Recent work has challenged ideas regarding the origins of psychology. This volume critically re-examines the issue, focusing on how new psychological ideas actually emerged, and on the original goals and intentions of the authors. Through its concern with the contextual, particularly linguistic, conditions affecting the generation of psychological ideas, this book also provides an account of how psychology as a discipline relates to the psychological concerns and priorities of European cultures following the Scientific Revolution. Part II will continue the account up to the present day. The author's other publications include Man in Society (1969) and Human Evolution (1987).