Every philosopher is inevitably a psychologist. A real philosopher is looking for an answer to the question: “Why is the world arranged this way and not otherwise?” The philosopher is always interested in: “Who is the subject? Who owns this and not another picture of the world? Almost all psychological concepts (psyche, consciousness, personality, reflex) came from philosophy. And the Faculty of Psychology was once a branch of the Faculty of Philosophy. When psychology is called the younger sister of philosophy, not all psychologists agree with this, although formally this is of course true.
We will take only two, but bright philosophers of ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle. By the way, according to Jung, this is a typical couple (Plato is an extrovert, Aristotle is an introvert). Let’s ask each three questions:
- What is the soul?
- What is the strategy (general direction) of the knowledge of the soul?
- What are the tactics (concrete methods) of cognition of the soul?
As a result, we will get a table like this:
And here it is important to note that the philosophical language does not need to be taken literally, you will definitely make a mistake. We need to recreate the context. Plato and Aristotle do not speak directly to their interlocutor. Let’s consider the answers of the philosopher in more detail.
What is the soul?
Plato:
“The soul is the true essence, the maximum possible embodiment, the manifestation of any thing. The essence of a thing is its soul. It is immediately clear that Plato speaks of the soul of any thing, including a chair or table. Plato calls the soul something other than what we can imagine in the language of worldly psychology. According to Plato, the soul is the essence of a thing, it is the concept of it, a pure idea. Take a set of chairs or tables. Each table is deeply individual, but there is the concept of a table, the true essence, the maximum manifestation. In textbooks we find the concept of absolute truth.
But we are interested in the question not about the essence of things, but about the essence of people. Then we recall Plato’s phrase: «Know thyself» or «Know your essence.» When you and I pronounce “knowledge”, then, first of all, we mean scientific knowledge, and we may suddenly think that Plato is a psychologist who builds a science about the soul. But according to Plato, this is not at all the case. Knowledge here has nothing to do with science, he is not going to build a science of the soul. Self-knowledge is the development of personality. A practical psychologist will say that to reveal one’s essence means to try to develop one’s abilities, to reveal one’s essence in its maximum possible manifestation.
At the end of World War II, a direction of personality psychology emerged in the United States — humanistic psychology. The main concept proposed in it by one of the founders (Abraham Maslow) is self-actualization. Self-actualization is a person’s need for maximum identification and development of their own capabilities and abilities. This does not apply to people who are trying to be the first in any business. Here, in humanistic psychology, it speaks of the essence or soul according to Plato (own capabilities and abilities).
The most famous founder of humanistic psychology is Carl Rogers. He proposed a therapeutic technique using open communication groups as a means. And the vast majority of Plato’s works are the conversations of the philosopher Socrates (Plato’s teacher, an Athenian thinker directed to practice) with his students. So, the conversations of Socrates are, as it were, groups of open communication. People are sitting discussing the personal problems of each. Socrates, followed by Plato, says that the pursuit of truth is the fulfillment of some rules. If in life, then these are moral rules, and in knowledge — logical ones. Live purely in life, and pure thought in knowledge.
Aristotle:
As a student of Plato, Aristotle does not cancel anything in what Plato said: «The soul is the essence of a thing, it is truth, a pure idea.» But at the same time, he conceptually developed and said: «Essence as the form of a thing.» In other words, every thing is a piece of matter, the soul gives the form to the object, determines its essence. Specifically, the soul of a thing is its functional purpose, its role. The soul of the ax is ue, the soul of the eye is to see.
Here it becomes possible to build a science about the soul of any thing, including the human soul. Aristotle is the first ancient scientific research psychologist. Plato’s position does not negate Aristotle’s and vice versa. We need to know exactly where we are at the moment.
What is the strategy for knowing the soul?
Plato:
At the moment of deciding to comply with moral and logical rules, a person realizes that there are certain obstacles in his path of striving for truth. What are these barriers that prevent a person from developing? What is the opposite pole of the word «soul»? This is the body. I strive for the purity of the soul, but the body interferes. Quite a normal little worldly language.
And then Plato says: «The soul, in principle, does not depend on the body.» Plato is not addressing the researcher, he is addressing his student, who has embarked on the path of development of his personality.
Does the body interfere?
— Yes very.
