Demeter, Tamás (Author)
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Volume: 77
Issue: 4
Pages: 753-769
This paper argues that Robert Whytt's concepts of ‘particular’ and ‘general sympathy’ in animate bodies are homologous with a less-discussed concept of sympathy in David Hume. There are at least three different concepts of sympathy in Hume's Treatise of human nature. Hume is rather critical of alleged sympathies between different bodies, but he elaborates a much-discussed theory of sympathy explaining the interpersonal exchange of sentiments. He invokes a third concept to designate the phenomenon of mutual responsiveness between, and coordination for a common end among, the parts of the mind while suggesting that the mind's unity and identity is of the same kind as the unity of organized living bodies. Without deploying this concept explicitly, he speaks a remarkably identical language while discussing social coordination and convention. This third concept is congruent with the physiological sympathies that Whytt finds in animate bodies. According to the unfolding picture, Whytt and Hume provide conceptually highly integrated accounts of living bodies, minds, and societies inspired by an idea of vital matter.
...MoreArticle Charles T. Wolfe (2023) The life of matter: Early modern vital matter theories. Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science (pp. 673-675).
Similar Citations
Article
Etchegaray, Claire;
(2013)
Whytt and the Idea of Power: Physiological Evidence as a Challenge to the Eighteenth-Century Criticism of the Notion of Power
(/isis/citation/CBB001321161/)
Article
Bassiri, Nima;
(2013)
The Brain and the Unconscious Soul in Eighteenth-Century Nervous Physiology: Robert Whytt's “Sensorium Commune”
(/isis/citation/CBB001212822/)
Article
Lorenzo Greco;
(2017)
A Powerless Conscience: Hume on Reflection and Acting Conscientiously
(/isis/citation/CBB435744845/)
Book
James A. Harris;
(2019)
Hume: An Intellectual Biography
(/isis/citation/CBB460332792/)
Article
Tamás Demeter;
(2017)
A Chemistry of Human Nature: Chemical Imagery in Hume’s Treatise
(/isis/citation/CBB397316484/)
Book
Flage, Daniel E.;
(1990)
David Hume's theory of mind
(/isis/citation/CBB000042535/)
Book
Bricke, John;
(1980)
Hume's philosophy of mind
(/isis/citation/CBB000003629/)
Book
Johnson, Oliver A.;
(1995)
The mind of David Hume: A companion to Book I of A treatise of human nature
(/isis/citation/CBB000029375/)
Chapter
Turco, Luigi;
(1998)
Mente e corpo nel “Trattato” di Hume: Problemi storiografici
(/isis/citation/CBB000082065/)
Chapter
Broadie, Alexander;
(2003)
The Human Mind and its Powers
(/isis/citation/CBB000471404/)
Book
Antonella Tramacere;
(2023)
Introduzione alle psicologie evoluzionistiche: L'origine della mente umana tra scienza e filosofia
(/isis/citation/CBB137148303/)
Article
Vasalou, Sophia;
(2007)
Subject and Body in Baran Mu'tazilism, or: Mu'tazilite Kalām and the Fear of Triviality
(/isis/citation/CBB000772984/)
Article
Pigeaud, Jackie;
(2006)
Délires de métamorphose
(/isis/citation/CBB000670763/)
Chapter
Jaquart, Danielle;
(2011)
Les emprunts de Guillaume de Conches aux théories médicales
(/isis/citation/CBB001252663/)
Article
Vesa Hirvonen;
(2018)
Late medieval philosophical and theological discussions of mental disorders: Witelo, Oresme, Gerson
(/isis/citation/CBB532492301/)
Article
Casper, Stephen T.;
(2014)
History and Neurosciece: An Interactive Legacy
(/isis/citation/CBB001321208/)
Article
Bartoš, Hynek;
(2009)
Soul, Seed, and Palingenesis in the Hippocratic de Victu
(/isis/citation/CBB001021120/)
Book
Collins, Siobhán;
(2013)
Bodies, Politics and Transformations: John Donne's Metempsychosis
(/isis/citation/CBB001201705/)
Book
Thurtle, Phillip;
Mitchell, Robert;
(2002)
Semiotic Flesh: Information and the Human Body
(/isis/citation/CBB000302112/)
Book
Pinker, Steven;
(2002)
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB000502524/)
Be the first to comment!