Partitioning the Soul: Debates from Plato to Leibniz

Published by De Gruyter 2014

Partitioning the Soul

Debates from Plato to Leibniz

Edited by: Klaus Corcilius and Dominik Perler

Volume 22 in the series Topoi – Berlin Studies of the Ancient World/Topoi – Berliner Studien der Alten Welt

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110311884

Overview
Contents

About this book

Does the soul have parts? What kind of parts? And how do all the parts make together a whole? Many ancient, medieval and early modern philosophers discussed these questions, thus providing a mereological analysis of the soul. Their starting point was a simple observation: we tend to describe the soul of human beings by referring to different types of activities (perceiving, imagining, thinking, etc.). Each type of activity seems to be produced by a special part of the soul. But how can a simple, undivided soul have parts? Classical thinkers gave radically different answers to this question. While some claimed that there are indeed parts, thus assigning an internal complexity to the soul, others emphasized that there can only be a plurality of functions that should not be conflated with a plurality of parts. The eleven chapters reconstruct and critically examine these answers. They make clear that the metaphysical structure of the soul was a crucial issue for ancient, medieval and early modern philosophers.

Author / Editor information

Klaus Corcilius, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Dominik Perler, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Reviews

"The papers are uniformly rich in content and subtle in argument."
Lloyd Gerson in: BMCR 2016.03.12

Supplementary Materials

Contents

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Klaus Corcilius and Dominik Perler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Plato’s Divided Soul Christopher Shields Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Parts in Aristotle’s Definition of Soul: De Anima Books I and II Thomas K. Johansen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Walking and Talking: Reflections on Divisions of the Soul in Stoicism Brad Inwood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Partitioning the Soul: Galen on the Anatomy of the Psychic Functions and Mental Illness Robert J. Hankinson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Parts of the Soul in Plotinus Filip Karfík Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Iamblichus, Proclus and Philoponus on Parts, Capacities and ousiai of the Soul and the Notion of Life Christoph Helmig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Ockham on Emotions in the Divided Soul Dominik Perler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Virtual Presence: Psychic Mereology in Francisco Suárez Christopher Shields Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
The Faces of Simplicity in Descartes’s Soul Marleen Rozemond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Spinoza on the Unity of Will and Intellect Stephan Schmid Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
The Great Chain of Souls: Leibniz on Soul Unitarism and Soul Kinds Christian Barth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: All those interested in philosophy.
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 304
Keywords: Soul; history of philosophy; philosophy of mind

eBook

Published: July 28, 2014
ISBN: 9783110311884

Hardcover

Published: June 16, 2014
ISBN: 9783110311808