Aristotle and Plotinus set the horizon of inquiry--thinking is thinking on thinking. Discussion of mind, meaning, and subjectivity begins with the question, How is thinking on thinking different from the kind of thinking with which we are familiar? The answer is that 'thinking on thinking' is about the presuppositions, concepts, and problems that generate questions in ancient and modern metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. Topics examined include the nature of intentionality and meaning, identity and relation, mind and consciousness, self-identity and subjectivity--which lead into discussions concerning other minds, the limits of thought and language, and the emergence of aesthetics of the self. The effects of 'thinking on thinking' are mapped, particularly in parsing problems in ancient, modern analytic, and phenomenological thought, with advocacy of its importance in the present age.
Industry Reviews
“In an associative sequence of chapters that is as rigorous as it is aesthetic, Robert Berchman explores numerous aspects of the psychological and mental theories of the ancient Greeks. Readers will especially gain illumination from this author’s courageous pursuit of the difficult text of disclosing genuine intertextual relations, rather than superficial parallels, between these ancient thinkers and their modern counterparts, from Descartes and Kant through to Heidegger, Gadamer, and Wittgenstein.”
—Stephen Gersh, Professor Emeritus, Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame
“Combining profound knowledge of the whole history of philosophy with intense engagement in present theoretical discourses, Robert Berchman creates a fascinating itinerary of reflection which, brilliantly integrating the perspectives of Plato, Aristotle, Origen, and Plotinus, performs thinking on thinking not as an addition to, but as precondition of experience. Questions which are essential for classical philosophy are thus made convincingly manifest in their timeless significance.”
—Salvatore Lavecchia, Associate Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Udine, Italy
“Berchman’s able account of self-awareness in Western philosophy combines his broad command of philology, intellectual history, and philosophical reflection. Since Descartes, the human intellect is detached from its objects in an epistemological distinction between subject and object. Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus properly locate self-awareness in a larger field in which self-awareness embraces the perception of things included in that embrace. Plotinus offers us an aesthetic that may heal the fractured self.”
—Frederic M. Schroeder, Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
“Thinking on Thinking argues cogently that ancient thought does not deal with consciousness in the Cartesian sense that requires private mental states, but rather with self-reflexivity in a broader and more open way that sees thinking as essentially the activity of a ‘We.’ Berchman provides a valuable critical guide to the thought of ancient figures in the context of major currents of modern thinking that may on the surface seem incompatible but should instead be in creative dialogue with deeper currents of ancient thought.”
—Kevin Corrigan, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Emory University
