In psychology, the psyche /ˈsaɪki/ is the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older texts.
Psychology is the scientific or objective study of the psyche. The word has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and represents one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view.
Etymology
The basic meaning of the Greek word ψυχή (psyche) was "life". Although unsupported, some have claimed it is derived from the verb ψύχω (psycho, "to blow"). Derived meanings included "spirit", "soul", "ghost", and ultimately "self" in the sense of "conscious personality" or "psyche".
Ancient psychology
The idea of the psyche is central to the philosophy of Plato. Scholars translate the Platonic conceptualization of the term as "soul" in the sense that he believed that it is immortal. In his Phaedo, Plato has Socrates give four arguments for the immortality of the soul and life after death following the separation of the soul from the body. Plato's Socrates also states that after death the Psyche is better able to achieve wisdom and experience the Platonic forms since it is unhindered by the body.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote an influential treatise on the psyche, called in Greek Περὶ Ψυχῆς (Peri Psyches), in Latin De Anima and in English On the Soul. In this work, he used the concept of the soul to explain certain functions. Since – for him – the soul is motion, it needs an explanatory principle for bodily motion. Aristotle's theory of the "three souls (psyches)" (vegetal, animal, and rational) would rule the field of psychology until the 19th century. Prior to Aristotle, a number of Greek writings used the term psyche in a less precise sense. In late antiquity, Galenic medicine developed the idea of three "spirits" (pneuma) corresponding to Aristotle's three souls. The pneuma psychikon corresponded to the rational soul. The other two pneuma were the pneuma physicon and the pneuma zoticon.
Medieval psychology
The term psyche was Latinized to anima, which became one of the basic terms used in medieval psychology. Anima would have traditionally been rendered in English as "soul" but in modern usage the term "psyche" is preferable.
Phenomenology
19th century psychologists such as Franz Brentano developed the concept of the psyche in a more subjective direction.
Psychoanalysis
In psychoanalysis and other forms of depth psychology, the psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, behavior and personality.
Freudian school
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, believed that the psyche—he used the word Seele ('soul', but also 'psyche') throughout his writings—was composed of three components:
- The id, which represents the instinctual drives of an individual and remains largely unconscious. It does not respect the rules of society.
- The super-ego, which represents a person's conscience and their internalization of societal norms and morality.
- The ego, which is conscious and serves to integrate the drives of the id with the prohibitions of the super-ego. Freud believed this conflict to be at the heart of neurosis.
Freud's original terms for the three components of the psyche, in German, were das Es (lit. the 'It'), das Ich (lit. the 'I'), and das Über-Ich (lit. the 'Over-I' or 'Upper-I'). According to Bruno Bettelheim, the Latin terms were proposed by Freud's English translators, probably to make them seem more 'medical' since, at the time, Latin was prevalent in medical terminology. Bettelheim deplores what he sees as pseudoscientific, Latin terms.
Jungian school
Carl Jung included in his definition the overlap and tension between the personal and the collective elements in man. He wrote much of his work in German and was careful to define what he meant by psyche and by soul (Seele):
I have been compelled, in my investigations into the structure of the unconscious, to make a conceptual distinction between soul and psyche. By psyche, I understand the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious. By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a "personality".
The editors of his collected works noted that:
[In previous translations, and in this one as well, psyche – for which Jung in the German original uses either Psyche or Seele – has been used with reference to the totality of all psychic processes (cf. Jung, Psychological Types, Def. 48); i.e., it is a comprehensive term. Soul, on the other hand, as used in the technical terminology of analytical psychology, is more restricted in meaning and refers to a "function complex" or partial personality and never to the whole psyche. It is often applied specifically to "anima" and "animus"; e.g., in this connection it is used in the composite word "soul-image" (Seelenbild). This conception of the soul is more primitive than the Christian one with which the reader is likely to be more familiar. In its Christian context it refers to "the transcendental energy in man" and "the spiritual part of man considered in its moral aspect or in relation to God." –Editors.]
Cognitive psychology
The word "mind" is preferred by cognitive scientists to "psyche". The mind is a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, language and memory. It is usually defined as the faculty of an entity's thoughts and consciousness. It holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation, and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions, resulting in attitudes and actions.
See also
- Ego death
- Human spirit
- Inscape (visual art)
- Motivation
- Nafs
- Persona
- Persona (psychology)
- Reincarnation
- Psychosis
- Tulpa
Notes
- Amoroso, Richard; Gianni, Albertini; Kauffman, Louis; Peter, Rowlands (2018). Unified Field Mechanics II: Formulations And Empirical Tests – Proceedings Of The Xth Symposium Honoring Noted French Mathematical Physicist Jean-pierre Vigier. Singapore: World Scientific. p. 601. ISBN 978-981-323-203-7.
- Hillman J (T Moore, Ed.) (1989). A blue fire: Selected writings by James Hillman. New York, NY, USA: HarperPerennial. p. 20.
- Henry George Liddell and Ridley Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon entry "psyche".
