Hutton, Sarah (Author)
Ralph Cudworth’s theory of mind was the most fully developed philosophical psychology among the Cambridge Platonists. Like his seventeenth-century contemporaries, Cudworth discussed mental powers in terms of soul (anima) rather than mind (mens) and considered the function of the soul to be not merely intellectual, but vital and moral. Cudworth conceived the soul as a single self-determining unit which combined many powers. He developed this against a philosophical agenda set by Descartes and Hobbes. But he turned to ancient philosophy, especially the philosophy of Plotinus, to develop a psychology which is distinguished by the attention he gives to both conscious and unconscious states, and to the powers which enable it to reflect on itself, to co-ordinate its activities and direct them to good ends. I argue that in so doing, Cudworth sought to elaborate a theory of mind which accounted for observable experience of mental operations. My paper outlines the complexities of Cudworth’s taxonomy of mental powers, focusing on three key powers which Cudworth developed through his reading of Plotinus: energy (energeia), self-power (tò autexousion, or tò hegemonikon), and sympathy (sumpatheia).
...MoreArticle Federico Boccaccini; Anna Marmodoro (2017) Powers, Abilities and Skills in Early Modern Philosophy. British Journal for the History of Philosophy (pp. 435-442).
Article Federico Boccaccini; Anna Marmodoro (2017) Powers, Abilities and Skills in Early Modern Philosophy. British Journal for the History of Philosophy (pp. 435-442).
Article
John J. Callanan;
(2017)
Kant on the Spontaneous Power of the Mind
(/isis/citation/CBB320829578/)
Article
David Leech;
(2017)
Cudworth on Superintellectual Instinct as Inclination to the Good
(/isis/citation/CBB050227220/)
Book
Bakker, Paul J. J. M.;
Thijssen, Johannes M. M. H.;
(2007)
Mind, Cognition and Representation: The Tradition of Commentaries on Aristotle's De anima
(/isis/citation/CBB001020173/)
Article
Federico Boccaccini;
Anna Marmodoro;
(2017)
Powers, Abilities and Skills in Early Modern Philosophy
(/isis/citation/CBB647362818/)
Book
Carmela Morabito;
(2020)
Il motore della mente. Il movimento nella storia delle scienze cognitive
(/isis/citation/CBB028669021/)
Book
Heinämaa, Sara;
Reuter, Martina;
(2008)
Psychology and Philosophy: Inquiries into the Soul from Late Scholasticism to Contemporary Thought
(/isis/citation/CBB001035170/)
Book
Seigel, Jerrold E.;
(2005)
The Idea of the Self: Thought and Experience in Western Europe since the Seventeenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000930043/)
Article
Rousseau, George;
(2007)
“Brainomania”: Brain, Mind and Soul in the Long Eighteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001032675/)
Article
Carter, Benjamin;
(2010)
Ralph Cudworth and the Theological Origins of Consciousness
(/isis/citation/CBB001035617/)
Article
Douglas Hedley;
(2017)
Gods and Giants: Cudworth’s Platonic Metaphysics and His Ancient Theology
(/isis/citation/CBB571151709/)
Book
Charles T. Wolfe;
Céline Cherici;
Jean-Claude Dupont;
(2018)
Physique de l'esprit. Empirisme, médecine et cerveau (XVIIe-XIXe siècles)
(/isis/citation/CBB630081903/)
Article
Leen Spruit;
(2017)
Sebastiano Bartoli on Life and the Soul
(/isis/citation/CBB245646731/)
Book
Landucci, Sergio;
(2002)
La Mente in Cartesio
(/isis/citation/CBB000301858/)
Article
Hatfield, Gary;
(2007)
Did Descartes Have a Jamesian Theory of the Emotions?
(/isis/citation/CBB001035167/)
Article
Ablondi, Fred;
(2007)
Knowing Our Nature: A Note on Régis' Response to Malebranche
(/isis/citation/CBB000760671/)
Thesis
Kroeker, Esther;
(2007)
Thomas Reid: Motives and the Anatomy of the Mind
(/isis/citation/CBB001561316/)
Article
Patricia Kitcher;
(2017)
Kant on the Faculty of Apperception
(/isis/citation/CBB094133705/)
Article
Matthew Stuart;
(2017)
Locke on Attention
(/isis/citation/CBB831262610/)
Article
Marleen Rozemond;
(2016)
Descartes, Malebranche and Leibniz: Conceptions of Substance in Arguments for the Immateriality of the Soul
(/isis/citation/CBB117763212/)
Article
Falk Wunderlich;
(2016)
Materialism in Late Enlightenment Germany: A Neglected Tradition Reconsidered
(/isis/citation/CBB824246743/)
Be the first to comment!