Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (forthcoming)
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Abstract |
I argue that a study of the Nicomachean Ethics and of the Parva Naturalia shows that Aristotle had a notion of attention. This notion captures the common aspects of apparently different phenomena like perceiving something vividly, being distracted by a loud sound or by a musical piece, focusing on a geometrical problem. For Aristotle, these phenomena involve a specific selectivity that is the outcome of the competition between different cognitive stimuli. This selectivity is attention. I argue that Aristotle studied the common aspects of the physiological processes at the basis of attention and its connection with pleasure. His notion can explain perceptual attention and intellectual attention as voluntary or involuntary phenomena. In addition, it sheds light on how attention and enjoyment can enhance our cognitive activities.
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Keywords | Aristotle Attention Perception thought Pleasure |
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References found in this work BETA
Structuring Mind. The Nature of Attention and How It Shapes Consciousness.Sebastian Watzl - 2017 - Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
The Brute Within: Appetitive Desire in Plato and Aristotle.Hendrik Lorenz - 2006 - Oxford University Press.
Attention is Cognitive Unison: An Essay in Philosophical Psychology.Christopher Mole - 2010 - Oxford University Press.
What is Consciousness?David M. Armstrong - 1981 - In John Heil (ed.), The Nature of Mind. Cornell University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Non-Standard Emotions and Aesthetic Understanding.Irene Martínez Marín - 2020 - Estetika 2 (57):135–49.
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