URL #3

One of your fellow student’s URL submission (identifying info removed).

URL # 1: http://www.thecolourworks.com/pdfs/Hippocrates%20the%20Four%20Humours%202.pdf and http://www.durenmar.de/articles/medicine.html

I have chosen to examine articles from two different sites to provide another example of popular but untrue scientific theory. The two articles, “Hippocrates, Galen & The Four Humours ” from the Colour Works company, specializing aptly in “transforming performance in individuals, teams and organizations”, and “The Mediaeval concept of Medicine” by Mard D. F. Shirley. The particular once popular theory, the “four humours” theory was “adopted by Greek, Roman and Islamic physicians, and became the most commonly held view of the human body among European physicians until the advent of modern medical research in the 19th century. A concept whose maturity, while not new at the time, could be attributed to Hippocrates and Galen, postulated the view of the human body and particularly human illness as representative of an imbalance of four key “humours” or bodily fluids; blood, phlegm, choler and melancholy. While Hippocrates felt that an overabundance of either of these fluids constituted to genesis for illness Galen added that an inadequate amount of any one of these bodily fluids could equally cause illness.

Why should such a notion become popular, and why did it arise in the times of these men, and was supported and became the foundation for the practice of medicine for many years? One of the great attributing factors is possibly the mystical era with which these men grew up and the magical thinking of their era that I am sure came in conflict with observation and examination. In an area where many cowed at the mysterious actions of invisible gods, the rational approach and explanations offered by men like Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen, echoed the needs of many who possibly did not have the courage to voice their need. While modern scientific research has proven the error of their humoral theory, it has nonetheless helped lay the foundation for the very growth and scientific approach to the study of the body and treatment of its illness. Their audacity laid the groundwork for modern day physiology, pharmacology and even the study of personality in psychology. The personality types associated with the humour theories of Hippocrates and Galen; sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, remain as personality descriptors until this day.

FEEDBACK: On URL 1, you nailed the context. If not for the rationalistic philosophy of the times, the four humors idea wouldn't have happened. 5 pts.

URL #2: http://www.ucd.ie/philosophy/staff/gerardcasey/casey/CompMeta.pdf

In an effort to explore the relationship between psychology and the science of artificial intelligence I will be examining the article, “The Computational Metaphor and Cognitive Psychology, Casey and Moran 2009. The authors attempt to expound upon “growth of research interest in the mind,” particularly from the perspective of the “mind as a computational system,” which of course draws the inevitable parallel to the research and applications centered on artificial intelligence. The authors develop their assertions by first describing cognitive psychology, a psychological specialty which s the branch of psychology that focuses predominately all the facet’s that comprises the mind; how it works, as well as cognitive science which is the study of how information and generally ways to articulate a schema of “knowledge representation.” They point out that this is an “interdisciplinary movement including cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, linguistics, neuropsychology and the philosophy of the mind.” Examining the “information approach to cognition” or how the mind works naturally leads to the discussion of artificial intelligence and their elucidation on its genesis and import, which at its most basic is an attempt to understand how the mind works through artificial constructs.

It is this aspect of the artificial intelligence movement, attempting to understand what comprises intelligence and examining the processes involved in its construct that links it, to some degree, to psychology and especially those areas of psychology that are most concerned with the mind; how it works; what are those facets that join the biological function of the brain with our ability to process information, draw conclusions from our experiences, develop language and elaborate constructs to explain the world around us. The authors of this paper examine what they believe forms this relationship, particularly the greater opportunity the theory and “computational” processes behind artificial intelligence offers psychologists to develop experimental constructs that may better illuminate cognition. The draw detailed analysis of the “computational metaphor” which infers that the action of the mind is akin to how computers “store and transform symbolic information. Regardless the absolute accuracy of this metaphor which the explore, it is unmistakable that the growth of computer technology and its ability to store, process and provide feedback from gigantic stores of information and other practical applications of computing technology has provided broad theoretical applications for experimental psychology akin to the Wundt era and his work to lift psychology to an independent academic discipline. AI’s effort to synthesize intelligence through artificial means, abetted by practical applications for aiding human endeavors, so that, relieved of the mundane, we might pursue Maslow’s highest human need, self actualization, stimulates both the pragmatic and academic of our psychology intelligentsia to delve into the study of the mind in brave new ways.

FEEDBACK: URL 2: Another good job. I would have wondered about the nature of consciousness, but otherwise good work. 5 pts.