History of psychology: Encyclopedia II - History of psychology - Prescientific psychology

History of psychology - Prescientific psychology

The Ebers papyrus (ca 1550 BC) contains a short description of clinical depression. Though full of incantations and foul applications meant to turn away disease-causing demons and other superstition, it also evidences a long tradition of empirical practice and observation. The Dead Sea Scrolls Manual of Discipline (ca. 100 BC) notes the division of human nature into two temperaments.

From its inception, a great deal of work in philosophy, especially in the field of epistemology, dealt with the nature of the mind, its processes, and its contents, though usually in a theoretical (non-empirical) fashion.

The German scholastic philosopher Rudolph Goclenius was the first to use the term psychology in 1590.

The root of the word psychology (psyche) means "soul" or "spirit" in Greek, and psychology was sometimes considered a study of the soul (in a religious sense of this term), though its emergence as a medical discipline can be seen in Thomas Willis' reference to psychology (the "Doctrine of the Soul") in terms of brain function, as part of his 1672 anatomical treatise "De Anima Brutorum" ("Two Discourses on the Souls of Brutes").

Until about the end of the 19th century, psychology was regarded as a branch of philosophy.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Prescientific psychology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki