Earlier Psychology

I started thinking about earlier psychology. All you need is a sofa and a patient. :D So a earlier science of psychology, possibly under a different name, doesn't require other inventions, unlike other medical developments.

Sure, it might start out as a crackpot science at first but WI psychology was developed earlier?
 
I had a thread on this subject earlier. My take was earlier psychology being packaged as religion, since ancient people would not accept it except as religion.

Freudian psychology has so many Greek themed complexes it might as well have been something thought up by the Greeks. :D
 
For what it's worth, my personal theory is that the Freudian tradition of psychology (in the broader sense) is not actually a new development but simple a reincarnation of practices that were earlier part of religion, cult, or social rites and interactions. Since modern society would not be able to reconcile these ideas with its self-image, it blanketed what it required under a scientific terminology. This has both been psychology's greatest boon (the scientific method allowed the field to make great strides) and in many cases its most painful problem (have you ever met a dogmatic Freudian with that pathological need to name and lael every last little quirk?).

Thus I would argue that psycholoogy couldn't come into being in its earlier form (much) before it did, but its fubndamental principles - the healing of injured minds - has always been with us.
 
Religion might be the biggest obstacle to a earlier psychology as tallwingedgoat says. But there is a way around it. The religius leaders decide that sins are a human condition and not based on supernatural reasons. Thus it makes sence to treat mental conditions with proto-psychology.
 
Religion might be the biggest obstacle to a earlier psychology as tallwingedgoat says. But there is a way around it. The religius leaders decide that sins are a human condition and not based on supernatural reasons. Thus it makes sence to treat mental conditions with proto-psychology.

I don't know about other religions, but that is going to open an almighty doctrinal can of worms for Christianity. You've basically just killed Free Will, called Original Sin into question and endangered Redemption.

I think a medical development is more likely.
 
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