The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Modern Psychology
The Ancient Greek philosophers were among the first to attempt to understand the principles that guide the change that we observe in the world. The works of many of the Greek masters serve as the base for many of the modern schools of thought.
In the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the decline of the ancient civilization was accompanied by a change in philosophical approaches, while many of the works on philosophy were not preserved. The monasteries becoming the centers of formal learning, there was a shift to theological exploration, which could be argued to mean more focus on the afterlife than life itself. Some scholars called this period The Dark Ages, implying the perceived darkness of the barbaric ignorance after the fall of the Roman Empire as opposed to the light of the Antiquity. However, through the prism of theology the scholars of that period continued to explore the same topics and concepts that were central for the Greek philosophers and that also concern the modern scholars.
Modern psychology builds on the works of the scholars of the different periods of the world history. The assumptions regarding the possibility of human beings making free choices is crucial for differentiating theories and forming approaches to analysis. While behaviorism, sociobiology and neurobiology tend to be deterministic in trying to understand the laws and principles that guide all humans, the libertarian psychologists argue that human behavior needs to be examined differently due to the possibility to make free …
