PSYC 397 Chapter 2: Chapter 2.docx

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 397
• Professor: Mary C Olmstead

Document Summary

The need to understand other"s motives: we need to be cooperative (e. g. , hunting) and competitive (e. g. , reproduction, vital skill to interpret motives and hide your own. Parthenon (erected during the rule of pericles, 495 429 bce: celebrates athena, the patron goddess of athens. The greeks were inventing philosophy, science, and history. Postmodern (up to the scientific revolution) writers wrote enigmatically. They would hide secret meanings for the more intelligent readers, leaving the public and historians to guess at what their true sermons were. This is known as esoteric-exoteric style, because esoteric meaning was hidden in the public (exoteric) words: plato wrote in this style. Psyc 397: socrates shunned writing; believed that wisdom came from stimulating discourse. Elitism: idea that not everyone can handle the truth. This is more of a modern (i. e. , from 20th century) problem. You can study objects (e. g. , atoms) and publish your findings without worrying the impact those findings will have on the atoms themselves.