Logoi and Pathêmata: Aristotle and the Modal/Amodal Distinction in Modern Theories of Concepts

310 Pages·2017·1.972 MB·English

by  Lars Inderelst

Studia Philosophica et Historica 28 28 Studia Philosophica et Historica 28
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Logoi and Pathêmata a Logoi and Pathêmata
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“Concept” is a central notion in philoso- The Author
phy that also influences other disciplines Lars Inderelst studied philosophy and ê
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like psychology and linguistics. The author classics at the University of Düsseldorf Aristotle and the modal/amodal distinction
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compares modern theories to the work of and is specialized in ancient philosophy. a
Aristotle as the first philosopher with an As a researcher he was part of the inter- P in modern theories of concepts
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extensive corpus and one of the predeces- disciplinary research center CRC 991 “The
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sors both of classical theory and of modal Structure of Representations in Language, a
theories of concepts. It is surprising that Cognition, and Science” and compared i
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there is apparently no equivalent term for positions from the history of philosophy
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“concept” in his work. Both pathêma and to very recent trends in cognitive science o
logos are central to his theory of language such as frame-theory and embodied L
and thought. Therefore, this book de- cognition.
scribes which notion in Aristotle’s writing
comes closest to “concept” and whether or
not it generates a precise theory.
ISBN 978-3-631-67679-0
Logoi and Pathêmata
STUDIA PHILOSOPHICA ET HISTORICA

Begründet von Wolfram Hogrebe

Herausgegeben von Christoph Kann

BAND 28
Lars Inderelst

Logoi and Pathêmata
Aristotle and the modal/amodal distinction
in modern theories of concepts
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio-
grafie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Zugl.: Düsseldorf, Univ., Diss., 2016

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Inderelst, Lars, author.
Title: Logoi and Pathêmata : Aristotle and the modal/amodal distinction in
modern theories of concepts / Lars Inderelst.
Description: Frankfurt am Main : Peter Lang, 2017. | Series: Studia
philosophica et historica, ISSN 0721-5878 ; vol. 29
Identifiers: LCCN 2016054392| ISBN 9783631676790 (print) | ISBN 9783654071542
(e-pdf) | ISBN 9783631703830 (epub) | ISBN 9783631703847 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Concepts. | Philosophy, Modern. | Aristotle--Influence. |
Modality (Theory of knowledge)
Classification: LCC BD181 .I53 2017 | DDC 121/.4--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016054392

This dissertation was funded by the DFG as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 991
"The Structure of Representations in Language, Cognition, and Science”

Printed by CPI books GmbH, Leck

D 61
ISSN 0721-5878
ISBN 978-3-631-67679-0 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-07154-2 (E-PDF)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-70383-0 (EPUB)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-70384-7 (MOBI)
DOI 10.3726/b10798

© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2017
All rights reserved.
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For my parents

Preface
For a very long time, I have been fascinated by being able to read the thoughts
and know about the lives of people who lived more than two thousand years
ago. This was part of the reason why I developed an interest in ancient phi-
losophy: Western Philosophy and some of the biggest philosophical questions
have their origin in the Pre-socratics, Plato, and Aristotle. One question of
particular interest to me has always been what has changed since then, and
equally important what stayed the same, both in regards to philosophy and
humanity in general.
This fascination served as the basis for my research and I hope I was able to
provide some answers for a very specific problem in this context.
There are a lot of people that have contributed to my work in one way or
another.
First and foremost, I want to thank my advisor Christoph Kann, who believed
in my work and always encouraged my interest in the history of philosophy and
ancient philosophy since I was a student. He firmly believes that knowing the
historical origin of philosophical problems and debates is very important to fully
comprehending them and being able to relate them to each other.
Secondly, I want to thank the DFG for financing my position and all members
of the CRC 991 “The Structure of Representations in Language, Cognition, and
Science” for supporting my research and for the interesting interdisciplinary dis-
cussions. Since I cannot thank all of them here individually I will just mention
Sebastian Löbner and Gottfried Vosgerau, who were members of the defense
committee.
Then there are two people who encouraged my interest in philosophy and
helped me to study it when I was still in school. The first is Rainer Brieden, my
philosophy teacher, who passed away earlier this year and to whom I would
have liked to have given a copy of this book. The second is Ulrike Hinke-
Dörnemann, who helped me organize my studies when I was still in school and
always was a great help.
Finally, I want to thank my friends who were always there for me when I got
frustrated, or needed some time off from philosophy, or needed to discuss my
work. I want to start with Sascha Aulich, with whom I could always discuss my
work and philosophy in general. Michaela Felden and Detmer Wulf, with whom
I shared an office. Christina Ringel who greatly supported me and without whom
7
I might have given up. Last but not least I want to thank my parents, since they
always encouraged me to follow my interests and supported me in every possible
way.
It is my firm belief that I would not have been able to write and finish this dis-
sertation if these people (and many others) had not been part of my life.
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Contents
I. Introduction ................................................................................................13
1. Logoi and pathêmata ................................................................................13
2. Theories of concepts .................................................................................15
3. Aristotle and the modal/amodal distinction ........................................19
4. State of the art ...........................................................................................22
5. Method .......................................................................................................24
6. Structure ....................................................................................................27
II. The concept of ‘concept’ ..........................................................................31
1. Theories of concepts and their presuppositions ...................................33
1.1. Concepts and categories as representations .................................33
1.2. Concepts and reference in philosophy and linguistics ...............39
1.3. Concept types and kinds of concepts ...........................................41
1.4. Monism, pluralism and eliminativism concerning
conceptual formats ..........................................................................44
1.5. Concepts as functional kinds, abilities and vehicles ...................45
1.6. Categorization and higher-order thought processes ..................47
1.7. Theories of concepts – a preliminary sketch ................................49
2. Towards a definition of “concept” ..........................................................51
III. ‘Concept’ in the history of philosophy ..............................................59
1. Antiquity ....................................................................................................59
1.1. Plato: Articulating the problem of universals ..............................59
1.2. Stoics: Concept as lekton and phantasia kataleptikê ...................63
1.3. Augustine: Philosophy of language and concepts as
verba mentis......................................................................................66
2. Medieval philosophy ................................................................................68
2.1. Aristoteles Latinus: Conceptus as a technical term .....................68
2.2. Aquinas: An Aristotelian account .................................................69
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