Empiricism

Most medieval philosophers after St. Augustine (354–430) took an empiricist position, at least about concepts, even if they recognized much substantial but nonempirical knowledge. The standard formulation of this age was: “There is nothing in the intellect that was not previously in the senses.” Thus St. Thomas Aquinas (quoted above) (1225–74) rejected innate ideas altogether (as seen in earlier posts).

Both soul and body participate in perception, and all ideas are abstracted by the intellect from what is given to the senses. Human ideas of unseen things, such as angels and demons and even God, are derived by analogy from the seen.|The 13th-century scientist Roger Bacon emphasized empirical knowledge of the natural world and anticipated the polymath Renaissance philosopher of science Francis Bacon (1561–1626) in preferring observation to deductive reasoning as a source of knowledge.

The empiricism of the 14th-century Franciscan nominalist William of Ockham was more systematic. All knowledge of what exists in nature, he held, comes from the senses, though there is, to be sure, “abstractive knowledge” of necessary truths; but this is merely hypothetical and does not imply the existence of anything. His more extreme followers extended his line of reasoning toward a radical empiricism, in which causation is not a rationally intelligible connection between events but merely an observed regularity in their occurrence. (1)

In response to the early-to-mid-17th century "continental rationalism" John Locke (1632–1704) proposed in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) a very influential view wherein the only knowledge humans can have is a posteriori, i.e., based upon experience. Locke is famously attributed with holding the proposition that the human mind is a tabula rasa, a "blank tablet", in Locke's words "white paper", on which the experiences derived from sense impressions as a person's life proceeds are written.

Locke wrote: there are two sources of our ideas: sensation and reflection
In both cases, a distinction is made between simple and complex ideas. The former are unanalysable, and are broken down into primary and secondary qualities. Primary qualities are essential for the object in question to be what it is. Without specific primary qualities, an object would not be what it is. For example, an apple is an apple because of the arrangement of its atomic structure. If an apple were structured differently, it would cease to be an apple. Secondary qualities are the sensory information we can perceive from its primary qualities. For example, an apple can be perceived in various colours, sizes, and textures but it is still identified as an apple.

Therefore, its primary qualities dictate what the object essentially is, while its secondary qualities define its attributes. Complex ideas combine simple ones, and divide into substances, modes, and relations. According to Locke, our knowledge of things is a perception of ideas that are in accordance or discordance with each other, which is very different from the quest for certainty of Descartes. (2)

The term became useful in order to describe differences perceived between two of its founders Francis Bacon, described as an "empiricist", and René Descartes, who is described as a "rationalist". Bacon's philosophy of nature was heavily derived from the works of the Italian philosopher Bernardino Telesio and the Swiss physician Paracelsus. Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza, in the next generation, are often also described as an empiricist and a rationalist respectively. John Locke (empricist), George Berkeley (idealist), and David Hume (skeptic) were the primary exponents of empiricism in the 18th century Enlightenment, with Locke being normally known as the founder of empiricism as such. (2)

References:

1. https://www.britannica.com/topic/empiricism/History-of-empiricism#ref684882. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
2. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/real-essence/

Albert the Great

The aim of natural science is not simply to accept the statements of others, but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature. ("On Minerals")





_
Albertus Magnus (before 1200 – November 15, 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a German Catholic Dominican friar and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his lifetime as Doctor universalis and Doctor expertus and, late in his life, the sobriquet Magnus was appended to his name. Scholars such as James A. Weisheipl and Joachim R. Söder have referred to him as the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. (1)
He wrote profusely, from everything to angels to empirical methods of science. Even though he was strongly orthodox in his beliefs, his science was acute for that time, and exceptional. This can be seen in one of his quotes, "Every science and knowledge proceeds from God."
 Albert’s psychology, used three epistemological principles to differentiate the internal senses:
1. Internal sense powers are distinguished by their objects, and these are either the images (forms) of the proper and common sensibles or nonsensible intentions added to them.
2. They are also distinguished as active if they manipulate their objects and passive if they merely receive them.
3. Yet a faculty cannot be both actively receptive and passively retentive; since an actively receptive organ must be easily changeable, a retentive organ must be stable. 

