Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Psychology

Introduction

The idea that species changed through evolution was one that preceded Darwin by a good many years, perhaps even centuries. Traces of such ideas can be found as far back as the works of Aristotle and evolutionary ideas were particularly prevalent among eighteenth-century naturalists, such as Buffon (1707–88). Pre-Darwinian approaches to evolution were not necessarily inimical to religion and many saw evolution as the unfolding of God’s design; it was creation in action. This meant that nature had a purpose: the instantiation of the divine plan through evolution. Humanity, as the pinnacle of God’s creative plan was, therefore, the last to emerge from the evolutionary process.

The fundamental idea behind these approaches to evolution was that of progress. The evolutionary process was understood as naturally tending towards the appearance of more and more sophisticated species. Even those who rejected the idea of a divine plan and who had a secular understanding of evolution nevertheless held it to be something progressive. One of these theorists was Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), one of the most influential and widely read scientists and philosophers of the nineteenth century. It was Spencer who was the first thinker to bring the idea of evolution to bear on psychology in a major way.