to almost 50 conditions and only two contain incantations to ward off evil. It has been praised as being similar to what is today considered common knowledge [ clarification needed ] , but must be recognized as having originated in a very different context. Ancient Greek philosophers, from Thales ( fl. 550 BC) through even to the Roman period, developed an elaborate theory of what they termed the psuchẽ (from which the first half of "psychology" is derived), as well as other "psychological" terms – nous , thumos , logistikon , etc. [ 1 ] The most influential of these are the accounts of Plato (especially in the Republic ), [ 2 ] Pythagoras and of Aristotle (esp. Peri Psyches , better known under its Latin title, De Anima ). [ 3 ] Hellenistic philosophers (viz., the Stoics and Epicurians ) diverged from the Classical Greek tradition in several important ways, especially in their concern with questions of the physiological basis of the mind. [ 4 ] The Roman physician Galen addressed these issues most elaborately and influentially of all. The Greek tradition influenced some Christian and Islamic thought on the topic. Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible with neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the journal Mind and Matter entitled "Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention According to Aquinas." [ 5 ] In Asia, China had a long history of administering tests of ability as part of its education system. In