Reference: SC: Psychology
NOTE: Text in color contains Vinaire’s comments.
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Islamic Psychology (11th–18th Centuries)
Islamic psychology (ʿilm al-nafs—science of the self/psyche) developed a sophisticated holistic model integrating Greek philosophy, Qur’anic principles, and clinical observation. This tradition emphasized the inseparability of mental health, physical wellbeing, and spiritual practice.
Conceptual Framework: Muslim scholars used nafs (self/personality) and fitrah (human nature) to denote psychological constructs, encompassing qalb (heart), ruh (soul), aql (intellect), and irada (will). Mental illness was designated A‘ilaj al-nafs (treatment of the soul), al-tibb al-ruhani (spiritual health), or tibb al-qalb (mental medicine).
Key Contributors:
Al-Ghazali (c. 1058–1111): The 11th-century mujaddid (renewer of faith) systematized Islamic psychology in his Iḥyā’ ‘ulūm ad-dīn (Revival of Religious Sciences). He developed a structural theory of the psyche based on Qur’anic exegesis, analyzing the soul’s faculties and their role in moral development. His tripartite division of the soul—rational, concupiscent (desire), and irascible (anger)—employed the rider-horse-dog metaphor from Greek philosophy, with the rational faculty controlling lower faculties to achieve cardinal virtues. Al-Ghazali’s psychological crisis and recovery, documented in his autobiographical writings, provided profound insights into consciousness, anxiety, and spiritual transformation.
Ibn Miskawayh (c. 940–1030): This 10th-century philosopher pioneered therapeutic techniques including “self-reinforcement” and response-cost mechanisms. His Tahdhib al-Aklaq (Refinement of Character) outlined rules for moral health analogous to medical regimens for physical health, harmonizing Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, and Neoplatonic virtues within Islamic culture. Miskawayh emphasized bodily practices, habituation of appetites, and social dimensions of virtue cultivation.
Clinical Innovations: Islamic psychologists implemented expressive therapies using music and olfactory stimulation to engage sensory functions in healing. They recognized curative potential in therapeutic relationships and emphasized positive reinforcement. Al-Razi (864–932) advocated relational skills to ease healing, while physicians like Constantinus Africanus (11th century) translated Arabic texts emphasizing physical cures for melancholia.
Islamic psychologists implemented expressive therapies using music and olfactory stimulation to engage sensory functions in healing. They believed in the inseparability of mental health, physical wellbeing, and spiritual practice; and rational faculty controlling lower faculties to achieve cardinal virtues. Rules were outlined for moral health analogous to medical regimens for physical health.
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Indian Psychology (11th–18th Centuries)
Indian psychological thought during this period refined ancient Vedic and Buddhist insights into consciousness, developing sophisticated mental health practices that recognized subconscious influences and therapeutic concentration.
Core Concepts: Indian psychology identified manas (mind/heart) as the center for emotions like fear, with the heart (hrdaya) representing the source of involuntary, irrational psychological processes. The manas operated in multiple states: waking, dreaming, deep sleep (sushupti), and transcendent consciousness (turiya), the latter achieved through meditation rather than ordinary transition.
Mental Health Theory: Ancient texts described unmad (psychosis) with etiologies suggesting both organic (worms, fever) and functional origins, demonstrating nuanced diagnostic understanding. Mental suffering was analyzed through concepts like tapas of manas—maintaining the mind as happy, kind, silent, self-controlled, and pure. The Bhagavad Gita emphasized equanimity (samatva) as essential for mental health, establishing that balanced mind establishes connection with ultimate reality (brahman).
Therapeutic Methods: Yoga systems provided comprehensive frameworks for mental health, recognizing concentration as the means to perceive truth and understanding the mind-body connection. Psychotherapeutic techniques appeared throughout ancient literature, emphasizing meditation, emotional regulation, and cultivation of virtues. Indian psychologists identified subconscious forces as potent determinants of conscious tendencies, anticipating Freudian insights by centuries.
Philosophical Developments: Thinkers systematically analyzed mental tendencies, rejecting theories of innate destructiveness. They concluded that human nature fundamentally seeks eternal happiness and existence, contrasting with Western psychoanalytic emphasis on death drives.
According to Indian psychological thought, human nature fundamentally seeks eternal happiness and existence. But subconscious forces are potent determinants of conscious tendencies. Psychotherapeutic techniques emphasized meditation, emotional regulation, cultivation of virtues, and equanimity.
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Chinese Psychology (11th–18th Centuries)
Chinese psychological thought integrated Confucian social ethics, Taoist naturalism, and Buddhist introspection, creating distinctive frameworks for understanding human development and mental life.
Theoretical Integration: From the 11th–13th centuries, Chinese philosophy synthesized key concepts—qi (vital energy), yin-yang polarity, wuxing (five phases), and li (principle)—into comprehensive psychological models. This integration created dialectical explanations of behavior emphasizing balance and harmony.
Core Frameworks:
Confucian Psychology: Confucianism centered psychological development on moral cultivation within social relationships. The concept of qing (情) evolved from denoting objective reality to encompass subjective feelings and emotions, particularly during the Warring States period. Mencius’s theory of innate goodness provided foundation for understanding moral emotions, while Xunzi’s counter-argument emphasized cultivation over nature.
Taoist Naturalism: Taoist thinkers viewed human nature as simple and good, arguing that acquired ideas and moralities damage innate purity. Psychological health required purging desires and returning to natural spontaneity, contrasting with Confucian emphasis on cultivated virtue.
Buddhist Influence: Buddhism introduced Indo-European psychological theory, facilitating understanding of mind from representational states perspective. This imported framework enabled new conceptualizations of qing as subjective feelings, revolutionizing Chinese emotion theory.
Brain-Central Theory: Chinese medicine developed sophisticated brain-centered theories of mental function, articulated through the yīn yáng wu˘ xíng framework and heart-central theory. These models emphasized physiological-psychological integration centuries before Western equivalences.
Chinese psychological thought integrated moral cultivation within social relationships with innate purity and mental representations. It synthesized key concepts—qi (vital energy), yin-yang polarity, wuxing (five phases), and li (principle)—into comprehensive psychological models. Chinese medicine developed sophisticated brain-centered theories of mental function.
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