return to list of latest ideas

Single Idea 24046

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind]

Full Idea

How could a spatial understanding understand anything? Wiil it do so with parts, seen as magnitudes or as points? If it is points, the understanding will never get through them all. If magnitudes, it will understand things an unlimited number of times.

Gist of Idea

Understanding is impossible, if it involves the understanding having parts

Source

Aristotle (De Anima [c.329 BCE], 407a09)

A Reaction

This seems to be a strong commitment to the idea that the mind is not physical because it is necessarily non-spatial.

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'De Anima (on the psuche)', ed/tr. Reeve, C.D.C. [Hackett 2017], p.11