PSYC 375 Chapter 4 Notes PDF

lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC 375 - Chapter 4 Notes History of Psychology (Athabasca University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC 375 – Chapter 4 Notes The Renaissance -...

lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC 375 - Chapter 4 Notes History of Psychology (Athabasca University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC 375 – Chapter 4 Notes The Renaissance - The Renaissance is generally dated from 1450 to 1600. Renaissance means “rebirth. o During this period, there was a return to open-minded inquiry, Similar to early Greek philosophy. o During the Renaissance, Europe became more human centered as opposed to God centered and the view was that there was more to humans than their souls. o Attention was shifted from the heavens to living humans Challenges to Church Authority - - The Renaissance is an era associated with the breakdown of church authority. Church dogma consisted of fixed truths: There are exactly seven heavenly bodies in the solar system, the earth is the center of the universe, and humans are created in God’s image, for example. o These “truths” were challenged, and each successful challenge focused suspicion on other “truths.” o the questioning escalated rapidly, and the church tried desperately to discourage these challenges Gradually, church dogma was replaced by the very thing it had opposed the most—the direct observation of nature without the intervention of theological considerations. There is no single reason for this reawakening of the spirit of objective inquiry; several factors are believed responsible. o One was Aquinas’s acceptance of reason and the examination of nature as ways of knowing God.  Once sanctioned by the church, the human capacity to reason was applied everywhere, includingupon church dogma. o Another factor was the work of the humanists that we will consider next.  Humanist philosophy recaptured the spirit of open inquiry reflected in the Greeks and also stressed the human potential to act upon the world and change it for the better o In addition, two other broad events are considered key factors in the acceptance of the objective study of nature because they weakened the authority of the church.  The first of these was exploration and contact with other peoples including:  The explorations of central Asia and China from 1271 to 1295 by Marco Polo (ca. 1254–1324).  Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus (1492).  Circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition (1519–1522). o These expanded the known world. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 The discovery that the earth was filled with strange peoples with strange customs created many problems for the church  The second key event was Johannes Gutenberg’s development of metal movable type the West, thus creating modern printing techniques  The importance of printing cannot be overstated. Copying books by hand was slow work that both limited availability and stifled new thought  Within just a few decades the number of books increased dramatically and Literacy grew  Widespread printing of the vernacular (the standard native language of a locality or country) Bible paved the way for the Reformation, and outside of theology, printing facilitated the exchange of ideas required for advancing both philosophy and science  we should note that Gutenberg invented printing in the West. o Many key discoveries that would shape the Renaissance were first made in the East o Islamic science was far ahead of Western science at that time.  From the Islamic world, we also get our numerals and much of our math.  In China, timekeeping, navigational devices (such as the compass), both papermaking and printing, as well as explosives and gunpowder were all long established before they reached the West.   Renaissance Humanism – Major Themes - - Humanism, as it applies to the Renaissance, does not mean “humanitarianism.” o That is, it does not refer to a deep concern about the welfare of humans. o Nor does it refer to humaneness—treating one’s fellow humans with respect, sensitivity, and dignity. As it applies to the Renaissance, humanism denotes an intense interest in human beings, as if we were discovering ourselves for the first time. Four major themes 1. Individualism 2. Personal religion 3. Intense interest in the past 4. Anti-Aristotelianism Francesco Petrarch - Some believe that the writings of Francesco Petrarch mark the beginning of the Renaissance. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 - Petrarch was concerned with freeing the human spirit from traditional confines. o His main criticism was of Scholasticism because he said the classics should be viewed as works of humans rather than being reinterpreted or embellished. - He urged for a personal religion which would be based on the Bible, personal faith, and personal feelings, much like that described by St. Augustine. - He said that by attempting to make religion compatible with Aristotelian philosophy of rationalism, it became too intellectual. - Petrarch argued that peoples lives are equally important both before and after death. - He said that God wanted people to use their abilities. - By focusing on human potential, Petrarch sparked many endeavours which characterized the Renaissance. o He opened the door for Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo and his overall skepticism paved the way for