Kirja-arvostelu : Holger Thesleff, Platonin arvoitus

Ancient Theories of Intellection

Ancient philosophical schools shared the view that, in addition to perceptual capacities, human beings have reason. It was also generally supposed that reason is not to be understood solely as a capacity of inference, but that it must also have content (1). Such content was often taken to be general: as opposed to perception which deals with particulars, reasoning operates with general or universal features of reality. However, views diverged as to how or whether such contents are acquired and whether they rather pre-exist in the soul. Whereas the view according to which intelligible forms can be grasped by human reason was wide-spread in the Platonic-Aristotelian tradition, Hellenistic phi…

Ancient Theories of Reasoning

In this section, the central question is whether we can find ancient discussions concerning what happens in the mind when a conclusion is drawn. Did ancient authors suppose that there is a psychological force that compels us to accept the conclusion when the premises are accepted and the inference is valid? Or, if the inference is not deductively valid but adds to the credibility of the conclusion in another way, e.g., by being inductive, what happens in the mind when such an inference is drawn? In general, psychology of reasoning was not a vital topic in antiquity. Reasoning was typically considered from a logical, not from a psychological point of view. For example, in Stoic sources the n…

On Activity and Passivity in Perception: Aristotle, Philoponus, and Pseudo-Simplicius

Ancient and late ancient theories of perception are often described by a generalisation according to which Aristotle held a passive theory whereas Plato, the Platonists and the Neoplatonists supposed perception to be something active. I shall argue that, despite this general difference, there are important points of convergence in the theories of Aristotle and his Neoplatonic commentators. First, the notion of activity is important for Aristotle’s theory as well. Perception not only is an activity (energeia) for Aristotle. It is a perfect activity, the perfection of which is the activity itself and is thus not dependent on an external product. Further, the reception of forms without matter …

Science and logic

'Diotiman erôs : tietäminen ja yksilöön kohdistuva halu Platonin

Platonin dialogi Pidot kuvaa Sokrateen ja hänen juhlakumppaneidensa keskustelun Erôksen, rakkauden jumalan, ylistykseksi. Kirjalliselta muodoltaan rikkaan ja monivivahteisen dialogin puhujista Sokrates-hahmon asema on poikkeuksellinen. Hän lainaa mantineialaisen naisen Diotiman näkemyksiä – tämä on vihkinyt nuoren Sokrateen rakkauden saloihin. Vaikutusvaltaiseksi tulkinnaksi (analyyttisesti motivoituneessa) Platon-tutkimuksessa on muotoutunut käsitys, jonka mukaan rakkaus ei Platonilla voi kohdistua ihmisyksilöön, vaan sen todellinen kohde on kauneuden idea. Eikö yksilöiden väliselle rakkaudelle ole sijaa Platonin näkemyksessä? Onko Pitojen käsitys rakkaudesta torjuttava vanhentuneena tai f…

Edistys!

The Ancient Commentators of Plato and Aristotle

In late antiquity the works of Plato and Aristotle were subject to intense study, which eventually led to the development of a new literary form, the philosophical commentary. Until recently these commentaries were understood chiefly as sources of information for the masters, Plato and Aristotle, they commented upon. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly acknowledged that the commentators themselves - Aspasius, Alexander, Themistius, Porphyry, Proclus, Philoponus, Simplicius and others - even though they worked in the Platonist-Aristotelian framework, contributed to this tradition in original, innovative and significant ways such that their commentaries are philosophically im…

Common Sense and phantasia in Antiquity

Questions concerning the scope, content, and richness of perceptual cognition were widely debated in the ancient philosophical schools. More specific problems related to this theme arose from recognition of the obvious fact that the senses alone are insufficient for explaining the variety of human and animal cognition. Whether or not all such cognition should be ascribed to reason was a matter of debate. Most importantly, opinions diverged with respect to the following questions. Do we have perceptual reflexive cognition, that is, do we perceive that we perceive, or is reflexivity an essentially rational capacity? How can the unity of perceptual cognition be explained in light of the fact t…

Oikeudenmukaisuus elollisia olentoja kohtaan : Porfyrioksen pidättäytymisen etiikka

In this article, I argue that Porphyry’s conception of justice in On abstinence is remarkable for several reasons. While I agree with Fay Edwards that Porphyry does not assume the moral status of animals to depend on their rationality, I argue that Porphyry’s claim is not based on any form of the assumption that animals deserve moral consideration only if they share some relevant property with human beings. Contrary to Edwards, I argue that this is not because justice is irrelevant to animals in On abstinence 3. Rather, extending abstinence from causing harm to humans to apply also to non-human animals and plants is a constitutive element in the higher forms of justice that Porphyry require…

Philosophy of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle

From the first century BCE onwards, philosophers started to write commentaries on those Aristotle’s treatises that were meant for the internal use of his school. Plato’s works had been commented on already earlier, the first reported commentary originates in the 300s BCE. Commentaries are treatises that follow an object text in a more or less linear fashion. The format was not unknown before the first century BCE but new in extensive philosophical use. This review essay focuses on authors who commented on Aristotle’s works. The commentaries emerged when Platonists and Aristotelians observed the need to teach the philosophy of these ancient masters to their students and to systematise their …

Logical contradiction, contrary opposites, and epistemological relativism : Critical philosophical reflections on the psychological models of adult cognitive development

In this contribution, we argue that a philosophical clarification of the discussion of adult cognitive development in psychology is needed in order to get a clearer view of what is at stake in this debated phenomenon. On the one hand, we contend that rather than epistemological relativism, mature adult cognition should be described in terms of integration. Integration means understanding that people have different views with each other and from us, but we still need to respect them as people and take their emotions into account. This does not mean simple acceptance of their views as true, as the descriptions of epistemological relativism would suggest. On the other hand, we argue that rathe…

Receptive Reason: Alexander of Aphrodisias on Material Intellect

AbstractAccording to Alexander of Aphrodisias, our potential intellect is a purely receptive capacity. Alexander also claims that, in order for us to actualise our intellectual potentiality, the intellect needs to abstract what is intelligible from enmattered perceptible objects. Now a problem emerges: How is it possible for a purely receptive capacity to perform such an abstraction? It will be argued that even though Alexander’s reaction to this question causes some tension in his theory, the philosophical motivation for it is a sound one. Rather than a calculation of actualities and potentialities, the doctrine of receptivity is supposed to explain how human beings come to grasp universal…