Francis Bacon
Bacon postulated two explanations on the essence and functions of the human mind, i.e., medical physical and behavioral report. According to him, his entire work was an inquisition of form a kind of trial that leads to work and contributing to the fruits of experimental procedures. His two narratives are placed within his comprehensive picture of scientific inquiry. At the center of his scientific knowledge, he held the doctrines of enumerative induction, maker's knowledge, and hidden forms. To him, it is the inner form that accords something its true nature. The two narratives of personal nature offer a body of hypothetical psychics which might one day be useful in predicting and controlling human behavior. According to Bacon, productive knowledge preceded contemplative knowledge. To him, an experiment is a royal road to reality (Macdonald, 2007).
Bacon was keen on the function and action of a reasonable soul than on substance or its nature. However, he addressed content when he differentiated two types of minds in the human, i.e., a rational soul which is present in human and the irrational which is shared among humans and animals. His interest in conduct and function of the sound mind forced him to develop another concept in support of the medical, physical theory. To Bacon, a rational conscience is at no time at rest even though the body occurs to be. The mind is concerned with movement, and therefore its powers designate the type of activities including reasoning, understanding, memory, imagination, and will. He believed that the powers are deep seated and implicit in the soul like substance (Macdonald, 2007).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Bacon preferred to take the body and soul as one in his investigation. He recognized the mutual influence between the two. He proposed the Georgies of the mind a study of the character, passion, and disposition that combined to produce the human nature corresponding to the pure nature. He was determined to understand how age, sex, physique, and health affected the character. Disposition according to him is in various forms; strength and weaknesses, selfishness and unselfishness, goodwill and evil will and acquired attributes (Macdonald, 2007).
Bacon used essays designed to transform traditional ethics. The articles were targeted at the elite politicians, leaders, and political leaders. To him, the most efficient way is to manage the image of the elite, i.e., their future satisfaction. He declared that he is a greater and deeper politician in civil actions and can make other men the instrument of his end, but he did not acquaint them with his purpose. This he achieved through rhetoric which is directed towards the awareness that contemplates amidst reason in one end and will, affection and appetite on the other (Macdonald, 2007).
Immanuel Kant
The new essays on human understanding had a profound impact on Kant. They stimulated his thinking by postulating a distinction between sensibility and understanding. The influence of the difference was evident in his writing in 1779 concerning the form and principles of the sensible and intelligent world. This work was a typical starting point of his critical period and also a manifestation of his acceptance of the Leibniz principles of the impressionable mind. It is at this stage that Kant started to develop his philosophy and psychology expanding beyond the bound of Leibniz. He also went beyond the thoughts of Christian Wolff whom he considered the preceptor of intellect in Germany. Kant inherited empirical and rational psychology from Wolf despite there being other authors like Nicolas Tetens who replaced him as the authority in this field (Leary, 1982).
Kant borrowed from the two philosophers, and their works are evident in the thought of Kant in his three major works, i.e., a critique of the pure reason, critiques of the practical reason and the critique of judgment. He said that the tripartite division of the above works is a reflection of the psychological division of knowing, feeling and willing. He also relied upon his three folds division in all his mental work (Leary, 1982).
Kant Critique of psychology
Kant in 1781 started to criticize analytical psychology. According to him, there is no attempt to ascertain the soul and the mind through rational analysis. His specific arguments were different from the first to the second edition, but the general argument remained unchanged. According to him, knowing the nature of the soul is beyond human reasoning. To him all arguments concerning the soul begin with the proposition ‘, I think.' This is empirical and not rational. He concluded that psychology is an empirical science. In his second work, he found that psychology could never become a natural science because it could not be based on the Priori principles. Kant also said that psychology being empirical is not a good practical discipline because it cannot be dissected. Lastly, he said that psychology should employ different methodologies which he referred to as anthropological which are based on observation of the external and not the internal (Leary, 1982).
Kant Psychological doctrines
His work relied on traditional introspections data. The positive psychological theories he expounded formed a basis for subsequent irrational thoughts which can be discussed from the knowledge source, mind or ego and nature and functions of the mental faculty. His negative conclusions also had a similar effect. His sensation and thoughts were two distinct things. To him, sensibility and understanding have formal and conceptual characteristics. For Kant, the mind is actively participating in the production of actions (Leary, 1982).
The two philosophers were interested in determining what knowledge is, its source and how it can be used. Both employed the acceptance of inference that cannot be verified. Essays were instrumental to both philosophers in their separate pieces of work. Their actions involved the study of the mind and human behavior. The two also contributed to ethics. Bacon believed in observation and experiment which are essential principles of empiricism. He is regarded as a modern philosopher and theorist. He laid down the foundation of modern science giving later scholars an opportunity to elaborate and advance the study of the mind and human behavior. Kant on the hand was determined to bridge the gap between the extreme rationalism and empiricism. According to him, empiricism and rationality are needed in epistemology. The two can try to associate them in trying to explain the knowledge held and that which can be held. He was responsible for the developing a new definition of psychology, a new concept of philosophy and a new structure for writing an opinion. He was at the heart of the philosophical enterprise. To him, philosophy is the science of all knowledge from pure reason and critical. He rejected the theoretical assumptions of the rationalist (Leary, 1982; Macdonald, 2007).
References
Leary, D. E (1982) Immanuel Kant and the Development of Modern Psychology. InThe Problematic Science: Psychology in Nineteenth Century Thought, edited by William Ray Woodward and Mitchell G. Ash, 17-42. New York, NY: Praeger,
Macdonald, P. S. (2007). Francis bacons behavioral psychology. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 43 (3), 285-303. doi:10.1002/jhbs.20240