He sees the moral good as being the good springing from habit (bonum consuetudinis), which he further differentiates as the good which is the object of a moral act (bonum in genere), the good resulting from circumstance (ex circumstantia), and the good of political-civil virtue (bonum virtutis politicae). On the other hand, he perceives it as the good of grace (bonum gratiae). (2)

Under certain conditions concerning its powers the human intellect is capable of transformation. While it is true that under the stimulus or illumination of the agent intellect the possible intellect can consider the intelligible form of the phantasms of the mind which are derived from the senses, it can also operate under the sole influence of the agent intellect. Here, Albert argues, the possible intellect undergoes a complete transformation and becomes totally actualized, as the agent intellect becomes its form. It emerges as what he calls the “adept intellect” (intellectus adeptus).

At this stage the human intellect is susceptible to illumination by higher cosmic intellects called the “intelligences”. Such illumination brings the soul of man into complete harmony with the entire order of creation and constitutes man’s natural happiness. Since the intellect is now totally assimilated to the order of things Albert calls the intellect in its final stage of development the “assimilated intellect” (intellectus assimilativus). The condition of having attained an assimilated intellect constitutes natural human happiness, realizing all the aspirations of the human condition and human culture. But Albert makes it clear that the human mind cannot attain this state of assimilation on its own. Following the Augustinian tradition as set forth in the De magistro Albert states that “because the divine truth lies beyond our reason we are not able by ourselves to discover it, unless it condescends to infuse itself; for as Augustine says, it is an inner teacher, without whom an external teacher labors aimlessly.” Natural things, he tells us, are received in a natural light, while the things that the intellect contemplates in the order of belief (ad credenda vero) are received in a light that is gratuitous (gratuitum est), and the beatifying realities are received in the light of glory. (3)

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnus
2. file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/A%20Companion%20to%20Albert%20the%20Grea%20-%20Resnick,%20Irven%20Michael_6204.pdf
3. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/albert-great/#PsycAnth

Of Mind & Nature in Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the third century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion.The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as it encapsulates a chain of thinkers which began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 270 AD) and which stretches to the sixth century AD. Even though neoplatonism primarily circumscribes the thinkers who are now labeled Neoplatonists and not their ideas, there are some ideas that are common to neoplatonic systems, for example, the monistic idea that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

The original Being initially emanates, or throws out, the nous, which is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things. It is simultaneously both being and thought, idea and ideal world. As image, the nous corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derivative, it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the nous is the highest sphere accessible to the human mind, while also being pure intellect itself. Nous is the most critical component of idealism, Neoplatonism being a pure form of idealism.The demiurge (the nous) is the energy, or ergon (does the work), which manifests or organises the material world into perceivability. (1)

The original creative or expressive act of the One is the first great derived reality, nous (which can be only rather inadequately translated as “Intellect” or “Spirit”); from this again comes Soul, which forms, orders, and maintains in being the material universe. It must be remembered that, to Plotinus, the whole process of generation is timeless; Nous and Soul are eternal, while time is the life of Soul as active in the physical world, and there never was a time when the material universe did not exist. The “levels of being,” then, though distinct, are not separate but are all intimately present everywhere and in everyone. To ascend from Soul through Intellect to the One is not to travel in space but to awake to a new kind of awareness. (2)

A living beings, and human beings in particular, consciousness is but one psychic activity among others. The realm of the psychic extends in a continuum from the loftiest processes of knowing, memory, and imagination down to the most rudimentary forms and expressions of life that characterize the world’s biosphere (natural processes of metabolism, growth, etc.). Many influential ancient thinkers, both philosophers and poets, regarded the universe as a living being, not only in its parts but also and especially as whole. In the Timaeus, Plato had described in detail the structure and function of the world soul, and had recounted the way in which it was put together by a divine craftsman (demiurge) and conjoined with the realm of disorderly matter, upon which it controlled and imposed order. Plotinus and his followers had a quite different view. There is no planning on account of anyone, no “construction” of one metaphysical entity by another; instead, soul, that is to say the general phenomenon of life capable of animating matter, is merely the manifest outer aspect of the inner activity of Consciousness.|

For the Neoplatonists, “Nature” denotes not only the essence or nature of each natural being or the entirety of the natural world (Nature as a whole), but also, and in the first instance, a lower aspect of conscious life (the “autonomic” life activities that are not consciously controlled by the individual animal’s consciousness) which beholds, in a kind of diminished vision, relevant aspects of the intelligible world and brings them forth in an act of silent contemplation.  (3)


References: 
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism
2. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Platonism/Plotinus-and-his-philosophy
3. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neoplatonism/#SouNat

Stoic Psychology

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. Stoicism is a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world. According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia (happiness) for humans is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one's mind to understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.

The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, and that external things—such as health, wealth, and pleasure—are not good or bad in themselves (adiaphora), but have value as "material for virtue to act upon". (1)
Stoics insisted on the hard line that the supreme goal of life is synonymous with arete, which is conventionally translated “virtue” although most scholars feel “excellence” (of character) is a better translation. (3)

Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher of Phoenician origin  from Citium, Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of Virtue in accordance with Nature. It proved very popular, and flourished as one of the major schools of philosophy from the Hellenistic period through to the Roman era. (2)

Like the Cynics, Zeno recognised a single, sole and simple good, which is the only goal to strive for."Happiness is a good flow of life," said Zeno,and this can only be achieved through the use of right Reason coinciding with the Universal Reason (Logos), which governs everything. A bad feeling (pathos) "is a disturbance of the mind repugnant to Reason, and against Nature." This consistency of soul, out of which morally good actions spring, is Virtue, true good can only consist in Virtue. (2)

Epictetus ( 55 – 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born
a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece for the rest of his life. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion.

Both the Discourses and the Enchiridion begin by distinguishing between those things in our power (prohairetic things) and those things not in our power (aprohairetic things). (4)

The truths of Stoicism were perhaps best set forth by Epictetus, who in the first century A.D. wrote in the Enchiridion: “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them.” (Ellis, 1962, p. 54)__

Psychotherapists began to rediscover Stoicism from the 1950s onward through the writings of Albert Ellis, and what would become known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Despite the similarity of his approach to that of early rational psychotherapists such as Dubois, Ellis was initially unaware of their writings. However, as far back as his youth, before training as a psychotherapist, Ellis had “read the later Stoics, Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius” (Still & Dryden, 2012, pp. xii-xiii). Indeed, Ellis refers to the Stoics, particularly Epictetus, throughout his writings. Even when he doesn’t mention the Stoics by name, though, Ellis often describes concepts and techniques that seem to demonstrate their influence.

In Ellis’ first major publication on REBT, he famously explained the central premise of this emerging cognitive approach to psychotherapy: emotional disturbances, and associated symptoms, are not caused by external events, as people tend to assume, but mainly by our irrational beliefs about such events. However, he also explained that it was far from being a new idea. (3)

KNOWLEDGE

The Stoics propounded that knowledge can be attained through the use of reason. Truth can be distinguished from fallacy—even if, in practice, only an approximation can be made.

According to the Stoics, the senses constantly receive sensations: pulsations that pass from objects through the senses to the mind, where they leave an impression in the imagination (phantasiai) (an impression arising from the mind was called a phantasma).
Certain and true knowledge (episteme), achievable by the Stoic sage, can be attained only by verifying the conviction with the expertise of one's peers and the collective judgment of humankind.
Friendship 

Only when we surrender our claims on all external things - such as, though as we will see not limited to, property - can we establish sincere friendships deserving of the name. Anything less is only appearance and not reality. For Epictetus, a person either identifies himself with his external interests or with what Epictetus calls his "will," his inner interests - i.e. being virtuous. Since Moral Worth is the only good in Stoic philosophy, only wise men - those who know what is good and what is not - can truly be friends. Thus not only is friendship possible for the Stoic, but only for the Stoic is friendship possible.

