In Gnostic philosophy (particularly Valentinian Gnosticism), humanity is divided into three distinct spiritual types based on their inner composition and capacity for salvation: hylics, psychics, and pneumatics.

The Three Types

• Hylics (Material / Flesh):
• Composition: Rooted strictly in hyle (matter/physicality).
• Focus: Entirely consumed by survival, physical drives, sensory pleasures, and material concerns (food, sex, status).
• Spiritual State: They lack a spiritual spark and cannot grasp higher truth or gnosis.
• Fate: They are tied to the material world and perish or dissolve with it.


• Psychics (Soul / Psyche):
• Composition: Characterized by the soul (psyche), representing an intermediate or middle ground between pure matter and pure spirit.
• Focus: Morality, conscience, intellectual effort, and conventional religion or faith (traditionally viewed as ordinary religious believers).
• Spiritual State: They operate within duality and rely on external rules, scriptures, or faith rather than direct inner knowledge.
• Fate ("Some are saved"): Psychics have free will and moral choice. They can be saved, or they can fall into damnation or destruction through wicked living. If they choose righteousness and faith, they attain a blessed, albeit intermediate, spiritual state or salvation.