In Ancient Greek philosophy, Phren (Ancient Greek: φρήν, romanized: phrēn, lit. 'mind'; plural phrenes, φρένες) is the location of thought or contemplation. The kind of mental activity conducted in the Phren involves what 20th and 21 Century Western thinkers consider both feeling and thinking; scholars have remarked that Ancient Greeks located this activity in the torso as opposed to the head.
For example, phren is where Achilles considered his sadness about losing Briseis and his duty to join the Greeks against Troy. Phren, however, is not exclusively applied to humans. In Empedocles' system, Phren is a general psychological agent to which moral blame and praise can be extended, that darts through the universe as effluences, steers and controls the cosmos in the process and is the measure of what is harmonious and what is fit to exist. It is said that it is strongest at the region found beyond the universe where strife reigns.
References
- Sullivan, Shirley D. (1999). Sophocles, Use of Psychological Terminology: Old and New. Carleton University Press (in 2018 called McGill-Queen's University Press). ISBN 0-88629-343-X.
- ^ Scott, Sarah. "Core Vocab: phrēn, phrenes". Kosmos Society: An Online Community for Classical Studies. Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- Catlin, Brian; John, Lyons. "Etymology of Thoracic Terms". Dartmouth Medical School. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- Petrovic, Andrej; Petrovic, Ivana (2016). Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion: Volume I: Early Greek Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 9780198768043.
- ^ Drozdek, Adam (2016). Greek Philosophers as Theologians: The Divine Arche. Oxon: Routledge. pp. 78–79. ISBN 9780754661894.
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