Blackwell Reference Online

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P hilosophy of mind [from Latin facultas , derived from facilis , easy + facere , make; Greek dunamis ] Aristotle gave two definitions for faculty: (1) a power or function of soul to cause something, such as volition, sense, and intellect; and (2) a potentiality which would be actualized by form . Both Aristotelian senses persisted through medieval philosophy to modern philosophy, but faculty has come increasingly to be used in the first sense. Kant distinguished the faculties (German Vermogen ) of the soul, which include the faculties of knowledge, feeling of pleasure and displeasure, and desire, and the faculties of cognition, which include the lower faculties of sensibility and the higher faculties of reason, judgment , and understanding . He then established analogies between the faculties of soul and the higher faculties of cognition. The faculty of knowledge is related to that of understanding, and both are applied to the area of nature. The faculty of reason is related to that of desire, and both are applied to the area of freedom. The faculty of judgment is related to the feeling of pleasure and displeasure, and both are applied to the area of art. Modern psychologists have criticized the use of the notion of faculty, but the extent to which this calls for revision in Kantian doctrine is uncertain. An appeal to the notion of faculty in doing philosophy ... log in or subscribe to read full text