Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought

This book is concerned with Aristotle’s definition of the human capacity for rational thinking (nous) offered in De anima. For Aristotle, nous is the principle, and ultimate explanans, of all the phenomena of human thinking. The book presents an in-depth interpretation of De anima III 4–8 as a singl...

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Κύριοι συγγραφείς: Corcilius, Klaus, Falcon, Andrea, Roreitner, Robert
Μορφή: Online
Γλώσσα:Αγγλικά
Έκδοση: Oxford University Press 2025
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Διαθέσιμο Online:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/96932
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author Corcilius, Klaus
Falcon, Andrea
Roreitner, Robert
author_browse Corcilius, Klaus
Falcon, Andrea
Roreitner, Robert
author_facet Corcilius, Klaus
Falcon, Andrea
Roreitner, Robert
author_sort Corcilius, Klaus
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This book is concerned with Aristotle’s definition of the human capacity for rational thinking (nous) offered in De anima. For Aristotle, nous is the principle, and ultimate explanans, of all the phenomena of human thinking. The book presents an in-depth interpretation of De anima III 4–8 as a single and coherent philosophical argument. More specifically, the book argues for the following views: (i) Rationalism. Humans come to know the world via two fundamentally different cognitive powers: nous and perception. They are fundamentally different cognitive powers because the nature of their corresponding object is fundamentally different; (ii) Essentialism. The human power for thinking is defined as a capacity for directly grasping the essences of everything there is, including itself. It is this very capacity that Aristotle shows to be the principle of all other kinds of human thinking; (iii) Separatism. Human nous is unmixed with the body, has no dedicated bodily organ, and is separable from the body. As a result, it cannot be assimilated to any of the other parts of the soul. While nous belongs to our essence as human beings, it is not part of the natural world; (iv) Embeddedness in the cognitive soul. Human nous is embedded in a cognitive soul. Among other things, this means that the distinctive activity of human nous—thinking—can only take place in the context of a larger set of activities which are common to the body and the soul.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1499152025-07-21T15:45:27Z Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought Corcilius, Klaus Falcon, Andrea Roreitner, Robert Aristotle, nous, objectivity, perception, phantasia, cognition, soul, thought, thinking, mind thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800 thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800 thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind This book is concerned with Aristotle’s definition of the human capacity for rational thinking (nous) offered in De anima. For Aristotle, nous is the principle, and ultimate explanans, of all the phenomena of human thinking. The book presents an in-depth interpretation of De anima III 4–8 as a single and coherent philosophical argument. More specifically, the book argues for the following views: (i) Rationalism. Humans come to know the world via two fundamentally different cognitive powers: nous and perception. They are fundamentally different cognitive powers because the nature of their corresponding object is fundamentally different; (ii) Essentialism. The human power for thinking is defined as a capacity for directly grasping the essences of everything there is, including itself. It is this very capacity that Aristotle shows to be the principle of all other kinds of human thinking; (iii) Separatism. Human nous is unmixed with the body, has no dedicated bodily organ, and is separable from the body. As a result, it cannot be assimilated to any of the other parts of the soul. While nous belongs to our essence as human beings, it is not part of the natural world; (iv) Embeddedness in the cognitive soul. Human nous is embedded in a cognitive soul. Among other things, this means that the distinctive activity of human nous—thinking—can only take place in the context of a larger set of activities which are common to the body and the soul. 2025-01-17T08:49:27Z 2025-01-17T08:49:27Z 2025-01-08T12:48:20Z 2024 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/96932 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/149915 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/96932/1/9780198921790.pdf Oxford University Press 10.1093/9780198921820.001.0001 10.1093/9780198921820.001.0001 db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 24317701-2bc9-49ad-af05-8ce23f30a287 a88f7f15-e6f4-4051-8cdf-5a18b056d678 European Research Council (ERC) 329 Oxford 101053296 European Research Council ERC 10.13039/501100000781 open access
spellingShingle Aristotle, nous, objectivity, perception, phantasia, cognition, soul, thought, thinking, mind
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind
Corcilius, Klaus
Falcon, Andrea
Roreitner, Robert
Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought
title Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought
title_full Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought
title_fullStr Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought
title_full_unstemmed Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought
title_short Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought
title_sort aristotle on the essence of human thought
topic Aristotle, nous, objectivity, perception, phantasia, cognition, soul, thought, thinking, mind
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind
topic_facet Aristotle, nous, objectivity, perception, phantasia, cognition, soul, thought, thinking, mind
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTK Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTM Philosophy of mind
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/96932
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