10% off all books and free delivery over £40
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

Alexander of Aphrodisias: On the Soul

View All Editions

The selected edition of this book is not available to buy right now.
Add To Wishlist
Write A Review

About

Alexander of Aphrodisias: On the Soul 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. This volume contains the first English translation of the work, as well as a detailed introduction, extensive explanatory notes and a bibliography.

About This Edition

ISBN: 9781472557988
Publication date: 10th April 2014
Author: Victor Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies, University of Michigan Caston
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Format: Paperback
Pagination: 256 pages
Series: Ancient Commentators on Aristotle
Genres: Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge