The Body/Body Problem

by Danto, Arthur C.

• ISBN13: 9780520212824
• ISBN10: 0520212827
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

The overall subject of the essays in The Body/Body Problem is the traditional one of what our ultimate makeup is, as creatures with minds and bodies. The central thesis is that we are beings who represent--and misrepresent--actual and possible worlds. Addressing philosophical questions of mental representation, Danto presents his distinctive approach to some of the most enduring topics in philosophy. He is concerned with the nature of description, the status of the external world, action theory, the philosophy of history, and the philosophical status of psychoanalytic explanation. Representation is a central concept in philosophy, says Danto, with differences among philosophers arising in the ways they account for how representations connect to the world or to the individuals possessing them, and how they connect with one another to form systems of beliefs, feelings, and attitudes. In these essays Danto's own voice, with his arguments and speculations, provides rich philosophical pleasures that will endure, to borrow from Santayana, "under whatever sky." Arthur C. Danto is one of the most original and multitalented philosophers writing today, a thinker whose interests traverse the boundaries of traditional understandings of philosophy. Best known for his contributions to the philosophy of art and aesthetics, Danto is also esteemed for his work in the history of philosophy, the philosophy of history, philosophical psychology, and action theory. These two volumes, each with an introduction by the author, contain essays spanning more than twenty-five years that have been selected to highlight the inseparability of philosophy and art in Danto's work. Together they present the thinking of Arthur C. Danto at his very best.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: Philosophy, Representation, and History	1	(18)
1. Representational Properties and Mind/Body Identity	19	(12)
2. The Representational Character of Ideas and the Problem of the External World	31	(14)
3. Basic Actions and Basic Concepts	45	(18)
4. Action, Knowledge, and Representation	63	(19)
5. Outline of a Theory of Sentential States	82	(16)
6. Depiction and Description	98	(24)
7. Freudian Explanations and the Language of the Unconscious	122	(25)
8. History and Representation	147	(17)
9. The Decline and Fall of the Analytical Philosophy of History	164	(20)
10. The Body/Body Problem	184	(22)
11. Beautiful Science and the Future of Criticism	206	(21)
12. In Their Own Voice: Philosophical Writing and Actual Experience	227	(20)
Index	247