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Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul
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Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul

A special issue of Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 9852

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Georgios Steiris

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Guest Editor
Department of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15703 Athens, Greece
Interests: medieval and renaissance philosophy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dimitrios Vasilakis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Philosophische Fakultät, Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums, Universität Erfurt, 99089 Erfurt, Germany
2. Department. of Philosophy, University of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece
Interests: philosophy of late antiquity; patristics and byzantine philosophy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soul as an object of philosophical enquiry has always formed a point of convergence between metaphysics and ethics, and hence anthropology, as well as natural philosophy, especially qua biology. Philosophers have been pondering about soul’s status, structure and interrelations from the very beginnings of philosophy, and still do today, despite the more recent development of psychology as an autonomous scientific discipline with various subdivisions. The journal Philosophies, sensitive not only to core issues calling for philosophical reflection, but also to the various historical and cultural settings in which philosophical concepts and theological ideas were put forth, aims to devote a Special Issue to what pertains to theories of soul that were formulated in Antiquity and the Long Middle Ages. The time delineation makes sense, since the Middle Ages, in its triple expression in Western Europe (Latin-speaking), Byzantium (Greek-speaking) and the Islamic World, can be seen as the inheritor of the ancient philosophical wisdom, which dealt specifically with soul (of both human and non-human beings).

Hence, we are pleased to invite you to submit articles on the topic as has been broadly defined above. Papers can be comparative (in both the diachronic and the synchronic axes) or not; in the case of comparative articles, philosophy and science in the Renaissance would be another point of reference in itself (as an inheritor of ancient and medieval wisdom), as well as its so-called scientiae occultae. Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following: divisions and faculties of soul; soul and personal identity; soul’s relation to body; the role and mechanics of cognition; the role and mechanics of sense-perception; imagination, dreams and prophecy; soul as an image of the divine; the state of intellect; soul’s desires and will.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Georgios Steiris
Dr. Dimitrios Vasilakis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Philosophies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soul and body
  • cognition
  • desire
  • imagination
  • faculties and divisions of soul
  • intellect
  • perception
  • will

