psychagogy

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noun

Guidance of the soul.

Scrabble 25

Meanings

nounpsychagogy (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehuman sciencesGuidance of the soul.

    An even more resounding echo of Plato's Gordias can be heard in this passage: the connection between psychagogy and pedagogy.

    2006, James N. Comas, Between Politics and Ethics: Toward a Vocative History of English Studies, page 112
    2 more examples

    In the Christian type of psychagogy we will see that although it is true that the person who provides spiritual direction must obey a number of rules, and that he has a number of responsibilities and obligations, the most fundamental and essential cost of the truth and of "truth-telling" will be borne by the person whose soul has to be guided.

    1981-1982, Michel Foucault, The Hermeneutics of the Subject: Lectures at the Collège de France 1981--1982, published 2005

    Emphasis falls on the correction of error and participation in mutual psychagogy. This emphasis on reciprocal correction in friendship is congruent with the ideal of friendship of many and runs counter to the common saying that one should judge a person's character before friendship is proffered.

    1996, John T. Fitzgeraldn, editor, Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World
  2. uncountablehuman sciencesA psychotherapeutic method of influencing behaviour by suggesting desirable life goals.

    The idea of a 'psychagogy' only occupies a secondary place, and has been more the concern of the disciples than of the master.

    2013, Oliver Brachfeld, Inferiority Feelings: In the Individual and the Group, page 49
Cite this entry
APA

psychagogy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psychagogy

MLA

“psychagogy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psychagogy. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “psychagogy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psychagogy.

Source: psychagogy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.