faculty

…commonly associated with the “faculty psychology” of Aristotle, by which the mind is understood to be composed of a number of faculties, each of which is considered to be relatively independent of the others. The principle had its origin in a theory that classified mental and spiritual life in…

…that psychological abilities, called “mental faculties” by such philosophers as Thomas Aquinas (1225–74), could be strengthened, like muscles, through exercise. By learning geometry, one was expected to improve his ability to reason; studying Latin was held to “strengthen” the so-called faculty of memory, and so on. Although what contemporary educators…