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Chapter 13 - Blood, Pneuma, or Something More Solid? Aristotle on the Material Structure of Perceptual Apparatus

from II - Aristotle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2020

By
Robert Roreitner
Edited by
Hynek Bartoš  and
Colin Guthrie King
Hynek Bartoš
Affiliation:
Charles University, Prague
Colin Guthrie King
Affiliation:
Providence College, Rhode Island
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Summary

Roreitner scrutinizes Aristotle’s physiological description of perceptual processes, for which two alternative interpretations have been advocated in the past: it is either pneuma or blood which secures the communication between the peripheral organs of distal senses and the central organ. Roreitner assesses both these traditional interpretations and provides a third alternative according to which it is the body of blood-vessels rather than their content which provides this communication.

Keywords

Aristotlebloodpneumaperceptionsensessoulblood vessels
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Chapter
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Heat, Pneuma, and Soul in Ancient Philosophy and Science , pp. 288 - 309
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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