8 - Historical Psychologies of the Soul

Summary

Historical psychologies of the soul kept soul in circulation in psychology. Hall’s genetic psychology was a history grounded in the theory of evolution. Müller-Freienfels read the history of psychology as an exploration of the soul. Neumann conceptualized this history in terms of archetypes, and Rank gave an account of soul-beliefs. These histories presupposed a soulless psychology. For genetic psychology, images of the soul appealed to the imaginations of children to encourage character development. Neumann saved the soul and its immortality by interpreting them to mean the individuation process. For Rank, belief in the soul is inevitable, because our deepest desire is for immortality. “Noble lie” (Hall), myth (Neumann), and illusion (Rank) are ways of describing the nature of the soul. Soulless psychology was at the foundation of these historical studies, which reaffirmed the necessity of the soul in soulless psychology.