Tabula Rasa

Tabula rasa means ‘scraped tablet’ in Latin, and in Epistemology (theory of knowledge) and psychology, it means ‘clean slate’. In various works, the human mind has been viewed as a tabula rasa. This means that it has been viewed as a mind that accommodates knowledge and then proceeds to form itself based on experiences and perceptions, locking out the stand that there were any pre-existing innate ideas as a starting platform. This therefore means that humans are born with a blank mind which is later fed with ideas through various experiences.

…tabula rasa… an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate…

(Online definition)

Aristotle’s work on the soul (De Anima- 4^th Century) postulates that the mind of a new born human can be compared to a blank writing tablet. Some students (Stoics and Peripatetics) from Aristotle’s school also argued that originally humans harbor a state of mental blankness. The faculties of the mind were originally only potential bearing or inactive, so to speak, before they received ideas from the senses and converted the ideas into knowledge, after responding to them via an intellectual process. Later in the 17^th Century, an essay on human understanding done by John Locke postulated that initially, the mind resembled a ‘white paper, void of all characters’. The essay went on to argue that all the materials of reason and knowledge were drawn from experiences. However, John Locke did not fully buy the idea of the mind being initially totally blank, he instead held a belief that the mind initially played home to an innate power of reflection - which can be broken down to awareness of own ideas, emotions, sensations and other inbuilt systems. He was later in the 18^th century backed by David Hume, a Scottish Empirist. The qualified notions of the tabular rasa remained influential in Anglo-American and British philosophy through the mid 20^th century.

Though he did not mention it, JB Watson the proponent of behaviourist approach topsychology  seems to agree on this concept when he said;

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.

The proponents of the tabular rasa generally add weight to the side of ‘nurture’, when it comes to the heated debate on “nature versus nurture”, a debate touching on the aspects of an individual’s personality, social and emotional behavior, knowledge, and sapience.

”Have not we already disposed off the difficulty about interaction involving a common element, when we said that mind is in a sense potentially whatever is thinkable, though actually it is nothing until it has thought? What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing tablet on which as yet nothing stands written. This is exactly what happens”  

                                                             Aristotle (In his treatise, De Anima)

Emotional Intelligence ...the new buzzword in academia and corporate world

Aristotle father of the field of logic, and a student of Plato once said...

‘Anyone can become angry ...that is easy. But to be angry with the right person to the right degree at the right time for the right purpose and in the right way, that is not easy’

...our best intentions can be undermined by our inability to subdue destructive and self-defeating emotional impulses. An individual’s inability to rein over their emotional impulses and ‘read’ another’s inner emotional states (feelings) can ruin their personal, professional, relational, financial, physical, and social aspects of their lives. But an understanding of the mechanics of emotion, some knowledge on the complex world of feelings and clarity on the previously unexplored continent of emotional states can help us know how to channel feelings in intelligent ways. Ignorance of how to handle emotions makes individuals lose their temper as easily and unintentionally as they would lose a pen. But, with emerging subject matter on Emotional Intelligence (EQ), it is possible to be poised during perplexing moments, to choose relaxation over rage and to shake off our sullen shells and have joyful moments when being gloomy would be understood.

It was Daniel Goleman, previously a New York Times Reporter, and Harvard educated-PhD in Psychology, who first introduced the term, Emotional Intelligence to the larger global population. He defines Emotional Intelligence as the “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”Ever since the publication of his book; ‘Emotional Intelligence, Why it matters more than IQ’,(1995), Emotional intelligence has become so popular that some schools, especially in the west, have adapted it as part of the curriculum to help children improve their self-awareness and confidence, manage disruptive emotional states, be empathetic, improve academic performance and in behaviour modification.

Coming at a time when success in life was thought to unquestionably depend on one’s IQ, EQ

provided an alternative way of thinking about excellence in life. The phrase, emotional intelligence has since found its way in the most unlikely places as in cartoon scripts (Dilbert and Zippy the Pinhead). Its recognition surpassing what Daniel Goleman envisioned, He says that students in high schools, business students in college, and religious leaders, from Judaism to Christianity, all seem to have suddenly gotten interest in EQ or EI as it is also frequently abbreviated. IQ, as depicted is the photo to the right is only but a tip of the iceberg, the real mountain is below the sea!

