Thinking on Thinking: Studies in Mind, Meaning, and Subjectivity
Ebook
Overview
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.
“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
- Title: Thinking on Thinking: Studies in Mind, Meaning, and Subjectivity
- Author: Robert M. Berchman
- Series: Foro di Studi Avanzati
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2021
- Pages: 456
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781725273832, 9781725273825, 1725273829, 9781725273818, 1725273810, 1725273837
- Resource ID: LLS:9781725273832
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2026-02-22T10:53:26Z
Robert M. Berchman is an Academic Fellow of the Foro di Studi Avanzati in Rome and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology/Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, in the United States. His books, edited works, and articles focus on history of philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and epistemology of theology.