Mind and Body in Aristotle

Robinson, Howard

doi:10.1017/s0009838800037782

Cited by 59 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…I will not start like many others, by going as far back as Egyptian papyruses. But I will simply remind you that, as early as the fourth century BC, the Greek philosophers, and especially Aristotle, had already developed the dualistic concept of body and mind, or as I prefer to think about it, “Brain and Mind” (see Robinson, ). This concept has captured mankind's imagination since the dawn of time.…”

Section: Part Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first difficulty was to imagine how the brain could communicate with muscles and organs and, at the same time, take on all the responsibilities of our mental life. Aristotle (see Robinson, ) was the first to try to answer that question with his metaphysical approach of “pneuma,” or divine breath, the driving force of the brain. Unfortunately, thanks to Thomas Aquino among others, this unscientific idea survived for a very long time, until the arrival of French philosopher, René Descartes in .…”

Section: Part Imentioning

confidence: 99%

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The History of the Synapse

Sotelo

2020

The Anatomical Record

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Why did I choose this particular topic for my lecture rather than the history of neuroscience or the history of the neuron? Simply because I believe that every disciple has the obligation to pay homage to their mentors once in their lifetime. My formation as a neuroscientist involved three such mentors spanned across three countries. The first was Spain, where I was born, completed my medical studies, and had my first glimpse of neuroscience at the Cajal Institute with Fernando de Castro. It was him who, in 1961, advised me to spend some time abroad, and to that purpose he obtained me a scholarship from the French government, that allowed me to settle in Paris. Once in France I had the good fortune to meet Prof. René Couteaux, another generous mentor, who took care of my stay in the country. Two years later, he made me a proposition to which I could only answer in the affirmative by offering me a research position in France. I got married (the best thing that happened in my life), and spent the next 57 years working on the cerebellum. The third person I want to honor and remember in this presentation is Sanford Louis Palay who was my postdoc professor during the 2 years I worked at Harvard Medical School in Boston. And as it turns out, all three of my mentors have made positive contributions to the history of the synapse. So, without further delay, let us dive in.

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Section: Part Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Part Imentioning

confidence: 99%

The History of the Synapse

Sotelo

2020

The Anatomical Record

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“…Even though Sorabji claimed not to want to assimilate Aristotle’s theory to any modern one, Howard M. Robinson (1978) argued that Sorabji’s interpretation is very close to being functionalist.…”

Section: Preliminary Sparring: Early Departures From the Physicalist ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though Sorabji claimed not to want to assimilate Aristotle's theory to any modern one, Howard M. Robinson (1978) argued that Sorabji's interpretation is very close to being functionalist. Functionalism 8 is another (at least faintly) materialist view of mind that rose to ascendancy when physicalism and behaviorism began to fall out of favor in the 1960s and 1970s.…”

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confidence: 99%

The thoroughly modern Aristotle: Was he really a functionalist?

Green¹

1998

History of Psychology

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In recent years a debate has developed over whether Aristotle's theory of the psuche is properly characterized as having been "functionalist" in the sense that contemporary computational cognitive scientists claim to be adherents of that position. It is argued here that there are indeed some similarities between Aristotle's theory and that of contemporary functionalists but that the differences between them make it misleading, at best, for functionalists to look to Aristotle for ancient support. In particular, it is argued that Aristotle would not have--indeed, specifically did not--support the claim, central to functionalism, that the mind can in principle be transported from one body to another simply by instantiating in the new body some set of organizational properties that were instantiated in the old.

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“…z.B. Robinson (1978);(1983); Heinaman (1990). Diese Theoretiker betrachten den Ansatz der aristotelischen Seelenlehre als grundsätzlich dualistisch.…”

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Wozu brauchte Aristoteles den Dualismus? Oder: Warum sich der aktive Geist nicht naturalisieren lässt

Voigt¹

2006

Die Menschliche Seele

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Positionen in der Philosophie des Geistes wenden sich gegen den Dualismus,1 da sie ihn als eine unhaltbare Aufspaltung des Menschen in zwei zumindest teilweise voneinander unabhängige Seinsbereiche er achten.2 Insbesondere steht dabei der so genannte cartesianische Dualismus in der Kritik, welcher Geist und Körper als zwei numerisch verschiedene, voneinander unabhängige, kausal interagierende Träger einander aus schließender Eigenschaften auffasst und damit das Problem der mentalen Verursachung in seiner besonders schwierigen Fassung aufwirft: Wie kann es zwischen dem materiellen Körper und dem immateriellen Geist kausale Interaktion geben?3 Als akzeptabel gilt lediglich ein Dualismus von Eigen schaften, dem zufolge mentale auf physischen Eigenschaften supervenieren und der so die kausale Geschlossenheit der physischen Welt wahrt. Selbst dieser ,schwache' Dualismus, der einen nicht-reduktiven Materialismus gewährleisten soll, ist jedoch mittlerweile in eine Krise geraten, da sich Materialismus einerseits und der Verzicht auf die Reduktion des Geistigen auf das Körperliche andererseits nicht so problemlos miteinander vereinba ren lassen, wie dies zunächst angenommen wurde.4 Als potentiellen Verbündeten in der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Dua lismus, insbesondere mit dem cartesianischen Dualismus,5 haben einige Vertreterinnen und Vertreter anti-dualistischer, insbesondere naturalisti 1

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Mind and Body in Aristotle

Cited by 59 publications

References 9 publications

The History of the Synapse

The History of the Synapse

The thoroughly modern Aristotle: Was he really a functionalist?

Wozu brauchte Aristoteles den Dualismus? Oder: Warum sich der aktive Geist nicht naturalisieren lässt

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