Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought

Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought argues that Aristote's De anima III 4-8 contains a unitary and coherent account of the essence of the human capacity for thought, called nous. It is argued that nous is a part of the cognitive soul aimed at grasping essences, unassimilable to other parts of the human being.

List of contents

• 1: Introduction


• 2: Aristotle's account of the human capacity for thinking


• 3: The principles of propositional thought: The unity and the function of An. III 6


• 4: The cognitive soul and how embodied thinking comes about: The practical embeddedness of human thought


• 5: An. III 8: concluding theorems about human nous


• 6: Nous and nature


• 7: Conclusion: Aristotle on nous: Separatism, embeddedness in a cognitive soul, rationalism

About the author

Klaus Corcilius is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany. His most recent books include a translation with philosophical introduction and commentary of Aristotle's De anima (2017) and a philosophical introduction plus translation and commentary of Aristotle's De motu animalium (2018). His articles on Aristotle and Plato have appeared in Phronesis, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Logical Analysis, and History of Philosophy.

Andrea Falcon is Professor Emeritus at Concordia University, Montreal, currently lecturing at the University of Milan, Italy. He is the author, editor, and co-editor of many books on Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition. He is the author of The Architecture of the Science of Living Beings: Aristotle and Theophrastus on Animals and Plants (2024).

Robert Roreitner is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague. His articles on Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition appeared in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Phronesis, and Ancient Philosophy. He is the author of Aristotle on the Nature and Causes of Perception (2024).

Summary

Aristotle on the Essence of Human Thought argues that Aristote's De anima III 4-8 contains a unitary and coherent account of the essence of the human capacity for thought, called nous. It is argued that nous is a part of the cognitive soul aimed at grasping essences, unassimilable to other parts of the human being.

Product details

• Authors: Klaus Corcilius, Klaus (Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubin Corcilius, Klaus (Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen) Corcilius, Corcilius Klaus, Andrea Falcon, Andrea (Concordia University Montreal) Falcon, Falcon Andrea, Robert Roreitner, Robert (Charles University Roreitner
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 02.01.2025
• EAN: 9780198921790
• ISBN: 978-0-19-892179-0
• No. of pages: 336
• Series: Oxford Aristotle Studies Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; PHILOSOPHY / Mind & Body, PHILOSOPHY / Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical, Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500, Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge