Introduction

Theory is but a way that we as humans attempt to understand what is occurring within us and around us throughout our lives. Plato tells us of how that which exists around us, trees, birds, the sun itself, may not be real but just a perspective of what we believe to be real. In the "Allegory of the Cave", he tells this theory in more detail, having us try to decide whether the shadow or the object that the shadow is of is real. With Freud, he attempts to explain how from infants into adults, our behavior has reasons that are attached to how we see our parents, ourselves and others. Both these ideas are dealt with by many other theorists that are trying to understand the human condition, why we do certain things and why we react the way we do to things that scare us, make us mad, make us laugh, and as to what is real and what isn’t in the world around us.

This semester, I myself will learn more about this subject and post what I have learned personally and in class on this blog.

I see theory as trying to figure out our own idiosyncrasies and more about the world around us. Theorists tend to go over the same subjects with rather little change, attempting to find something new. On some points, they may find new ground to walk on, others they are just trampling down further the ground others have gone over before. Not all their theories cover every person as an individual, but try to cover humans as a whole. Not every description they come up with works for everyone.

For as long as anyone can recall, humans have sought out the answers to their existence and that is where theory mainly comes from: the need to understand why people react and act as they do.