Rene Descartes Dualism

Martin, Carlson and Buskit, (2013), p. 5 in PSYCHOLOGY defined psychology as the scientific study of behaviour. However, psychology varies in its form. For example, there’s social psychology, cognitive psychology, cultural psychology and many others.

Considering psychology was a concept known by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and other civilizations, it became a popular subject of study during the enlightenment period. Philosophers such as, G.W. Leibniz and G.W.F Hegel and R. Descartes used psychological ideas and implemented them into their works. Rene Descartes strongly advocated the idea that the mind and body are separate entities. Through his philosophical psychology, Descartes (1596-1650) coined ‘dualism’, he is considered a dualist. Dualism is the belief that all reality can

This is because styles of research have changed over time and areas of study have become more in depth and psychological/ organism orientated.

However, the behaviourism approach became more radical with time and therefore, gradually became unpopular. Around the 70’s, (D. Wybrow, 2016, cited in lecture 1 ppt.) psychologists became increasingly dissatisfied with the narrowness of this theory. Cognitive psychologists came up with the notion that consciousness could be studied scientifically. Cognitive psychologists such as A. Baddeley came up with experiments which would give us an insight of how short term memory is structured.

It can be seen that Descartes is the primary source of influence on psychology as we know it today. As time progressed, science and research methods became more advanced, so too did psychology. Despite our current abilities of research methods, Descartes and his philosophy play a crucial role in the development in the history of psychology. Therefore, Descartes philosophy on psychology should be called the birth of