modern science. Giovanni Pico. - He argued that God granted humans a unique position. o He said that angels are perfect and because humans are between angels and animals, we are capable of change. - He said that freedom allows for choice in lifestyle and viewpoint and he insisted that all philosophies share common elements. o He argued that philosophies reflect human rationality and individuality. o Due to this agreement, Pico said that all viewpoints should be studied objectively in order their commonalities are relation to Christian views. - Pico sought harmony among all human works. Desiderius Erasmus - Desiderius Erasmus had no taste for church life and preferred instead to travel and study. o He was strongly opposed to fanatical beliefs and chose to point our mistakes and point out that no human is perfect. o He was eclectic and practical and observed the world with all its problems. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o He had traditional and progressive views of women and said that they should have access to education , commended their role as caregivers, and strongly opposed celibacy being superior to marriage. - In his book, Erasmus attached the church, philosophers, , nobilities and superstitions, he said that fools are better off than the wise and happier because they are not fearful, concerned and worried. - Erasmus’s criticisms of the Catholic church of his day closely paralleled those of Luther’s: “pope had far too much power; the preaching of indulgences had degenerated into shameless money-making; the veneration of saints had been corrupted to superstition; church buildings were stuffed full of images; the music in services was more fitting for a wedding”. - Erasmus’ work went on to be placed in the Catholic Church’s index of forbidden books. Martin Luther - Martin Luther was an Augustinian priest and biblical scholar who disagreed with the Christianity of his day. o He agreed with St. Paul and St. Augustine that human intentions are either inspired by God or Satan. o Luther insisted on a personal religion where a person is only answerable to God and church hierarchy and ritual are deemphasized. o In 1517 Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of a Wittenberg castle church and this was said to begin the reformation. o Luther was opposed to the church’s indulgences, which allowed sinners to reduce retribution for sins by paying money. o He said the church drifted away from the teachings of the Bible and Jesus.  Jesus preached the simple life, devoid of luxury and privilege, but these were valued by the church. o Luther believed that a major downfall of Catholicism was the assimilation of Aristotle’s philosophy. o Luther also disagreed with compulsory celibacy and he celebrated sexual enjoyment within marriage. - Luther and Erasmus disagreed on human free will. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o Erasmus defined free will as the power of human will whereby man can apply to or turn away from that which leads to eternal salvation.  According to Erasmus, God indicated to humans what is good and bad and encourages them to choose good.  Erasmus believed that without free will, humans cannot be responsible for their actions.  Erasmus argued that even if human actions are predestined, it would be dangerous to reveal such a doctrine because morality is dependent on the consciousness of freedom.  His solution was to combine Gids grace and free will. o In contrast, Luther said that God foresees purposes and does all things according to his will (or Satan’s will).  Luther said that in all things pertaining to salvation or damnation, man has no free will but is captive to the will of God or Satan.  God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and is present everywhere.  In this debate, Erasmus was kind and respectful while Luther was mean and disrespectful and believed his interpretation was the only correct one.  When Luther was excommunicated in 1521 his views became known as Protestantism.  The new religion denies the authority of the pope and said that all individuals had the right to interpret the Bible for themselves.  Early Protestantism had at least two negative aspects. o First, as a religion, it was austere, harsh, and unforgiving o Second, Protestantism insisted on accepting the existence of God on faith alone; attempting to understand Him through reason or empirical observations was to be avoided  if one believes that the acceptance of reason and the observation of nature as ways of knowing God exemplified progress, then Protestantism exemplified regression. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o On the positive side, however, Protestantism was a liberating influence in the sense that it challenged the authority of the pope and of Aristotle as dogma Michel de Montaigne - With the recovery of classical knowledge, there arose a concern that had occupied the Greek and Roman Skeptics: o With so many claims of truth, is there any valid way of distinguishing among them? o The Skeptics answered in the negative, and we see indications of Skepticism in the works of Petrarch, Pico, and especially Erasmus. o Luther demonstrated Skepticism, at least toward Aristotelian philosophy and the religious practices that developed since the time of Augustine. - Michel de Montaigne demonstrated severe skepticism, similar to that represented by earlier Pyrrho. o He questioned the possibility of indisputable knowledge and argued that both