ABSTRACT
The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a period known as the Renaissance (meaning rebirth), witnessed dramatic and disruptive changes brought about by a host of geographic discoveries, massive loss of life caused by the plague, and new world visions brought about by the astronomical studies of Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei. It was a period also rich with the psychological studies of scholars such as Niccoló Machiavelli, Juan Luis Vives, Michel de Montaigne, and Olivia Sabuco. This section concludes with a review of contributions from Juan Huarte, an early Spanish thinker. This chapter reviews the protopsychological works of these scholars and shows how their work set the stage for the emergence of scientific psychology.
