Agent intellect and phantasms. On the preliminaries of peripatetic abstraction

Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 82 (1):125-146 (2004)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper discusses some aspects of the controversies regarding the operation of the agent intellect on sensory images. I selectively consider views developed between the 13th century and the beginning of the 17th century, focusing on positions which question the need for a (distinct) agent intellect or argue for its essential "inactivity" with respect to phantasms. My aim is to reveal limitations of the Peripatetical framework for analyzing and explaining the mechanisms involved in conceptual abstraction. The first section surveys developments of Aristotelian noetics and abstraction in Ancient and Arabic philosophy. The second section presents a discussion of some "positive" accounts on abstraction and the agent intellect, and some "negative" accounts.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The method of levels of abstraction.Luciano Floridi - 2008 - Minds and Machines 18 (3):303–329.
Aristotle’s Immortal Intellect.Mark Amorose - 2001 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 75:97-106.
Aquinas and Themistius on Intellect.Lorelle Lamascus - 2006 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 80:255-273.
Abstraction in al-Fârâbî.Richard C. Taylor - 2006 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 80:151-168.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
33 (#419,057)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?