Psychology (11th–18th century CE)

The following is the timeline of Psychology from 11th to 18th century quoted from Wikipedia. You may click on the links to get the details. To get a brief summary on the accomplishment of an individual, you may ask Perplexity AI the following question:

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Executive Summary

Here are the notable points for this summary:

Religious superstitions were increasingly replaced by scientific observations.
Experimental psychology came into being; for example, in the study of reaction time.
The relation between psychological functions and brain were explored.
To remove stigma, mental illnesses were treated same as physical illnesses.
Harsh treatment of mental patients was replaced by compassionate care.
The balance between mind, body, and spirit was promoted as central to mental well-being.
Comprehensive approach to mental well-being was advised, such as, balanced nutrition, exercise, sleep, emotional regulation, and environmental hygiene.
Cultivation of virtues, ethical behavior, and emotional balance was encouraged.
Self-discipline, avoidance of extremes and character development was advised.
Objectivity, critical thinking, and reasoned skepticism was emphasized.
Individuals were advised to seek out good company and avoid negative influences.
Mental health was observed to depend on knowledge gained from seeing things as they are whether it is in religion, in philosophy or in science.
Lot of contributions were made during this period to the philosophical foundations of psychology.
Human being is an inseparable composite of body and soul, with the soul as the “form” of the body.
There are rational and non-rational aspects of the person.
Emotions (passions) are natural responses of our sensitive appetite to external events. By themselves, they are neither good nor bad. Only when directed by reason and free will do they become morally significant.
Internal senses (imagination, common sense, memory, cogitative power) exist as mediators between the body (external senses) and the intellect (reason). These faculties enable perception, formation of images, memory, and practical judgment.
Psychology was introduced as the scientific study of the soul or mind. It was described as knowledge “comprised through inner perception,” essentially one’s direct awareness of their own mental activity.

11th century

1025 – In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna described a number of conditions, including hallucination, insomnia, mania, nightmare, melancholia, dementia, epilepsy, paralysis, stroke, vertigo and tremor.
c. 1030 – Al-Biruni employed an experimental method in examining the concept of reaction time.

12th century

c. 1180 – 1245 Alexander of Hales
c. 1190 – 1249 William of Auvergne

13th century

c. 1200 – Maimonides wrote about neuropsychiatric disorders, and described rabies and belladonna intoxication.
1215–1277 Peter Juliani taught in the medical faculty of the University of Siena, and wrote on medical, philosophical and psychological topics. He was personal physician to Pope Gregory X and later became archbishop and cardinal. He was elected pope under the name John XXI in 1276.
c. 1214 – 1294 Roger Bacon advocated for empirical methods and wrote on optics, visual perception, and linguistics.
1221–1274 Bonaventure
1193–1280 Albertus Magnus
1225 – Thomas Aquinas. [Note: You must check this out using “Perplexity AI” as instructed above.]
1240 – Bartholomeus Anglicus published De Proprietatibus Rerum, which included a dissertation on the brain, recognizing that mental disorders can have a physical or psychological cause.
1247 – Bethlehem Royal Hospital in Bishopsgate outside the wall of London, one of the most famous old psychiatric hospitals was founded as a priory of the Order of St. Mary of Bethlem to collect alms for Crusaders; after the English government secularized it, it started admitting mental patients by 1377 (c. 1403), becoming known as Bedlam Hospital; in 1547 it was acquired by the City of London, operating until 1948; it is now part of the British NHS Foundation Trust.
1266–1308 Duns Scotus
c. 1270 – Witelo wrote Perspectiva, a work on optics containing speculations on psychology, nearly discovering the subconscious.
1295 Lanfranc writes Science of Cirurgie.

14th century

1317–1340 – William of Ockham, an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian, is commonly known for Occam’s razor, the methodological principle that the simplest explanation is to be preferred. He also produced significant works on logic, physics, and theology, advancing his thoughts about intuitive and abstracted knowledge.
c. 1375 – English authorities regarded mental illness as demonic possession, treating it with exorcism and torture.

15th century

c. 1400 – Renaissance Humanism caused a reawakening of ancient knowledge of science and medicine.
1433–1499 Marsilio Ficino was a renowned figure of the Italian Renaissance, a Neoplatonist humanist, a translator of Greek philosophical writing, and the most influential exponent of Platonism in Italy in the fifteenth century.
c. 1450 – The pendulum in Europe swings, bringing witch mania, causing thousands of women to be executed for witchcraft until the late 17th century.

16th century

1590 – Scholastic philosopher Rudolph Goclenius coined the term “psychology”; though usually regarded as the origin of the term, there is evidence that it was used at least six decades earlier by Marko Marulić.

17th century

c. 1600–1625 – Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author, and pioneer of the scientific method. His writings on psychological topics included the nature of knowledge and memory.
1650 – René Descartes died, leaving Treatise of the World, containing his dualistic theory of reality, mind vs. matter.
1672 – Thomas Willis published the anatomical treatise De Anima Brutorum, describing psychology in terms of brain function.
1677 – Baruch Spinoza died, leaving Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order, Pt. 2 focusing on the human mind and body, disputing Descartes and arguing that they are one, and Pt. 3 attempting to show that moral concepts such as good and evil, virtue, and perfection have a basis in human psychology.
1689 – John Locke published An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which claims that the human mind is a Tabula Rasa at birth.

18th century

1701 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz published the Law of Continuity, which he applied to psychology, becoming the first to postulate an unconscious mind; he also introduced the concept of threshold.
1710 – George Berkeley published Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, which claims that the outside world is composed solely of ideas.
1732 – Christian Wolff published Psychologia Empirica, followed in 1734 by Psychologia Rationalis, popularizing the term “psychology”.
1739 – David Hume published A Treatise of Human Nature, claiming that all contents of mind are solely built from sense experiences.
1781 – Immanuel Kant published Critique of Pure Reason, rejecting Hume’s extreme empiricism and proposing that there is more to knowledge than bare sense experience, distinguishing between “a posteriori” and “a priori” knowledge, the former being derived from perception, hence occurring after perception, and the latter being a property of thought, independent of experience and existing before experience.
1783 – Ferdinand Ueberwasser designated himself Professor of Empirical Psychology and Logic at the Old University of Münster; four years later, he published the comprehensive textbook Instructions for the regular study of empirical psychology for candidates of philosophy at the University of Münster which complemented his lectures on scientific psychology.
1798 – Immanuel Kant proposed the first dimensional model of consistent individual differences by mapping the four Hippocrates‘ temperament types into dimensions of emotionality and energetic arousal. These two dimensions later became an essential part of all temperament and personality models.

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