Aristotle on the Rationality of Recollection: Reasoning, Inquiry, and Telic Sensitivity

Abstract

In On Memory and Recollection , Aristotle makes the curious remark that recollection is ‘a sort of reasoning’ ( sullogismos tis ) (453a10). The remark is especially puzzling in light of the automatic and associative character of what he takes to be typical recollective processes, since these features can create the impression that recollection is due merely to a triggering mechanism. This paper proposes a reading that resolves this apparent tension. On the proposed reading, the remark points to a basic form of rationality that familiar pictures of reasoning simply presuppose.