GREEK THINKERS:Aristotle, Contiguity, Contrast

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History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 03

GREEK THINKERS

Aristotle

Aristotle was one of the greatest philosopher/thinker ever in the history of mankind. This Greek

philosopher/psychologist, Aristotle was born in 384BC and he died in 322BC. Aristotle was a student of

Plato and his ideas not only show the influence of Plato's thinking but also sometimes Aristotle has

presented completely opposing views to his teacher.

Aristotle wrote a book by the name of De Anima which means "the Soul." Since soul was

considered to be the primary topic of interest for philosophers/psychologists at that time, Aristotle is

considered to the first psychologists ever. Aristotle rejected the idea of dualism of soul and the body and

put forward the view that these two are not separate but one entity.

Aristotle was of the view that ideas in the human beings tend to become associated with each other

and there are three reasons for the association of ideas which he gave:

Similarity

Similarity means that the mind tends to see certain similar patterns between two things and relates them

together. This is the simplest explanation of the association of ideas where, for example, two events which a

person witnesses have certain common elements. These may then be associated with each other due to the

similarities present in them.

Contiguity

Contiguity refers to two things or events happening close to each other so that the person is able to relate

them to each other. For example, if two events occur consecutively, one after the other, they tend to get

associated with each other. This is an example of contiguity of ideas, where one even may remind of the

other event which is contiguous to it.

Contrast

Contrast means that two events or ideas are completely opposing to each other, which results in the

formation of a link between the two. Humans tend to associate the ideas together. These may be two

conflicting statements by someone. One statement would remind a person about the other conflicting

statement immediately.

Therefore, in this way ideas tend to become associated with each other.

According to Aristotle, man is a biological being whose functions include:

Eating

Perceiving

Having children

Thinking

And doing things.

All of these are characteristics of living organisms. It eats to fulfill the requirements for the nourishment of

its body and its growth. It perceives and responds to stimuli according to its perception. It has the ability to

procreate and expand its species. Higher form of living beings such as humans has the ability to use their

mind to think and analyze objects and happenings around them. Further, according to Aristotle, one of the

functions of human beings is doing things, which means that humans are involved in various activities

which they perform throughout their lives which may be anything such as reading this text.

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

According to Aristotle's teacher Plato, ideas are eternal. They are neither born nor do they die while worldly

objects change. Therefore, according to him the true source of knowledge is ideas themselves. Plato further

asserted the soul or psyche to be permanent and the body as something that could change. Therefore,

according to Plato, knowledge could be acquired through the soul or the psyche and sensory organs were a

hindrance to the acquisition of knowledge. This was an introspective and subjective method of learning,

which means to look into the mind to find solutions to problems. Aristotle on the other hand rejected his

teacher's views on introspection and said that true knowledge can only be gained through observation and

empiricism. As human beings observe the phenomenon going on around them and the world around them,

they tend to make judgments and decisions that are based on their objective perception rather than their

subjective biases. Therefore, instead of looking to the mind, one needs to look at the world around in order

to gain knowledge. This implies that in Aristotle's views, sensory organs are not a hindrance to learning, but

they are the source of gaining knowledge.

Aristotle also described two types of human motives which are

Primary motives

Primary motives are basic motives which are the desires of all human beings and are mostly bodily

desires such as such as hunger, sex, thirst, anger and need for rest. Such motives are not just possessed

by human beings but may also be possessed by other living beings. An important aspect of such

motives is that they are not learnt by the organisms; rather they are a part of the genetic makeup of all

organisms. Humans are born with these motives, in other words these motives are inherited and they

become the cause of propelling a person to perform a certain act or to do something. For example,

hunger may cause a poor man to beg for food. Therefore, his basic bodily desire has caused him to

perform a certain action. Such desires or motives are called primary motives by Aristotle.

Secondary Motives

Secondary motives are those motives which are learnt by organisms and these become habits of the

individuals. For example, it is the habit of certain people to socialize with others. Some people have the

desire to dominate their fellows. These motives become the habits of individuals and they tend to

follow them quite often. Therefore, they are called secondary motives by Aristotle.

Another great contribution of the great philosopher Aristotle was that he recognized that there are

individual differences in various respects in people. These differences may be in the intelligence level, in

certain abilities, sports, math etc. For example, one individual may be a very good sportsman but not a very

good musician, while another may be a very good musician but not a sports man. Therefore, differences

exist in all individuals as far as their personal characteristics are concerned. This is the reason for some

individuals to excel in certain fields.

Aristotle further suggested that these individual differences are created during the life span of a person, but

they are inherited by the person. He is born with these differences which may although be discovered in

later in life.

Apart from these individual differences that are inherited and are a part of the genetic makeup of all

individuals, Aristotle was of the view that the early childhood experiences and training of an individual have

a profound impact on him or her. Childhood is the time when the mind is open to all influences from the

environment. A child would learn to behave in a certain manner as he would see the individuals around him

doing. Further, training of a child is also an important factor that would influence his behavior throughout

his life. The way he has been trained and educated during the early years of his life, that is childhood, he is

expected to show some influence of it in every part of his or her life. A child of Pakistani family who has

been educated and grown up in the United States cannot be expected to behave in a similar manner to the

one who has been grown up in Pakistan. That is because his experiences in his environment and training

that he gets is absolutely different from the child grown in Pakistan. This influence is expected to last

through out his or her life.

Aristotle also gave the concept of Catharsis. Catharsis is the sudden release of emotions by a person when

he sees, hears or feels something. For example a person may start crying when he hears about a tragedy that

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

someone else has encountered, or a people often have soaked eyes when they watch a tragic scene in a

movie. These are the examples of catharsis where emotions are suddenly released by the individual. There

may be also the emotions such as happiness or joy which someone feels when a villain is being beaten up by

the hero of the movie. The list of contributions of Aristotle is a long one. This is why he is considered to be

one of the greatest thinkers of mankind. His ideas have left a profound and a long lasting impact on man's

thinking.

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