Shamanism and Psychology in Ancient Greece and India : The Evolution of Psyche

This book offers a historical introduction to psychology. It investigates the evolutionary origins of our capacity to practice psychology, including its language and the cultural containers in which it can emerge, such as those of ancient Greece and ancient India. This is the second book in a new series, which intends to present the emergence of Western psychology in a global context.

The author begins by constructing a bridge between evolutionary psychology and the history of psychology. An element of this bridge is an evolutionary account of human culture. Another is a narrative of human evolution with the latest fossil and genetic evidence. Finally, linguistics and anthropology link the appearance of our species with the emergence of ancient psychologies. A crucial link is the role of the shaman-figure in ancient cultures, from our evolutionary origins onwards. This is connected to the origins of psychological language, especially of a religious or transpersonal nature. The key words ‘psyche’ (mind, conscious and unconscious) and ‘logos’ (talk, discourse, reason) find their permanent meanings in Greece, where they are combined to form ‘psychology’ in Plato. Their parallel terms in India such as ‘atman’ (the universal self) and ‘manas’ (mind) also find their range of meanings. Ancient Europe and ancient India, two wings of the Indo-European world, are introduced as distinct cultures related by language, developing psychological traditions in related media. Descriptions and explanations of mental phenomena are traced in Greek literature from Homer to Plato, and in India’s oral texts from the Vedas to the Upanishads. In each case these are related to the competing ‘psychologies’ of religious cults as manifestations of shamanism. Each history follows the convergence of Stone Age, Bronze Age and nomadic cults, emphasising the leading roles of shaman-figures in the respective cultures.

Presented in an accessible manner, this is an excellent resource for students and teachers of psychology, philosophy, history, linguistics, archaeology, and anthropology, as well as general readers who want to learn more about the origins of this fascinating subject on a global stage.

This title follows on from The Global Origins of Psychology: Neurology, Language and Culture in the Ancient World.