Colloquium: Sept 15th17
Speaker: David Scott (UVic)
Title: Descartes on Thought: Evolution of a Misinterpretation
Abstract:
Over the past forty years or so a critique has emerged of a long-standing interpretation of Descartes on the nature of thought. On the interpretation being rejected, Descartes departed from his Aristotelian forbears by “mentalizing” the faculties of sensation and imagination, including them under the general category of “thought” to their complete exclusion from the material domain. I focus on what is arguably the central piece of textual evidence cited in this revisionist case, the eighth paragraph of Descartes’ “Meditation Two”. This passage contains an extensive list of acts that Descartes designates as “thought”: doubting, understanding, affirming, denying, willing or assenting, withholding will or assent, imaging and sensing. I trace the history of this revisionist reading of this list through six modern interpreters of Descartes, and for both textual and philosophical reasons I conclude that this key passage provides no support for their interpretation.
Friday, September 15th at 2:30pm CLE A303