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Mind and World in Aristotle's De Anima PDF

193 Pages·2021·0.876 MB·English
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MindandWorldinAristotle’sDeAnima Whyisthehumanmindabletoperceiveandunderstandthetruthabout reality; that is, why does it seem to be the mind’s specific function to knowtheworld?SeanKelseyarguesthatboththequestionitselfandthe wayAristotleanswersitarekeytounderstandinghisworkDeAnima,a systematic philosophical account of the soul and its powers. In this original reading of a familiar but highly compressed text, Kelsey shows how this question underpins Aristotle’s inquiry into the nature of soul, sensibility, and intelligence. He argues that, for Aristotle, the reasonwhyitisinhumannaturetoknowbeingsisthat“thesoulina wayisallbeings.”ThisnewperspectiveontheDeAnimathrowsfresh and interesting light on familiar Aristotelian doctrines: for example, thatsensibilityisakindofratio(logos),orthattheintellectissimple, separate,andunmixed. Sean Kelsey is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of NotreDame. ’ De Anima Mind and World in Aristotle s SEAN KELSEY UniversityofNotreDame,Indiana UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,vic3207,Australia 314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre, NewDelhi–110025,India 103PenangRoad,#05–06/07,VisioncrestCommercial,Singapore238467 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108832915 doi:10.1017/9781108966375 ©SeanKelsey2022 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2022 AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. isbn978-1-108-83291-5Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. ForChristel Contents Acknowledgments pageix ListofAbbreviations xi Introduction 1 part i questions 1 Objectives 27 1.1 ToDefineandExplain 27 1.2 ToKnowBeings(AllBeings) 29 1.3 KindsofPsuche¯,KindsofKnowledge 31 1.4 SubjectandAttribute(Psuche¯ andKnowledge) 33 1.5 Conclusions 37 2 Problems 39 2.1 TwoKeyIssues:SimilarityandAlteration 39 2.2 TheShadowofProtagoras(DeAnimaIII3) 42 2.3 KnowledgeandSimilarity:Homeretal. 43 2.4 KnowledgeandAlteration:Empedocles 46 2.5 AlienandImpassible:AnaxagorasContraMundum 48 3 Solutions 50 3.1 PerceptionandSimilarity(DeAnimaII5) 51 3.2 PerceptionandAlteration(DeAnimaII5) 55 3.3 Conclusions 58 3.4 Appendix(DeAnimaII5,417a30–b16) 59 vii viii Contents part ii angles 4 Affinities 67 4.1 PreliminaryObservations 68 4.2 Friendship(φιλία) 69 4.3 Nutrition(τροφή) 75 4.4 Movement(φορά) 78 4.5 Affection(πάσχειν) 80 4.6 Conclusion 82 5 Measures 84 5.1 MeasuresofQuantity 85 5.2 MeasuresofQuality 90 part iii proposals 6 Sensibility 99 6.1 Preliminaries 100 6.2 SensibilityasForm(DeAnimaII12) 103 6.3 ReceivingFormswithoutMatter 107 6.4 Sensibilityas“Ratio” 109 6.5 Sensibilityas“Measure” 112 6.6 ObjectionsandReplies 117 6.7 Conclusion 120 7 Intelligibility 122 7.1 IntelligibilityandEssence 124 7.2 EssenceandEntelechy 128 7.3 EssenceandEnergeia 130 7.4 IntelligibilityandImmateriality 132 7.5 ImmaterialityandIntelligence 135 7.6 ObjectionandReply 142 8 Intelligence 145 8.1 UnderstandingEverything 146 8.2 BeingSeparateandUnmixed 149 8.3 SeparationasMeasure 152 8.4 ObjectionandReply 157 Conclusion 159 References 165 Index 173 IndexLocorum 176 Acknowledgments Afirstdraftofthisbookwaswrittenin2017–2018,onasabbaticalleave funded by the University of Notre Dame and by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities; I thank both institutions for theirgeneroussupport.IwantalsotothankmyfriendsatL’Aubergedu Port for allowing me to work on their patio overlooking the port and beyonditthesea. Theideasinthisbookhavebenefitedfromtrialrunsbothingraduate seminars at the Universities of Chicago and Notre Dame and in presentations at various colloquia, conferences, and workshops; I am very grateful for those opportunities and for the time and conversation of those present on those occasions. A very special thanks to my dear friend Gavin Lawrence for organizing and hosting a workshop on the typescript at UCLA; thanks also to Victor Caston, Panos Dimas, Jessica Gelber,DavidLefebvre,SaraMagrin,ChristianPfeiffer,andJoelYurdin for their time and trouble working up presentations on individual chapters. I want also to thank many other friends and colleagues for conversation, correspondence, and comments on some or all of earlier versionsofthismaterial,includingJonathanBeere,SarahBroadie,Arnold Brooks, Jon Buttaci, John Carriero, Laura Castelli, David Charles, Tim Clarke, Caleb Cohoe, Klaus Corcilius, Carlo DaVia, Sylvain Delcomminette, David Ebrey, Mohammad Esmaeili, Andrea Falcon, Christopher Frey, Lloyd Gerson, Robert Howton, Thomas Johansen, Joseph Karbowski, Mark Kalderon, Sare Khaledi, Matthis Koschel, James Lennox, Jonathan Lear, Yannig Luthra, Alasdair MacIntyre, William Mattison, Allison Murphy, Sasha Newton, Daniel Nolan, David O’Connor, MarcoPanza, SpyrosRangos, RobertRoreitner,Fred ix x Acknowledgments Rush, Christopher Shields, Stasinos Stavrianeas, Daniel Sutherland, Katherine Tillman, and Josh Trubowitz. I would also like to thank the readers for Cambridge University Press for their patience with my typescript and their thoughtful and helpful comments. Thanks too to MaxMinicusforhelpwith thebibliography andtoNatBrown forhelp withtheproofreading.Itgoeswithoutsayingthatthemanyshortcomings thatremainareentirelymyown. Earlier versions of Chapters 2, 7, and 8, here reused with permission, werepublished(orwillbe)elsewhereasfollows: Anaporiaaboutaisthêsis.InR.Radice&M.Zanatta,eds.,Aristotele elesfidedelsuotempo,Milan:EdizioniUnicopli,2018,pp.161–171. Intelligence, intelligibility, and insight. In C. Cohoe, ed., Aristotle’s “On the Soul”: A Critical Guide, Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress(forthcoming). What is intelligence? (Aristotle, De Anima III, 4–8). Philosophia (Yearbook of the Research Centre for Greek Philosophy at the AcademyofAthens),48,2018,pp.139–151.

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