Shamanism and psychology in ancient Greece and India

This book offers a historical introduction to psychology. It investigates the evolutionary origins of our capacity to practice psychology, including its language and the cultural containers in which it can emerge, such as those of ancient Greece and ancient India. Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Short Contents -- Long Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Note -- Further Information Online -- Note on Scripts -- Part 1: Evolution and Psychology -- Chapter 1: Evolution and culture -- 1.1 The contents of this book -- 1.2 Squaring the circle with evolution -- 1.3 The mechanisms of evolution -- 1.4 Memes, minds and cultural habitats -- 1.5 Discussion questions -- 1.6 Recommended Reading -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Cultural ecologies -- 2.1 The principle of homeostasis -- 2.2 Cultural homeostasis -- 2.3 Reviewing the findings from Book 1 -- 2.4 Improving our theory of culture -- 2.5 A larger world: psychologies in oral media -- 2.6 Discussion questions -- 2.7 Recommended reading -- Notes -- Chapter 3: Becoming human -- 3.1 Out of Africa -- 3.2 The first Eurasians -- 3.3 Going global -- 3.4 A meeting of minds -- 3.5 Pooling psyche -- 3.6 Footprints of the Neanderthals -- 3.7 Discussion questions -- 3.8 Recommended reading -- Notes -- Chapter 4: Tools for global psychologies -- 4.1 Language, culture and community -- 4.2 The example of Australia -- 4.3 The grammar of shamanism -- 4.4 Discussion questions -- 4.5 Recommended reading -- Notes -- Part 2: Origins of Greek psychology -- Chapter 5: Ancient Europe -- 5.1 The gateway to Europe -- 5.2 Seeking the Western logos -- 5.3 The Indo-European logos -- 5.4 The horse, the wheel and the Western logos -- 5.5 Reconstructing PIE, its homeland and culture -- 5.6 The Mobile Crescent -- 5.7 Putting the Western logos on the map -- 5.8 Discussion questions -- 5.9 Recommended reading -- Notes -- Chapter 6: Mythos and logos in Homer -- 6.1 Why Homer? -- 6.2 Homer's mythos -- 6.3 Homer's heroes: thanatoi -- 6.4 Homer's Olympians: athanatoi -- 6.5 Homer and the epic tradition -- 6.6 Discussion questions -- 6.7 Recommended reading -- Notes.