Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T16:28:12.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 5 - De Anima ii.5

from Part I - Ontology and epistemology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2022

Myles Burnyeat
Prepared for publication by
Carol Atack ,
Malcolm Schofield  and
David Sedley
Myles Burnyeat
Affiliation:
All Souls College, Oxford
Carol Atack
Affiliation:
Newnham College, Cambridge
Malcolm Schofield
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
David Sedley
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

This is a close scrutiny of De Anima II.5, led by two questions. First, what can be learned from so long and intricate a discussion about the neglected problem of how to read an Aristotelian chapter? Second, what can the chapter, properly read, teach us about some widely debated issues in Aristotle’s theory of perception? I argue that it refutes two claims defended by Martha Nussbaum, Hilary Putnam, and Richard Sorabji: (i) that when Aristotle speaks of the perceiver becoming like the object perceived, the assimilation he has in mind is ordinary alteration of the type exemplified when fire heats the surrounding air, (ii) that this alteration stands to perceptual awareness as matter to form. Claim (i) is wrong because the assimilation that perceiving is is not ordinary alteration. Claim (ii) is wrong because the special type of alteration that perceiving is is not its underlying material realisation. Indeed, there is no mention in the text of any underlying material realisation for perceiving.

Keywords

actualityalterationAristotleDe Animaformknowledgelearningmatterperceptionpotentiality
Type
Chapter
Information
Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy , pp. 155 - 212
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography: De Anima: modern editions, ancient and modern commentaries, modern translations

Barbotin, E. See Jannone, A.Google Scholar
Forster, Aurelius. Aristotelis De Anima Libri iii. Budapest: Academia Litterarum Hungarica, 1912.Google Scholar
Hamlyn, D. W. Aristotle’s De Anima Books ii, iii (with certain passages from Book i). Translated with Introduction and Notes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Hett, W. S. Aristotle On the Soul, Parva Naturalia, On Breath. With an English translation. Loeb Classical Library. London: Heinemann and Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1935.Google Scholar
Hicks, R. D. Aristotle: De Anima. With Translation, Introduction and Notes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907. Reprinted New York: Arno Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Jannone, A. and Barbotin, E. Aristote, De l᾽Ame. Texte établi par A. Jannone, traduction et notes de E. Barbotin. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1966.Google Scholar
Philoponus, . In Aristotelis De Anima Libros Commentaria, ed. Hayduck, Michael. CIAG Vol. xv. Berlin: Reimer, 1897.Google Scholar
Rodier, G. Aristote: Traité de l’Ame. Traduit et annoté. 2 vols. Paris: Ernest Leroux 1900. Reprinted Dubuque: William C. Brown, n.d.Google Scholar
Ross, W. D. Aristotelis De Anima. Recognovit brevique adnotatione instruxit. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956 (editio minor).Google Scholar
Ross, W. D. Aristotle De Anima. Edited, with Introduction and Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961 (editio maior).Google Scholar
Simplicius (?). In Libros Aristotelis De Anima Commentaria, ed. Hayduck, Michael. CIAG Vol. xi. Berlin: Reimer, 1882.Google Scholar
Siwek, Paulus. Aristotelis Tractatus de Anima. Edidit, versione latina auxit, commentario illustravit. Collectio philosophica lateranensis. Rome: Descle, 1965.Google Scholar
Smith, J. A. De Anima. The Works of Aristotle Translated into English under the general editorship of W. D. Ross. Vol. iii. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.Google Scholar
Sophonias. In Libros Aristotelis De Anima Paraphrasis, ed. Hayduck, Michael. CIAG Vol. xxiii. Berlin: Reimer, 1883.Google Scholar
Theiler, Willy. Aristoteles uber die Seele. Ubersetzt. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1959.Google Scholar
Themistius, . In Libros Aristotelis De Anima Paraphrasis, ed. Heinze, R.. CIAG Vol. v. Berlin: Reimer, 1890.Google Scholar
Torstrik, Adolfus. Aristotelis De Anima Libri iii. Berlin: Weidmanni, 1862.Google Scholar
Tricot, J. Aristote De L᾽Ame. Traduction nouvelle et notes. Paris: Vrin, 1947.Google Scholar
Wallace, Edwin. Aristotle᾽s Psychology. In Greek and English, with Introduction and Notes. Cambridge, 1882.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • De Anima ii.5
  • Myles Burnyeat, All Souls College, Oxford
  • Prepared for publication by Carol Atack, Newnham College, Cambridge, Malcolm Schofield, University of Cambridge, David Sedley, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009049146.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • De Anima ii.5
  • Myles Burnyeat, All Souls College, Oxford
  • Prepared for publication by Carol Atack, Newnham College, Cambridge, Malcolm Schofield, University of Cambridge, David Sedley, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009049146.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • De Anima ii.5
  • Myles Burnyeat, All Souls College, Oxford
  • Prepared for publication by Carol Atack, Newnham College, Cambridge, Malcolm Schofield, University of Cambridge, David Sedley, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009049146.009
Available formats
×