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 352 KiB  
Article
Proclus on ἕνωσις: Knowing the One by the One in the Soul
by Van Tu
Philosophies 2024, 9(4), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9040100 - 8 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1311
Abstract
At Plato’s insistence to become as godlike as one can, the Neoplatonists seek their salvation in union with the first principle they call the One, identifying this union as the highest end of philosophy. As with all aspirations, the transition from theoretical ideal [...] Read more.
At Plato’s insistence to become as godlike as one can, the Neoplatonists seek their salvation in union with the first principle they call the One, identifying this union as the highest end of philosophy. As with all aspirations, the transition from theoretical ideal to practical implementation remains a perennial problem: how is it possible for a person, as a mere mortal, to leave the person’s confined ontological station to unite with the divine, transcendent first principle? This paper is an attempt to reconstruct Proclus’ highly distinctive answer to this question of enormous importance through a close examination of his development of the late Neoplatonic notion of the One in the soul (τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν ἓν). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
13 pages, 253 KiB  
Article
The Perception of God through Light in Plato and Dionysius the Areopagite
by Konstantinos Laparidis
Philosophies 2024, 9(3), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9030090 - 20 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1025
Abstract
This article explores the soul’s capacity to see God. This is the process by which a human subject can apprehend and define the nature of God on a philosophical and theological level. Two conceptually very close philosophers, Plato and Dionysius the Areopagite (pseudo-Dionysius), [...] Read more.
This article explores the soul’s capacity to see God. This is the process by which a human subject can apprehend and define the nature of God on a philosophical and theological level. Two conceptually very close philosophers, Plato and Dionysius the Areopagite (pseudo-Dionysius), highlighted this metaphysical function. The article will look into light as a concept of the mind and an expression of God’s nature. For Plato, God is the visible light, whereas for Areopagite, it is the invisible light. At the conceptual level, “God” will eventually combine the Platonic (Form of) Good(ness), or the “Good”, with the Christian God, perceived and defined as Goodness, beauty, perfection, and virtue. In attempting to know God, the soul follows an ascending or descending path, and the concept of negation will play a crucial role in this metaphysical and theological function. It will eventually be shown that the Good is the essence of God and, at the same time, what defines his unique singularity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
17 pages, 357 KiB  
Article
The Mythological Aspect of Plato’s Phaedo as Disclosing the Soul’s Ontological Significance
by Marina Marren and Kevin C. Marren
Philosophies 2024, 9(3), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9030089 - 19 Jun 2024
Viewed by 976
Abstract
This essay offers an interpretation of Plato’s Phaedo, which proceeds in two parts: (1) methodological interpretation of myth and (2) application of the method to the analysis of the soul. The paper claims that the myths in this dialogue are not limited [...] Read more.
This essay offers an interpretation of Plato’s Phaedo, which proceeds in two parts: (1) methodological interpretation of myth and (2) application of the method to the analysis of the soul. The paper claims that the myths in this dialogue are not limited to the explicitly mythical sections but that the entirety of the Phaedo—including the arguments that it presents—is saturated with myth. Through this interpretive lens, the soul, as it appears in the Phaedo, ceases to be characterized as a mere thing and gains an ontological dimension. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
13 pages, 1122 KiB  
Article
Bessarion on the Value of Oral Teaching and the Rule of Secrecy
by Georgios Steiris
Philosophies 2024, 9(3), 81; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9030081 - 5 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1623
Abstract
Cardinal Bessarion (1408–1472), in the second chapter of the first book of his influential work In calumniatorem Platonis, attempted to reply to Georgios Trapezuntios’ (1396–1474) criticism against Plato in the Comparatio Philosophorum Platonis et Aristotelis. Bessarion investigates why the Athenian philosopher [...] Read more.
Cardinal Bessarion (1408–1472), in the second chapter of the first book of his influential work In calumniatorem Platonis, attempted to reply to Georgios Trapezuntios’ (1396–1474) criticism against Plato in the Comparatio Philosophorum Platonis et Aristotelis. Bessarion investigates why the Athenian philosopher maintained, in several dialogues, that the sacred truths should not be communicated to the general public and argued in favor of the value of oral transmission of knowledge, largely based on his theory about the cognitive processes. Recently, Fr. Bessarion Kouotsis has argued that Cardinal Bessarion’s reasoning draws primarily on the “Disciplina Arcani”, i.e., the rule of secrecy, which was an established practice of the Early Christian Church, aimed at protecting and preserving the core elements of the religion from outsiders. While I find Kouotsis’ approach interesting and thought-provoking—for instance, the idea that Bessarion’s argumentation was likely influenced by Eastern Christian views on the rule of secrecy—I intend, first of all, to discuss why Bessarion did not explicitly mention it. Moreover, I would like to argue that Bessarion’s good knowledge of the long Platonic tradition and Eastern mysticism, encompassing both pagan and Christian elements, should also be considered a significant source. Furthermore, I would like to question Kouotsis’ implicit argument that Bessarion’s views were dominated by his training in Orthodox theology and discuss the possibility that Pletho’s (1355–1454) teaching was the obvious influence for Bessarion’s defense of secrecy. After all, we should bear in mind that Anastos has already pointed out Pletho’s reverence for the rule of secrecy. Finally, I would like to support that Bessarion, in the specific text, focused predominantly on the epistemological and cognitive aspects of oral teaching, resorting to the rule of secrecy only to enhance his views. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
20 pages, 404 KiB  
Article
Soul as Principle in Plato’s Charmides: A Reading of Plato’s Anthropological Ontology Based on Hermias Alexandrinus on Plato’s Phaedrus
by Melina G. Mouzala
Philosophies 2024, 9(3), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9030077 - 26 May 2024
Viewed by 897
Abstract
This paper aims to interpret the role of the soul as ontological, intellectual or cognitive and as the moral principle within the frame of the holistic conception of human psychosomatic health that emerges from the context of Zalmoxian medicine in the proemium of [...] Read more.
This paper aims to interpret the role of the soul as ontological, intellectual or cognitive and as the moral principle within the frame of the holistic conception of human psychosomatic health that emerges from the context of Zalmoxian medicine in the proemium of Plato’s Charmides. It examines what the ontological status of the soul is in relation to the body and the body–soul complex of man considered as a psychosomatic whole. By comparing the presentation of the soul as principle in the Charmides and the Phaedrus, the paper defends the thesis that in the former dialogue, Plato develops his own anthropological ontology, which paves the way for the salvation of human existence and health. The soul is bestowed with an ontological primacy that determines the philosophical and medical presuppositions for treating human illness under a holistic view. The interpretation of the ontological relation of the soul to the body and the entire human being in the context of Zalmoxian holistic medicine is based on Hermias Alexandrinus’ exegesis of the conception of the soul as principle in the Phaedrus. This paper demonstrates that, from both the medical holistic viewpoint and the anthropological philosophical perspective, the soul is the principle and πρῶτον with regard to the body and the body–soul complex without being the whole that the corresponding medical epistemology must apprehend. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
33 pages, 46215 KiB  
Article
The Necessity and Goodness of Animals in Sijistānī’s Kashf Al-Maḥjūb
by Peter Adamson and Hanif Amin Beidokhti
Philosophies 2024, 9(3), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9030072 - 20 May 2024
Viewed by 1309
Abstract
The Neoplatonic notion of “emanation” implies a required progression through hierarchical stages, originating from the highest principle (the One or God) and cascading down through a series of principles. While this process is deemed necessary, it is also inherently good, even “choiceworthy”, aligning [...] Read more.
The Neoplatonic notion of “emanation” implies a required progression through hierarchical stages, originating from the highest principle (the One or God) and cascading down through a series of principles. While this process is deemed necessary, it is also inherently good, even “choiceworthy”, aligning with the identification of the first principle with the Good. Plotinus, a prominent Neoplatonist, emphasizes the beauty and goodness of the sensible world, governed by divine providence. This perspective, transmitted through Arabic adaptations of Plotinus, influences Islamic philosophers too. This paper delves into the thought of the Ismāʿīlī philosopher Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī (d. after. 349/971), exploring the interplay of necessity and goodness in his cosmology, with a focus on non-human animals. Sijistānī’s Persian Uncovering the Veiled provides a unique perspective on animals, presenting them as both necessary unfoldings of the universal intellect and inherently good beings with intrinsic value. The paper concludes with an appendix featuring an improved edition and English translation of relevant passages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul)
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