Philosophy of mind

[4.4.5] Abelard’s Philosophy of Mind

A. L. KomáromiLeave a comment

Peter Abelard (“Doctor Scholasticus”, 1079?-1142 AD), in the Treatise on Understandings (Tractatus de intellectibus) and Logica Ingredientibus describes the faculties and way of working of the human mind:

  • The main faculties are the senses, imagination, and reason, but sensation, perception, abstraction, and intentionality also have importance.
  • Understanding is based upon sensation.
  • The mind works with mental images, but “the image is not the act of understanding, and so there is no formal identity between understanding and thing.”

The following UML Use Case diagram presents Abelard’s model of the human mind:

Abelard on the human mind
FacultyRelated use caseRelations
5 SENSESUsing 5 SENSES: tasting, touching, smelling, hearing, seeingrelates to Extramental Item
SENSATIONGrasping sensibles with SENSATION:
● Abelard “viewed the power of sensation as a mental power by which the mind peered directly out at the world, as if ‘through a window’.”
● e.g. when we see a white horse, we sense the whiteness (an accident).		includes Using 5 SENSES;
extends (REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical
structure of the Item represented by the metal image
PERCEPTIONGrasping insensibles with PERCEPTION:
●”Perception would seem to be almost automatic and very closely related to sensation”
● the “initial grasp of insensible items is accomplished by an act of perception that is more than simple sensation but less than an act of reason.”
● e.g. when we see a white horse, we precieve the horseness (the nature of the thing, insensible).		includes Using 5 SENSES;
extends (REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical
structure of the Item represented by the metal image
IMAGINATION(IMAGINATION) creates/processes confused mental image of the Item (universal or particular) when that is not present or not sensible:
● we create confused mental images of items, because “our limited power of imagination precludes the formation of accurate images. Presumably we would be able to form accurate images were our imagination not so restricted by a dependence on sensation. We sense individuals as individuals; we do not sense the underlying metaphysical structure.”
● “At its more interesting the productive power allows the mind to form mental images of items that cannot be sensed – of immaterial objects, and perhaps of universals”
● e.g. Imagination is able to create the image of the particular horse “Spirit”, or of the image of universal “horseness”.		extends “(REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical structure of the Item represented by the mental image“
REASON(REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical structure of the Item represented by the mental image:
“A sound understanding is an understanding in concord or harmony with the status of the thing. […] A sound understanding is an act of attending to some nature or property of an item as that nature or property is found in the item.” (see also [4.4.1])		includes ABSTRACTION of universals (forms)
ABSTRACTIONABSTRACTION of universals (forms):
● “Universals are not subject to sense, not because they are insensible, but because they do not exist.”
● “Universal understandings are formed by abstraction. Abelard does not describe the process of forming abstract understandings, but the end results are understandings that are alone (sola) or apart from sense; bare (nuda) or stripped of some or all other forms; and pure (pura) or conceived of in abstraction from individuating conditions”.
INTENTION(INTENTION) directs attention to the Item sensed or to the mental image:
“The attention of the mind in thinking about some item, and not the representative qualities of the image determine the intentional object of the act of understanding.”		includes “(REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical structure of the Item represented by the mental image“
REASONUnderstanding at the level of Opinion:
● Obviously, some understandings grasp a nature or property more fully and completely than others. To mark the degrees of accuracy Abelard uses the terms “opinion” (opinio), “knowledge” (scientia), and “intelligence” (intelligentia). The three terms mark, in ascending order, the depth or completeness of the grasp of a nature or property; opinion is the lowest level grasp, intelligence the highest. Knowledge is between the two.”
● “Abelard genuinely wavers in his use of ‘opinion.’ Sometimes ‘opinion’ is used to denote understandings with a very low-level grasp of the nature or property in question but which are nonetheless sound. Sometimes ‘opinion’ is used to denote unsound understandings. On either use opinion is at the opposite end of a spectrum from intelligence.”		inherits from “(REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical structure of the Item represented by the mental image“
REASONUnderstanding at the level of Knowledge:
● “Knowledge is an understanding in which a nature or property is grasped to a degree somewhere between opinion and intelligence. Abelard will also call the habit of having such understandings of
a nature or property ‘knowledge’”.
● “Discrete individuals are the objects of knowledge.”		inherits from Q(REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical structure of the Item represented by the mental image“
REASONUnderstanding at the level of Intellectinherits from “(REASON) produces understanding of the metaphysical structure of the Item represented by the mental image“