This concept has not been left out by the businesses and corporate world. Managers and business people have learned that the enormous challenges facing their human resource can be remedied by the EQ concept, if they are to compete in the ever evolving global market. For example, building good relationships with peers, subordinates, superiors and clients is vital for business and corporate development. This is best achieved through developing EQ within the human resource.

According to the Harvard Business review, high levels of Emotional Intelligence positively  impacts the areas of leadership, and should therefore incorporated as part of employee development (a form of adult education). According to this review, EI is hailed as “a ground-breaking, paradigm-shattering idea, one of the most influential business ideas of the decade”

Helping people learn Emotional Intelligence is therefore crucial. Low levels of EI have been associated with under performance, substance abuse, and failures in relationships. These correlations pointed to possibilities in this concept to be used in personal development. Compounded with Social intelligence, it become Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills or abilities, which now forms part of a comprehensive curriculum in some schools in early elementary years. Helping students accurately label and recognize their emotions, and how those emotions lead, and inform their actions. In this respect, at elementary years, kids are helped to develop the ability to identify nonverbal clues on the feelings of another person, and at Junior high, develop the capability to identify what creates stress for them, and what motivates peak performance for them. This has been found t be so critical that in 2002, a worldwide initiative was started by UNESCO to promote SEL across 140 countries.

(UNESCO statement of ten basic principles for implementing SEL to the ministries of education in 140 countries)

The SEL program among children was found to help prevent bullying, drug abuse, violence and other forms of delinquency in among school going children, and acted also as a performance improvement strategy. SEL skills therefore pay off not only in increased empathy, good behavior, but also in improved performance.

In the corporate world, companies are now looking through the lens of EI when recruiting, retaining, promoting or engaging in capacity development for their personnel, and team building. Talent Smart have shown that 90% of peak performers have a high EI, while 80% of low performers posses a low EI.

Further, EI ‘helps in formation, development, maintenance, and enhancement of close personal relationships. And unlike IQ which remains almost constant over lifetime, EQ improves and keeps on evolving as we ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE and GROW

According to the Ability Model of EI, Salovey and Mayer’s have over a long period of study revised the definition of EI to "The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth,” and later evolved into "the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions, to enhance thinking. It includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth." 

According to this definition, it is important to have the four abilities to,-

      Perceive emotions, - identify one’s own emotions, and also identify emotions in pictures, voices, faces, or cultural representations. It is this ability that is key in emotional intelligence as it helps in processing all other contents of the emotions

      Using Emotions, - effective thinking, decision making and problem solving requires one to be able to control emotions in a manner that they make such cognitive process possible.

      Understanding Emotions, - One needs to cultivate the ability to grasp the complicated relationships among emotions. This involves one’s ability to comprehend and monitor the ways in which emotions evolve, and therefore be sensitive to the slight variations.

      Managing Emotions, - Regulating emotions is two way. We regulate our emotions and those of others to achieved intended ojectives.

According to the Mixed Model introduced by Goleman, EI is portrayed as a wide array of skills and competences that drive optimum performance. 

The main constructs of this model are:-

v  Self-awareness

v  Self-regulation

v  Social Skills

v  Empathy

v  Motivation

PLATO (427 BC – 347 BC)

Plato, alias Aristocles Planton was a great philosopher in classical Greece and was a student of Socrates. History documents him as the founder of The Academy in Athens, which was the 1^st higher learning institution in the West. Plato was the teacher of Aristotle, another great philosopher during his time who took Plato’s teaching towards a new direction.

He authored many philosophical works which stamped great influence on the Western thought. His works toured justice, beauty and equality, and he also held discussions on aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, metaphysics and the philosophy of language. Apart from his great teacher Socrates, he also learned from some of Athen’s finest works- including the doctrines of Cratylus,Pythagoras and Parmenides. His school, The Academy, taught Astronomy, Biology, Mathematics, Political theory and Philosophy. His burning desire was to see his school stamp great impact on leadership by providing a place for future leaders to discover how to build a better government in the Greek city states.

