Grasping the Essence

Dr. Aldo L’Erario

doi:10.5771/9783495992548

Summary

This volume reconstructs Aristotle's view of the cognition of essences and engages with the current debate on it. Its main thesis is that the source of some current interpretive tensions lies with Aristotle himself, who holds both that knowledge of essence is gained a posteriori and that it is irreducible to perceptual experience. The aim of the book is to show, by contrasting Aristotle's philosophy of science and his philosophical psychology, that his position is coherent. While this strategy has often been neglected in more recent studies for methodological reasons, this study aims to show how fruitful it is.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2024
ISBN-Print: 978-3-495-99253-1
ISBN-Online: 978-3-495-99254-8
Publisher: Karl Alber, Baden-Baden
Series: Symposion
Volume: 142
Language: English
Pages: 334
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis No access Pages 1 - 10
Abbreviations of Titles of Aristotle’s Works No access Pages 11 - 12
1. i. »Essential Knowledge« from Epistemology to Psychology No access
2. ii. Possibility of Juxtaposing the Posterior Analytics with De Anima No access
3. iii. Further Methodological Remarks No access
4. iv. Overview of What Follows No access
1. 1.1 The Origin of the Dilemma and Plato’s Solution No access
2. 1.2 Aristotle’s Solution: A General Sketch No access
3. 1.3 The Paradox in the Context of the Analytics No access
4. 1.4 »Back Again as Well«: The Structure of Inquiry No access
5. 1.5 Hypothesis about the »Dynamics of Knowledge« No access
1. 2.1 How Much of an Empiricist Was Aristotle? No access
2. 2.2 The Intertwining of Cause, Essence, and Existence No access
3. 1. a) At What Stage of Inquiry Is the »Proper Object of Thought« Achieved? No access
  2. b) What Does the Grasp of the Essence Entail? No access
  3. c) Conclusions No access
4. 2.4 Essential Knowledge and Per Se Predication No access
5. 2.5 The Importance of the Leap to Essential Knowledge No access
1. 1. a) What Kind of Alteration is Perception? No access
  2. b) How Does Aristotelian Perception Work? No access
  3. c) What Is the Scope of Aristotle’s Perceptual Realism? No access
2. 3.2 The Nature of Complex Perceptual Objects No access
3. 3.3 What Does φαντασία Add to Perception? No access
4. 3.4 The Peculiarities of νοῦς and Its Objects No access
5. 3.5 The Distinction between φαντασία and νοῦς No access
1. 4.1 The Concept of Form Applied to Essential Knowledge No access
2. 4.2 Achieving νοῦς: ἐπίδοσις as Key Cognitive Actualization No access
3. 4.3 Understanding νοῦς as a Form »Taking Place« in the Soul No access
4. 4.4 What Does It Mean to Be Affected by Intelligible Objects? No access
5. 4.5 The Priority of Actuality as Foundational Principle No access
1. i. Summary of the Argument No access
2. ii. The Foundation of Theory of Knowledge on Metaphysics No access
3. iii. Limits of the Present Inquiry and Further Developments No access
4. iv. Perspectives on Potential Theoretical Applications No access
1. Ancient Works No access
2. Modern Works No access