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The Inner Cathedral: Mental Architecture in High Scholasticism

In: Vivarium
Author:
Peter King University of Toronto

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Online Publication Date:
01 Jan 2008
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Abstract

Mediaeval psychological theory was a “faculty psychology”: a confederation of semiautonomous sub-personal agents, the interaction of which constitutes our psychological experience. One such faculty was intellective appetite, that is, the will. On what grounds was the will taken to be a distinct faculty? After a brief survey of Aristotle's criteria for identifying and distinguishing mental faculties, I look in some detail at the mainstream mediaeval view, given clear expression by Thomas Aquinas, and then at the dissenting views of John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. I conclude with some reflections on why the mainstream mediaeval view was discarded by Descartes.

Title:
The Inner Cathedral: Mental Architecture in High Scholasticism
Article Type:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/156853408X360911
Language:
English
Pages:
253–274
Keywords:
MEDIEVAL PSYCHOLOGY; OCKHAM; SCOTUS; AQUINAS; MENTAL FACULTIES; WILL
In:
Vivarium
In:
Volume 46: Issue 3
Publisher:
Brill
E-ISSN:
1568-5349
Print ISSN:
0042-7543
Subjects:
Medieval History, History, Intellectual History, Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy

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