During the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta, Plato served briefly. He also, at a point in his life, eyed politics and made this clear by expressing his desire and holding the door of his heart open for politics. However, the execution of his great teacher Socrates in 399 BCE tore his ambitions apart and he fell back to a life of studying and writing. He travelled for twelve years throughout the Mediterranean region studying. Among the subjects he studied was Mathematics with Pythagorean's in Italy, Geometry, Geology, Astronomy and Religion in Egypt. These studies propelled him towards a life in writing.

The works of Plato have stood the test of time and still stand even as years elapse, as essential for understanding the universe. For instance, his work that presents the use of reason to develop a more fair and just society- focusing on equality, serves as the foundation of the modern democracy.

These are books authored by Plato: Symposium, Republic, Allegory of the cave, Phaedo, Apology

Complied by Brian Kasaine

PLATO (427 BC – 347 BC)

Plato, alias Aristocles Planton was a great philosopher in classical Greece and was a student of Socrates. History documents him as the founder of The Academy in Athens, which was the 1^st higher learning institution in the West. Plato was the teacher of Aristotle, another great philosopher during his time who took Plato’s teaching towards a new direction.

He authored many philosophical works which stamped great influence on the Western thought. His works toured justice, beauty and equality, and he also held discussions on aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, metaphysics and the philosophy of language. Apart from his great teacher Socrates, he also learned from some of Athen’s finest works- including the doctrines of Cratylus,Pythagoras and Parmenides. His school, The Academy, taught Astronomy, Biology, Mathematics, Political theory and Philosophy. His burning desire was to see his school stamp great impact on leadership by providing a place for future leaders to discover how to build a better government in the Greek city states.

During the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta, Plato served briefly. He also, at a point in his life, eyed politics and made this clear by expressing his desire and holding the door of his heart open for politics. However, the execution of his great teacher Socrates in 399 BCE tore his ambitions apart and he fell back to a life of studying and writing. He travelled for twelve years throughout the Mediterranean region studying. Among the subjects he studied was Mathematics with Pythagorean's in Italy, Geometry, Geology, Astronomy and Religion in Egypt. These studies propelled him towards a life in writing.

The works of Plato have stood the test of time and still stand even as years elapse, as essential for understanding the universe. For instance, his work that presents the use of reason to develop a more fair and just society- focusing on equality, serves as the foundation of the modern democracy.

These are books authored by Plato: Symposium, Republic, Allegory of the cave, Phaedo, Apology

Complied by Brian Kasaine

Plato's Take

The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men

 Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety  to life and to everything

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in an year of conversation

 We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light

The beginning is the most important part of the work

Human behavior flows from three main sources; desire, emotion, and knowledge

 Courage is knowing what not to fear

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life

To suffer the penalty of too much haste, which is too little speed

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands

Necessity…the mother of invention

Thinking; the talking of the soul with itself

 A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue

People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die

Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet

We are twice armed if we fight with faith

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom

Complied by Brian Kasaine

ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)

Aristotle was born in Stagira Greece. When he attained age 17, he enrolled as Plato's student then later in 338BC he became teacher to Alexander the great. In 335BC his zeal drove him to founding his own school where he studied wrote and taught. Most of what are celebrated today as his great works is from the lecture notes that he used in his teaching

Aristotle,, a great philosopher who contributed greatly towards human knowledge was known as "The first teacher" in Arabic philosophy and "The philosopher" in the West. His works (most done at Lyceum) are estimated to be 200 but a great portion was outsmarted by his teacher Plato in classical times. Only 31 from all his works survived and went ahead to form some of the roots of philosophy. His works birthed intelligence cutting across the organon ( a handy logical tool kit used in any philosophical/scientific investigation), theoretical, physics, metaphysics, Nicomachean ethics and politics, rhetorics and poetics - which tour the complete products of human productivity, touching on what makes the base of a convincing argument and how well-wrought tragedy can instill cathartic fear and pity

His great impact birthed suggestions that he was the last man to know everything there was to be known in his own time. It will always be remembered that Alexander the great, who conquered the whole of Middle East was his student

In contrast to his teacher Plato who believed that knowledge from the senses was confused and that true knowledge was from the soul, Aristotle thought that knowledge from the senses was weightier. His thought hit ground and burst, flowing to form some of the roots of the scientific methods, hundreds of years later.

