The contributions of Socrates the Greek to Psychology

Philosophy is the mother of all sciences. Let us deal with the specialty we treat and whatever the object of study, as well as the philosophy science is based on the search for truth and knowledge, or on its application practice. In this way, we often find concepts and perspectives from philosophical thought in scientific theories.

One of the best known and most important classical philosophers is Socrates, whose contributions have been contributed to the generation of different techniques and ways of thinking about the functioning of the world and the mind. Let's see in this article some of the main contributions of Socrates to Psychology.

• Related article: "55 phrases of Socrates to understand his thinking"

Socrates, the philosopher

One of the greatest Greek philosophers (in fact the philosophers before him are sometimes referred to as pre-Socratics), Socrates was born in Athens during 470 a. C., from a midwife mother and a sculptor father. Although the details of his life are doubtful, the different writings indicate that this family man humble he possessed from childhood a great wit, training in different disciplines such as literature and music. It is known that he participated in different wars as an infantryman, such as that of the Peloponnese, and that he married a woman named Xantipa.

Regarding the thought of him as a philosopher, Socrates he stood out for focusing his attention on the field of morals and ethics. He considered that the human being tends to the good and that all vice is the product of ignorance. He believed that good, love, goodness, and ethics were based on universal definitions. His position was opposed to the relativism advocated by the sophists. He also believed that the philosopher should seek wisdom in virtue, being necessary to achieve it recognize one's own ignorance.

He did not consider himself wise, and believed that most people believed they knew more than they really did. Thus, he used irony and dialogue in order to expose the contradictions of his interlocutors and make others see the level of knowledge they actually possessed.

• Related article: "The 6 differences between ethics and morals"

His thought

Despite believing in the existence of universal definitions, he is considered a forerunner of the inductism, in the sense that he considered universal concepts to be obtained from the simple to the complex, from the particular to the general. Each one must ask their own questions and form their way of seeing the world, reaching a greater and greater understanding of how it works.

Also his use of mayeutics is famous, which is based on answering other people's questions with other questions so that the individual himself elaborates his own answer.

This philosopher did not write or transcribe his reflections considering that each individual must form his own ideas. His work has come down to us through the different disciples, and especially through Plato, who reflected and deepened his work in some of the concepts stipulated by Socrates ..

Socrates he was tried and sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning, accused of corrupting the young and not accepting the deities of the Athenians. He died in 470 BC. C.

Socrates' contributions to psychology

The progressive advance of science and its search for objectivity can make it difficult for many to observe the relationship between the current state of matter, in this case the psychology and philosophy. However, Socrates' contributions to both this and other sciences is of great value and importance. Here are some of these contributions.

1. Interest in the psyche

Socrates and his disciple Plato worked and reflected on the existence of the psyche, what they considered the soul. The influence of this fact on the current science of psychology is evident, its birth product of reflection on the contents of our mind derived from these and other authors ..

2. Moral and ethic

Socrates focused his thought on ethics and morals. The behavior of the individual in society and the formation of patterns of behavior, attitudes and values ​​are some of the many aspects that psychology deals with.

• You may be interested: "Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development"

3. Inductive method

Socrates is considered one of the forerunners when it comes to the creation of the inductive method, by claiming that people have access to the knowledge of the truth through their experience instead of starting from knowledge assumed and taken for good. This method is of great importance in turn when generating the scientific method, characterized by hypothetical-deductive reasoning.

4. Socratic method

Socratic dialogue It is a strategy based on the maieutics of Socrates that continues to be used even today in the practice of psychology, being basic in multiple therapies. It is based on asking inductive questions: the therapist asks different questions with the aim of making the subject reflect and find their own answer to what raised.

5. Precursor of constructivism

Constructivism is based on the creation of knowledge through generating shared knowledge that in turn depends on the subject being able to make sense of the material learned. Socrates considered that not what to think, but how to do it should be taught. This consideration is linked to the search for constructivism for the student to generate their own learning process, thanks to the application of various aids offered by the medium. Thus, as Socrates proposed, the teacher must help the student to generate to create his own knowledge.

6. Use of irony: Confrontation

Socrates was characterized by making use of, in his dialectical method, of irony. It was intended to make the subject see that the contradictions in his speech were considered wise and rebut his biased arguments from him in order for him to be aware of his true level of knowledge.

In therapy it is sometimes used a similar strategy, the confrontation, in which the existing contradictions in his speech or between his speech and his behavior are exposed to the subject in order to make him aware of them.