- Dundes, Lauren (2019). The Psychosocial Implications of Disney Movies. Basel: MDPI. p. 205. ISBN 978-3-03897-848-0.
- See p.187-197, 204 of François, Alexandre (2008), "Semantic maps and the typology of colexification: Intertwining polysemous networks across languages", in Vanhove, Martine (ed.), From Polysemy to Semantic change: Towards a Typology of Lexical Semantic Associations, Studies in Language Companion Series, vol. 106, Amsterdam, New York: Benjamins, pp. 163–215.
- King, D. Brett; Woody, William Douglas; Viney, Wayne (2013). History of Psychology: Ideas and Context, Fifth Edition. Oxon: Routledge. p. 60. ISBN 9780205963041.
- Plato, Phaedo 69e-84b.
- Plato, Phaedo 59c-69e
- Polansky, Ronald (2007). Aristotle's De Anima: A Critical Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-139-46605-9.
- Cf. Rohde (2000), ch. I, VII. Also see the myth of Eros and Psyche, where Psyche was the embodiment of the soul.
- Simon Kemp, Medieval Psychology; Simon Kemp, Cognitive Psychology in the Middle Ages; Anthony Kenny Aquinas on Mind.
- Cf. Reed (1998), p. xv, on the narrowing of the study of the psyche into the study of the mind.
- Reber, Arthur S.; Reber, Emily S. (2001). Dictionary of Psychology. New York: Penguin Reference. ISBN 0-14-051451-1.
- Freud and Man's Soul, Vintage Books, 1984, pp.52–62.
- Perroni, Emilia (2014). Play: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Survival and Human Development. East Sussex: Routledge. p. 136. ISBN 9780415682077.
- Jung (1971), Def. 48 par. 797.
- Jung (1968), note 2 par. 9.
- "mind – definition of mind in English". lexico.com. Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
References
- Jung, C. G. (1968). Psychology and Alchemy. Collected Works. Vol. 12. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01831-6. OCLC 219856.
- Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological Types. Collected Works. Vol. 6. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01813-8.
- Reed, Edward S. (1998). From Soul to Mind: The Emergence of Psychology, from Erasmus Darwin to William James. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07581-2.
- Rohde, Erwin (2000) [1894]. Psyche: The Cult of Souls and the Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22563-9.
Further reading
- Snow, P. J. (2009). The Human Psyche In Love War and Enlightenment. Boolarong Press. ISBN 978-1-921555-42-8.
- Valsiner, Jaan; Rosa, Alberto (2007). The Cambridge Handbook of Sociocultural Psychology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85410-5.. Cf. Chapter 1, p. 23, "The Myth and Beyond: Ontology of Psyche and Epistemology of Psychology".
- Wilson, Robert Andrew; Keil, Frank C. (2001). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-73144-4.
In psychology the psyche ˈ s aɪ k i is the totality of the human mind conscious and unconscious The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously especially in older texts Psychology is the scientific or objective study of the psyche The word has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy dating back to ancient times and represents one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view EtymologyThe basic meaning of the Greek word psyxh psyche was life Although unsupported some have claimed it is derived from the verb psyxw psycho to blow Derived meanings included spirit soul ghost and ultimately self in the sense of conscious personality or psyche Ancient psychologyThe idea of the psyche is central to the philosophy of Plato Scholars translate the Platonic conceptualization of the term as soul in the sense that he believed that it is immortal In his Phaedo Plato has Socrates give four arguments for the immortality of the soul and life after death following the separation of the soul from the body Plato s Socrates also states that after death the Psyche is better able to achieve wisdom and experience the Platonic forms since it is unhindered by the body The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote an influential treatise on the psyche called in Greek Perὶ PSyxῆs Peri Psyches in Latin De Anima and in English On the Soul In this work he used the concept of the soul to explain certain functions Since for him the soul is motion it needs an explanatory principle for bodily motion Aristotle s theory of the three souls psyches vegetal animal and rational would rule the field of psychology until the 19th century Prior to Aristotle a number of Greek writings used the term psyche in a less precise sense In late antiquity Galenic medicine developed the idea of three spirits pneuma corresponding to Aristotle s three souls The pneuma psychikon corresponded to the rational soul The other two pneuma were the pneuma physicon and the pneuma zoticon Medieval psychologyThe term psyche was Latinized to anima which became one of the basic terms used in medieval psychology Anima would have traditionally been rendered in English as soul but in modern usage the term psyche is preferable Phenomenology19th century psychologists such as Franz Brentano developed the concept of the psyche in a more subjective direction PsychoanalysisIn psychoanalysis and other forms of depth psychology the psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought behavior and personality Freudian school Sigmund Freud the father of psychoanalysis believed that the psyche he used the word Seele soul but also psyche throughout his writings was composed of three components The id which represents the instinctual drives of an individual and remains largely unconscious It does not respect the rules of society The super ego which represents a person s conscience and their internalization