Aristotle:

On the Soul

What is the mind? What is it to have a mind?

Background

Aristotle’s approach to philosophy was that of a biologist - he was basically interested in classifying things. His book On the Soul, he classified living things in terms of the kind of psyche (ψυχή) they possessed. Psyche is normally translated as ‘soul’ but I think it’s fair to say that word has quite a different meaning from what Aristotle was talking about.

Comparing the modern view of the mind with Aristotle's concept of psyche

Nowadays, our academic fields of psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience generally work within a framework founded in, derived from, and responding to the philosophy of Descartes from the 1600s. This framework is radically different from that of Aristotle. As a result, our modern conception of the mind is has many fundamentally dissimilar features to Aristotle's concept of psyche.

The modern view of the mind

Usually, a mind is considered to be something unique to a human being.
According to the modern conception of the mind, an essential property of the mind is private or inner experience, how things appear to us. We are able to perceive internal images and representations in our mind, and these images and experiences are essentially private, or hidden from others. How things appear to us is beyond doubt – I may be mistaken about what I’ve seen, but I cannot be mistaken about the fact that I think I have seen it.
The mind is basically the brain. It is therefore a substance and subject to physical laws and mechanisation. The mind/brain is identical to the person insofar as it is the source of our personality. It is a part of a human being, insofar as the mind/brain is part of, but distinct from the rest of the human body.
According to the modern view, the mind/brain is an agent; it is capable of doing things, specifically, it is responsible for mental activities: the mind/brain believes, thinks, calculates. It is therefore involved in a two-way causal interaction with the body.

Aristotle’s conception of the psyche

According to Aristotle, a living thing's psyche was its characteristic powers. For example, a potato has vegetative powers – to grow and reproduce. Therefore, it has a vegetable psyche; a dog has animate powers – it can move itself and has powers of perception and sensation. Therefore, it has an animal psyche; and a human has rational powers – it can calculate, plan, reason and so on.
According to Aristotle's conception, our own thoughts are not essentially hidden from others, nor are they beyond doubt. The extent to which we can talk about internal images or representations, or things occurring in our mind is logically limited and immune to mechanisation.
The mind is not a substance. To have a mind is to possess an array of powers of the intellect and the will, and these powers are all related to how one responds to reasons and teleological concerns (aims and goals). So questions as to whether it is the same as, or distinct from the human body make no sense.
the mind is not an agent, and cannot be the subject of mental predicates; The mind cannot believe, think, or calculate, only a person can do such things.

Discussion

—Do we think in our brains?

—If we don’t think in our brains, then where do we think? Where are our memories stored if they’re not stored in our minds?

—Aristotle would say that we don’t think in our brains because we don’t think anywhere. If someone asks someone where they learned to speak French, they wouldn’t answer, ‘in my head’. Instead, they would say, ‘at school’, or something like that. The person has a location, but not the ability.

—But we can’t think without brains, so surely we must think in our brains. There was a famous psychological case of a man called Clive Wearing and he suffered some damage to his brain and was unable to form new memories. Doesn’t this show that his memories exist in his brain?

—But isn’t this just confusing the mechanism which enables me to do something with the ability itself? To remember something is to be able to recall it. I use my hands to play the piano, but that doesn’t mean that my ability is stored in my hands. Also, there might be different mechanisms for the same ability. There are many different ways I can get a message to someone, tell them in person, send a text, send an email, send a carrier pigeon - but they might all be a mechanism for the same ability.

Tasks

Compare and contrast the modern view of the mind with Aristotle’s concept of the psyche.
Which conception do you agree with more? Explain your answer.

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