Wilhelm Wundt, founder of the first psychology lab, was an advocate of this position and is often considered the founder of structuralism, despite the fact that it was his student, Edward B. Titchener who first coined the term to describe this school of thought. While Wundt's work helped to establish psychology as a separate science and contributed methods to experimental psychology and Titchener's development of structuralism helped establish the very first "school" of psychology, the structuralism did not last long beyond Titchener's death. Almost immediately other theories surfaced to vie for dominance in psychology. In response to structuralism, an American perspective known as functionalism emerged under the influence of thinkers such as Charles Darwin
Introduction According to Phoenix (2007) identity is an area of psychological study that is primarily concerned with understanding people and their everyday lives and it examines what it is that makes us unique as individuals and humans. “Identity is the concept that refers to this aspect of existence; the aspect of existing as something in particular, with specific characteristics. An entity without an identity cannot exist because it would be nothing. To exist is to exist as something, and that means to exist with a particular identity”. (http://importanceofphilosophy.com/Metaphysics_Identity.html) The work of early psychologists towards the end of the first half of the 20th century was largely based on this Aristotelian perspective (Erickson, 1950) and invoked questions such as; does an individual possess more than one identity?
Conscience is interpreted as something inside of us that helps us decipher right from wrong. There have been many views presented towards conscious in this debate, from a psychological and philosophical, theological and ethical point of view; but when speaking of the conscience, it usually comes down to whether it is the voice of God, or is learned throughout our existence. Within this essay I will evaluate and use the ideas from different philosophers and psychologists, etc, to come to a supported and logical conclusion. Famed psychiatrist Sigmund Freud criticised the view of conscience being the voice of God, and argued that it was learned. He believed that conscience derives from the guilt we feel when we go against our conscience, so it is a construct of the mind, not the voice of God.
Hobbes’s account of how bad the state of nature is relies on a false Generalisation about human nature, therefore his account of the state of Nature is implausible”. Argue for or against this claim. Hobbes’ contribution to modern political philosophy is outstanding. Leviathan, published in 1651, laid down some fundamental concepts of western political philosophy concerning mankind which continue to influence philosophers and political writers today. Above all else, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan is an investigation into human nature and the structure of society.
For Descartes’ in the 16th century, the ability to discern truth was a matter of paramount importance. How do we know what we know? Descartes subjected all ideas to skepticism and doubt in order to find a foundation for knowledge. He argued if there was any way in which he could imagine that something that he thought he knew was true wasn’t true, then he could not say for certain that it was true. Descartes expounds on his “Method of Doubt” in three stages: the “Argument from Illusion,” “Dream Skepticism,” and the “Evil Genius.” The first two stages allude to the inclination of humans to be deceived by their own senses, and the third argument was essentially a thought experiment for Descartes, and will not be considered here.
Erich Fromm Critique Essay In discussing obedience, people usually will think that obedience is the right thing to do, and disobedience is in the wrong. In Erich Fromm’s essay, “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”, he states that around different places, people all believe that the world we live in came about as an act of disobedience. In his argument, he states multiple examples taken from the Greek myth of Prometheus, and of Adam and Eve, with the Original Sin. Erich even assumes that the beginning of our race starts through disobedience: “[our] intellectual development was dependent on the capacity for being disobedient..”(Fromm 684) With this statement, Erich Fromm strongly argues his view that “human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.”(Fromm 683) In his article, Fromm discusses his reasoning for believing that history began with disobedience, and will end in obedience. Erich Fromm talks about the different kinds of obedience, and how they can help one’s society, or even destroy it.
Hume’s and Kant’s approach to knowledge Arguably, Hume was the most influential British empiricist philosopher. His intention to reform what he saw as a mistaken philosophical system led him to elaborate a new doctrine of knowledge where reason and experience were – quite sharply – separated and confined to different realms. In fact, at the centre of his philosophical system lays the notion of ‘impressions and ideas’ as the only way to gain knowledge. He argues that knowledge is based on impressions, which are the vivid and direct sensorial experiences with things; and ideas, which are mental representations of these impressions. Hume distinguishes simple from complex ideas and makes the claim that “all our ideas or more feeble perceptions are copies of our impressions or more lively ones”.
Kant however, holds many different views than Hume, stating that rules are the basis of morality. This differs from Hume’s idea that our passions and emotions ultimately govern our moral decisions and that reason alone does not provide a motive to act morally. To better understand Hume’s ethical theories, it is important to understand his description and distinctions of cause and effect. According to Hume, our belief that events are causally related is meanly a habit acquired by experience. That is, having observed the regularity with which events of particular sorts occur together, we form the association of ideas that produce the habit of expecting the effect whenever we experience the cause.
Jung promoted the concept of archetypes, and Adler believed in the “will power” theory and that fundamentally, human beings are self- determined (“Theoretical Positions of Freud, Jung, and Adler,” n.d.). Freud is big on self-conscious, Jung said “the aim of life to know oneself, and to know one is to examine the depths of the unclear seas of not only the personal unconscious as well.” Adler stated that “individual psychology based on the idea of the indivisibility of one’s personality” (“Notable Quotes,” n.d.). The two characteristics that I agree with the most would be the psychoanalytic theory and the learning theory. I chose the psychoanalytic theory because it is natural and normal for people to have thoughts, feelings, and urges. Just like Freud said “at the same time we are only human and we cannot control what only comes naturally.
Freud’s theory based on human motivations and behaviour emphasises how the conflicting unconscious processes and early childhood experiences affect adult personality. It is one of the most controversial and influential theories in psychology (Sternberg, 1998). The theory states that there is a conflict between the id which contains primitive drives and emotions that are completely unconscious; the super ego which contains ideals, morals and values that are completely conscious ; and the ego which is mostly conscious and is the steering