Mental Acts (Key Texts) [Paperback]

Peter Geach (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1890318698 | ISBN-13: 978-1890318697 | Publication Date: September 20, 2001

Geach insists, in opposition to the behaviorism of the day, that there are episodic mental acts such as acts of judgment. How to characterize such mental acts remains as problematic as it was fifty years ago, and his book still has much to teach us. He begins with an attack on the abstractionist theory of concept-formation, then goes on to criticize the relational theory of judgment propounded by Bertrand Russell. Moving from criticism to construction, Geach first offers an improved version of Russell’s analysis, then moves on to offer an alternative of his own.

Product Details

• Paperback: 151 pages
• Publisher: St. Augustines Press (September 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890318698
• ISBN-13: 978-1890318697
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,187,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Geach - a new edition?, March 11, 2010

By 

G. R. Shiplett "grshiplett" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mental Acts (Key Texts) (Paperback)

It is essential to know if this edition has any amendents when compared to the re-edition of the 1957 text in 1971.

A Catholic reader might profitably read this book along with Bernard Lonergan's "Insight" (1958) and Alasdair MacIntyre's "Whose Rationality? Whose Justice?"

The non-theist reader may want to look at Husserl's posthumous "Experience and Judgment" in addition to the standard texts such as Roderick Chisholm "Perceiving" and Searle's "Intentionality" (although Husserl was a theist and a convert to Lutheranism, his theism has no obvious impact on his views concerning method, mathematics, epistemology, psychology and ontology.)

Geach is at pains to deliver Wittgenstein from the charge of degenerating into behaviourism (as in Ryle's Concept of Mind) but the real interest lies deeper in driving a wedge between experience and judgment - in effect a rejection of Hume without falling into the embrace of neo-Kantianism.

Geach is credited with the revival of interest in Aquinas - part of a myth that interest in Aquinas had ever flagged - Thomas was merely eclipsed by Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Kepler.

The real issue remains how to characterize the mental in experience, perception, consciousness, belief, assertion, judgment and evaluation - as can be seen in the work of numerous philosophers ranging from Colin McGinn to Alasdair MAcIntyre and many others along multiple dimensions pursuing multiple and diverse threads.