Table Of ContentTime and the Science of the Soul in
Early Modern Philosophy
Brill’s Studies in
Intellectual History
General Editor
Han van Ruler, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Founded by
Arjo Vanderjagt
Editorial Board
C. S. Celenza, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
M. Colish, Yale University
J. I. Israel, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
A. Koba, University of Tokyo
M. Mugnai, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
W. Otten, University of Chicago
VOLUME 224
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bsih
Time and the Science of the Soul in
Early Modern Philosophy
By
Michael Edwards
LEIdEN • BOSTON
2013
Cover illustration: Four Allegories of Time, Gerard de Jode (dated 1530–1591). © The Trustees of the
British Museum.
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ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 978-90-04-23232-7 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-23233-4 (e-book)
Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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For Kath, Gwen, and Hector
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... ix
Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
PART ONE
ARISTOTELIAN ANd LATE SCHOLASTIC THEORIES
OF TIME ANd THE SOUL
1 Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy ............................................... 15
2 Psychology, the Science of the Soul .................................................. 65
PART TWO
TIME ANd THE SCIENCE OF THE SOUL IN
THE NEW PHILOSOPHY
3 descartes ................................................................................................... 119
4 Hobbes ....................................................................................................... 163
Conclusion: Time and the Science of the Soul between
disciplines ................................................................................................... 207
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 209
Index .................................................................................................................. 219
ACKNOWLEdGMENTS
I have profited immensely from conversations and exchanges over many
years with Cees Leijenhorst, Sachiko Kusukawa, Noel Sugimura, and
Quentin Skinner. My particular thanks go to Annabel Brett, who first
introduced me to intellectual history as an undergraduate, supervised my
doctoral research, and has offered thoughtful criticism, inspiration and
moral support ever since. I also owe a great deal to Richard Serjeantson,
who has been a much-valued source of general learning and good cheer.
Conference and seminar audiences in Cambridge, Helsinki, Nijmegen and
Oxford gave helpful feedback on earlier versions of my argument. I’ve also
learnt a lot from the students I’ve taught and whose research I’ve super-
vised, and in particular from Shoshana Worcester and Harry Pearse. Many
colleagues and friends have kept my spirits up over the years: in alpha-
betical order, thanks go to Peter Agocs, daniel Banks, Christopher Burl-
inson, Peter Garnsey, the late Istvan Hont, Sarah Howard, duncan Kelly,
Gideon Manning, Mark Somos and Ian Williams. All of these people can
claim some credit for any virtues the book may have, but its faults are
mine alone.
I could not have written this book without the material and practical
support of several institutions. The Master and Fellows of Christ’s College,
Cambridge elected me to a Junior Research Fellowship and provided a
welcoming home at the beginning of my career. More recently, Jesus
College, Cambridge has offered a stimulating environment in which to
complete this book, and I am particularly grateful to my Jesus colleagues
Rebecca Flemming, Sam James, Mary Laven, Renaud Morieux and Michael
O’Brien for discussion, friendship and support. The staff of the Rare Books
Room at Cambridge University Library and the British Library have also
been unfailingly helpful. Some of the material discussed in Chapter Two
has been in published in another form as “Time, duration and the Soul
in Late Aristotelian Psychology and Natural Philosophy,” in Paul M.M.
Bakker, Cees Leijenhorst & Sander de Boer (eds.) Psychology and the
Other Disciplines (Brill, 2012). I am grateful to the two anonymous review-
ers chosen by Brill for their comments, and to Han van Ruler and Rosanna
Woensdregt for their patience.
My parents, Alan and Jeanette Edwards, have supported me and my
academic interests since childhood, and I am immensely grateful to them
x acknowledgments
for this, and much more besides. I also owe a lot to Tricia, Robert, Lizzie
and George Catford, and to Ruben Hale, for the warmth with which they
have welcomed me into their family, and for the interest they have always
taken in me and my work. Most important of all, my partner Katherine
Catford, my daughter Gwen and my son Hector have given me love, sup-
port and encouragement, and remind me constantly what it means to
spend time well. This book is dedicated to them, with much love and
affection.
