Greek Psychology – Ch2 Test Bank | 6th Edition

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Chapter 2

Psychological Foundations in Ancient Greece

Chapter Objectives:

• Emphasize the similarities in speculation about human activity, particularly consciousness and self-awareness.
• Review pre-Socratic perspectives on a common element of life.
• Introduce intellectual development of the notion of a spiritual, life-giving soul and the concept of dualism.
• Contrast Platonic and Aristotelian systems in terms of the reliability of sensory knowledge, the acquisition of knowledge, and the sources of knowledge.
• Stress the primacy of Greek intellectual traditions in the formation of Western intellectual thought and, consequently, psychology.

Chapter Summary:

Ancient Greece provided the setting for the first detailed, recorded hypotheses about the causes of human activity in Western civilization. In the search for first principles of life, several systems of tentative explanations were offered. The naturalistic orientation, represented by the Ionian physicists Democritus, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, looked to some basic physical element in the world as this first principle. A biological orientation developed with Alcmaeon, Hippocrates, and Empedocles, which held that the physiology of the body contains the explanation of life. Pythagoras represented a mathematical orientation, postulating that the basis of life could be found in the essential coherence of mathematical relationships. The Sophists posited an eclectic orientation that denied the value of trying to seek out first principles. Rather, they advocated an operational attitude that relies on observations of life as it is lived. Finally, Anaxagoras and Socrates, rejecting the Sophists, proposed the existence of a soul that defines the humanity of people. This humanistic orientation developed the notion of the spiritual soul that possesses the unique human capabilities of the intellect and the will. The soul was elaborated as the central element in the interpretation of life offered by Plato and Aristotle. By the end of the Greek era the critical themes and issues of psychology as well as the methodological approaches were well identified and structured.

Suggested topics and issues for class discussion and/or short essay examination questions:

1. Taking Comte's assertion that ancient Greek thought marked the transition between the theological stage of intellectual explanations and the metaphysical stage, what characteristics of Greek thought support this view?

2. How did the philosophers of the "naturalistic" orientation of ancient Greek thought use aspects of the physical environment to explain life?

3. Both Heraclitus and Parmenides recognized the importance of change in nature. Describe their differing conclusions about change.

4. The search for a first "cause" in nature characterized many of the philosophical views of ancient Greece. Within the "naturalistic" orientation, contrast the methodological approach of observation with the hypothetical deductive approach in terms of a first cause.

5. Contrast the differing strategies of the explanations of the basis of life between the philosophers of the "naturalistic" orientation and those of the biological orientation.

6. In addition to the factual substance of the "biological" orientation, describe the resulting position of human beings with respect to the rest of nature.

7. How did the "mathematical” orientation of the ancient Greeks differ in basic focus from both the "naturalistic" and "biological" orientations?

8. The "mathematical" orientation introduced a new level of unified relationships, beyond the physical materialism of the environment. Describe this level in terms of its importance in the search for a cause of life.

9. What were the major implications of the Sophist rejection of the search for ultimate principles or a cause of life?

10. Gorgias's assertion that nothing exists except what we know through our senses was a radical break from the developments of the other orientations. In particular, how would Gorgias disagree with philosophers of the "mathematical orientation"?

11. What characteristic views about life separated the philosophers of the "humanistic" orientation from the other four orientations of ancient Greek thought?

12. What were the major differences underlying Pythagoras's view of an immortal, life-giving entity and Anaxagoras's notion of nous?

13. In what ways did Socrates' assertion of the soul represent a culmination of earlier Greek views?

14. What was Plato's mind-body dualism and how did this position reflect his theory of Ideas and Forms?

15. How did Plato value sensory knowledge, in contrast to the Sophists?

16. Which levels of human activity did Plato attribute to psychology?

17. In Plato's system, how does the soul come to know reality? How is rational thought and knowledge contrasted to other forms of knowledge for Plato?

18. Describe the mathematical emphasis in Plato's system and the biological emphasis in Aristotle's views.

19. How did Plato and Aristotle differ in their interpretations of sensory knowledge?

20. Describe Aristotle's categories in terms of mental operations of organization.

21. The notion of purpose or design is central to Aristotle's system. Describe the purposive theme of his views on physical nature and human activity.

22. Aristotle's treatment of causality qualified the ways in which cause and effect might operate. Why are his distinctions important for science?

23. Contrast Aristotle's views on inductive and deductive logic. Where does science fit with respect to these methods of knowing?

24. Describe Aristotle's hierarchy of souls among living creatures. Why is this description of various levels of life important for interpreting the varieties of human activities?

25. As the crowning achievement of Greek thought, Aristotle's system defended the need for psychology. Within his scheme, what was the relationship between psychology and other disciplines of intellectual inquiry?

