The Unconscious of Thought in Leibniz, Spinoza, and Hume

Three early modern philosophers, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hume, distinguished themselves from other thinkers by recognizing that minds involve ideas and patterns of thinking that are not conscious. This insight has significant implications for their conceptions of freedom and ethics, as it allows us to understand how people can act against their own interests and in spite of their consciously knowing better. Morejon's book provides a metaphysics of ideas that is helpful for thinking through important problems in contemporary political theory.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 31 August 2022
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Three early modern philosophers—Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hume—recognized that minds necessarily involve ideas and patterns of thinking that are not conscious. This distinction sets them apart from other major early modern thinkers who viewed thinking as synonymous with consciousness, such as Descartes, Malebranche, and Locke. Morejon explores the significance of this insight for their conceptions of freedom and ethics. By systematically analyzing the major writings of these three thinkers and placing them in the context of the history of Western philosophy, he demonstrates that together they provide us with a metaphysics of ideas that is uniquely helpful for thinking through important problems in contemporary political theory. Specifically, it allows us to understand how it is possible for people to act against their own interests and in spite of their consciously knowing better. Readers will gain a sophisticated understanding of what Leibniz, Spinoza, and Hume thought about the metaphysics of ideas, the nature of the human mind, and the limits of individual freedom.

Weight: 466g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399504805