Sources

  • All citations from: Guilfoy , Kevin, chapter “Mind and cognition” in The Cambridge Companion to Abelard, © Cambridge University Press, 2006, ed. Jeffrey E. Brower
  • King, Peter and Arlig, Andrew, “Peter Abelard”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

First published: 13/8/2020
Updated: 14/3/2021

[3.3.4] Ibn Sina on the Phases of Intellect

A. L. Komáromi2 Comments

Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037 AD) thinks that the human Intellect goes through a series of four phases – starting from the empty potentiality of a newborn to the fully actualized intellectual faculty containing Forms acquired from the Active Intellect (see also [3.3.2], [3.3.3] and al-Farabi’s similar structure [3.2.4]).

The following OntoUML diagram shows the four phases of the Intellect:

Ibn Sina on Stages of Intellect
ClassDescriptionRelations
HumanIntellectIntellect is acquiring concepts/forms through actualization from Active Intellect.
Material
Intellect		“‘Material intellect‘ is the wholly ‘unqualified potentiality’ for thought which belongs to ‘every member of the species.’ It is a ‘disposition’ (isticdad) inhering in the incorporeal human soul from birth.”
E.g. “The newborn infant has the potentiality for writing only in the sense that it may eventually learn to write.”		phase of Intellect
Intellect
InHabitu		“‘Intellect in habitu‘ (bil-malaka) is the ‘possible potentiality’ in which the human subject possesses the ‘first intelligible thoughts.’ These are attained through cogitation.
E.g. “Later, the ‘boy matures’ and comes to ‘know the inkwell, the pen, and the letters.’ Inasmuch as he controls the rudiments and can go on to master the art with ‘no intermediate’ step, he is said to have a ‘possible potentiality’ for writing.”		phase of Intellect; posesses FirstInteligible
Actual
Intellect		“‘Actual intellect,‘ despite the name, is a further stage of potentiality— the stage of fully actualized potentiality. It is the ‘complete [kamdliyya] potentiality’ that is attained when both ‘second intelligibles'[derivative scientific
propositions] and ‘intelligible forms’—that is to say, derivative propositions and concepts—have been added to the ‘first intelligibles,’ with the proviso that the human subject is not thinking the propositions and concepts. At the stage of actual intellect, the human subject does not ‘actually … attend to’ his knowledge, yet can do so ‘whenever he wishes.'”. These are attaied also with the help of cogitation.		phase of Intellect; posesses FirstInteligible and SecondIntelligible
Acquired
Intellect		“‘acquired [mustafdd] intellect,’ which alone is an ‘unqualified actuality.’ At the level of acquired intellect, ‘intelligible forms’ are actually ‘present’ to the man, and he ‘actually attends’ to them. Avicenna’s acquired intellect is, literally, acquired from the active intellect. The unqualified actuality of thought is ‘called. . . acquired, because it will be shown . . . that potential intellect passes to actuality’ by establishing contact with the active intellect and having ‘forms acquired from without imprinted’ in man’s intellect.”
E.g. “At a still higher level stands the ‘scribe,’ who is adept with the [writing] implement,’ is ‘accomplished in his art,’ and can apply the art ‘at will.’ When he is not exercising his skill, the scribe has a ‘perfect’ potentiality for writing.”		phase of Intellect; posesses FirstInteligible , SecondIntelligible and Form
Active
Intellect		“The active intellect is (1) the emanating cause of the matter of the sublunar world, (2) the emanating cause of natural forms appearing in matter, including the souls of plants, animals, and man, and (3) the cause of the actualization of the human intellect.”actualize Acquired
Intellect; emanates Form
Formnatural form of the lower worldexclusive part of ActiveIntellect; characterizes Intellect
FirstIntelligiblefirst intelligibles: “are theoretical propositions of the sort man affirms without being able to ‘suppose that they might ever not be affirmed’; examples are the propositions that ‘the whole is greater than the part’ and ‘things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.'”
SecondIntelligibleSecond intelligibles are derivative propositions and concepts.
IntelligibleFirst intelligibles, second intelligibles and forms are intelligibles.

Sources

  • All citations from:  Herbert A. Davidson, “Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect”, Oxford University Press 1992

First published: 22/08/2019
Updated: added first and second intelligible on 22/11/2020