— It interferes — you know, the soul, in principle, does not depend on the body.
If we say the same thing in the modern language of psychology, we get: “Barriers to the development of personality, in principle, can be overcome. Whatever obstacles arise, in principle, the corresponding problems can be resolved.”
A modern author talking about similar things is Sigmund Freud, the modern founder of practical psychology. He did not stop only at the study of the subject, he tried to help solve the personal problems of his contemporaries. In Freud, in place of the Platonic word soul is the word «I», and he calls the body the word «It». It sits in the I and interferes in every possible way. In its own language, the basic principle of Freud’s therapy, aimed at developing the personality, sounds like this: «Where the Id was, the Self must become. Barriers to the development of the personality can be overcome.»
Aristotle:
Aristotle takes the position of a scientist: «The soul is connected with the body and, as it were, immersed in it.» I will study the essence of things only through the body. I will study the body and cognize the essence of the body, that is, the soul. Here already appear terms alien to Plato. As the body is, so is the soul. Animals have an animal soul, plants have a plant soul, humans have a rational soul, which means thinking logically. Aristotle became the first creator of the science of correct knowledge, that is, logic. To have a rational soul, to think logically means to think in such a way that each next phrase does not destroy the previous one. In everyday life, we may not hear logical speech.
There is an old oriental parable. A neighbor takes a vase from her friend and breaks it. She takes her to the judge and asks to sort it out. The neighbor justifies herself by saying: “Firstly, I did not take the vase from you and never saw it. Secondly, when I took it from you, it was already broken. And thirdly, I returned it to you completely intact. Each next phrase destroys the meaning of the previous one. A vivid example of an unintelligent soul.
What is the tactic of knowing the soul?
That is, what are the specific methods of knowing the soul?
Plato:
When does the need for knowledge of the soul arise? When is a person forced to reveal himself, his essence? One could say, in a situation of choice, uncertainty. Like Shakespeare: To be or not to be. A person must make a choice. Plato gives a hint: “The soul has no parts. The soul is whole, indivisible. Various qualities of a developed personality are taken (striving for goodness, honesty, courage). And Plato tells us that it is impossible to be a little bit honest, a little bit brave. In the same way, the good devil explains in Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita to the buffet worker that sturgeon does not have a second freshness. If it is of the second freshness, it means that it is no longer fresh, something opposite of freshness.
Freud’s patient has not yet grown up to Plato’s teachings. He will not tell himself that he does not want to solve the problem. For example, he will say: “Create such and such conditions for me, and then I will make the right choice.” In Gogol’s play «Marriage», we read what a person does when he refuses to solve a problem. He begins to build some kind of ideal entity piece by piece. So Agafya Tikhonovna says: “If the lips of Nikonor Ivanych, and add Ivan Kuzmich to the nose, and take a little bit of the swagger that Balthazar Baltazarych has … Then I would immediately decide!” A modern personality psychologist will say that this (in parts) does not happen, the personality is integral. This also includes the direction, which is called the German word — Gestalt (a holistic form, that which is not divided into parts, does not reduce to a sum).
One more example. In Russian literature there is one charming character from Gorky’s play «At the Bottom». This is Satin. Some time ago, his saying hung on the walls: «A man — it sounds proud.» Satin is a parasite who lives at the bottom and basically refuses to work. And if Agafya Tikhonovna said: «Just create the conditions, I will immediately decide.» Then Satin says: “You make sure that the work is not a burden. Do it, then I can maybe work. Yes, may be». This is a person who is still far from knowing his soul, he is still in the power of something else.
Plato is the founder of some important psychological tradition, an important direction, not a research one. He can be called more of a tutor who provides assistance. This is practical psychology, psychotherapy.
Aristotle:
Aristotle says: «Only in knowledge and for the researcher is the soul divided into parts.» Otherwise it is impossible to build science! Therefore, natural science disciplines distinguish parts, elements. Such parts Aristotle called the abilities of the soul (today it is called mental processes): sensation, perception, thinking, memory, attention, imagination. These are the parts of the soul. As long as psychology has existed, so much has been the eternal dispute: how can perception be separated from memory and is it worth it? Is it worth dividing the psyche into parts? We have to, because there is a need for a scientific analysis of the psyche.
Aristotle is the founder of research psychology. It has its own extensive experimental practice.