Philosophical Concepts Within Psychology

"Psychology is the science of mental processes and behaviors" (Kosslyn and Rosenberg, 2006).   Until the late 19th century, psychology was considered a branch of philosophy.   In 1950, Rudolph Goclenius, a German philosopher was credited with conceiving the term "psychology".   In Greek, the root word of psychology, psyche, was defined by the word, soul.   In the beginning years of psychology, it was thought as a religious study, as psychologists would try to examine the soul.   Later years, psychology would become more well known as the study of the mind which was referred to as soul, and the study of the body (Bronfenbrenner,1979).
In 1879, Wilhelm Wudnt who is commonly referred to as the father of psychology, founded a laboratory at the Leipzig University in Germany, that was created for the specific purpose of studying psychology.   Another early psychologist that set the stage for others was William James.   William James published the book, Principles of Psychology, in 1890, which laid the foundation for many psychological questions that would follow in later years.   Hermann Ebbinghaus   was another early contributor to psychology.   He broke new ground in the field of studying memory.   One of the most well known early psychologists was Ivan Pavlov who discovered the what we know as today as classical conditioning (Kosslyn and Rosenberg, 2006).
One of the most prominent psychologists known is Sigmund Freud.   Freud who never went to school for experimental psychology, had invented a section of psychotherapy, which we know today as psychoanalysis.   Freud based many of his ideas of interpretive method and introspection, but focused mainly on finding a way to battle mental illnesses.   Freud's theories became very well known because they discussed taboo subjects such as sex.   Freud's use pf psychology in clinical work has influenced many of today's psychologists (Macmillan, 1991).
Naïve empiricism suggests that "conceptual nature does not exist.   This branch of... [continues]

Read full essay