In this course we will try to think well, or at least better, about the notions of mind and spirit. These notions have overlapped and intersected in western and eastern thought for thousands of years. Plato' s Timaeus is perhaps the first piece of writing that concerns itself with the soul, which is seen as the animator of the body. Aristotle's On the soul, usually referred to by its Latin title De Anima, is in part a critique of Plato's views. These doctrines had a great influence on Christian religious thinkers and were known to the scholars of Islam during the phase when Islam formed the largest and most coherent civilization in Arabia and North Africa and parts of Europe. They also became a central part of the first great phase of the university movement in Europe.
In our own day the notions of mind and of soul or spirit have been studied largely under the aegis of natural science or else neglected as superstitious. Some writers, of whom Ken Wilber is the foremost, attempt to find a synthesis that includes both modern science and modern spirituality. This course will try to make up a little ground against this neglect of soul and spirit seen from the vantage point of modern science. We shall look at a variety of writings from the 5th century B.C. to the present day representing writings of both eastern and western traditions which tackle aspects of the mental and the spiritual.