Ancient Philosophy Seminar II

Ancient Theories of Mind: Aristotle’s De anima

Spring Semester 2017/18
Thursday 14-16, DSB 1.01/
Dr Inna Kupreeva
Office hours: Thursday 16-18,
Dugald Stewart Building, 5.02
inna.kupreeva@ed.ac.uk

In this course, we shall focus on Aristotle’s theory of the soul as developed in

his most important, mature work called De anima (On the Soul). We shall dis-
cuss Aristotle’s proposed method of the study of the soul, his definitions of the
soul, theory of sense perception, accounts of imagination and intellect, and
psychological mechanism of action. All these topics are actively discussed in
modern philosophy of mind, and the recent decade has seen a growing inter-
est of modern philosophers in Aristotle. In the course, we shall aim to discuss
the relevance of Aristotelian theories in modern debates on mind-body prob-
lem, nature of sense perception and intellect, theories of motivation.

Main Readings

Primary

Aristotle, De anima (and some other texts specified for particular weeks)

Editions of Greek text:

A. Jannone, and E. Barbotin, Aristote: De L’ame, Paris: Bude, 1966

R. D. Hicks, Aristotle: De anima, Cambridge, 1907
G. Rodier, Aristote: Traité de l’âme, Paris: Leux 1900
W.D. Ross, Aristotelis: De Anima (OCT), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956
W.D. Ross, Aristotle, De anima, edited, with introduction and commentary,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961
P. Siwek, Tractatus De Anima, Graece et Latine, Rome: Desclée et Cie 1965
A. Torstrik, De Anima libri III, Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1862

English translations:

C. Shields, Aristotle De anima, Oxford, 2016

C.D.C. Reeve, Aristotle De anima, Hackett, 2017

Other translations include:

H. Apostle, Aristotle’s On the Soul, Grinell, Iowa: Peripatetic Press, 1981

D. Hamlyn, Aristotle, De anima II and III, Oxford, 1963 [revised by C. Shields
1993]
W.S. Hett, Aristotle, De anima (Loeb Classical Series)

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R. D. Hicks, Aristotle: De anima, Cambridge, 1907
H. Lawson-Tancred, Aristotle, De anima (Penguin), 1986 and many reprints
J.A. Smith, Aristotle De anima (in J. Barnes (ed) The Complete Works of Aris-
totle, Princeton, 1999)

Commentary:

R. Polansky, Aristotle’s De Anima, Cambridge University Press 2007,

Secondary literature

Introductions to Aristotle:

Easy:

+J. Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 2000

+J. Barnes, Coffee with Aristotle, London, 2008

More substantive:

J. Lear, Aristotle: the desire to understand, Cambridge, 1988

G.E.R. Lloyd, Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought, Cambridge
1964
C. Natali, Aristotle, His Life and School, Oxford, 2014
C. Shields, Aristotle, London, 2007

Some core monographs and article collections:

M. Durrant (ed) Aristotle’s De anima in focus, London, 1993, 128 – 161

S. Everson, Aristotle on perception, Oxford, 1996 (online)
H. Granger, Aristotle’s Idea of the Soul, Dordrecht, 1997
P. Gregoric, Aristotle on Common Sense, Oxford, 2007 (online)
S. Everson (ed), Psychology (Companions to Ancient Thought 2), Cambridge
1991, 56 - 83
T. Johansen, Aristotle on the sense-organs, Cambridge, 1997
T. Johansen, The Powers of Aristotle’s Soul, Oxford, 2012
H. Lorenz, The Brute Within, Oxford, 2006
J. Moss, Aristotle on the Apparent Good: Perception, Phantasia, Thought,
and Desire, Oxford University Press, 2012
M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford,
1992
M. Schofield, J. Barnes, R. Sorabji (eds) Articles on Aristotle 4 (Psychology
and Aesthetics), London, 1979, 1 - 31
M. Wedin, Mind and Imagination in Aristotle, New Haven, CT, 1988

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 Time-table and readings

Week 1 (January 18) Introduction to the course. Ancient Greek

theories of soul before Aristotle

No preliminary readings

Week 2 (January 25) Puzzles about the soul; soul’s motion; har-
mony theory

Readings

Primary: De anima 1.1-5

Secondary

M.F. Burnyeat, ‘Is an Aristotelian Philosophy of Mind Still Credible? A Draft’,

in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford,
1997 (2nd ed), 15 – 26 (online)
T.K. Johansen, The Powers of Aristotle’s Soul, Oxford, 2012, chapter 1

Week 3 (February 1) Definitions of the soul, 1

Readings

Primary: De anima 2.1-3

Secondary

J.L. Ackrill, ‘Aristotle’s Definitions of Psychê’, in Proceedings of Aristotelian

