Description
Stephen Everson presents a comprehensive new study of Aristotle's account of perception and related mental capacities. Recent debate about Aristotle's theory of mind has focused on this account, which is Aristotle's most sustained and detailed attempt to describe and explain the behaviour of living things. Everson places it in the context of Aristotle's natural science as a whole, showing how he applies the explanatory tools developed in other works to the study of perceptual cognition. Everson demonstrates that, contrary to the claims of many recent scholars, Aristotle is indeed concerned to explain perceptual activity as the activity of a living body, in terms of material changes in the organs which possess the various perceptual capacities. By emphasizing the unified nature of the perceptual system, Everson is able to explain how Aristotle accounts for our ability to perceive not only such things as colours and sounds but material objects in our environment. This rich and broad-ranging book will be essential reading not only for students of Aristotle's theory of mind but for all those concerned to understand the explanatory principles of his natural science.
About the Author
Stephen Everson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He taught philosophy previously at Oxford (St Hugh's, Balliol, and Lincoln Colleges) and at Cambridge (Trinity College). He is the editor of three Companions to Ancient Thought, published by Cambridge University Press: Epistemology (1990),Psychology (1991), and Language (1994).
Reviews
His treatment of perception as one case of Aristotle's general explanation of natural change, including mental changes, is a very fruitful one. * Richard Wallace, Greece and Rome *
although it is a tough read, it is rich and rewarding. * Robin Waterfield, Heythrop Journal *
E's discussion is philosophically refined: and his reader is expected to have a nodding acquantaince with various notions in contemporary philosophical psychology ... The book is good enough to deserve detailed criticism. Indeed, I am not sure that I have read a better book on Aristotle's psychology. I enjoyed it, and I learned from it. It is rare that such things can be said about a book on ancient philosophy. * Jonathan Barnes, The Classical Review *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198236290
Author Stephen Everson
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 146mm * 23mm
About the Author
Stephen Everson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He taught philosophy previously at Oxford (St Hugh's, Balliol, and Lincoln Colleges) and at Cambridge (Trinity College). He is the editor of three Companions to Ancient Thought, published by Cambridge University Press: Epistemology (1990),Psychology (1991), and Language (1994).
Reviews
His treatment of perception as one case of Aristotle's general explanation of natural change, including mental changes, is a very fruitful one. * Richard Wallace, Greece and Rome *
although it is a tough read, it is rich and rewarding. * Robin Waterfield, Heythrop Journal *
E's discussion is philosophically refined: and his reader is expected to have a nodding acquantaince with various notions in contemporary philosophical psychology ... The book is good enough to deserve detailed criticism. Indeed, I am not sure that I have read a better book on Aristotle's psychology. I enjoyed it, and I learned from it. It is rare that such things can be said about a book on ancient philosophy. * Jonathan Barnes, The Classical Review *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198236290
Author Stephen Everson
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 146mm * 23mm
