| Popis: |
This paper relates how Galen of Pergamum (AD 130–200) used the theory of humours to explain individual differences in character. The four primary humours, chole (bile), melanchole (black bile). sanguis (blood) and flegma (phlegm), were understood in terms of a general cosmological theory in which fire, earth, air and water were the four basic elements of all things. Physical constitution and psychological characteristics were determined by the balance or blend (L. temperare) of the humours. In general, Galen made few characterological observations and these adjectives showed a negligible correspondence to the adjectives that were later ascribed to the four temperament categories. The legacy of Galen's theory of humours, however, is a descriptive typology of character that emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that bears a remarkable resemblance to the extraversion and neuroticism dimensions. |
