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2 - Problems

from Part I - Questions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2021

Sean Kelsey
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame, Indiana
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Summary

In this chapter I develop the point that the knowledge Aristotle particularly wants to explain is knowledge of beings. I work from certain problems he thinks prevented his predecessors from defining psuchē satisfactorily. I focus on two issues in particular: whether knowledge is “like by like” and “alteration.” I argue that the problem raised by both issues is at bottom the same. If knowledge is alteration, and is “like by like,” the result is that our knowledge is so colored by arbitrary facts about us as to belie the idea that it is really of beings as they are “in themselves.” If knowledge is not “like by like,” and leaves its subjects unaltered, the result is to make it unintelligible in principle why subjects of knowledge have anything to do with its putative objects. In short, the problem is how to respect the fact that knowledge is of beings, as they are in their own right, without rendering that fact an inscrutable mystery. For these points I rely on De Anima I 2, III 3, and Metaphysics G 5. These texts combine to establish that, for Aristotle, the outstanding representative of the problems in this area is Protagoras.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Problems
  • Sean Kelsey, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
  • Book: Mind and World in Aristotle's <i>De Anima</i>
  • Online publication: 16 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966375.003
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  • Problems
  • Sean Kelsey, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
  • Book: Mind and World in Aristotle's <i>De Anima</i>
  • Online publication: 16 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966375.003
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.

  • Problems
  • Sean Kelsey, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
  • Book: Mind and World in Aristotle's <i>De Anima</i>
  • Online publication: 16 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966375.003
Available formats
×