The brute within
Subtitle: appetitive desire in Plato and Aristotle
By: Hendrik Lorenz.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 229
ISBN-13: 9780199290635
Subjects: Plato; Aristotle; Soul; Desire
Description: "Hendrik Lorenz presents a comprehensive study of Plato's and Aristotle's conception of appetitive desire. They see this as a form of non-rational motivation that humans share with other animals, and which aims primarily at the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. Lorenz explores the cognitive resources that both philosophers make available for the explanation of non-rational desires, and pinpoints what they take rationality to add to the motivational structure of human beings. In doing so, he exposes a remarkable degree of continuity between Plato's and Aristotle's thought in this area. He also sheds fresh light, not only on both philosophers' theories of motivation, but also on how they conceive of the mind, both in itself and in relation to the body."

"The Brute Within will be of substantial interest to anyone engaged in the study of emotion, rationality, motivation, and philosophy of psychology, as well as to ancient philosophers."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Parts of the soul; title: The argument for tripartition; title: Partition; title: The simple picture; title: Imitation and the soul; title: Belief and reason; title: Below belief and reason; title: Preliminaries; title: Phantasia, desire, and locomotion; title: Desire without phantasia; title: The workings of phantasia; title: Phantasia and practical thought; title: Reason and non-rational desire.