This text explores the historical roots of current psychology through a three-part organization: it first examines the philosophical shift from theological thought to rationalism and empiricism; the materialistic-evolutionary shift to viewing the natural world, the human body, and the mind as a mechanistic machine without design or purpose; and finally, it considers the way each of the schools of psychology responded to these paradigms. This book immerses students in the reasoning of historical figures, shows the problems they wished to solve in the context of their times, and then allows students to connect their solutions to the present.