Ancient Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics ...

, ''Phren'' (; 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 The torso or trunk is an anatomical terminology, anatomical term for the central part, or the core (anatomy), core, of the body (biology), body of many animals (including human beings), from which the head, neck, limb (anatomy), limbs, tail an ...

as opposed to the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

. For example, ''phren'' is where

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

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

Concepts in ancient Greek philosophy of mind Plato's theory of soul {{philosophy-stub