Mind in an atomistic world
Francesca Masi, Francesco Verde
July 6, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429508219-13 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Citations | 4 |
| Key points | Argues that Epicurus holds the soul and mind to emerge from a specific aggregation of suitable atoms, acquiring properties termed 'apogennethenta,' and that acknowledging the mind's causal self-determination and identifying it with rational activity is enough, from a diachronic perspective, to disprove the idea that a subject's dispositions and actions depend on genetic heritage and environmental context. |
Abstract
One of the main aims of contemporary philosophy of mind is to explain the nature and functioning of the mind in the physical world. Epicurus addresses two questions that link back to the mind-body problem. The first concerns the composition of the soul and its functioning with respect to the body. The second question concerns the nature and function of mental states, such as memories, in relation to the atomic constitution of the human organism. The soul and the mind come about through a specific aggregation of suitable atoms and immediately acquire a range of properties, called apogennethenta . Acknowledging the mind&s;s causal power of self-determination and identifying it with its rational activity is enough, from a diachronic perspective, to disprove the idea that the dispositions and actions of a subject depend upon his/her genetic heritage and the environmental context which he/she interacts with.