Brief Done By Brian Kasaine

ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)

Aristotle was born in Stagira Greece. When he attained age 17, he enrolled as Plato's student then later in 338BC he became teacher to Alexander the great. In 335BC his zeal drove him to founding his own school where he studied wrote and taught. Most of what are celebrated today as his great works is from the lecture notes that he used in his teaching

Aristotle,, a great philosopher who contributed greatly towards human knowledge was known as "The first teacher" in Arabic philosophy and "The philosopher" in the West. His works (most done at Lyceum) are estimated to be 200 but a great portion was outsmarted by his teacher Plato in classical times. Only 31 from all his works survived and went ahead to form some of the roots of philosophy. His works birthed intelligence cutting across the organon ( a handy logical tool kit used in any philosophical/scientific investigation), theoretical, physics, metaphysics, Nicomachean ethics and politics, rhetorics and poetics - which tour the complete products of human productivity, touching on what makes the base of a convincing argument and how well-wrought tragedy can instill cathartic fear and pity

His great impact birthed suggestions that he was the last man to know everything there was to be known in his own time. It will always be remembered that Alexander the great, who conquered the whole of Middle East was his student

In contrast to his teacher Plato who believed that knowledge from the senses was confused and that true knowledge was from the soul, Aristotle thought that knowledge from the senses was weightier. His thought hit ground and burst, flowing to form some of the roots of the scientific methods, hundreds of years later.

Brief Done By Brian Kasaine

Aristotelian Philosophy

Drawing fro Aristotelianism,- a philosophy inspired by Aristotle,- the following quotes have been compiled to stir your higher self. To lift you to a higher level of thought and imagination. To access a level of consciousness not before experienced. 

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Quality is not an act, it's a habit.

Anybody can become angry- that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way- that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Excellence is an act won by training habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

You will never do anything in this world without courage. If is the greatest quality of the mind next to honour.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

All men by nature desire knowledge.

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The soul never thinks without a picture.

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

Nature does nothing in vain.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time.

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.

Behaviourists Approach to Psychology

Between 1920-1950, the behaviourist approach dominated psychology with the following assumptions:-

v  All behaviour is learned from the environment: At birth, the mind is seen as having no innate ideas. This concept that at birth the mind is free of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals, and hence viewed as a clean slate, is referred to as tabular rasa. Behaviour is therefore environmentally determined, while new behaviours are learned through classical conditioning and operant conditioning.  

v  Psychology ought to be seen as a science, with theories supported by empirical data through carefully controlled observations and measurements of behaviour. Behaviourists therefore view psychology as a purely objective experimental branch of natural science whose theoretical goals are prediction and control

v  Observable behaviour, not internal events such as thinking, perception and emotion are the primary concerns of behaviourists. They insist that only observable can be objectively measured, and therefore psychology should dwell on that. Internal dimension such as perception ought to be explained through ‘resultant’ behaviour.

v  Learning in animals and humans bears no much difference. Experiments that involve lots of ethical issues can therefore be performed on animals.

v  Behaviour is a response to a stimulus (S-R): Even with so many complicated behaviours, behaviourists argue that such behaviours can be reduced to simple Signal-Response situations.

Amazing stories have been told of service dogs that do all manner of things. Leading the blind, flash toilets, put clothes in and out of washing machines, and into driers, not to mention those used by security agents on their lines of duty. These dogs are highly skilled professionals. These dogs have been so trained using the same principles of learning as uncovered by psychologists.

Learning involves change. Once something has been learned, though tough at first, and after ‘breaking a few bones,’ with time, a novice turns into an expert capable of getting to and staying on at top of a given task. Learning therefore has some permanent influence on behaviour.

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs through experience.

