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Active Cognition

Challenges to an Aristotelian Tradition

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Editors:
  1. Véronique Decaix

    1. Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France

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  2. Ana María Mora-Márquez

    1. Gothenburg University (FLoV), Gothenburg, Sweden

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  • Expands philosophical inquiry into cognition in general and places it in an Aristotelian framework
  • Examines several understudied medieval and modern authors
  • Presents original contributions by top scholars working on the history of epistemology and philosophy of mind

Part of the book series: Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind (SHPM, volume 23)

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About this book

This edited work draws on a range of contributed expertise to trace the fortune of an Aristotelian thesis over different periods in the history of philosophy. It presents eight cases of direct or indirect challenges to the Aristotelian passive account of human cognition, taking the reader from late antiquity to the 20th century. Chapters analyse the (often indirect) effect of Aristotle’s account of cognition on later periods. In his influential De anima, Aristotle describes human cognition, both sensitive and intellectual, as the reception of a form in the cognitive subject.

Aristotle’s account has been commonly interpreted as fundamentally passive – the cognitive subject is a passive actor upon which a cognitive process is acted by the object. However, at least from the time of Alexander of Aphrodisias onwards, this interpretationhas been challenged by authors who posit a fundamental active aspect of cognition. Readers will discover how one or more of three concerns – ontological superiority, direct realism and moral responsibility – drive the active accounts of cognition. Contributed chapters from top scholars examine how these three concerns lead thinkers to take issue with the idea that cognition is a passive process. The authors consider Jesuit accounts of cognition, Malebranche on judgment, and Wittgenstein on perception, as well as Stumpf on active cognition, among other relevant works.

This book is ideally suited to scholars of philosophy, especially those with an interest in medieval epistemology, the influence of Aristotle, philosophy of mind and theories of cognition.


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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-v
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  2. Introduction

    • Véronique Decaix, Ana María Mora-Márquez
    Pages 1-12

  3. Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias on Active Intellectual Cognition

    • Frans A. J. de Haas
    Pages 13-36

  4. Selective Attention Beyond Activity: Robert Kilwardby’s Theory of Perception

    • Elena Băltuță
    Pages 37-55

  5. Cognition as Intellectual Constitution: Dietrich of Freiberg in Discussion with Thomas Aquinas

    • Véronique Decaix
    Pages 57-78

  6. From Agent to Active Sense: Was There an Augustinianism-Averroisant?

    • José Filipe Silva
    Pages 79-101

  7. Three Jesuit Accounts of Cognition: Differences and Common Ground in the De Anima Commentaries by Maldonado, Toledo and Dandini (1564–1610)

    • Anna Tropia
    Pages 103-131

  8. Epistemic Responsibility in an Occasionalist World: Malebranche’s Theory of Judgment

    • Stephan Schmid
    Pages 133-162

  9. A Note on Stumpf’s History of Active Intellection

    • Hamid Taieb
    Pages 163-173

  10. Explaining Sherlock’s Glance. On the Perception of Historical Past

    • Vincent Grondin
    Pages 175-196
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Editors and Affiliations

  • Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France

    Véronique Decaix

  • Gothenburg University (FLoV), Gothenburg, Sweden

    Ana María Mora-Márquez

About the editors

Véronique Decaix is Associate Professor in Medieval Philosophy at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research interests are psychology, theories of cognition and metaphysics. In the framework of GRAMATA, UMR 7219 (Groupe Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Transmission Arabe) she is currently leading the research project “Memoria” on “Ancient and Medieval Theories of Memory”). 

Ana María Mora-Márquez is docent in Theoretical Philosophy at University of Gothenburg. She is the author of the book The Thirteenth-Century Notion of Signification (Brill) and of several articles on medieval epistemology, logic and philosophy of language. At present, she is the leader of a research project, funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, about Aristotle’s Topics and its medieval reception.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Active Cognition

  • Book Subtitle: Challenges to an Aristotelian Tradition

  • Editors: Véronique Decaix, Ana María Mora-Márquez

  • Series Title: Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35304-9

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-35303-2Published: 11 March 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-35306-3Published: 11 March 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-35304-9Published: 10 March 2020

  • Series ISSN: 1573-5834

  • Series E-ISSN: 2542-9922

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: V, 196

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Philosophy of Mind, History of Philosophy, Epistemology

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