--
"Only when we surrender our claims on all external things - such as, though as we will see not limited to, property - can we establish sincere friendships deserving of the name. Anything less is only appearance and not reality. For Epictetus, a person either identifies himself with his external interests or with what Epictetus calls his "will," his inner interests - i.e. being virtuous. Since Moral
Worth is the only good in Stoic philosophy, only wise men - those who know what is good and what is not - can truly be friends. Thus not only is friendship possible for the Stoic, but only for the Stoic is friendship possible." --- Ibid-

"For, as my friend Attalus used to say: "The remembrance of lost friends is pleasant in the same way that certain fruits have an agreeably acid taste, or as in extremely old wines it is their very bitterness that pleases us. Indeed, after a certain lapse of time, every thought that gave pain is quenched, and the pleasure comes to us unalloyed." Seneca

The Stoic must pull back from his own feelings of love, so as not to risk the mental tranquility he seeks to maintain. It might be objected that since the Stoic willfully rejects the "involved attachments" inherent in our conception of the term "love," the wise man is actually incapable of such relationships. Perhaps it is better for a human being to enjoy a moment of pleasure fully, to surrender oneself to that moment and not worry about the precariousness of our love or of the world. Maybe this Stoic "pulling back" from the commitments and dependencies of love make the whole endeavor not really worthwhile? (5) But that is up to you and your experience to decide.
Quotes by Stoics|:::::

1.Marcus Aurelius : https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/17212.Marcus_Aurelius
2. Seneca : https://www.goalcast.com/2019/03/15/seneca-quotes/
3. Others : https://dailystoic.com/stoic-quotes/

References::::

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_of_Citium

3. https://medium.com/stoicism-philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/stoic-philosophy-as-a-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-597fbeba786a
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus
5. http://www.themontrealreview.com/2009/The-Stoics-and-the-Epicureans-on-Friendship-Sex-and-Love.php#_ftn24

The Cynics

Cynicism is a school of thought of ancient Greek philosophy as practiced by the Cynics.As reasoning creatures, people can gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which is natural for themselves, rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex, and fame. Instead, they were to lead a simple life free from all possessions.(1) 
A Cynic has no property and rejects all conventional values of money, fame, power and reputation. Cynicism denotes a way of life as well as its corresponding mind set. It is through their practices, the selves and lives that they cultivated, that we come to know the particular Cynic ēthos.
__
 Antisthenes (c. 445–365 BC)was an older contemporary of Plato and a pupil of Socrates. About 25 years his junior, Antisthenes was one of the most important of Socrates' disciples. Although later classical authors had little doubt about labelling him as the founder of Cynicism, his philosophical views seem to be more complex than the later simplicities of pure Cynicism. In the list of works ascribed to Antisthenes by Diogenes Laërtius, writings on language, dialogue and literature far outnumber those on ethics or politics, although they may reflect how his philosophical interests changed with time. It is certainly true that Antisthenes preached a life of poverty (1)
__
Diogenes did however adopt Antisthenes' teachings and the ascetic way of life, pursuing a life of self-sufficiency (autarkeia), austerity (askēsis), and shamelessness (anaideia). There are many anecdotes about his extreme asceticism (sleeping in a tub), his shameless behaviour (eating raw meat), and his criticism of conventional society ("bad people obey their lusts as servants obey their masters") (1)
__
Crates (365 – c. 285 BC) of Thebes was a Cynic philosopher. Crates gave away his money to live a life of poverty on the streets of Athens. He married Hipparchia of Maroneia who lived in the same manner that he did. Respected by the people of Athens, he is remembered for being the teacher of Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. Various fragments of Crates' teachings survive, including his description of the ideal Cynic state.(2)

__As Diogenes ’ reappraisal of shame suggests, the Cynics are not relativists. Nature replaces convention as the standard for judgment. The Cynics believe that it is through nature that one can live well and not through conventional means such as etiquette or religion. One reads that Diogenes of Sinope “would rebuke men in general with regard to their prayers, declaring that they asked for things which seemed to them to be good, not for such as are truly good” (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 43). This captures the crux of the Cynic notion of living in accord with nature and contrary to convention. Praying for wealth, fame, or any of the other trappings convention leads one to believe are good is a mistaken enterprise. Life, as given by nature, is full of hints as to how to live it best; but humans go astray, ashamed by petty things and striving after objects, which are unimportant. Consequently, their freedom is hindered by convention. (3)
__
Further reading : 
Tips for changing your cynical view of yourself, others and the world: 
1. https://paulocoelhoblog.com/2017/04/20/how-you-can-defeat-cynicism/
2. https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/8517/stop-being-cynical/
3. Dealing with Cynical People: https://outsmartyourbrain.com/5-steps-dealing-negative-cynical-people/
__
References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism_(philosophy)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crates_of_Thebes
3. https://www.iep.utm.edu/cynics/

Epicurean Psychology

Epicurus (341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded a highly influential school of philosophy now called Epicureanism.

