#psuche

things you scribble out at 6am

Homerian Era (evinced primarily in Homer's writings....) 8th Century BCE The soul is two (separate?) things: the thing which is risked in battle and lost in the event of death; the thing which departs the body at the moment of death and dwells thereafter in the underworld. It is possible, though not established, that these two definitions apply to the same 'shade' of a person that remains after death and is somehow separate from the whole person that walks around, living. It is clear that with a soul, someone lives; without a soul, the body is just a corpse. In this period, the soul has no activity or operation actually attributed to it, but is discussed only in the event of actual or potential/imminent death. Pre-Platonic Era 5th & 6th Centuries BCE The intrinsic connection to death dimishes in the evolving usage, now having a soul is equivalent to being alive and used in common speech. The term empsuchos (ensouled) appears around this time - meaning that the possession of a soul is what makes someone alive. That definition is implied by Homer's use, but since he doesn't speak of the soul except in relation to death, it is not actually used thusly. The soul still distinguishes the living from the dead, but now also actions can be attributed to the soul. The idioms of satisfying the soul's desire for food, drink or sex become common; and intense emotions like love, hate, joy, grief are said to act on the soul. For instance, Ajax and Oedipus both lament their souls under various psychic duress. This in turn leads to the attribution of moral qualities to the soul - the courage and boldness in battle of Homer, but also temperance, justice and endurance. In some contexts, the soul is equivalent to moral character in describing a person (or fictional character). It is likely this moralization of the soul is connected to the prior poetic connection of the soul to battle, and the courage to risk the soul therein. The  soul leads to how someone acts (at least with regard to morally significant behavior), because actions are thought to express and make evident the soul's quality/qualities. Naturally this leads to the soul also being evoked in thinking & planning, beyond just being the holder of attributes: if the soul is responsible for acts of X type, then the soul must be recognizing the situation(s) calling for X type of act. Antiphon combines the Homeric soul being that which leaves at death and this idea of the soul as a responsible agent of sorts, in a speech tasking a jury with "tak[ing] away from the accused the soul that planned the crime."  By the time Platonic philosophy starts to interact with the concept of the soul, it is already commonly referred to as not only the seat of a person's moral quality/qualities, and the thing that makes them alive and will be lost if they are made dead, but also responsible for practical & moral cognition. The stage is well set for Pythagoras and Heraclitus to discuss the soul and provide the groundwork for Plato and later Socrates. 

The dialogue opens by raising a wide range of problems concerning the mind, the self, the soul, and the relation of the mind to the body. Descartes enters the scene and defends his view that the mind is a substance the essence of which is thought. Mental attributes are properties of the mind. Physical attributes are properties of the body. The mind and body stand in a two-way causal relationship. This conception is elaborated and then subjected to criticism. Mind/brain identity theory is also examined and found wanting. Aristotle enters, and advances his biological conception of the mind. The Aristotelian concept of the psuchē is elaborated and defended, and the rational psuchē is argued to be what distinguishes mankind from the rest of the animal kingdom. The rational psuchē consists of the distinctive powers of the intellect and ratiocinative will. Unlike the Cartesian mind, the psuchē is not an agent, but a set of powers. One does things with one’s mind not as one does things with an organ (hands or legs), but as one does things with one’s talents. Contrary to dualist conceptions, mental attributes are properties of the living human being, not of the mind – just as eyesight is a property of the living animal and not of its eyes.

Spalio 5, spalio 5, spalio 5.

Plato, Phaedrus 246b-c

Wanted to practice some backgrounds. Here's concept art of Psuche from Girly's point of view. -Conmi

SKOTIA: The "Dark" region and the fifth level of the game, Skotia was once a bustling land full of large, thick trees that blocked out the sun and shielded the villagers from the harsh rains. However, ever since a certain incident, the villagers have long since been wiped out and the land reduced a ruin. Used as Scarlet's base of operations, the entire region has been laid to waste, and due to the vast amount of darkness shrouding the land enemies can easily appear and kill those not wary. All that remains is a large castle now, and a flat, barren wasteland...