Psyche (psychology)
psychological term refering to the group of acts and functions of the mind
The psyche is currently used to describe the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious. Especially in older texts, the English word soul is sometimes used synonymously.
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 (psūkhḗ) was 'life'. It is derived from the verb ψύχω (psūkhō). 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.
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This entry incorporates text from “Psyche (psychology)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.