Abstract

ARAUJO, Saulo de Freitas. The Name and the Thing: On the Origins of Psychology as a Science. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.21, n.3, pp. 1220-1248. ISSN 1808-4281.  http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/epp.2021.62739.

Among psychologists, philosophers, and historians there is no consensus on the beginning of psychology as a science. In these debates there seems to be a confusion between the name "psychology" and the thing named as it. In this case, the central question is whether or not the thing's existence depends on the name. Our goal is to show the insufficiency of the name "psychology" to designate the thing. More specifically, we defend the existence of the thing long before the name's appearance. Initially, we analyze the investigations on the psykhé in the Greek tradition. Then, we approach the constitution of a science of the soul between the Late Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern period. We also follow the emergence of the name "psychology" and the different things it designates until the establishment of Christian Wolff's project of a psychological science and its consequences. Finally, we discuss the implications of our investigation to the debate about the origins of psychology as a science.

Keywords : science of the soul; Greek psychology; medieval psychology; Renaissance psychology; history of psychology.

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