A1 Journal article (refereed)
The Flying and the Masked Man, One More Time : Comments on Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich, ‘The Thought Experimental Method : Avicenna’s Flying Man Argument’ (2020)

Kaukua, J. (2020). The Flying and the Masked Man, One More Time : Comments on Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich, ‘The Thought Experimental Method : Avicenna’s Flying Man Argument’. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 6(3), 285-296. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2019.52

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Kaukua, Jari

Journal or series: Journal of the American Philosophical Association

ISSN: 2053-4477

eISSN: 2053-4485

Publication year: 2020

Volume: 6

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 285-296

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2019.52

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/71746

Abstract

This is a critical comment on Adamson and Benevich 2018, published in issue 4/2 of the J-APA. I raise two closely related objections. The first concerns the objective of the flying man: instead of the question of what the soul is, I argue that it is designed to answer the question of whether the soul exists independently of the body. The second objection concerns the expected result of the argument: instead of knowledge about the quiddity of soul, I claim it yields knowledge about the soul’s existence independently of the body. After the objections, I turn to the masked man fallacy, claiming that although the Adamson-Benevich interpretation does save the argument from the fallacy, this comes at the cost of plausibility. I then give a more modest interpretation that both avoids the fallacy and is plausible. The paper concludes with a remark about the metaphysical possibility of the flying man.

Keywords: Arabic philosophy; philosophy of mind; consciousness (mental properties); soul

Free keywords: Avicenna; flying man; thought experiments

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 1