Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy [Hardcover]

It is commonly supposed that certain elements of medieval philosophy are uncharacteristically preserved in modern philosophical thought through the idea that mental phenomena are distinguished from physical phenomena by their intentionality, their intrinsic directedness toward some object. The many exceptions to this presumption, however, threaten its viability.

This volume explores the intricacies and varieties of the conceptual relationships medieval thinkers developed among intentionality, cognition, and mental representation. Ranging from Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Buridan through less-familiar writers, the collection sheds new light on the various strands that run between medieval and modern thought and bring us to a number of fundamental questions in the philosophy of mind as it is conceived today.

The essays of this volume explore the conceptual relationships among intentionality, cognition and mental representation as conceived by some of the greatest medieval philosophers, including Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham and Buridan, and some of their lesser known, but in their own time equally influential contemporaries....this rich and stimulating collection will shape future research on medieval theories of intentionality.While the volume is undoubtedly directed primarily to medieval specialists familiar with the figures under study, the essays are written with an eye to accessibility...the contents are of a very high caliber and constitute a major contribution to a vibrant field.This constitutes a very significant collection of essays on medieval theories of cognition and philosophical psychology.