Sophie of Hanover on the Soul–Body Relationship

Abstract This chapter aims to examine Sophie of Hanover’s original, but often overlooked contribution to the debate over the soul–body relationship. It explains that her main interest is in problems pertaining to the influence of bodily motion on the soul, for instance how the mother’s physiological imagination has an impact on the development of the foetus or how ideas are caused by material determinations. It also argues that Sophie remains sceptical of any metaphysical explanation in the domain of rational psychology, for instance of the Leibnizian hypothesis of pre-established harmony. For a similar reason, I contend that it is very unlikely that Sophie would maintain a materialistic conception of ideas, as commentators have argued.