Abstract
Plato employs the analogy of the “divided line” to illustrate the process of human development. Picture a vertical line broken into four segments. The bottom two segments represent our access to the visible realm (sensation and perception), while the top two represent our access to the intelligible (cognition and intelligence). As we develop, the intellect moves away from the visible realm and sensible particulars toward the conception of abstract essences. This Socratic distinction between the concrete-sensuous and the abstract-formal has been immensely influential in developmental psychology. Through imaginative dialogues with Socrates, students explore the extent to which modern findings from developmental psychology accord with the “upward” movement toward conceptual abstraction and generality Socrates sketched out 2400 years ago.
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Dillon, J.J. (2016). Teaching Developmental Psychology with Republic . In: Teaching Psychology and the Socratic Method. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95050-8_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95050-8_11
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