Tracing the Emergence of Psychology, 1520–⁠1750

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Introduction

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 1-7

3. The First Use of the Term “Psychology”

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 9-23

4. “Psyche” in Ancient Greece

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 25-42

5. Humanism, Petrarchism, and Melanchthon

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 43-58

6. The Reformation and Protestantism’s Need for Psychology

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 59-76

7. Subjectivity in Popular Culture

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 77-92

8. Psychology and Metaphysics

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 93-108

9. Psychology Outside the German-Speaking Area

   • Sven Hroar Klempe

   Pages 109-128

10. Metaphysics Rooted in Feelings and Body: Spinoza

    • Sven Hroar Klempe

    Pages 129-142

11. A Dynamic Understanding of the World: Leibniz

    • Sven Hroar Klempe

    Pages 143-162

12. Christian Wolff: The Ground Zero of Modern Psychology?

    • Sven Hroar Klempe

    Pages 163-180

13. The Impact of Psychologia empirica on the European Enlightenment

    • Sven Hroar Klempe

    Pages 181-205

14. Back Matter

    Pages 207-215

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This book pursues the very first use of the term “psychology”, which is traced back to 1520. The appearance of the term was not as a part of philosophy. Thus, the main hypothesis of this book is that psychology from the very beginning was a stranger to philosophy. It demonstrates that even Aristotle used his thesis on the soul to delineate philosophy from psychological aspects. It is therefore suggested that psychological wisdom and knowledge has been retained and in popular culture as long as humans have reflected upon themselves. There were, however, several reasons for why psychology appeared as a part of philosophy at around the year 1600. One important factor was Humanism, which among other things had challenged Aristotelian logic. Another important movement was Protestantism. Luther’s emphasis on the need to confess one’s sin, led to a certain interest to explore the human nature. His slogan, “the scripture alone” represented an attack on the close relationship that had existed between theology and philosophy. Yet when philosophy was thrown out of theology, it was left without the basic theological tenets that had guided philosophical speculations for centuries in Europe. Hence, this book pursues how philosophy gradually adopts and includes psychological aspects to rebuild the foundation for philosophy. This culminates partly with the British empiricists. Yet they did not apply the term psychology. It was the German and partly ignored philosopher Christian Wolff, who opened up modern understanding of psychology with the publication of Psychologia empirica in 1732. This publication had a tremendous impact on the enlightenment in the modern Europe. 

• History of Psychology
• Humanism
• Secularism
• Psychologia empirica
• Christian Wolff

“There is no doubt that the book is worth reading and packed with intriguing information and interesting arguments … . This is a merit of the book as a whole: Klempe raises numerous intriguing points, inviting the reader to explore further and join the project of rethinking the history of a discipline that so profoundly affects how we make sense of the world today.” (Sophie Pia Stieger, IJHE International Journal for the Historiography of Education, Vol. 11 (2), 2021)

• Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

  Sven Hroar Klempe

Sven Hroar Klempe is Professor in Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. His background includes time as full Professor in Musicology, Associate Professor in Media Studies, teacher, and journalist. His research is cross disciplinary, with an emphasis on the history of psychology, culture and psychology, theory of science, communication, and music psychology. 

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