Consciousness: From Perception to Reflection in the History of Philosophy

ISBN-13: 9781402060816 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 366 str.

Sara Heinmaa; VILI Lhteenmki; Pauliina Remes

Opis

SARA HEINAMAA, VILI LAHTEENMAKI AND PAULIINA REMES This book is about consciousness. It illuminates the concept in its complexity and richness, capturing its theoretical and philosophical significance as well as its problematic aspects. By taking a new look into the history of concepts, the collection questions several deep-seated assumptions about consciousness assumptions both thematic and methodological. It argues that, even though our predecessors did not formulate their philosophical queries in terms of consciousness, they have much to offer to our current disputes concerning its central features, such as reflexivity, subjectivity and aboutness, as well as related themes, from selfhood to attention and embodiment. At the same time, the collection demonstrates that consciousness is not just an issue in the p- losophy of mind, but is bound to ontology, epistemology and moral theory. We can find premodern and early modern concepts and arguments that are interesting and even crucial to our own philosophical concerns, but we should not assume that these belong or contribute to any theory of mind isolated from metaphysical and ethical discussions: an argument that for us provides insightful descriptions of perception or self-awareness might to its writer have meant not just a theoretization of the soul or the mind, but also, and perhaps more importantly, a contribution to ethics or ontology."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"The fourteen essays collected in this book discuss the similarities and dissimilarities in the concepts related to consciousness from ancient to medieval, Enlightenment and nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy. ... will be of interest to historians of philosophy. ... I found this book an interesting read. There is a comprehensive bibliography, and both a name and subject index that will be helpful to researchers." (Peter B. Raabe, Metapsychology Online Reviews, Vol. 12 (33), August, 2008)

Spis treści

Introduction.- PART I: ANCIENT AND ARABIC PHILOSOPHY.- 1. On Plato’s Lack of Consciousness; Amber Carpenter.- 2. The Problem of Consciousness in Aristotle’s Psychology; Juha Sihvola.- 3. Ownness of Conscious Experience in Ancient Philosophy; Pauliina Remes.- 4. Sense-Perception and Self-Awareness: Before and After Avicenna; Jari Kaukua and Taneli Kukkonen.- PART II: MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY AND EARLY MODERN THOUGHT.- 5. Intentional Presence: The Notion of Presentialitas in the 14th Century; Joël Biard.- 6. The Structure of Self-Consciousness: A 14th-Century Debate; Mikko Yrjönsuuri.- 7. Augustine and Descartes on the Function of Attention in Perceptual Awareness; Deborah Brown.- 8. Orders of Consciousness and Forms of Reflexivity in Descartes; Vili Lähteenmäki.- 9. The Status of Consciousness in Spinoza’s Concept of Mind; Jon Miller.- PART III: FROM KANT TO CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSIONS.- 10. Human Consciousness and its Transcendental Conditions: Kant’s Anti-Cartesian Revolt; Kenneth R. Westphal.- 11. The Living Consciousness of the German Idealists; Susanna Lindberg.- 12. The Heidelberg School and the Limits of Reflection; Dan Zahavi.- 13. Contemporary Naturalism and the Concept of Consciousness; Neil Manson.- 14. Selfhood, Consciousness, and Embodiment: A Husserlian Approach; Sara Heinämaa.- BIBLIOGRAPHY.- INDEX.

Blurb

Despite decades of theoretization, consciousness continues to haunt contemporary philosophy of mind. The coherence and validity of the concept are in question, yet consciousness seems to resist the projects of reduction and naturalization. This collection opens a diachronical perspective to intuitions about consciousness and our aspiration of coming to grips with it. Through investigating ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern discussions in their original philosophical context, the articles offer understanding of the emergence of our problems concerning consciousness, as well as a wealth of alternative ways of conceptualizing it.

Consciousness: From Perception to Reflection in the History of Philosophy shows that the concept of consciousness was explicated relatively late in the tradition, but that its central features, such as reflexivity, subjectivity and aboutness, attained avid interest very early in philosophical debates. This book reveals how these features have been related to other central topics, such as selfhood, perception, attention and embodiment. At the same time, the articles display that consciousness is not just an isolated issue of philosophy of mind, but is bound to ontological, epistemological and moral discussions. Integrating historical inquiries into the systematic ones enables understanding the complexity and richness of conscious phenomena.