He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced by Democritus, Aristotle, Pyrrho, and possibly the Cynics, he turned against the Platonism of his day and established his own school, known as "the Garden", in Athens. (1)

He taught that the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear ("ataraxia") and absence from bodily pain ("aponia"). This combination of states is held to constitute happiness in its highest form, and so Epicureanism can be considered a form of Hedonism, although it differs in its conception of happiness as the absence of pain, and in its advocacy of a simple life.

Epicureanism as Positive Psychology|

Epicurus directed that this state of tranquility could be obtained through knowledge of the workings of the world and the limiting of desires. Pleasure was to be obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of "simple pleasures", by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on Asceticism. He counseled that "a cheerful poverty is an honorable state". (2)

Epicurus distinguished between higher and lower pleasures
1. Higher pleasures: Pleasures of the mind - intellectual and aesthetic.

2. Lower pleasures: Pleasures of the body - food, drink, and sex.

*Compare this to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Plato's three part soul theory.

Humans are animals. We have certain needs. We need food. We need water. These natural desires are impossible to live without. We are also social creatures. Without company we suffer. If you try to ignore desires which are both natural and necessary the only result is pain. (4)
_
Additionally, Epicurus identified two types of pleasure—moving (kinetic) and static (fulfillment).

Moving pleasure refers to actively being in the process of satisfying a desire. An example of this could be eating food when you feel hungry. In those moments we are taking action toward our intended goal of pleasure.

The other type of pleasure, static pleasure, refers to the experience we have once our desire is met. To use the example of eating food when we are hungry, the static pleasure would be what we are feeling once we have eaten. The satisfaction of feeling full, and no longer being in need (hungry), would be a static pleasure. (3)

According to Epicureanism, one must know something about the nature of pleasure in order to pursue it rationally, and likewise for pain. Epicurus, it appears, uses the terms pleasure and pain (hêdonê, algêdôn) strictly in reference to physical pathê or sensations, that is, those that are experienced via the non-rational soul that is distributed throughout the body. As for the rational part or mind, we have positive and negative experiences through it too. Most prominent among the negative mental states is fear, above all the fear of unreal dangers, such as death. Death, Epicurus insists, is nothing to us, since while we exist, our death is not, and when our death occurs, we do not exist (LM 124–25); but if one is frightened by the empty name of death, the fear will persist since we must all eventually die. This fear is one source of perturbation (tarakhê), and is a worse curse than physical pain itself; the absence of such fear is ataraxy, lack of perturbation, and ataraxy, together with freedom from physical pain, is one way of specifying the goal of life. (5)

Knowledge

Epicurus maintained that the senses never deceive humans, but that the senses can be misinterpreted by the mind. Epicurus held that the purpose of all knowledge is to aid humans in attaining ataraxia. He taught that knowledge is learned through experiences rather than innate and that the acceptance of the fundamental truth of the things a person perceives is essential to a person's moral and spiritual health.In the Letter to Pythocles, he states, "If a person fights the clear evidence of his senses he will never be able to share in genuine tranquility." (1)

It has been argued that Epicurus proposed to use empirical observation as the only means of determining the truth or falsity of beliefs. He set out two rules of investigation at the beginning of his physics requiring that the truth and falsity of beliefs rest entirely on sensory observations. The two rules consist of a demand for empirical concepts and a demand for empirical data. The latter consist of uninterpreted, or what may be called ‘raw’ or ‘incorrigible’, acts of perception. Epicurus proposed to infer all truths about the physical world and human happiness from this incorrigible foundation. (6)

References: 

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
2. https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_epicureanism.html
3. https://www.verywellmind.com/epicurean-philosophy-and-happiness-4177914

4. https://www.themantle.com/philosophy/why-epicurus-matters-today

5. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/

6. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-hellenistic-philosophy/epicurean-epistemology/36BDB7CD059A94A3525A193D1C8DDB1E