CANCELED - Klaus Corcilius, “Nature and Human Rationality in Aristotle”

Due to Notre Dame's decision to move all courses online until April 13, this event has been canceled.

For more information, visit: coronavirus.nd.edu.

The History of Philosophy Forum is pleased to announce the 2019-2020 Distinguished International Visitor Lecture by Klaus Corcilius (Universität Tübingen): “Nature and Human Rationality in Aristotle.”

Abstract: There has been debate as to whether we should accept “transformative” or “additive” theories of rationality. The question has been whether human rationality should be conceived of as a relatively separate module in addition to our non-rational mental faculties, or rather as something the presence of which transforms the very essence of our non-rational mental faculties. In this paper I argue that Aristotle may be regarded as an ancestor of both of these theories, and that the alternative between additional and transformative theories of rationality therefore falls short of getting at the heart of the matter. I argue further that seeing how Aristotle thinks about the relation between the rational and the non-rational “parts” of the human soul requires us to take a closer look at the teleological relations in which these parts stand, not only towards each other, but also towards other things. The resulting picture, while preserving important elements of the transformative theory, is one of discontinuity between our natural faculties and rationality. 

Contact: Therese Cory

Originally published at historyofphilosophy.nd.edu.