Philosophers and Scientist of Modern Psychology
History of Psychology
While the philosophical distinction between mind and body can be traced back to the Greeks, it is due to the works of one great Philosopher that till this very day this is still in existence. Rene Descartes was the first to ever talk about the interactions of the mind and body, which later on in psychological history caught the attention of others who came after him such as James and Wundt. Descartes stated that not only body can influence mind, but that mind could also affect body. Descartes was a famous mathematician born in France. He was known as the father of modern philosophy for his works in the fields of math, science and philosophy. For real scientific progress in psychology we will not give Descartes credit though, the credit must be given to scientific thinkers who came way after Descartes. So basically philosophy as a science was not due to Descartes. Going deeper than just the thought want know how the mind and body interaction really work and also consciousness was due to scientific thinkers such as Wilhelm Wundt and William James who along with his medical training came up with some great findings as well. The foundation of modern psychological thought and treatments date back as far as Rene Descartes Wundt, and James. Their works are still taught in current times. The schools of have gone through and seen several changes in the past two thousand years, many of the basic foundations and principles are still the same but some how we will see the modern concept that previous thinkers came up with have made some changes even though there are still many similarities. Lets take James for instance, he was the first to write a textbook on psychology and even though it has been revised and rewritten, many of the concepts and findings still to this day are taught. Same as with Wundt and Descartes we have been
References: Schultz, D. & Schultz, S., (2007-2008). History of Psychology. Ohio: Cengage Learning. http://renedescartes.com/questions/rene_descartes_apple.htm http://web.ebscohost.com.kaplan.uah.edu/ehost/detail?hid=14&sid=fab0b3d9-21df-415b-b1f7-0c4c9bc0f084%40sessionmgr10&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=39002573 http://www.psych.utah.edu/gordon/Classes/Psy4905Docs/PsychHistory/Cards/James.html