Common Psychological Problems- Plato's Psychology

To understand the most common psychological problems of our time we must venture back to Plato to whom we owe it all. Before Plato we had the circulating Hellenistic thought that was the breading ground for the Platonic dialogues. Why, you may ask, was human existence and metaphysics never pondered before Plato? Well it was. However, at the time philosophical inquiries were only tolerated to a point. When the politics of the time got aggressive or famine struck, people were quick to find scapegoats. Here is the reason why Pythagoras was thrown into prison and Socrates sentenced to death. Certain ideas were just not tolerated. Hence it was only much later that Plato's ideas took root. But where did they begin. It all took place after Athens lost a war to Sparta. The weary losers hung their heads and returned to Athens and took up some compelling questions in the wake of their defeat. They needed to figure out why they lost to ensure that it wouldn't happen again. Well it did happen again and the second time it was a lot worse. The Peloponnesain war basically desecrated Greek civilization and brought the “Golden Age” to a dramatic end. In its aftermath Socrates and his followers focused their attentions even more deliberately to metaphysics and governance. They became consumed by four major humanistic problems: the problem of the knowable, the problem of knowledge, the problem of conduct and the problem of governance. This my friends is where common psychological problems were conceptualized and dealt with as I will now explain. The first problem deals with all that truly exists. The second question approaches the senses, perceptions and memory facilities of a human being. The third deals with the development of human behavior and the interplay between rationality and emotions and the forth deals with the fundamental aspects of society, family and morality. This is where we hit the jackpot. This is where a wealth of psychological speculation brims to the surface of modern civilization. So which of these questions is psychology interested in? Well undoubtedly all four, however one can see a direct parallel between modern psychology and questions two and three. It is question two that encompasses the breadth of scientific research involving human perception and neuroscience. And it is question three that takes on the social realm of psychology. Problem three is indeed where the brunt of our focus will lie as it is here that the most common psychological problems arise. Humans are social creatures and we live our lives out through social interactions whether they are highly amicable or highly threatening. Of course we will turn our attention to question four when it comes to discussing our behavior in relation to the bigger constructs of family and society (the landscape that common psychological problems rest upon). At any rate it is sure to be an intense journey as I attempt to discover the very nature of psychological turmoil and unrest. Please learn with me as I try and open the doors that will hopefully reveal the most common psychological problems and their origins.