catholic and protestant theory were equally indefensible. o He said that human rationality caused human problems and that because nonhumans lack rationality, they are superior. - Montaigne analyzed the philosophies of others and pointed of inconsistencies within and among. - He rejected science as a means of obtaining knowledge because science constantly fluctuates and so do the “truths” science presents. - He denied that sensations act as guides for living and said that hey are illusionary and influenced by our body and personal history. - Montaigne’s skepticism sparked many others to disprove it, including Bacon and Descartes. - These scholars responded to Montaigne’s doubts regarding knowledge by describing their oppositional philosophies. Renaissance Science Ptolemy as Precursor Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 - In the second century A.D. Ptolemy summarized the observations of astrology and mathematics which occurred during his time. o In his Almagest, he describes the Ptolemaic System which includes beliefs that heavily bodies were spherical and that the sun, moon and other plants travel around in circular and uniform orbits. o Some disagreed with this view, like Aristarchus of Samos, who was an Alexandrian astronomer who said that earth and the other planets rotated around the sun, not the earth. o The Ptolemaic system prevailed because it accorded well with the testimony of the sense, it allowed for reasonable astronomical predictions and it was congenial to Christian theology by making humans central in the universe. Many teachings of Ptolemy became official church dogma and unchallengeable. - Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the Ptolemaic system seriously. o Copernicus was able to successfully argue that the view of the sun revolving around the earth (geocentric theory) was incorrect and instead, the earth revolved around the sun (heliocentric theory). o This sparked many questions regarding the church because these ideas clearly questioned church dogma. o Copernicus’s heliocentric theory was known as being revolutionary because it challenged the worldview dating back to at least Aristotelean time. - Giordano Bruno was a Dominican priest who was interested in Hermetic philosophy as well as magic forces of benefit to humans and harmony among the plants. o The Hermetic tradition said that within the universe, there are many uninhabited worlds and that in each, the sun is considered divine. o Bruno accepted Copernicus’s heliocentric theory because it restored the divine status of the sun by saying that the plants revolve around it. “All known celestial phenomena could be accounted for by the Ptolemaic system; there were no major mysteries that needed explanation. o The only justification for accepting Copernicus’s heliocentric theory was that it cast the known astrological facts into a simpler, more harmonious mathematical order.”. o In the Ptolemaic system, complex assumptions had to be made regarding the paths of planets around earth before paths of planets and eclipses could be made with accuracy. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o Copernicus’s system reduced the number of assumptions which needed to be made to make the same accurate predictions. In the 15th and 16th century there was an increased interest in platonic philosophy, especially the Pythagorean aspect. o The Pythagorean-Platonic view that the universe operated according the simple and harmonious mathematic principles worked in favor of accepting the Copernican viewpoint. - Johannes Kepler was a Pythagorean-platonic mathmagician and was one of the first converts to Copernicus’s heliocentric theory Kepler’s teacher, Michael Maestlin encouraged critical evaluation of both Ptolemaic and Copernican astronomy. o Kepler first studied to become a Lutheran, however, he could not accept the entirety of the Lutheran doctrine.  Luther had completely condemned the heliocentric theory as flagrant contradictions of biblical teachings. o Others rejected Copernican theory, however, Kepler continued to take the risk of embracing it because he was a Platonist seeking simplistic mathematical harmony and because he saw the sun as a mystical force. o Because of his Pythagorean-Platonic background, he believed that true reality was the mathematical harmony which exists beyond mere appearance of the world. o The sensory world is the world of appearances and it is an inferior reflection of the unchanging mathematical world. o Kepler took over the Prague observatory and through deduction and observation he found that the plants paths around the sun were not circular as Copernicus believed but rather they were elliptical. o He anticipated Newton’s concept of gravitation by observing the velocities of the plants and how they vary inversely with their distance from the sun. he also demonstrated that all planetary motions could be described with a single mathematic statement. o Kepler also contrasted early vision theories by finding that environmental objects and inverted when projected onto the retina. Galileo - Galileo was a brilliant mathematician who was University of Pisa mathematics professor. Galileo agreed with Copernicus and Kepler and viewed the universe as a perfect machine understood only by mathematics. