The Achilles of Rationalist Psychology (Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind (7))

How is it that the mind perceives the words of a verse as a verse and not just as a string of words? One answer to this question is that to do so the mind itself must already be unified as a simple thing without parts (and perhaps must therefore be immortal). Kant called this argument the Achilles, perhaps because of its apparent invincibility, and perhaps also because it has a fatal weak spot, or perhaps because it is the champion argument of rationalism. The argument and the problem it addresses have a long history, from the ancient world right up to the present. __The Achilles of Rationalist Psychology__ consists of newly written papers addressing each of the main contributors to the discussion of the Achilles. Despite the historical importance and intrinsic interest of the argument, very little has been written about it. This volume should therefore be of use to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers across the domains of philosophy, history, and cognitive science. In his Second Paralogism of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant described what he called the “Achilles of all dialectical inferences in the pure doctrine of the soul”. This argument, which he took to be powerful yet fatally flawed, purports to establish the simplicity of the human mind, or soul, on the basis of the unity of consciousness. In Kant's illustration, the unity had by our perception of a verse cannot be accounted for if the words of the verse are distributed among parts thought to compose the mind. The argument, or at least the unity of consciousness that underpins it, has a history extending from Plato to the present. Moreover, many philosophers have extended the argument, some of them using to argue such views as immortality. It is the aim of this volume to treat the major figures who have advanced the argument, or who have held views importantly bearing on it. Original essays by scholars with expertise on the relevant authors treat Plato, Aristotle, the Neoplatonists, the medievals, Descartes, Locke, Cudworth, Bayle, Clarke, Spinoza, Leibniz. Hume, Mendelsohn, Kant, Lotze, James, as well as those working in contemporary cognitive science on what is called the binding problem of how the human brain can unify the elements of experience into a single representation. "How is it that the mind perceives the words of a verse as a verse and not just as a string of words? One answer to this question is that to do so the mind itself must already be unified as a simple thing without parts (and perhaps must therefore be immortal). Kant called this argument the Achilles, perhaps because of its apparent invincibility, and perhaps also because it has a fatal weak spot, or perhaps because it is the champion argument of rationalism. The argument and the problem it addresses have a long history, from the ancient world right up to the present." "The Achilles of Rationalist Psychology consists of newly written papers addressing each of the main contributors to the discussion of the Achilles. Despite the historical importance and intrinsic interest of the argument, very little has been written about it. This volume should therefore be of use to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers across the domains of philosophy, history, and cognitive science."--Jacket. Front Matter....Pages I-IX Did Plato Articulate the Achilles Argument?....Pages 19-41 Aristotle on the Unity of Consciousness....Pages 43-57 The Neoplatonic Achilles....Pages 59-74 The Unity of the Soul and Contrary Appetites in Medieval Philosophy....Pages 75-91 Hume, Spinoza and the Achilles Inference....Pages 93-113 Locke and the Achilles Argument....Pages 115-131 The Reverse Achilles in Locke....Pages 133-137 Cudworth and Bayle: An Odd Couple?....Pages 139-158 The Achilles Argument and the Nature of Matter in the Clarke Collins Correspondence....Pages 159-175 Leibniz’s ‘Achilles’....Pages 177-191 Hume’s Reply to the Achilles Argument....Pages 193-214 Kant and Mendelssohn on the Implications of the ‘I Think’....Pages 215-233 Kant on the Achilles Argument....Pages 235-246 William James and the Achilles Argument....Pages 247-255 The Binding Problem: Achilles in the 21st Century....Pages 257-275 Back Matter....Pages 277-289 In his Second Paralogism of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant described what he called the "Achilles of all dialectical inferences in the pure doctrine of the soul". This argument, which he took to be powerful yet fatally flawed, purports to establish the simplicity of the human mind, or soul, on the basis of the unity of consciousness. It is the aim of this volume to treat the major figures who have advanced the Achilles argument, or who have held views bearing on it.