Philosophers and the Duality of subject/spirit

Philosophers and the Duality subject/spirit
seminar from Ecclesiastical School of Philosophy, department from Filosofía at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and group Mente Cerebro from Institute for Culture and Society (ICS)
Juan Arana Cañedo-Argüelles. Pamplona, September 9, 2026.

Juan Arana is Full Professor Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Seville and a member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. More information.

summary

The author presents and discusses his latest book: *Los filósofos y la dualidad* ( subject/espíritu). * subject * and *espíritu* refer to the most immediate realities: that which we access through our external and internal senses (the * subject*); and that which we experience through introspection (the *espíritu*). However, the philosophical inquiry into these concepts has encountered difficulties comparable to those posed by the most inaccessible entities. They undoubtedly form the duality that has sparked the most issue of discussions throughout the history of thought. Rather than studying it thematically or systematically, the authors of this Issue have selected 42 representative figures from all eras and explain how they understand both notions and how they conceive of their mutual relationships. The spectrum of proposals is extremely varied: ranging from denying the existence of one of them—reducing it to the other—to separating them more decisively or arguing that they are complementary. Until the advent of Modernity, the discussion touched equally on all aspects of ontology and the theory of the “ knowledge,” but in contemporary discourse, the “ reference letter ” to the anthropological has become dominant, while also continuing to influence the biological and even the artificial. Here we find a comprehensive overview of what philosophy has managed to elucidate regarding two ideas that form the main axis of understanding reality, without neglecting the contributions of science and religion.