Society 73 (1972-3), 119 – 33, repr. in M. Schofield, J. Barnes, R. Sorabji (eds)
Articles on Aristotle 4 (Psychology and Aesthetics), London, 1979, 65 – 75
J. Barnes, ‘Aristotle’s Concept of Mind’, in Proceedings of Aristotelian Society
72 (1971-2), 101-114, repr. in M. Schofield, J. Barnes, R. Sorabji (eds) Articles
on Aristotle 4 (Psychology and Aesthetics), London, 1979, 32 - 41
W. Charlton, ‘Aristotle’s Definition of the Soul’ in Phronesis 25 (1980), 170 –
186
M. Frede, ‘On Aristotle’s Conception of the Soul’ in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O.
Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1992, 93 – 108
T. Johansen, The Powers of Aristotle’s Soul, Oxford, 2012, chapter 1
S. Menn, ‘Aristotle’s Definition of the Soul and the Programme of the De ani-
ma’, OSAP 22/2, 83-139

Week 4 (February 8) Definitions of the soul, 2

Readings

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Primary: De anima 2.2-3

Secondary:

R. Bolton, ‘Aristotle’s Definitions of the Soul, De anima II, 1-3’, Phronesis 23.3
(1978), 258-278
K. Corcilius, P. Gregoric, 2010, ‘Separability vs. Difference: Parts and Capaci-
ties of the Soul in Aristotle’, OSAP 39 (2010), 81–120.
T.K. Johansen, The Powers of Aristotle’s Soul, Oxford, 2012, chapters 2-4
Gareth B. Mathews, ‘De anima 2.2-4 and the Meaning of Life’ in M.C. Nuss-
baum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1992, 185-194

Week 5 (February 22) Method of study. Nutritive soul

Readings

Primary: De anima 2.3-4, On Generation and Corruption 1.5, GA

Secondary

A. Code, ‘Soul as Efficient Cause in Aristotle’s Embryology’, Philosophical

Topics, 15 (1987) 51–9.
A. Code and Julius Moravcsik, 1992 [1995], ‘Explaining Various Forms of Liv-
ing’, in Nussbaum and Rorty (eds.) 1992 [1995], 129–45
T.K. Johansen, ‘The Soul as an Inner Principle of Change: the Basis of Aristo-
tle’s Psychological Naturalism’ in D. Scott (ed) Maieusis: Essays in Ancient
Philosophy in Honour of Myles Burnyeat,Oxford, 2007, 276-300
T.K. Johansen, The Powers of Aristotle’s Soul, Oxford, 2012, chapters 5 and 6
I. Kupreeva, ‘Aristotle on Growth: A Study of the Argument in GC 1.5’, Ape-
iron 2005, 103-153
J. Whiting, ‘Living Bodies’ in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Essays on
Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1997 (2nd ed), 75 – 107 (online)

Week 6 (March 1): Sense perception

Readings

Primary: De anima 2.5-12

Secondary

M.F. Burnyeat, ‘How Much Happens When Aristotle sees Red and Hears
Middle C?’, ibid., 421 - 434 (online)

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 V. Caston, ‘The Spirit and the Letter: Aristotle on Perception’ in R. Salles (ed)
Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought: Themes from the Work of
Richard Sorabji, Oxford, 2005, 245 – 320 (online)
H. Lorenz, ‘The assimilation of sense to sense-object in Aristotle,’ in OSAP 33
(2007), 179–220R.R.K. Sorabji, ‘Body and Soul in Aristotle’ in Philosophy 49
(1974), 63 – 89
R. Sorabji, ‘Intentionality and Physiological Processes: Aristotle’s Theory of
Sense-Perception’ in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s
De anima, Oxford, 1997 (2nd ed),195 – 225 (online)

Week 7 (March 8): The perception of common sensibles

Readings

Primary: De anima 3.2

Secondary

V. Caston, ‘Aristotle on Consciousness’, Mind 111 (2002), 751 - 815

T. Johansen, ‘In Defense of Inner Sense: Aristotle on perceiving that one per-
ceives', Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, vol. 21 (2005),
235-276 (a reply to Caston 2002)
C.H. Kahn, ‘Sensation and Consciousness in Aristotle’s Psychology’ in Archiv
für Geschichte der Philosophie 48 (1966), 43 – 81 and reprinted in M.
Schofield, J. Barnes, R. Sorabji (eds) Articles on Aristotle 4 (Psychology and
Aesthetics), London, 1979, 1 - 31
A. Kosman, ‘Perceiving that we Perceive’, The Philosophical Review, 84
(1975), 499–519.
D. Modrak, ‘Koinê aisthêsis and the Discrimination of Sensible Difference in
De anima iii.2,’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 11 (1981), 404–23
C. Osborne, ‘Aristotle, De Anima 3, 2: How do we Perceive that we See and
Hear?’ Classical Quarterly 33 (1983), 401–11.
J. Owens, ‘Aristotle on Common Sensibles and Incidental Perception’, Phoenix
36 (1982), 215–36.

