Plato's Philosophy of Mind: Soul, Body and Forms in Plato's Oeuvre

FAIN: FEL-263134-19

Suzanne Obdrzalek
Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, CA 91711-5929)

Research and writing leading to publication of a book on Plato’s philosophy of mind.

In the history of Western philosophy, Plato is often credited with originating dualism, the theory that the soul and body are distinct substances. Nonetheless, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the precise character of Platonic dualism. How, exactly, does Plato conceive of the opposition between the soul and the body? What kind of things does he take the soul and the body to be, and what are the defining attributes of each? How do they interact and potentially constitute a unity, an embodied person? And how does Plato understand the nature of the soul, such that it is capable of disembodied existence and of grasping forms, immaterial essences? Answering this is the central aim of my book, Soul, Body and Forms in Plato. I argue that Plato’s conceptual framework, the way in which he distinguishes body and soul, differs markedly from contemporary approaches, and enables him to offer distinctive answers to questions that are central to the philosophy of mind.