Thursday, January 31, 2013

The mind, the soul, and action

For not being a philosopher, Arendt has a rather comprehensive philosophy involving the mind-body connection.  Arendt says the soul is essentially the inner workings of the body that can be expressed through emotions.  She also says that thought and speech are interconnected, yet thought has no outward expression.  She clearly uses many metaphors to explain thought, but none of them seem to back up the other one.  The mind and soul are connected, as well as mind and action, but they are not dependent on it.  I am curious to see what she says to bring all these concepts together.  Thoughtlessness may be the cause of evil, but it is not quite clear how.  If thought is connected to speech and the soul, you would think they would both be disrupted by thoughtlessness instead of functioning perfectly.  The one consolation we have so far is that maybe the emotions brought about by the soul may be affected to keep someone who is thoughtless from feeling remorse or sympathy.  Regardless, there just seems to be more questions than answers.

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