Psychology During the Time of the Roman Empire

Galen (130-200 A.D.)

-Theory of Four Temperaments

Stoicism

- There is a divine plan

- Nothing is accidental

- Accept one's fate with courage (or at least indifference)

- Live in harmony with nature & the plan

Neoplatonism (Plotinus, 204-270 A.D.)

- The universe is a hierarchy, with an unknowable god at the top, followed by a series of divine creatures, then humans.

- Humans are divine souls imprisoned in degrading, material bodies.

- Turn away from corrupting temptations of the flesh and toward the spiritual world of truth, beauty, and goodness in the realm of the forms.