Attention and (Painful) Interest: Revisiting the Interest Theory of Attention. Issue 526 (2nd January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Textor, Mark
• Is Part Of: Mind. Volume 132:Issue 526(2023)
• Page Start: 327
• Page End: 347
• Publication Date: 2023-01-02
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; Philosophy; Periodicals; 190.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mind/fzac059
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0026-4423

Abstract

Abstract: The nineteenth century saw the development of reductive views of attention. The German philosopher and psychologist Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) proposed an original reductive view according to which attention is nothing but interest and interest itself is a positive feeling. Stumpf's view was developed by Francis Bradley (1846-1924), George Frederick Stout (1860-1944), and Josiah Royce (1855-1916 ), but has been overlooked in the recent literature. In this paper, I will expound Stumpf's view of attention, trace it back to its Aristotelian roots and defend the version offered by Stout and Royce. In this version a new kind of feeling, feelings of interest, and value, intellectual value, take centre stage.