Thumology and Psychology Contrasted

Psychology attends to the human mind and its cognitive functions: attention, memory, language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. Historically, psychology also included the study of human emotion.

Thumology attends to spirit defined in terms of thumos, "that which makes alive." Its field of study is broader than psychology's because it attends to thumos in all living beings, not just humans.

The primary function of thumos is to animate and enliven. It is prior to cognitive functions and makes cognitive functions possible.

In thumology, thumos and emotions are very closely related if not the same. Emotions are viewed as direct expressions of the thumos.

While thumos has a unique cognitive function in human beings, specifically inner deliberation, the cognitive function is of less importance in thumology than in psychology.

Object of study:

- Psychology: human mind

- Thumology: spirit in all living beings

Functions studied:

- Psychology is primarily the study of the cognitive functions of the human mind

- Thumology is primarily the study of the animating, enlivening function of spirit

Scope:

- The scope of psychology is primarily human beings

- The scope of thumology is all living beings

Emotions:

- Psychology: emotions are caused by cognitive functions of the mind

- Thumology: emotions are direct expressions of spirit

Cognition:

- Psychology: cognition is limited to the mind

- Thumology: there is a type of cognition associated with the thumos, deliberation

Ontological status:

- Mind must be spirited, alive, to exist

- Spirit does not have to be cognitive to exist. Being spirited precedes being cognitive.

Contra "Mind-Body" Duality

The Mind-Body View

In our current Western scientific view of being human, we put everything about our body in the physical sciences folder and everything not about our body in the psychological sciences folder. We have only two folders: one for body, another for mind.  It's a crude, simplistic system.

Questioning the Mind-Body View

One problem with this view is that we associate everything in the psychological sciences folder with "mind." When we look closer at everything associated with "mind" questions arise: Is associating our spirit with our mind the best way to view either our spirit or our mind? Is associating our instincts, desires, drives, and emotions with our mind the best way to view them? Is all of our self-talk limited to our mind?

My answer to all of these questions is "no." 

Proposing a New View

I propose a third folder: one for spirit. Everything about our spirit goes into the thumological sciences folder.

And what might go in the thumological folder? Everything associated with spirit, that which makes alive: our spirit itself; our instincts, desires and drives (to live, associate, eat, drink, have sex, reproduce, nurture, protect); our emotions that fuel and express our desires and drives (fear, anger, sadness, joy, guilt and others); and our self-talk directed at these things.    

 

Some Benefits of the New View

I believe this three-folder view makes possible a more elegant and refined view of what it means to be human. It affirms our spirit and helps us see our instincts, drives, desires, emotions, and  some of our self-talk in a new light, the light of our spirit. It also helps us see how our spirit relates to both our body and our mind.  

In upcoming posts, I'll say more about how our instincts, desires, drives, emotions, and some of our self-talk are matter of our spirit.