Mental Representation (Volume 4: Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics)
Editor: Gyula Klima and Alexander W. Hall
Date Of Publication: Dec 2011
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-3364-6
Isbn: 1-4438-3364-9
It is supposed to be common knowledge in the history of ideas that one of the few medieval philosophical contributions preserved in modern philosophical thought is the idea that mental phenomena are distinguished from physical phenomena by their intentionality, their directedness toward some object. As is usually the case with such commonplaces about the history of ideas, especially those concerning medieval ideas, this claim is not quite true. Medieval philosophers routinely described ordinary physical phenomena, such as reflections in mirrors or sounds in the air, as exhibiting intentionality, while they described what modern philosophers would take to be typically mental phenomena, such as sensation and imagination, as ordinary physical processes. Still, it is true that medieval philosophers would regard all acts of cognition as characterized by intentionality, on account of which all these acts are some sort of representations of their intended objects.

Mental Representation explores the intricacies and varieties of the conceptual relationships between intentionality, cognition and mental representation as conceived by some of the greatest medieval philosophers. The clarification of these conceptual connections sheds new light not only on the intriguing historical relationships between medieval and modern thought on these issues, but also on some fundamental questions in the philosophy of mind as it is conceived today.

Gyula Klima is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, New York, USA; Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Founding Member and Director of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, and Editor of its Proceedings. Professor Klima’s most recent book is John Buridan in OUP’s Great Medieval Thinkers series.

Alexander W. Hall is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Clayton State University, Georgia, USA; Assistant Director of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, and Managing Editor of its Proceedings. Hall’s recent scholarship includes Natural Theology in the Middle Ages in the Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology (OUP, 2012).

“The Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics has established itself as a major venue for the publication of high-quality original articles on medieval philosophy. Particularly welcome is its frequent practice of publishing papers in dialogue with each other. It exemplifies magnificently the ways in which medieval and contemporary philosophy can be brought into fruitful conversation.”

– Richard Cross, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

“In the past ten years, the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics has established a unique presence in both philosophy and medieval studies. By providing a venue for the discussion and publication of original philosophical and historiographical studies on the metaphysical insights of medieval authors from a logical perspective, it has opened a heretofore unexploited and much welcome niche of research.”

– Jorge J. E. Gracia, State University of New York at Buffalo, New York, USA

“It is my pleasure to recommend to you the nine volumes, thus far, of the Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics. . . . By focusing on both logic and metaphysical themes, the articles often shed new light on themes and figures that often escaped the notice of previous scholarship. . . . The volumes are a treasure trove in a field that is once again enjoying a renewed interest with academe.”

– Lloyd A. Newton, Benedictine College, Kansas, USA

“The study of medieval philosophy is now flourishing as never before, and these volumes showcase the very best of that work. Among the contributors to these volumes are many of the leading figures in the field, and the topics under investigation are fundamental to philosophy.”

– Robert Pasnau, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

“The Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics is an extremely important network for the study of medieval philosophy. . . . Every paper represents a significant contribution based on absolutely original research that meets a very high standard. All the papers actually promote insightful analysis of medieval texts and thought-provoking discussion of philosophical topics.”

– Fabrizio Amerini, University of Parma, Italy

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