How the Greek word psyche relates to what we know as psychology? | by Ganesh Falak | Sep, 2022 | Medium
Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez from Pexels Although many of you know what psychology means, and those who don’t let me define it in simple words: Psychology is the science which studies the behavior of organisms.
Now, we know what psychology means but do we know that the word psychology has relation to the ancient meaning related to the philosophy?, probably not, probably yes. The Greek word psyche means soul . Psychology has emerged from the disciplines of philosophy and natural science. Most of us probably are aware of the fact that in today what we call psychology has its root back in Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt. Greeks’ interpretation of it was quite different from ours. To philosophers living 400 to 300 B.C., psychology was the “Study of the soul”. This was the meaning given by popular Greek philosophers Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. The reason humans being the focus of study in psychology leads us back in past, because thinker such as Plato and Socrates believed that animals don’t have souls, so it becomes evident why humans have been given attention ever since.
The ancient philosophers emphasized on the concept that the soul is the seat of consciousness. It is consciousness that makes mental life possible. This is the reason why psychology is often thought of as a science of mind.
