Abstract
Greek and Roman philosophers revised and reinterpreted both Plato and Aristotle, fusing their hierarchy of souls (vegetable, animal, and rational) into new systems. They focused on the vegetable/animal divide but favored some form of continuity running through all three categories. Epicureans and Stoics, along with contemporary physicians (e.g., Galen) focused on materialist accounts, while Neoplatonists favored vitalist accounts, built on participation in the life of the cosmos. The latter, recast as participation in the mind of God, proved highly influential for medieval European biology. Philosophers retained Aristotelian language, but began to shift the terms, narrowing final causes to intentional ends.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Anima is often translated as ‘spirit ’ and animus as ‘mind ’ but they should not be confused with the Greek thumos (Latin: spiritus) and nous (Latin: mens).
- 2.
Gerson (2014) argues that “derive” captures the process better than “emanate,” since it is neither an unpacking nor a differentiation in time. Rather, with Aristotle , Plotinus is concerned with the ontological dependence of one thing on another and the human process of understanding or accounting for that dependence. I think this is an important distinction, but retain the more common term.
- 3.
Allan Gotthelf (1976) argues that Aristotle intended his final causes to be empirical in character—observable potentialities and ends. They were neither divine intention (as Aquinas contended) nor a priori tools for understanding nature (as Kant contended).
References
Epicurus. The Essential Epicurus. Translated by Eugene O’Conner. New York: Prometheus Books, 1993.
Galen. On the Natural Faculties. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.
Gerson, Lloyd. “Plotinus.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2014 ed. Stanford University, 1997–. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/plotinus/.
Gotthelf, A. “Aristotle’s Conception of Final Causality.” Review of Metaphysics 30 (1976): 226–254.
Gundert, Beate. “Soma and Psyche in Hippocratic Medicine.” In Psyche and Soma: Physicians and Metaphysicians on the Mind-Body Problem from Antiquity to Enlightenment, edited by John P. Wright and Paul Potter, 13–35 Oxford: Clarendon, 2000.
Hall, Matthew. Plants as Persons: A Philosophical Botany. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2011.
Johnson, Monte Ransome. Aristotle on Teleology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Lucretius. The Nature of Things. Translated by William Leonard. Boston: E. P. Dutton, 1922.
Plotinus. Plotini Opera. Edited by Paul Henry and Hans-Rudolph Schwyzer. Leiden, 1952a.
Plotinus. The Six Enneads. Translated by Stephen McKenna and B.S. Page. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952b.
Singer, P.N. “Galen.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter 2016 ed. Stanford University, 1997–. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/galen/.
von Staden, Heinrich. “Body, Soul, and Nerves: Epicurus, Herophilus, Erasistratus, the Stoics, and Galen.” In Psyche and Soma: Physicians and Metaphysicians on the Mind-Body Problem from Antiquity to Enlightenment, edited by John P. Wright and Paul Potter, 79–116. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mix, L.J. (2018). Plants Versus Animals in Hellenistic Thought. In: Life Concepts from Aristotle to Darwin. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96047-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96047-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96046-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96047-0
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)