Erik Nis Ostenfeld

Ancient Greek psychology and the modern mind-body debate Erik Nis Ostenfeld 1. izdevums

The mind-body problem is central to the modern philosophical and cultural debate because we cannot understand what man is until we understand what consciousness is and how it interacts with the body. Although many suggestions have been offered, no convincing account has as yet appeared. Perhaps it was all mistaken ideology from the start? A crucial distinction was made by modern natural science in the 17th century between the subjective/qualitative and the objective/quantitative.
The ancient Greeks, notably Plato and Aristotle, forcoussed not on consciousness and ezperience, but on goal-directed reason/form, and the contrast was not mchanical matter, but the particular. The latter owed its intelligibility and being to reason/form and did not, therefore, constitute a realm of its own.