Pseudodoxy (iptvSoSoZia, from if/evSoc., false- hood, and $6%a, opinion) designates a false or decep- tive opinion, and hence is emploj ed for superstition and error. A synonymous expression is pseudodidascaly (from diSaoKakia, instruction i, as he who holds errone- ous opinions (t^evdooogoe), if he communicates them, becomes a false teacher (il/EvBodiSaaicaXoc). The op- posite of these two expressions ought to be orthodoxy and orthodidascaly, bul the latter two words are used in a somewhat different sense. See Hi rcRODOX. The word pseudoUm is of recent formation, and means a general inclination to the false, which shows itself in thoughts, words, and doctrim s, as well as in acts and in the social intercourse of life.
Pseudolatry (xpevSoXarpela, from tyeuioc,, false- hood, and XarpBta, servict I designates afalst worship, of which the Christian writer-, who seem to have tirst formed this word, accus., i the pagans, on account <>f their polytheism. I'm (idolatry has also penetrated into the Christian Church: for where we find the wor- ship of images (iconolatry, or idolatry i, there is pseu- dolatry likewise.
Pseudology and Pseitdomancy fyevddkoyla, vi,M'( ofiavTtia, from \6yoc, syce/;, and //«i nia, predic- tion) are in the mutual relation of .species and genus. The former refers to false and deceptive speaking in general; the latter to the foretelling of future events, in which, in this sense, there is neither truth nor wis- dom. The same relation exists between the pseudolo- gist and the pseudomantist, called also pseudo-prophet. See Prophet. Comp. also Lucian's Pseudomantis, by which title he designates an impostor of bis time called Alexander (Alexander Impostor i. Pseudomania would be simulated lolly (jjiavia); for mental diseases can be simulated as well as bodily. Both pretences are mean, the former still mote than the latter: for he who pre- tends to be mentally diseased plays the part of a being deprived of reason and freedom. Criminals sometimes recur to this artifice to escape the responsibility oi their actions; lawyers like, in desperate cases, t,, resort to the plea of insanity. The judge must, where such an ex- cuse is attempted, take the advice of the physicians, who have to examine how far such a plea is warranted by the facts, else this mode of defence would bad to the impunity of all criminals. i\iii the mosl danger- ous. The words tyevdofiavia and if/evdofiavreia are both unknown to antiquity, although \f/evS6p.avriQ was employed. Instead of ipevSoXoyia, the ancients used also ipivCopviia (from /xrioc = \dyoc) ; hence it would be a mistake if we employed the latter word for false fables, alt hough myth is synonymous vrita fable.
Psilanthropists are those who maintain the ex- treme form of Unitarian doctrine thai < Ihrisl was m< rely (if/iKoc) a man (avSpwirog), and not God and man | .-< nv$po>iro£ i in one person.
Psychici and Pneumatici (vtryiooi and irvtv- uariKoi, sciL avSpunroi) arc often contrasted in such a manner that the former word is employed in a lower sens,., the second with a more refined and noble signifi- cation. The Montauists thus designated the ortho- dox, because they rejected the prophecies and pretend- ed inspirations of their founder, and would nol receive his rieid laws respecting fasting, etc. This was the term constantly used by Tertullian after he had fallen into the errors of the Mbntanists. He calls bis own party the spiritual, and the orthodox tin carnal. Ter- tullian. who ranged himself with the Pneumaticists, wrote a book Contra Psychicos s. Orthodoxos. Bul this meaning is very seldom given to these words in our times. See Origi \. The latter found in the Script- matic, psychical, and pneumatics] meaning, be- cause man is composed of body, soul, and mind. The name appears to have Originated with the Valeiil inians, w ho stj led themselves the spiritual and tin perfect, and
PSYCHISM
'761
PTOLEM^EUS
said they had no need of abstinence and good works, which were unnecessary for them that were perfect.
Psychism (a new formation, from ipvX')> soul) is the opinion that everything is soul. The followers of this doctrine are called Psychists. Although poets put a soul in every inanimate object, they do not belong to this sect of philosophers ; for they do not think in the least of suppressing all distinction between the somatic and the psychical nature. Michel Petiiez, a Hungarian, published in 1833 (Pesth, 8vo) a book in which he at- tempts to prove that the so-called bodily world is com- posed of nothing but souls. He divides the souls into two classes, the living and the dead; the latter, in a state of aggregation, constitute the bodies. This opin- ion is not so new as it would appear at first sight. It bears a striking resemblance to Leibnitz's monadology, and may be a branch of that tree. Leibnitz considers the whole universe as composed of monads, which he divides into conscious and unconscious, or slumbering ; he also holds bodies to be aggregations of the second kind of monads. If they are consistent, the strict ideal- ists will likewise be compelled to consider all that ex- ists as soul or spirit, as they hold the bodies to be mere representations or ideas, to which the thinking mind lends objective existence. M. Quesne (Lettres sur le Pstjchisme [Paris, 1852, 8vo]) teaches that there is a fluid diffused throughout all nature, animating equally all living and organized beings, and that the difference which appears in their actions comes of their particular organization. The fluid is general, the organization is individual. This opinion differs from that of Pythag- oras (q. v.), who held that the soul of a man passed in- dividually into the body of a brute. While M. Quesne holds that, though the body dies, the soul does not; the organization perishes, but not the psychal, or psychical, fluid. See Krug, Philos. Worterbuch, s. v.