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 - Galileo believed his task was to explain the mathematic reality that existed beyond the world of appearances (sensory world). o Using his Pythagorean-Platonic beliefs he corrects many misconceptions about the world including Aristotle’s statement that heavy objects fall faster than light ones. - Galileo accepted the Copernican theory and wrote a book to argue against opposition. - In 1609 Galileo used his modified telescope to discover the moon, sunspots and milky way. o He described that there are four moons of Jupiter, which disproved the churches belief that the solar system had only 7 bodies. o Many people refused to even look through the telescope or denied that they saw even when they did look. - Galileo demonstrated that a single set of mathematical laws governs the motion of all bodies under all circumstances. - Regarding experimentation, Galileo believed that discovering a physical law was like discovering a platonic form. o Observations suggest lawful relationships and experiments either confirm of disconfirm. o Of importance, once a law is discovered, no further experimentation is required. Galileo said that not only do experiments confirm existence of laws, but they also function to convince skeptics of the existence. - Galileo emphasized rational deduction much more than on experimentation and was a true realist. o Actual laws (forms) existed and they structure the physical world. While senses provide hints of reality, rational order is the ultimate explanation of reality and it must be mathematical. - Galileo distinguished subjective and objective reality. o He said that objective reality is independent of people’s perception and has primary qualities, which are absolute, objective and capable of mathematical description. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o Primary qualities include size, shape, quantity, and motion or rest. Subjective reality is comprised of secondary qualities, which are psychological experiences and have no presence in the physical world. o These secondary qualities include color, sound, temperature, smell and taste. Galileo believed that secondary qualities are subjective, relative, and fluctuating. o He said that of primary qualities (like Plato’s forms) we find true knowledge, but that with secondary qualities there is only opinion and appearance. - Galileo said that because much of conscious experience consists of secondary qualities, consciousness cannot be studied mathematically or through objective scientific methods. o Prior to Galileo, many gave humans a prominent position within the world but the Galileo’s view changed this. o With Galileo’s view, human experiences such as pleasure and passion were inferior to the real world outside of human experience. o Humans can come to know the world of astronomy and physics but this knowledge cannot be attained through only sensory experience.  One must rationally grasp the mathematical laws that exist beyond the senses.  In this way, Galileo excludes many concepts of psychology from science and for this reason many current scientists still refuse to accept psychology Isaac Newton - Isaac Newton was born the same year Galileo died. o His bather died before his birth and he was sent to his grandmother when his mother remarried. o Newton was a mediocre student in school but showed great knowledge and ability of building mechanical contrivances such as windmills. o Newton’s mother removed him from school after her second husband died and she hoped he would farm. o One of Newton’s teachers recognized his potential and prepared him for Cambridge university. - He obtained his degree add wrote The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o He said he obtained many ideas from Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. o He wrote about theology and alchemy more than science but to him, the three topics were inseparable. - Newton conceived of the universe as a complex, lawful machine created by God. Newton developed differential and integral calculus, developed the universal law of gravitation and did pioneering work in optics. - He created a conception of the universe which prevailed in astronomy and physics for 2 centuries. - He used mathematical deduction, observation and experimentation to verify his works. Although Newton believed in God as the creator of the universe, his work nevertheless diminished God’s influence. o God created the universe and set it in motion, but that exhausted his involvement. Newton believed in God, but his ideas diminished the influence of God nonetheless. o Following Newton, deism became popular which was the belief that God created the universe but “let it be”. o Newton’s universal law of gravitation said that all objects in the universe attract each other but that the level of attraction is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the bodies (planets) and inversely proportional to the square distance between them. - Newton had 6 influential principles. o First, although God is the creator, he does not actively partake in the events of the world (deism). o Second, natural laws govern the material world. o Third, there is not place for purpose in natural laws, and natural events cannot be explained by postulating properties inherent in them (rejected Aristotle’s final cause). o Fourth, Occam’s razor is accepted because explanations should be as simple as possible.  Newton said that everything in the world can be explained in terms of space (consisting of points), time (moments), matter (existing in space and possessing mass), and force (providing change in the motion of matter). Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o Fifth, natural laws are absolute but that our understanding is imperfect, which means we settle for probabilities rather than certainties. o Sixth, classification is not an explanation Francis Bacon - Francis Bacon moved to France after studying at Cambridge and returned to England to practice law. He was a member of parliament but was impeached for accepting bribed and following a brief prison sentence, was forced to retire. o His retirement was used to focus on science and philosophy and he has been known as a key spokesman for new science’s revolt against past authorities (Aristotle). - Bacon was a radical empiricism who followed Copernicus and Galileo and believed that nature could only be understood by direct and objective observation. o He opposed those who said nature should be based on scripture and faith because this hampers their ability to learn how the world functions. - Although Galileo and Bacon were both contemporaries, their ideas differed. Galileo sought general mathematical laws which could be used to make deductions about the physical world. o Galileo said is a law is expressed mathematically, a large number of manifestations of the laws could be deduced (predicted from a general principle). o Bacon promoted induction and said that science should not include theories, hypothesis, math or deductions and should only include observable facts.  Bacon said that theories will bias observations and emphasized that Aristotle was heavily biased because he assumed all objects were governed by final causes., which led to conclusions which supported this theory.  Bacon distrusted rationalism because of its emphasis on words but also distrusted mathematics because of the emphasis on symbol.  According to Bacon, direct observation must be used and the ultimate authority in science was this observation.  Bacon’s ideas of science was later known as positivism. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509  According to Bacon, one moves from an observation to a generalization (induction), but to Galileo and Newton, one proceeds from a general law to predict specific empirical events (deduction).  According to Bacon, scientists should follow two cardinal rules: “One, to lay aside received opinions and notions, and the other, to restrain the mind for a time from the highest generalizations”  Bacon was not against generalization, only premature generalization.  - According to Bacon, there are 4 sources of error in scientific investigation. o First, the idols of the cave are personal biases which arise from intellectual endowment, experiences, education, and feelings which all influence a persons perception and interpretation of the world. o Second, the idols of the tribe are biases due to human nature.  For example, all humans share the ability to imagine, will, and hope and these can and do distort perception.  They filter out judgements. o Third, the idols of the marketplace are biases resulting from the strong influence of meaning assigned to words such as with verbal labels of descriptions.  These influence a person’s understanding of the world and distort observations. o Fourth, the idols of the theater are biases resulting from blind allegiance to a viewpoint of philosophy or theology. - Bacon said that science should provide useful information which changes the world for the better. o Science should further knowledge, improve technology and improve the world. Bacon said that the practical knowledge obtained by science is important for this betterment of science. - Bacon said that “knowledge is power” and said that by understanding nature we command it. o To understand nature is to understand causal relationships. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 - Bacon proposed two experiments designed to explore the laws of nature and how to utilize them. o First is experimenta lucifera (experiments of light) and second, experimenta fructifera (experiments of fruit). - Bacon said science is inducive and that experiments only provide practical information if conducted correctly (in an unbiased manner) - Later psychologists like Skinner adopted Bacon’s ideas. Skinner’s approach was to try one thing and another until one showed promise. There was no theory of hypothesis Rene Descartes - Descartes was a Renaissance man but also a soldier, mathematician, philosopher, scientist and psychologist. o He was raised by his grandmother and was a very bright child. o He studied the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and other early Christian philosophers. o He was very fond of mathematics but travelled with the military to experience life before settling down in St. Germain outside Paris.  - It was here that Descartes observed a mechanical statue of water pipes which influenced his later philosophy. Descartes experienced a crisis when he recognized that people have been unable to agree for centuries. o He concluded that nothing was beyond doubt in philosophy and he became very depressed, he wanted to learn things for himself rather than from experts and developed a method of self-exploration, which was proven to be highly productive. - Descartes showed how geometry and observation could be integrated and made it possible to represent astronomical phenomena as planetary orbits with numbers. o He discovered an exact correspondence between the realm of numbers and the realm of physics which meant that all natural events could be described with mathematics. o - Descartes sought other areas of human knowledge to be understood with the same certainty as analytic geometry. He had 4 rules for attaining certain in any area. