Over the centuries, there have been a lot of theories and literature concerning human behavior or psychology in general. However, it is also important for students taking such courses to understand how the concept of psychology came to be a broad subject that is widely being studied across the world. Answers for such questions can only come by going back to where its history started and this is why this paper takes an in-depth study into Aristotle’s contribution towards psychology. References Aristotle. (1951). Aristotle; containing selections from seven of the most important books of Aristotle ... Natural science, the Metaphysics, Zoology, Psychology, the Nicomachean ethics, On statecraft, and the Art of poetry. Odyssey Press. Aristotle, Cooke, H. P., Longinus, Demetrius., et al, e. (1926). Aristotle . Harvard University Press. Barnes, J. (1984). The complete works of Aristotle : the revised Oxford translation. Princeton University Press. Barnes, J. M. S. (1974). Articles on Aristotle. Duckworth . Barry Schwartz, K. E. (2006). Practical Wisdom: Aristotle meets Positive Psychology. Journal of Happiness Studies. Bok, S. (2010). Exploring happiness : from Aristotle to brain science. Yale University Press. Bontis, N. (1998). 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