Hendrik Lorenz presents a comprehensive study of Plato's and Aristotle's conceptions of non-rational desire. They see this as something that humans share with animals, and which aims primarily at the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. Lorenz explores the cognitive resources that both philosophers
make available for the explanation of such desires, and what they take rationality to add to the motivational structure of human beings. In doing so, he exposes a remarkable degree of continuity between Plato's and Aristotle's thought in this area. He also sheds fresh light, not only on both
philosophers' theories of motivation, but also on how they conceive of the mind, both in itself and in relation to the body.
Introduction
I. Appetite and Reason in Plato's Republic
1. Parts of the soul
2. The argument for tripartition
3. Partition
4. The simple picture
II. Belief and Appearance in Plato
5. Imitation and the soul
6. Belief and reason
7. Below belief and
reason
III. Phantasia and Non-Rational Desire in Aristotle
8. Preliminaries
9. Phantasia, desire, and locomotion
10. Desire without phantasia
11. The workings of phantasia
12. Phantasia and practical thought
13. Reason and non-rational desire
Conclusion
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Hendrik Lorenz is at Princeton University.
