Thinking: What Philosophers Think About It

What is “thinking”? A part of the soul, the mind itself, or perhaps part of the unconscious?

Trace the evolution of this concept in the works of the most famous philosophers in history!

Once, René Descartes said: “I think, therefore I am.” But what is “thinking”? And what does it mean to “think”? These questions have occupied the minds of great philosophers for ages. How did they understand the phenomenon of thinking? Socrates believed it was the subjectivity of a person manifested in practical activity; Aristotle saw it as the rational part of the soul striving to know the essence of things. For the first time, Kant investigated such expressions of human nature as reason and feelings; Hegel suggested that thinking belongs to both humans and to Being itself. Freud already connected it with unconscious activity, while American philosophers viewed it as a form of knowledge.

This book will help readers trace how views on the concept of “thinking” have changed and form their own opinion about this amazing phenomenon. The edition includes excerpts from the works of famous ancient and Western European philosophers.