- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Philosophy
Full Description
Three early modern philosophers - Spinoza, Leibniz and Hume - understood that minds necessarily involve ideas and patterns of thinking that are not conscious. Morejon shows that in this way they sharply distinguish themselves from other major early modern thinkers whose conceptions of the mind tended to identify thinking with consciousness, such as Descartes, Malebranche and Locke. This conception of the thinking mind as conscious remains popular even today. By contrast, Leibniz, Spinoza and Hume argue instead that thought is not, as such, a matter of consciousness. Morejon explores the significance of this insight for their conceptions of freedom and ethics. By systematically analyzing the major writings of these three thinkers and placing them in the context of the history of Western philosophy, he shows that together they provide us with a metaphysics of ideas that is uniquely helpful for thinking through important problems in contemporary political theory. In particular, it allows us to understand how it is possible for people to act against their own interests and in spite of their consciously knowing better. Readers will gain a sophisticated understanding of what Leibniz, Spinoza and Hume thought about the metaphysics of ideas, the nature of the human mind and the limits of individual freedom.
Contents
Introduction: Involuntarism and Philosophy; Philosophy, Genealogy, Symptomatology; The Unconscious of Thought; Freedom without Voluntarism; Speculative Empiricism and Materialist Epistemology; Outline of the Book
The Obscure Dust of the World: The Unconscious of Perception in Leibniz; Conscious Thought and its Limits; Imperceptible Perceptions; Inclination and Determination; The Metaphysics of Interaction and the Problem of Bodies; Infinitesimal Agency
Inevitable and Persistent Inadequacies: The Unconscious of Ideas in Spinoza; Inadequacy: Partial and Abstract Ideas; Adequate Knowledge: Causes and Actuality; Understanding and Power; The Persistence of the Inadequate and Spinozist Consciousness
Deteriora Sequor: The Unconscious of Desire in Spinoza; Spinozist Desire and the Critique of Voluntarism; The Identity of Intellect and Volition; In Defense of the Identity (Ethics II, 49 Scholium); The Unconscious of Desire
The Gravity of Ideas: The Unconscious of Habit in Hume; Ideal Relations and Association; Secret Powers: Hume's Critiques of Causation; Belief, Habit, Synthesis; Hume's Antinomy and the Problem of Correction
Conclusion: Obscurity and Involvement
Works Cited