Re: Question concerning psyche/soul?

From: Don Wilkins (dwilkins@ucr.campus.mci.net)
Date: Tue Jan 20 1998 - 16:26:17 EST


At 10:47 PM 1/19/98 -0700, you wrote:
>> I know that the Greek word "psyche" is translated into English as "soul."
>> But, what does it mean? Is there a different Greek word for "spirit?"
>> Does the Greek word "psyche" mean the same thing that we typically think
>> the English word "soul" means? Any help would be appreciated.
>> Rev. Dr. Lawrence Michael Cameron

I got into this question a little when I did my dissertation on Origen
(which I don't have handy at the moment). If memory serves, we really don't
have a difinitive answer, but a "best guess" is that "psych-" suggests
"cool" or "cooling". Rightly or wrongly, Origen used this derivation in his
work De Principiis (Peri Archon, "On first things"), which I see as an
apologetic for divine justice. He argued that the soul is a fallen and
inferior form of spirit. The latter term ("pneuma" in Greek) is different,
though it might be viewed as some as roughly synonymous. Pneuma is "breath"
or "breeze" (maybe wind), and probably warm by contrast to pysche.

Don Wilkins



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