An introduction to psychology / by F. Aveling.

  • Aveling, Francis, 1875-1941.
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An introduction to psychology / by F. Aveling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    remain fixed and stable. Thus, although intel¬ lectual knowledge is essentially dependent upon sense-perception, it is also essentially superior to it. Aristotle’s doctrine of knowledge implies radical differences between his psychology and that of his predecessors. In the first place, since scientific knowledge arises from sense-percep¬ tion, his method is empirical. Natural events are explained on principles reached by induction. Though all involve change, the phenomena of Nature fall into different classes. Some things move (change) because moved by others ; some change because they move themselves. The latter are alive ; and life is accordingly defined as self-movement, of which the soul is the prin¬ ciple. For Aristotle, soul is not a synonym of mind or consciousness. It is the explanatory principle of every kind of vital process, including nutrition, sensation, movement and thought. Psychology, accordingly, is the empirical study of vital processes as manifested in plants, ani¬ mals and man. But stress is laid upon sensation and thought ; and, because the more perfect includes the less, and thought is a function of the human soul, the study of the principle of thought in man embraces all psychological problems. In the second place, though his method is that of objective observation, he does not neglect introspection. Indeed, Aristotle’s