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Alexander of Aphrodisias: On the Soul - (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle) by Michael Griffin & Richard Sorabji (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- Around 200 AD, the greatest defender and interpreter of Aristotle within his school, Alexander of Aphrodisias, composed his own book On the Soul, partly following the pattern of Aristotle's.In the first half, translated in this volume, he discusses the soul as the form of the body, and the idea of parts or powers that constitute the soul of living things, including the two lowest powers: nutrition and perception.
- About the Author: Victor Caston is Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies, University of Michigan.
- 256 Pages
- Literary Criticism, Ancient & Classical
- Series Name: Ancient Commentators on Aristotle
Description
About the Book
This is Part I of the first English translation of the philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias' treatise On the Soul, the latest volume in this highly regarded series, The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle.
Book Synopsis
Around 200 AD, the greatest defender and interpreter of Aristotle within his school, Alexander of Aphrodisias, composed his own book On the Soul, partly following the pattern of Aristotle's.
In the first half, translated in this volume, he discusses the soul as the form of the body, and the idea of parts or powers that constitute the soul of living things, including the two lowest powers: nutrition and perception. In the second half, translated in Part II, he discusses perception, representation, desire, understanding and - a notion emphasised by the Stoics - the governing part of the soul. He takes the soul to consist of these powers, which supervene on the mixture of the body's elemental ingredients, just as inanimate powers like buoyancy or lightness can supervene on other qualities. They are new, emergent causal powers of the living thing, which do not belong to the constituent ingredients of the body in themselves.
Through his notion of emergence, he seeks to steer between the Platonic dualism of soul and body and the extreme materialism of his Stoic rivals.
About the Author
Victor Caston is Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies, University of Michigan.