The History of Psychology

The History of Psychology

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/historyofpsych.html

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This is an e-text about the historical and philosophical background of Psychology. It was originally written for the benefit of my students at Shippensburg University, but I hope that it helps anyone with an intellectual interest in the field. The material is original and copyrighted by myself, and any distribution must be accompanied by my name and the copyright information. For personal educational use, it is free to one and all.


PDF versions of the text were created by Diana Wieser:

Part 1: The Ancients
Part 2: The Rebirth
Part 3: The 1800s
Part 4: The 1900s

Below, the main chapters are in bold; shorter sections, readings, maps, and timelines are in regular type.

Note: Study guides and practice quizzes are available. Click here!

Part One: The Ancients Psyche and Eros The Presocratics The Alphabet Two Poems by Sappho Timeline: From 600 BC to 200 BC Map: Ancient Mediterranean Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Plato Selection: Allegory of the Cave Logical Fallacies Kiss Hank's Ass, by Rev. Jim Huber (off-site) Epicureans and Stoics A Letter from Epicurus Selections from Epictetus Timeline: From 1 AD to 400 AD Map: Roman Empire 116 AD The Roman Empire A Brief History of Judaism Early Christian Heresies Sunnis and Shiites Early History of China and India

Part Two: The Rebirth The Middle Ages A Letter from Heloise to Abelard Timeline: From 1000 to 1400 Map: Europe 1278 The Beginnings of Modern Philosophy A Letter from Galileo Galilei René Descartes Selection: Meditations Quotations from John Comenius Timeline: From 1400 to 1800 Map: Europe 1700 Epistemology The Enlightenment August Comte's Calendar Benedict Spinoza's Emotions Metaphysics David Hume and Immanuel Kant The Rights of Man The Rights of Woman Ethics Overlapping Moralities

Part Three: The 1800s Timeline: The 1800s Map: Europe 1815 Early Medicine and Physiology The Hippocratic Oath Phrenology Diagram A Brief History of Psychopharmacology Charles Darwin and Evolution Charles Darwin Selection: Descent of Man John, Mary, and the Komodo Dragon Sociobiology The Romantic Philosophers The Quotable Friedrich Nietzsche Thus SpokeZarathustra -- A Selection The Beginnings of Psychology Sir Francis Galton Selection: Hereditary Talent.... The History of Statistics Wilhelm Wundt and William James William James Selection: Consciousness Free will

Part Four: The 1900s Timeline: The 1900s Map: Europe 1914 Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud Selection: The Unconscious Behaviorism B. F. Skinner Selection Walt Whitman There was a Child... Gestalt Psychology Kurt Köhler Selection: Gestalt Psychology Today Carl Rogers Selection: The Organization of Personality Phenomenological Existentialism James Joyce Selection: A Portrait... Romance: A Partial Analysis Modern Medicine and Physiology A Brief History of the Lobotomy The Cognitive Movement A Computer Timeline AI Gone Awry, by Peter Kassan (off-site) Conclusions: Psychology Today and Tomorrow

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Resources:

In addition to the primary sources mentioned within the text itself, I am indebted to several secondary sources as well:

Will and Ariel Durant - The Story of Civilization.
B. R. Hergenhahn - An Introduction to the History of Psychology.
Daniel N. Robinson - An Intellectual History of Psychology.
The Encyclopedia Britannica (various editions).
Robert Audi (editor) - The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy.
William Sahakian - History of Philosophy.
Colin Mcevedy - Penguin Atlas of (Ancient/Medieval/Modern) History.
Kinder and Hildemann - Anchor Atlas of World History.
My own Personality Theories e-text.

All errors are, of course, mine.

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