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o First, never accept anything as true unless he recognized is to be evidently so and include nothing in his conclusions unless it presented itself so clearly in his mind that he had not reason to doubt it. o Second was to divide each of the difficulties he encountered into as many parts as possible to make solutions easier. o Third was to think in an orderly fashion, beginning with the most simple things and gradually reaching for more complex knowledge. o Fourth was to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, then he would be certain that nothing was omitted,. -  Thus began his search for philosophical truth.  He would doubt everything that could be doubted and use whatever was certain Descartes analyzed the content of his thought and found that some ideas were so clear and distinct that they needed to be accepted as true, and yet they had no counterparts in his personal experience. o He said that such ideas were innate. o Innate ideas were natural components of the mind, and included those of unity, infinity, perfection, the axioms of geometry and God. o Because God exists, is perfect, and will not deceive humans, we can trust the information provided by our senses, but this information must be clear and distinct to be accepted as valid. o Descartes said that the rational processes were valid and that knowledge of the physical world gained through the senses could be accepted because God would not deceive us, but that even sensory information had to be analyzed rationally in order to determine its validity. o - Descartes used intuition and deduction. o The first principles of Descartes’s philosophy were cognitive in nature and were arrived at by intuition. o Descartes also had a mechanistic conception of human behavior and said that animals respond to the world in a way that is explained by physical principles. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 - Descartes said that the like the statue in St. Germain, the bodies sense receptors were like pressure places which start water flowing though tubes that activate the statue. o He said that nerves are hollow tubes with delicate threads that connect receptors to the brain. o Descartes concluded that threats were connected to the cavities (ventricles) of the brain, which contained animal spirits. o Many Greek philosophers had concepts of animal spirits and they believed that the presence distinguished the living from non living.  This was the first description of what was later called a reflex.  That is, an environmental event (heat) automatically causes a response (foot withdrawal) because of the way the organism is con- structed (nerves, muscles, and animal spirits). o By saying that both animal and human interactions with the environment were reflexive, he made it legitimate to study nonhuman animals to learn more about humans. -  Evidence eventually proved Descartes ideas of reflexes incorrect.  Nerves were not hollow, there were 2 distinct types of nerves, sensory nerves carried information to sense receptors in the brain and motor nerves carried information from brain to muscle.  Eventually, others formed the Cartesian theory, which referred to some aspects of Descartes philosophy or methodology. Descartes said that animal behavior and internal processes are explained mechanically. o He specified a major difference between animals and humans in that only humans poses a mind capable of consciousness, rationality and free choice, o He stated that the mind was nonphysical and the body was physical. o He believed that humans body operates according to physical principles and a mind that does not but the two interact and influence one another. o Descartes was a dualist and subscribed to interactionism. o He said that because the mind was not physical, it could not be found anywhere as it permeated the entire body. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o Sensory and cognitive experiences allow the body to experience bodily states such as hunger, and that these experiences would not be possible if the mind and body weren’t closely related. o Descartes sought a unitary brain structure where the mind experts influence on the body. -  The structure, which he said was the penal gland because it was surrounded by animal spirits (cerebrospinal fluid), was uniquely human because only humans possess a mind.  He said the pineal glad allowed the mind to will the body to act.  Because the mind is free it inhibits and modifies reflexive behaviour which would be expected to result. Descartes explained bodily functions through completely mechanical explanations and his analysis of reflexive behavior began the stimulus-response and behaviouristic psychology. o He focused attention on the brain as a mediator of behavior which was later elaborated on. o Reactions to his belief in innate ideas launched new philosophical and psychological positions such as modern empiricism and modern sensationism. o By investigating the bodies of animals, he proposed physiological psychology and comparative psychology. o He also paved the way for the scientific study of consciousness. o What followed Descartes was, in one way or another, a reaction to him Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected])