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Period: 570 BCE to 495 BCE
Pythagoras
The body is a container for the soul whose object was eventually to purify itself so it could be free from the body; human shortcomings result in climbing backwards down the evolutionary scale in each successive reincarnation -
Period: 535 BCE to 475 BCE
Heraclitus
Sought to discover the nature of knowledge and essence of things; believed that all people possess “logos”, the ability to reason, but do not make use of it; key to understanding is introspection -
Period: 500 BCE to 300 BCE
Ancient Greece
Contained the Age of Rationalism -
Period: 470 BCE to 399 BCE
Socrates
Studied moral philosophy; search for moral good, virtue, justice; main method : dialectics; in his philosophy, the heavenly bodies, earth, clouds are not the value, but the universe of the human soul -
Period: 428 BCE to 348 BCE
Plato
Founded the Academy; defined the three aspects of psyche; studied the realms of neuroscience -
Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE
Aristotle
De Anima; developed philosophical psychology; scientific psychology -
Period: 300 BCE to 100 BCE
Hellenistic Period
Often referred to as the "Twilight of Greek thinking" because of the dramatic increase in new ideas and thinking -
Period: 100 BCE to 500
Graeco-Roman Period
Separation between science and philosophy widened -
Period: 184 to 253
Origen
Origen was an intellectual theologian as well as a leader of the church who believed that philosophy and science were compatible with the church. -
Period: 200 to 500
Patristic Period
Known as the period of the church fathers and formed the Christian Orthodoxy; focused on dualism of mind and body, and supernaturalism -
Period: 354 to 430
Augustine
Believed that reflection was a major source of knowledge of self, through which we can come to know our souls. Believed that miracles are simply unusual occurances. -
Period: 500 to Jan 1, 900
The Dark Ages
Dark Ages: scientific advancement came to a halt, and low standards of living and misgovernment contributed to widespread illiteracy. The sciences and cultures suffered heavy setbacks in terms of advancement and psychology made no progress at all. The middle part of the middle ages was characterized by the birth of Islam and its domination in southern Europe. -
Period: Jan 2, 900 to Jan 1, 1450
Later Middle Ages
This age was characterised by a reawakening of knowledge, which carried on into the Renaissance. Universities began to emerge along with the expansion of knowledge in the thirteenth century. This expansion helped spread scientific ideas, some of which included philosophy. -
Period: Jan 2, 1450 to
The Renaissance
Characterised by general and literary enrichment, also known as the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment. Scientists were keen to discover more about the world and its nature, and the field of psychology was broadened. -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Modern Period
Known as the Scientific Revolution. Emphasis was on methodology, science and mathematics in this period. -
Period: Jan 22, 1561 to
Francis Bacon
Among the first men to study nature using scientific observation; developed empirical methodology and inductive reasoning; helped develop the study of the human mind, how it functions, and how we experience events -
Period: to
Rene Descartes
Decided that the point of interchange between the mind and body is the pineal gland, located at the base of the cerebrum; he believed that in order to be sure of anything, you must doubt it -
Period: to
British Empiricism
Psychology began to become more empirical and moved away from rationalism. Empiricism, the theory that all knowledge is based on experience derived from the senses, became a feasible alternative to rationalism. Baconian propositions, such as that science must begin from carefully collected observations, was accepted by empiricism. -
Period: to
John Locke
Widely regarded as the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the Father of Liberalism. He was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. Postulated tabula rasa, the idea that the mind is a blank slate at birth. -
Period: to
David Hartley
Hartley considered physiology and psychology to be associational, and supported Locke's theory of tabula rasa. He was the founder of the associationist school of psychology. -
Period: to
John Stuart Mill
English philosopher who believed that the "whole is more than the sum of its parts": elements may generate complex ideas, but the ideas generated are not merely the sum of its constituting parts. -
Period: to
Wilhelm Wundt
Cited as the founder of modern psychology and experimental psychology. He noted psychology as a science apart from biology and philosophy. He formally developed structuralism and introspection as an observation method. In the exploration of the nature of religious beliefs, mental disorders and abnormal behaviour, he established psychology as its own separate science.