The Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast brought to you with the support of King's College London and the Lever Hume Trust online at

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History of Philosophy. net. Today's episode, Soul Power, Aristotle's Day Anima.

Are you comfortable on that sofa?

I want you to relax.

This is a safe space.

Nothing that's said within these walls will leave the room. You aren't being judged. I'm here to help.

So shall we start at the beginning? Tell me a little bit about your mother.

Yes, today on the history of philosophy, we're doing psychology. But actually, don't start

to unburden yourself, especially if you're listening to this while on public transport, because

we're actually going to be doing Aristotelian psychology, which has less to do with uncovering your true character and the traumatic experiences of your childhood, and more to do with uncovering the true nature and experiences of the soul.

This is as it should be, as you won't be surprised to learn, the word psychology comes from ancient Greek.

The Greek word Suhehay means soul, so psychology is simply

the study of the soul. And the very first work devoted to psychology is of course Aristotle's On the Soul, commonly

known by its Latin title De Anima.

With all due respect to James Brown, it is really Aristotle who deserves the title Godfather of soul.

Now I know what you're thinking.

Aristotle's De Anima, the first work on the soul?

What about Plato?

He wrote the Fido, after all, which not only depicts the last moments of Socrates's life, but also proves the soul's immortality, not just once but numerous times.

Surely that counts as an earlier work on psychology?

Well, yes, what I mean is not that the Deonima is the first work to focus on the soul,

...