Lost Souls

David Weissman

Description

Lost Souls examines the origins and consequences of the philosophic idea that mind and body are distinct. The author traces mind-body dualism from Plato, Plotinus, Augustine, and Proclus through Descartes and Kant to Nietzsche, Heidegger, Carnap, and Quine. Mind's separation from body has dominated philosophic thinking for millennia, yet most mental activities are now explained in physical terms. What are the implications if mind is material and mortal? Considering both philosophic and scientific ideas about mind, David Weissman explores our options. Rejecting the claim that the character and existence of other things are an effect of the ways we think about or perceive them, he reexamines such topics as meaning and truth, human significance, self, and society. He argues that philosophers have the rare opportunity to renew inquiry by invoking the questions that once directed them: What are we? What is our place in the world? What concerns are appropriate to being here?
List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One. Plato's Divided Line

1. The Line
2. The Line's Transmission

A. Plotinus
B. Augustine and Proclus

Chapter Two. Descartes' Revisions of the Line

1. Platonic Themes

A. Knowledge versus Belief
B. Mind–Body Dualism

2. Four Alterations: Descartes Amends Plato's Figure in These Critical Ways

A. Imaginings and Material Particulars Merged as Empirical Differences
B. Forms Replaced by Geometricals
C. The Cogito Substituted for the Good
D. The Line Ensouled

3. The Line Redrawn with Descartes' Emendations
4. The Equivocal Status of God and Space: The Richer and Leaner Theories
5. Skepticism
6. Descartes' Sources

Chapter Three. Consequences

1. Foundationalism

A. Epistemic and Ontological Foundationalsim
B. Mind's Structure

2. Self-knowledge
3. A Priori Intelligibility
4. The Geometrical Character of the Physical
5. The Self-valorizing Ego
6. Descartes' Legacy

A. Existence
B. God
C. Mind as Thinking Substance
D. A Hierarchy of Mutually-Conditioning Orders
E. Which is Prior: Ideas or Percepts?
F. Ideas Construed as Rules
G. Meaning
H. Truth
I. Modalities
J. Will
K. Value

Chapter Four. Descartes' Heirs: Ontological Foundationalism and "The End of Western Metaphysics"

1. Kant
2. Kant in Our Time

A. Romantic Kantians: Nietzsche and Heidegger
B. Analytic Kantians: Carnap and Quine

3. What is Philosophy?
4. Response

Chapter Five. The Cogito's Demise

1. Mind's Reduction to Body
2. Diagnosis: A Philosophical Theory Empirically Refuted

A. What is the Hypothesis Refuted?
B. What Conceptual Features Make Dualism Suspect?
C. What Empirical Evidence Refutes Descartes' Claim?
D. Is the Alleged Refutation a Methodological Error?

3. Consequences of the Refutation

Chapter Six. Churning

1. Disputed Questions

A. Mind's Knowledge of Itself: Introspection, Behaviorism, or Inference?
B. Experience: Schematization and Inspection, or Interaction?
C. Ideas: Innate or Acquired?
D. Meaning
E. Thought
F. Truth: Identity, Coherence or Correspondence?
G. Knowledge: Intuition and Demonstration, or a Network of Hypotheses?
H. Does Mind Prescribe or Investigate the Features of Things?
I. Space and Time: Forms of Intuition or Spacetime?
J. Freestanding Mind, or an Array of Causally-related Bodies or Systems?
K. Freedom or Determinism?
L. Control or Accommodation?
M. Egoism or Sociality?
N. Human Significance

2. An Altered Focus

Chapter Seven. Ideas to Reformulate and Save

1. Intelligibility: Are Thought and Language Autonomous?
2. Mind as Foundational: Culture
3. Self
4. The Good

Afterword

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Métaphysique
• Metaphysics
• History of philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791486719
• Langue: English

Extrait

Lo t S ouls

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Lo t S ouls

The Philosophic Origins of a Cultural Dilemma

David Weissman

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Weissman, David, 1936– Lost souls : the philosophic origins of a cultural dilemma / David Weissman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–7914–5755–9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0–7914–5756–7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Mind and body. I. Title.

B105.M53W45 2003 128.2—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002042640

To my brother and sister

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List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Contents

Chapter One. Plato’s Divided Line 1. The Line 2. The Line’s Transmission A. Plotinus, 8; B. Augustine and Proclus, 14

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xiii

1

5 5 8

Chapter Two. Descartes’ Revisions of the Line15 1. Platonic Themes 15 A. Knowledge versus Belief, 15; B. Mind–Body Dualism, 16 2. Four Alterations: Descartes Amends Plato’s Figure in These Critical Ways 16 A. Imaginings and Material Particulars Merged as Empirical Differences, 16; B. Forms Replaced by Geometricals, 17 C. TheCogitoSubstituted for the Good, 18; D. The Line Ensouled, 18 3. The Line Redrawn with Descartes’ Emendations 19 4. The Equivocal Status of God and Space: The Richer and Leaner Theories 19 5. Skepticism 22 6. Descartes’ Sources 23

Chapter Three. Consequences27 1. Foundationalism 27 A. Epistemic and Ontological Foundationalism, 27; B. Mind’s Structure, 31

vii

viii

CONTENTS

2. Self-knowledge 33 3.A PrioriIntelligibility 35 4. The Geometrical Character of the Physical 38 5. The Self-valorizing Ego 40 6. Descartes’ Legacy 41 A. Existence, 41; B. God, 42; C. Mind as Thinking Substance, 42; D. A Hierarchy of Mutually-Conditioning Orders, 43; E. Which is Prior: Ideas or Percepts? 45; F. Ideas Construed as Rules, 46; G. Meaning, 47; H. Truth, 48; I. Modalities, 49; J. Will, 50; K. Value, 52

Chapter Four. Descartes’ Heirs: Ontological Foundationalism and “The End of Western Metaphysics” 1. Kant 2. Kant in Our Time A. Romantic Kantians: Nietzsche and Heidegger, 62; B. Analytic Kantians: Carnap and Quine, 68 3. What is Philosophy? 4. Response

55 56 61

76 78

Chapter Five. TheCogito’sDemise81 1. Mind’s Reduction to Body 81 2. Diagnosis: A Philosophical Theory Empirically Refuted 83 A. What is the Hypothesis Refuted? 83; B. What Conceptual Features Make Dualism Suspect? 84; C. What Empirical Evidence Refutes Descartes’ Claim? 85; D. Is the Alleged Refutation a Methodological Error? 90 3. Consequences of the Refutation 92

Chapter Six. Churning97 1. Disputed Questions 97 A. Mind’s Knowledge of Itself: Introspection, Behaviorism, or Inference? 99; B. Experience: Schematization and Inspection, or Interaction? 100; C. Ideas: Innate or Acquired? 102; D. Meaning, 103; E. Thought, 107; F. Truth: Identity, Coherence or Correspondence? 110; G. Knowledge: Intuition and Demonstration, or a Network of Hypotheses? 114; H. Does Mind Prescribe or Investigate the Features of Things? 118; I. Space and Time: Forms of Intuition or Spacetime? 122; J. Freestanding Mind, or an Array of Causally-related Bodies or Systems? 123; K. Freedom or Determinism? 124; L. Control or Accommodation? 125; M. Egoism or Sociality? 126; N. Human Significance, 133 2. An Altered Focus 134

CONTENTS

Chapter Seven. Ideas to Reformulate and Save 1. Intelligibility: Are Thought and Language Autonomous? 2. Mind as Foundational: Culture 3. Self 4. The Good

Afterword

Notes

Index

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