PS390 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Natural Philosophy, Michel De Montaigne
Document Summary
Psychological inquirty continued to be dominated by aristotelian philosophy of nature along w greek, arabic, and latin commentary. W the soul understood as the animating principle of life, there was no clear distinction b/w the subject matter of biology and psychology. Psychological inquiry was considered the height of natural philosophy. The soul was not considered entirely material, bc its study included topics of ethics and metaphysics. Of all biological and psychological functions, only intellect and will were considered to not require physical organs; thus the portions of the soul believed to be unique to humans were thought of as immortal. In this sense, renaissance psychology was focused on faculties (abilities for particular activities) Common conception was that the soul was composed of a large number of separate faculties or powers, each directed towards a different object and responsible for a distinct operation.
