ENGLISH

Porphyry: "To Gaurus on how embryos are ensouled" and "On what is in our power"

By James Wilberding

Book information

Publisher
Bristol Classical Press;Bloomsbury Academic
Year
2011
ISBN
0715638580, 9780715638583, 9781472501677, 1472501675, 9781472557872, 1472557875, 1191211231
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1333988 bytes)
Series
Ancient commentators on Aristotle
Pages
191\191
Time added
2015-12-23 22:00:00
Plato. -- Republic. Soul -- Early works to 1800. E

Description

Concerning embryos, Porphyry takes an original view on issues that had been left undecided by his teacher Plotinus and earlier by the doctor Galen. What role is played in the development of the embryo by the souls or the natures of the father, of the mother, of the embryo, or of the whole world? Porphyry's detailed answer, in contrast to Aristotle's, gives a big role to the soul and to the nature of the mother, without, however, abandoning Aristotle's view that the mother supplies no seed. In the fragments of "On What is in Our Power", "Porphyry" discusses Plato's idea that we choose each of our incarnations, and so are responsible for what happens in our lives.

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