The Soul and Psychology - Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering the historical mind–body debate, empiricism, and early brain localization research from the lecture notes.

Soul

A spiritual entity thought to govern or constitute consciousness; in this lecture, souls do not conform to natural laws and are not amenable to scientific study.

Natural laws

Assumed universal rules governing phenomena that science aims to describe, specify, and use to predict behavior.

Animism

Belief that natural phenomena are guided by spirits or living forces; an early explanatory framework prior to scientific approaches.

Dualism

Philosophical view that mind and body are fundamentally different substances.

Cartesian dualism

Descartes' view that the body is a machine governed by physical laws while the mind (soul) is a separate substance.

Descartes

French philosopher (1596–1650) who argued for mind–body separation and mechanistic body function.

Mind as machine

Idea that mental processes can be explained in mechanical, physiological terms.

Materialism

Philosophical position that mental phenomena arise from physical matter; no separate non-physical mind.

Tabula rasa

Latin for 'blank slate'; the idea that the mind is shaped entirely by experience.

Empiricism

Theory that knowledge comes from sensory experience and observation.

John Locke

Philosopher (1632–1704) who championed empiricism and tabula rasa.

James Mill

Philosopher (1773–1836) who advocated materialism and viewed the mind as a machine.

Galvani

Physiologist known for experiments on bioelectricity and nerve function.

Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies

Idea that each sensory nerve carries a specific type of energy leading to a particular sensation.

Johannes Müller

Physiologist who formalized the Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies and contributed to sensory localization.

Pierre Florens

Researcher who used brain ablation to map brain regions and their functions.

Ablation studies

Method of destroying brain tissue to infer the role of different areas.

Localization of Language

Principle that language functions are localized to specific brain regions.

Paul Broca

Physician who identified Broca's area, linking a brain region to speech production.