Week 8 (March 15): Imagination

Readings

Primary:

De anima 3.3,
*On Memory and Recollection

Secondary

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Secondary literature

V. Caston, Why Aristotle Needs Imagination,’ Phronesis 41 (1996): 20–55

D. Frede, ‘The Cognitive Role of Phantasia in Aristotle’, in M. Nussbaum, A.O.
Rorty (eds), Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1992, 279-96
T. Johansen, The Powers of Aristotle’s Soul, Oxford, 2012
K. Lycos, ‘Aristotle and Plato on “Appearing”,’ Mind 73 (1964), 496–514.
M. Schofield, ‘Aristotle on the Imagination’, in M. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty
(eds), Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1992, 249-278
K. Scheiter, ‘Images, Appearnce, and Phantasia in Aristotle’, Phronesis 57
(2012), 251–278
J. Sisko, “Space, Time, and Phantasms in Aristotle, De memoria 2, 452b7–
25,” Classical Quarterly 47 (1997) 167–75.
G. Watson, ‘Phantasia in Aristotle De anima III.3’, Classical Quarterly 32
(1982), 100-113
M. Wedin, Mind and Imagination in Aristotle, New Haven, CT, 1988
K.White, ‘The Meaning of Phantasia, in Aristotle's De Anima, III, 3–8,’ Dia-
logue, 24 (1985), 483–505

Week 9 (March 22): Intellect

Readings

Primary:

De anima 3.4-6, focus on 3.4

Secondary

V. Caston, ‘Aristotle’s Argument for Why the Understanding is not Compoun-

ded with the Body’, Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient
Philosophy 16 (2000) 135–75.
C.H. Kahn, ‘Aristotle on Thinking’, in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Es-
says on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1997 (2nd ed), 359 – 380
D. Modrak, ‘Aristotle on Thinking,’ Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloqui-
um in Ancient Philosophy 2 (1987), 209–41
V. Politis, ‘Aristotle's Account of the Intellect as Pure Capacity,’ Ancient Phi-
losophy, 21 (2001), 375–402
J. Sisko, “On Separating the Intellect from the Body: Aristotle’s De Anima iii.
4, 429a20–b5,” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 81 (1999), 249–67.

Week 10 (March 29): Active intellect

Readings

Primary:

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Aristotle, De anima 3.5;
Metaphysics 12. 7, 9 - 10
*Nicomachean Ethics Book 6

*Alexander of Aphrodisias, On Intellect (Mantissa 2)

*Themistius on Aristotle on the Soul (trans. R.B. Todd), London, 1996

Secondary

S. Broadie, ‘Noûs and Nature in Aristotle’s De anima III’, Proceedings of the

Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 12 (1996) 163–76
V. Caston, ‘Aristotle’s Two Intellects: A Modest Proposal’, Phronesis 44/3
(1999), 199 – 229
L.A. Kosman, ‘What does the Maker Mind Make?’ in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O.
Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1997 (2nd ed), 343 – 358
F. D. Miller Jr. ‘Aristotle on the Separability of the Mind’, in Shields 2012,
306-39
M. Lowe, ‘Aristotle on Kinds of Thinking’ in M. Durrant (ed) Aristotle’s De an-
ima in focus, London, 1993, 110 - 127
M. Wedin, ‘Tracking Aristotle’s Nous’ in M. Durrant (ed) Aristotle’s De anima
in focus, London, 1993, 128 – 161
K.V. Wilkes, ‘Psuchê versus the Mind’ in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Es-
says on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1997 (2nd ed), 109 - 128

Week 11 (April 5): Animal motion and human action

Readings

Primary: De anima 3.9-11, De motu animalium 7-8, Physics 8.4-5

Secondary

D. Charles, ‘Aristotle on Desire and Action’ in D. Frede, B. Reis (eds) Body

and Soul in Ancient Philosophy, W. de Gruyter, 2009, 291- 308
J. Moss, ‘’Akrasia’ and Perceptual Illusion,’ Archiv für Geschichte der Philo-
sophie, 91 (2009), 119–156.
H. Richardson, ‘Desire and the Good in De anima’, in M.C. Nussbaum, A.O.
Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle’s De anima, Oxford, 1997 (2nd ed), 381 - 400
R.R.K. Sorabji, ‘Aristotle on the Role of Intellect in Virtue’, Proceedings of Ar-
istotelian Society 74 (1973 – 74), 107 – 129, repr. in A.O. Rorty (ed) Essays on
Aristotle’s Ethics, Berkeley, 201 - 220
J.E. Whiting, ‘Locomotive Soul: the Parts of Soul in Aristotle’s Scientific
Works’, OSAP 22 (2002), 141-200