Ancient Greek Psychology: And the Modern Mind-Body Debate

Erik Nis Ostenfeld

doi:10.5771/9783896657602

Summary

The mind-body problem is central to the modern philosophical and cultural debate because we cannot understand what man is until we understand what consciousness is and how it interacts with the body. Although many suggestions have been offered, no convincing account has as yet appeared. Perhaps it was all mistaken ideology from the start? A crucial (and fatal?) distinction was made by modern natural science in the 17th century between the subjective/qualitative and the objective/quantitative.

The ancient Greeks, notably Plato and Aristotle, focused not on consciousness and experience, but on goal-directed reason/form, and the contrast was not mechanical matter, but the particular. The latter owed its intelligibility and being to reason and form and did not, therefore, constitute a realm of its own. Hence the ancient picture of man did not fall apart either. According to this study, the soul is conceived of as a dynamictelic aspect of the human organism.

Considering the problems and consequent scepticism that confronts modern reductionism and the recent appearance of holistic ideology in many areas it is suggested that we take a fresh look at the alternative conceptual framework of our ancient Greek ancestors.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 2/2019
Copyright year: 2019
ISBN-Print: 978-3-89665-759-6
ISBN-Online: 978-3-89665-760-2
Publisher: Academia, Baden-Baden
Series: Academia Philosophical Studies
Volume: 63
Language: German
Pages: 180
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis No access Pages I - 6
Introduction No access Pages 7 - 8
Criteria of the Mental No access Pages 9 - 22
Contrasts in Plato No access Pages 23 - 34
Platonic Dualism No access Pages 35 - 36
Plato versus Descartes No access Pages 37 - 41
1. 1. Reasons versus Causes No access
  2. Plato No access
  3. 1. Soul as essence (form) No access
    2. Soul as efficient cause No access
    3. Soul as capacity No access
    4. Intellect No access
  4. Later Plato Reconsidered No access
2. 1. Behaviourism No access
  2. 1. Sense-perception in Plato and Aristotle No access
  3. 1. Rationality No access
    2. Reason versus Senses No access
    3. Qualia No access
Conclusions No access Pages 106 - 108
1. 1. The Socratic soul No access
  2. The separable simple substance soul and the embodied tripartite soul No access
  3. The self-mover soul No access
  4. Summing up No access
2. 1. The soul as form No access
  2. Hylomorphism No access
  3. Soul as cause No access
  4. The soul as form, again No access
  5. Sense-perception No access
  6. Imagination No access
  7. Intellect No access
  8. Locomotion and desire No access
  9. Summing up No access
3. General Conclusion No access
Bibliography No access Pages 151 - 170
Index of Names No access Pages 171 - 172
Index of Subjects No access Pages 173 - 180