The Four Temperaments

 I am looking at the Four Temperaments, which is a kind of hallmark in Greek philosophy, and thinking about how to explore personality in my students' classes. Why is this such an interesting topic? Part of the reason is that it allows young students (and older students like myself) to reflect that not all people are alike.I am surprised, in looking at some of the pop quizzes out there about the Four Temperaments, that some of their characteristics definitely seem salient in being able to predict different kinds of people and their personalities. Yet, still, this raises the interesting question, why is it valuable to explore this issue of personality to begin with?
   I used to think that personality was a fixed quality or characteristic that is genetically encoded in a person's make up, but recently I am beginning to feel that this is not necessarily the case. What I think is most important about studying personality is not that one is dealing with these fixed qualities/characteristics, but that one is dealing with interrelationships, where no two people respond to each other in the same way. And it's about celebrating the diversity of relationships, knowing that people are different, that one is in fact able to make the most of a person's uniqueness and characteristics. This can then be reflected back to the literature being studied and appreciated.