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Philosophical Problems in Sense Perception: Testing the Limits of Aristotelianism Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind 26 David Bennett Juhana Toivanen Editors Philosophical Problems in Sense Perception: Testing the Limits of Aristotelianism Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind Volume 26 Series Editors Prof. Henrik Lagerlund, Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Prof. Mikko Yrjönsuuri, University of Jyväskylä, Academy of Finland and University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland Editorial Board Members Emeritus Prof. Lilli Alanen, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Joël Biard, Professor of Philosophy, University of Tours, Paris, France Michael Della Rocca, Departement of Philosophy, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA Eyjolfur Emilsson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Patricia Kitcher, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York, USA Simo Knuuttila, Emeritus Professor, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland Béatrice M. Longuenesse, Emerita Professor, New York University, New York, USA Calvin Normore, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA The aim of the series Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind is to foster historical research into the nature of thinking and the workings of the mind. The volumes address topics of intellectual history that would nowadays fall into different disciplines like philosophy of mind, philosophical psychology, arti"cial intelligence, cognitive science, etc. The monographs and collections of articles in the series are historically reliable as well as congenial to the contemporary reader. They provide original insights into central contemporary problems by looking at them in historical contexts, addressing issues like consciousness, representation and intentionality, mind and body, the self and the emotions. In this way, the books open up new perspectives for research on these topics. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6539 David Bennett • Juhana Toivanen Editors Philosophical Problems in Sense Perception: Testing the Limits of Aristotelianism Editors David Bennett Juhana Toivanen Department of Philosophy, Linguistics, and Department of Social Sciences and Theory of Science Philosophy University of Gothenburg University of Jyväskylä Göteborg, Sweden Jyväskylä, Finland ISSN 1573-5834 ISSN 2542-9922 (electronic) Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind ISBN 978-3-030-56945-7 ISBN 978-3-030-56946-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56946-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, speci"cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on micro"lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci"c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional af"liations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgements The editors would like to thank Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, whose generous "nan- cial support of the research programme “Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition” enabled this work. We are also grateful to the Academy of Finland for funding the "nal stages of the edito- rial work. Many colleagues were exceedingly generous with their time, reading and review- ing contributions, responding to our frequent requests for advice without hesitation: thanks especially to Pavel Gregorić, Mika Perälä, Miira Tuominen, Börje Bydén and Jakob Fink. Our colleagues at Representation and Reality were always forth- coming and supportive: special thanks are due to the director of the programme, Christina Thomsen Thörnqvist, and to Ana María Mora-Márquez, who was instru- mental in launching this project. Nothing at all would have been accomplished if it weren’t for the tireless work of Andreas Ott behind the scenes. Most of all, we would like to thank our contributors, some of whom have had to wait a long time to see this volume come to fruition. The germ of this collection emerged during a conference in 2015, in which several of our authors participated. Other scholars were approached and asked to direct their efforts to the theme of a conference they did not attend, and we were grati"ed and delighted by their enthu- siasm for the project and their contributions, which have allowed us to produce a more inclusive volume. In addition to the normal obligations of academic life, our contributors made heroic efforts during the global Coronavirus pandemic to ensure that the volume was submitted on time. Finally, we are grateful to Christi Lue, Rathika Ramkumar, and Deepthi Vasudevan, our patient minders at Springer. They put up with all manner of confu- sion from us, but they were always able to bring us back on the right track. We dedicate this volume to Dionysus, the greatest among ancient and living gods. v Contents 1 Introduction . 1 David Bennett and Juhana Toivanen 2 Aristotle on the Transmission of Information: Receiving Form Without the Matter . 15 Victor Caston 3 Aristotle on Perception as Representation . 57 Todd Ganson 4 Reply to Ganson . 69 Mark Eli Kalderon 5 The Case of Red-Stained Mirrors: Perception, Strange Phenomena, and the Role of Exemplification in Aristotle . 77 Filip Radovic 6 Alexander of Aphrodisias on Simultaneous Perception. 91 Attila Hangai 7 Common Sense in Themistius and Its Reception in the pseudo- Philoponus and Avicenna . 125 Elisa Coda 8 On Common Sense, Estimation, and the Soul’s Unity in Avicenna . 151 Jari Kaukua 9 Sense Perception in Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī: A Theologian’s Encounter with Avicennan Psychology . 161 Laura Hassan 10 Setting One’s Sights on Sight: Observations on Sense Perception in Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī . 185 Jon McGinnis vii viii Contents 11 John of Jandun on Sense Perception and Instantaneous Change . 193 Aurélien Robert 12 Alexander of Aphrodisias, Brito and Jandun: Comments on Aurélien Robert’s Paper . 213 Sten Ebbesen 13 Attention, Recognition, and Error in Nicole Oresme’s Psychology . 223 Christophe Grellard 14 Activity, Judgment, and Recognition in Nicole Oresme’s Philosophy of Perception . 239 José Filipe Silva Index . 255 Abbreviations of Aristotle’s Works APo. Analytica Posteriora Cat. Categoriae de An. de Anima Div.Somn de Divinatione per Somnia EN Ethica Nicomachea GA de Generatione Animalium GC de Generatione et Corruptione HA Historia Animalium Insomn. de Insomniis Int. de Interpretatione MA de Motu Animalium Mem. de Memoria Metaph. Metaphysica Mete. Meteorologica PA de Partibus Animalium Ph. Physica Rh. Rhetorica Sens. de Sensu et Sensato Somn.Vig. de Somno et Vigilia Top. Topica ix About the Authors David Bennett was until recently a Research Associate in Representation and Reality research programme at the University of Gothenburg (2014–2019). He spe- cializes in the philosophical and theological controversies of the ninth to tenth cen- tury Islamicate world, particularly the early development of Muʿtazilite thought. He has written on pre-Avicennan accounts of sense perception, veridical dreams, and conceptualization, and he is currently working on a monograph about atoms. Victor Caston is a Professor of philosophy of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan. His work focuses on the philosophy of mind and metaphysics in ancient Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle and the Peripatetic tradition, as well as the Stoics, with articles on the mind-body problem, mental causation, conscious- ness, and intentionality. He is currently working on a monograph, The Stoics on Content and Mental Representation, as well as "nishing the second volume of his translation and commentary of Alexander’s On the Soul. Elisa Coda is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at the Centre national de la recherche scienti"que in Paris (Project Acronym: THEIA), 2020–2022. She is a member of the Research Centre “Learning Roads” (University of Pisa, Italy). She has published on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin traditions of the Greek commentar- ies on Aristotle’s De Caelo, in particular Themistius’ paraphrase. Sten Ebbesen is an Emeritus Professor of Greek and Latin with special regard to the Aristotelian Tradition (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). He is the author of some 300 scholarly articles and books, most of them on late ancient and medieval philosophy, and many of them including editions or previously unpublished texts. He is a fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and
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