Objective Questions:

1. The emphasis on the first cause of life in the physical environment came from which of the following orientations?

A. naturalistic B. biological

C. mathematical D. eclectic E. humanistic

2. Observation and hypothetical deductive approaches were characteristic methods of which of the following orientations?

A. naturalistic B. biological

C. mathematical D. eclectic E. humanistic

3. Belief in matter as indestructible atoms comes from

A. Parmenides. B. Comte. C. Democritus.

D. Hippocrates. E. Homer.

4. The critical factor of change in nature was recognized as most important by

A. Plato and Aristotle.

B. Pythagoras and Hippocrates.

C. Alcmaeon and Empedocles.

D. the Ionians.

E. Heraclitus and Parmenides.

5. The emphasis on the first cause of life in the inner physiology of the individual comes from which of the following orientations?

A. naturalistic B. biological

C. mathematical D. eclectic E. humanistic

6. The four humors of blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm were part of the biological teachings of

A. Empedocles. B. Aristotle. C. Alexander.

D. Democritus. E. Hippocrates.

7. The four basic substances underlying living activity of earth, air, fire, and water were emphasized by

A. Empedocles. B. Aristotle. C. Alexander.

D. Democritus. E. Hippocrates.

8. The emphasis on the first cause of life in unifying principles of relationships that go beyond the physical level came from which of the following orientations?

A. naturalistic B. biological

C. mathematical D. eclectic E. humanistic

9. The view of a second, more permanent reality of underlying relationships, essentially mathematical, which is far more stable and less distorted than sensory knowledge, was proposed by

A. Aristotle. B. Pythagoras. C. Alcmeon.

D. Protagoras. E. Homer.

10. The orientation that deemphasized the importance of physical matter was

A. naturalistic. B. biological.

C. mathematical. D. observational. E. eclectic.

11. The orientation that essentially denied the possibility of a first cause of life was

A. naturalistic. B. biological. C. eclectic.

D. observational. E. humanistic.

12. The best known of the Sophists, or wandering scholars, who urged the study of life solely through observable living creatures, and advocated extreme skepticism of nonobservables and generalizations, was

A. Protagoras. B. Anaximander. C. Plato.

D. Pythagoras. E. Thales.

13. A primary dependence on sensory knowledge is found in which of the following orientations?

A. biological B. mathematical C. eclectic

D. Aristotelian E. humanistic

1. The emphasis on the first cause of life found in the uniqueness of individual experience

and the higher mental and emotional processes of human beings came from which of the following orientations?

A. naturalistic B. biological

C. mathematical. D. eclectic E. humanistic

15. The organizing, determining, and all-encompassing nous or universal mind was proposed by

A. Democritus. B. Anaxagoras.

C. Pythagoras. D. Aristotle. E. Aeneas.

16. The clearest expression of the soul, along with a method of inquiry, are found in the teachings of

A. Democritus. B. Hippocrates.

C. Pythagoras. D. Protagoras. E. Socrates.

17. Which of the following was not characteristic of Plato's teachings

A. A realm of perfect is beyond the earthly imperfect level.

B. Mind-body dualism

C. Sensory knowledge is reliable.

D. Mathematics is basic to rational thinking.

E. The physical world is in a constant state of flux.

18. Which of the following was not characteristic of Plato's teachings on the soul?

A. The first condition of the soul is desire.

B. Ideas are known only through the senses.

C. The soul consists of reason and appetite.

D. The soul exists before the body.

E. The rational knowledge of the soul is changeless.

19. Plato's psychology allowed for all but one of the following:

A. The human soul provides the formation of ideas in the intellect.

B. Bodily functions are base, negative, and unreliable.

C. The mind and body are parallel processes.

D. Reason and appetite are respectively rational and irrational functions of the soul.

E. Ideas are reducible directly to sensory input.

20. The orientation most opposite to Plato's teachings is the

A. naturalistic. B. biological. C. mathematical.

D. humanistic. E. eclectic.

21. Aristotle accepted from Plato all but one of the following:

A. The negative, base character of bodily processes.

B. Mind-body dualism.

C. Nutritive, sensitive and rational types of souls.

D. Ideas are the product of the rational mind.

E. Rational knowledge is unchangeable.

22. Science for Aristotle involved all but one of the following:

A. Inductive reasoning.

B. Deductive reasoning.

C. Careful generalization based on observation.

D. Logical conclusions.

E. Speculation.

23. Aristotle's psychology included all but one of the following:

A. Purposive activity in human experience.

B. Little generalization beyond observables.

C. The soul contains the rational intellectual processes of imagination, reason, and creativity.

D. The will is the soul's motivational principle.

E. The mind is predisposed to organize sensory input by categories.

24. Causality for Aristotle may be distinguished among several types that include all but one of the following:

A. efficient. B. instrumental. C. logical.

D. formal. E. final.

25. Which of the following would not be included in Aristotle's description of the soul?

A. the will B. reason C. the intellect

D. the senses E. the categories