History of Psychology

History of Psychology

People in today’s society may be curious about the teachings of psychology. Others may wonder about what society can learn by studying psychology of the past. This understanding of psychology may assist psychologists with avoiding mistakes of the past and recognizing the important teachings for the future of mankind. This paper will indentify philosophers who relate to the beginnings of psychology, major philosophers in the western tradition that were primary contributors, and explore the development of the science of psychology during the 19th century.
Indentify Philosophers Who Impacted the Beginnings of Psychology
As the Oracle Education Foundation (n.d.) states, “psychology has a long past, but only a short history” (Para. 1), as Germen Hermann Ebbinghaus makes this statement of psychology. A historian of psychology, Morton Hunt, explains that an experiment conducted by a King of Egypt in the seventh century B.C. may have been the first experiment of psychology.
Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, ancient Greek philosophers, are thought to have the original thoughts of psychology-related works.   Socrates (469-399 B.C.) is known as a founder of Western Philosophy. A student of Socrates was Plato (428-347 B.C.) who was a well-known Greek philosopher whose work was influenced by Socrates and what he saw in the death of Socrates. A student of Plato’s teachings was Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) and his teachings were crucial to the founding of western philosophy, science and logic, metaphysics, and politics. According to Oracle Education Foundation (n.d.), their early questions of philosophy were of what “is free will, how does the mind work, and what is the relationship of the people to their society” (Para. 2). During the next hundreds of years, philosophers would work on these questions and other related questions that would lead to the roots of psychology. Some of the origins of psychology can trace its foundation from the study of...