... that all behaviour is explained in terms of learning through experience. Empiricism tend to thrive in England, Ireland and the USA The first modern psychologist, Rene Descartes was also a French scientist and mathematician and had a rationalist approach to human behaviour. His belief was that the human being was made up of two kinds of 'stuff' (this being known as 'Cartesian dualism'), body and mind. Descartes described the body as a machine that has no influence on the mind; he also described it as being a separate entity from the mind. The mind he argued, had the ability to reason, furthermore it was because of the mind that made humans different from all other living things, hence Descartes saying 'I think therefore I am'. Descartes believed that the mind was metaphysical, worked on the principle of reason, was conscious and rational; he believed that all humans were born equal, ...

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