Aristotle's On the Soul: A Critical Guide

✍ Scribed by Caleb Cohoe

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 292
• Series: Cambridge Critical Guides
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Aristotle's On the Soul aims to uncover the principle of life, what Aristotle calls psuchē (soul). For Aristotle, soul is the form which gives life to a body and causes all its living activities, from breathing to thinking. Aristotle develops a general account of all types of living through examining soul's causal powers. The thirteen new essays in this Critical Guide demonstrate the profound influence of Aristotle's inquiry on biology, psychology and philosophy of mind from antiquity to the present. They deepen our understanding of his key concepts, including form, reason, capacity, and activity. This volume situates Aristotle in his intellectual context and draws judiciously from his other works as well as the history of interpretation to shed light on his intricate views. It also highlights ongoing interpretive debates and Aristotle's continuing relevance. It will prove invaluable for researchers in ancient philosophy and the history of science and ideas.

✦ Table of Contents

Copyright page
Contents
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Hylomorphic Explanation and the Scientific Status of the De Anima
Aristotle on Earlier Definitions of Soul and Their Explanatory Power: DA I.2–5
Why Nous Cannot Be a Magnitude: De Anima I.3
Souls among Forms: Harmonies and Aristotle’s Hylomorphism
Aristotle on the Soul’s Unity
Aristotle on Seed
The Gate to Reality. Aristotle’s Basic Account of Perception
Aristotle on the Objects of Perception
Perceptual Attention and Reflective Awareness in the Aristotelian Tradition
Phantasia and Error
Intelligibility, Insight, and Intelligence
The Separability of Nous
Thought and Imagination. Aristotle’s Dual Process Psychology of Action
References
Index