ABSTRACT
Counterfactual history of philosophy is part of history of philosophy, which in turn belongs to the enterprise of historical explanation. When doing history, as Geoffrey Hawthorn points out:Understanding possibility is at the heart of understanding itself. By inquiring into alternative philosophical histories that are plausible, as opposed to merely possible, we are not just explaining, but also aiming to increase understanding of the cases at hand. Technically, the query William Molyneux posed to his companion comprises a matter for experimental investigation in what would now be called neuroscience and has, over the centuries, indeed regularly been taken up in that field. A human mind, Amo states, is: a purely actual and immaterial substance which, in exchange with the living and organic body in which it belongs, understands and operates from intentions to an end of which it is self-conscious.
