Philosophy of Mind - Early Ideas

It is generally agreed that the question What is mind?—with all its modern connotations—is not found in ancient texts. The question first emerges clearly in the philosophical work of René Descartes (1596–1650). For centuries, psychological and philosophical inquiry proceeded together. The term psychology has its roots in the Greek term psyche, which has come to be translated as soul. In very early texts psyche is associated with breath, the loss of which is thought to result either in unconsciousness or death. In the work of Plato (c. 428–348 or 347 B.C.E.), the soul is taken to be simple and immortal. It is the soul—and in particular that rational part of soul, nous—that apprehends the Forms, and, in life, controls the body's passions. It is with Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) and his more biological orientation that the study of psychology is launched (although it is not until the late nineteenth century that the discipline is fully defined). In Aristotle we find the idea of the soul as the form of a living body, a form that has different aspects in plants, in nonrational animals, and in human animals.