of societal norms and morality The ego which is conscious and serves to integrate the drives of the id with the prohibitions of the super ego Freud believed this conflict to be at the heart of neurosis Freud s original terms for the three components of the psyche in German were das Es lit the It das Ich lit the I and das Uber Ich lit the Over I or Upper I According to Bruno Bettelheim the Latin terms were proposed by Freud s English translators probably to make them seem more medical since at the time Latin was prevalent in medical terminology Bettelheim deplores what he sees as pseudoscientific Latin terms Jungian school Carl Jung included in his definition the overlap and tension between the personal and the collective elements in man He wrote much of his work in German and was careful to define what he meant by psyche and by soul Seele I have been compelled in my investigations into the structure of the unconscious to make a conceptual distinction between soul and psyche By psyche I understand the totality of all psychic processes conscious as well as unconscious By soul on the other hand I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a personality The editors of his collected works noted that In previous translations and in this one as well psyche for which Jung in the German original uses either Psyche or Seele has been used with reference to the totality of all psychic processes cf Jung Psychological Types Def 48 i e it is a comprehensive term Soul on the other hand as used in the technical terminology of analytical psychology is more restricted in meaning and refers to a function complex or partial personality and never to the whole psyche It is often applied specifically to anima and animus e g in this connection it is used in the composite word soul image Seelenbild This conception of the soul is more primitive than the Christian one with which the reader is likely to be more familiar In its Christian context it refers to the transcendental energy in man and the spiritual part of man considered in its moral aspect or in relation to God Editors Cognitive psychologyThe word mind is preferred by cognitive scientists to psyche The mind is a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness perception thinking judgement language and memory It is usually defined as the faculty of an entity s thoughts and consciousness It holds the power of imagination recognition and appreciation and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions resulting in attitudes and actions See alsoEgo death Human spirit Inscape visual art Motivation Nafs Persona Persona psychology Reincarnation Psychosis TulpaNotesAmoroso Richard Gianni Albertini Kauffman Louis Peter Rowlands 2018 Unified Field Mechanics II Formulations And Empirical Tests Proceedings Of The Xth Symposium Honoring Noted French Mathematical Physicist Jean pierre Vigier Singapore World Scientific p 601 ISBN 978 981 323 203 7 Hillman J T Moore Ed 1989 A blue fire Selected writings by James Hillman New York NY USA HarperPerennial p 20 Henry George Liddell and Ridley Scott A Greek English Lexicon entry psyche Dundes Lauren 2019 The Psychosocial Implications of Disney Movies Basel MDPI p 205 ISBN 978 3 03897 848 0 See p 187 197 204 of Francois Alexandre 2008 Semantic maps and the typology of colexification Intertwining polysemous networks across languages in Vanhove Martine ed From Polysemy to Semantic change Towards a Typology of Lexical Semantic Associations Studies in Language Companion Series vol 106 Amsterdam New York Benjamins pp 163 215 King D Brett Woody William Douglas Viney Wayne 2013 History of Psychology Ideas and Context Fifth Edition Oxon Routledge p 60 ISBN 9780205963041 Plato Phaedo 69e 84b Plato Phaedo 59c 69e Polansky Ronald 2007 Aristotle s De Anima A Critical Commentary Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 104 ISBN 978 1 139 46605 9 Cf Rohde 2000 ch I VII Also see the myth of Eros and Psyche where Psyche was the embodiment of the soul Simon Kemp Medieval Psychology Simon Kemp Cognitive Psychology in the Middle Ages Anthony Kenny Aquinas on Mind Cf Reed 1998 p xv on the narrowing of the study of the psyche into the study of the mind Reber Arthur S Reber Emily S 2001 Dictionary of Psychology New York Penguin Reference ISBN 0 14 051451 1 Freud and Man s Soul Vintage Books 1984 pp 52 62 Perroni Emilia 2014 Play Psychoanalytic Perspectives Survival and Human Development East Sussex Routledge p 136 ISBN 9780415682077 Jung 1971 Def 48 par 797 Jung 1968 note 2 par 9 mind definition of mind in English lexico com Oxford Dictionaries Archived from the original on January 1 2020 Retrieved 8 May 2017 ReferencesJung C G 1968 Psychology and Alchemy Collected Works Vol 12 New Jersey Princeton University Press ISBN 0 691 01831 6 OCLC 219856 Jung C G 1971 Psychological Types Collected Works Vol 6 New Jersey Princeton University Press ISBN 0 691 01813 8 Reed Edward S 1998 From Soul to Mind The Emergence of Psychology from Erasmus Darwin to William James Yale University Press ISBN 0 300 07581 2 Rohde Erwin 2000 1894 Psyche The Cult of Souls and the Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks London Routledge ISBN 0 415 22563 9 Further readingSnow P J 2009 The Human Psyche In Love War and Enlightenment Boolarong Press ISBN 978 1 921555 42 8 Valsiner Jaan Rosa Alberto 2007 The Cambridge Handbook of Sociocultural Psychology Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 85410 5 Cf Chapter 1 p 23 The Myth and Beyond Ontology of Psyche and Epistemology of Psychology Wilson Robert Andrew Keil Frank C 2001 The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences MIT Press ISBN 0 262 73144 4