Two types of learning

a)    Associative Learning: This is learning that involves connections between two events. According to this principle of associative learning, ideas and experiences reinforce each other, with possibilities of mentally linking to one another. Information is therefore not recalled in isolation by our brains, but is thus grouped into a single associative memory. For example, when you think of a friends eye lashes, you think of their whole face. It helps learners to deeply connect with information, and accurately recall it when required to. Conditioning is the process of learning such associations.

Two types of conditioning

v    Classical conditioning

v    Operant conditioning

The two types of conditioning also form the basis of learning theories as discussed later...

b)    Observational Learning: Traceable to Albert Bandura and his social learning theory, observational learning is critical during childhood. In his Bobo-doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated observational learning. Children that observed adults hitting a doll were found to have learned aggressive behaviour. Here, learning happens without necessarily any direct behaviour change. Through observational learning, it is possible to encourage new behaviour, discourage a current behaviour, or even encourage a behaviour previously forbidden. For such to occur, the observer must meet three conditions:- PAY ATTENTION to a behaviour, RETENTION of observed actions, REPLICATE/REPRODUCE what was observed. It is necessary that the observer gets the MOTIVATION to carry out the above three processes.  If rewards are offered to the model, the more likely the observer replicates observed behaviour. That is also true if the observer likes the model they are observing.   

According to the behaviourist’s school of thought, most of the principles associated with training dogs apply to humans as well as other animals.

Think about it...

If a dog can learn how to do laundry, then human potential for high performance has barely been tapped!

Biological Approach to Psychology

This approach linking human behaviour to evolution and genetics was first proposed by Charles Darwin in his concept of Natural Selection  According to him, behaviour is passed on from one generation to the next, with behaviours that aid survival of the species being the most likely to be passed to the future generation, as those that predispose the species to danger being the least likely to be inherited.

Also referred to as Biopsychology, and Physiological Psychology, this approach studies the physical basis of human behaviour. It postulates that human behaviour is a consequence of genetics and physiology. How we think, feel and behave can therefore be traced back to a biological cause. i.e., how the brain is built.

Where the Psychoanalytic looks at human behaviour with a view to find its roots in childhood experiences that are subconscious to the person showing the behaviour such as aggression, and the behaviourist considers how such behaviour has been instilled by association, reinforcement and punishment, the biological perspective looks for biological causes of such behaviour.  They may therefore consider aspects such as brain damage, hormonal imbalances or genetics.

Studies in this approach Focuses on the body, especially the brain and the central nervous system as a way of examining and understanding behaviour and mental processes. It can be therefore understood in three ways, thus; 

i)       Comparative method: Different animal species can be studied and compared. The research findings can then be used to understand human behaviour.

ii)      Physiology: When the working of the nervous system and hormones, and the functioning of the brain have been studied, it has been shown that changes in their structure, and/or functioning can have impact on behaviour. This is proven by the way drugs such as antidepressants have been used to interact with the nervous system to change behaviour.

iii)    Inheritance: what is passed on from one generation to the next.

This approach is linked to biology, neuroscience, and genetics.

A Psychologist interest in Biopsychology;

      Analyses how injury or trauma to the brain influences behaviour

      Investigates degenerative brain diseases and their impact on behaviour

      Explores genetic influences on behaviour

      Studies the links between genetics, brain damage and psychological disorders

With recent technological advancements, the brain and the Central Nervous System (CNS) are now being thoroughly studied through methods such as PET, MRI, and EEG. This has greatly helped in investigating how damage to the brain, diseases and drugs impact cognition and behaviour.

Strengths

v  Scientific: With the rigorous empirical methods, the biological approach yields reliable and practical results.

v  Yields remedies and treatments for several psychological/mental disorders

Weaknesses

v  This approach fails to account for other influences such as societal pressure, environment, emotions, and past experiences in the formation of psychological disorders

Conclusion

As can be seen, this approach is not complete on its own, and may therefore need to borrow from the other perspectives when remedying a psychological issue.

Other perspectives

·         Behavioural Perspective             

·         Psychodynamic Perspective

·         Humanistic/Existential Perspective

·         Cognitive Perspective       

·         Evolutionary Perspective        

·         Sociocultural Perspective