This book is part of a trilogy based on the Stanton Lectures in the Philosophy of Religion delivered at the University of Cambridge in 1986–8. This second volume attempts to restate a traditional philosophy of mind, drawing upon philosophical and poetic resources that are often neglected in modern and post-modern thought, and emphasizing the moral and political implications of differing ‘philosophies of mind and value’. The book presents a study of the soul as it has traditionally been conceived and as it can be understood through imaginative attention to our changing moods, beliefs, and fears ... More

This book is part of a trilogy based on the Stanton Lectures in the Philosophy of Religion delivered at the University of Cambridge in 1986–8. This second volume attempts to restate a traditional philosophy of mind, drawing upon philosophical and poetic resources that are often neglected in modern and post-modern thought, and emphasizing the moral and political implications of differing ‘philosophies of mind and value’. The book presents a study of the soul as it has traditionally been conceived and as it can be understood through imaginative attention to our changing moods, beliefs, and fears. It argues that without that traditional concept we have little reason to believe that liberal values (rational thought and individual autonomy) are either possible or desirable. Particular topics discussed include the political context of identity claims, the uses of introspection, free will, ‘the beast within’ as alien monster or necessary angel, the possibility of knowledge and the dangers of curiosity, the fear of death, the philoprogenitive gene, the political roots of the distinction between facts and values, and the body–mind problem.