Spatial asymmetries are an intriguing feature of directed attention. Recent observations indicate an influence of temperament upon the direction of these asymmetries. It is unknown whether this influence generalises to visual orienting behaviour. The aim of the current study was therefore to explore the relationship between temperament and measures of spatial orienting as a function of target hemifield. An exogenous cueing task was administered to 92 healthy participants. Temperament was assessed using Carver and White's (1994) Behavioural Inhibition System and Behavioural (...) Activation System (BIS/BAS) scales. Individuals with high sensitivity to punishment and low sensitivity to reward showed a leftward asymmetry of directed attention when there was no informative spatial cue provided. This asymmetry was not present when targets were preceded by spatial cues that were either valid or invalid. The findings support the notion that individual variations in temperament influence spatial asymmetries in visual orienting, but only when lateral targets are preceded by a non-directional (neutral) cue. The results are discussed in terms of hemispheric asymmetries and dopamine activity. (shrink)

For those of us who do not idealize Proclus's contribution to Platonic scholarship, which is influenced excessively by the conviction that Orphic and Chaldaean texts are working within the same system, the commentaries of Olympiodorus can represent a substantial step forward. The range of issues tackled in his commentaries is often much closer to that expected of a modern commentary than those of his illustrious Athenian predecessor. This is not entirely new, since much the same could be said of Hermias, (...) working within Syrianus's school as Proclus did, and of Damascius when commenting on the Phaedo or Philebus rather than on the Parmenides. Yet our picture of so-called neoplatonism remains dominated by the more... (shrink)

La tradition herméneutique concernant les Catégories d’Aristote remonte à Eudore et à ses contemporains du premier siècle av. J.-C. Pour interpréter ce texte difficile, il faut que les disciples de Platon considèrent quelques problèmes nouveaux de la dialectique. Les critiques d’Eudore manifestent le désir d’un ordre rigoureux, et elles posent des questions auxquelles la tradition herméneutique, culminant dans le magnifique commentaire de Simplicius, tentera de répondre. Le projet critique d’Eudore ne nous permet pas de parler d’un «ennemi d’Aristote», ni de (...) «polémique», mais on y voit bien pourquoi il préférait être reconnu comme un «académicien» plutôt qu’un péripatéticien. (shrink)

Our knowledge of the Academy between the death of Plato and the first century BC is not extensive, though covered both by Philodemus' Academica, a history of the School on damaged papyrus, and by brief biographies in the fourth book of Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Philosophers. These biographies cover the main school leaders down to the time of Clitomachus (d. 110/09 BC). It would be usual to see the Academy as having built on Plato's work and maintained his traditions (...) for about eighty years after the death of Plato in 347 BC, where upon Arcesilaus drew on the precedent of Socratic ignorance to move in a new, more sceptical direction. (shrink)

In this paper I ask what it is that adds credibility to Crantor (d. 276/5 BC) as an authority on managing one’s grief, especially grief at the loss of children. At first sight the homoerotic ethos of the Academy in his time made it unlikely that high profile members would have concerned themselves with children of their own. The primary source used is Plutarch’s Consolation to Apollonius, where it is clear that immediate suppression of grief and other natural feelings is (...) not intended, nor must rationality always override them. Rather the consolation helps to produce a pause that allows reason to gradually bring such feelings down to a rational level. Texts associated with Crantor already idealize suspension of judgment at times of pressure, even if his partner Arcesilaus took this epokhê further. (shrink)

At the end of the dialogue Theages, after a general review of the prophetic power given by Socrates quotes the words of Aristides to himself—130 d—e: The extravagant claim here made for the influence of Socrates as conveyed through physical proximity and contact is one of the chief reasons for regarding the dialogue as spurious, giving as it does a later and a distorted development from suggestions made by Plato and Xenophon themselves.

This detailed commentary of Gellius' accounts of his teacher Taurus reconstructs the picture of this Middle Platonic philosopher as teacher and man and conveys interesting insights into the practice of philosophical teaching in the second century A.D. A collection of all testimonies and fragments of Taurus is added.

THE following further instances and parallels, and additional usages, may supplement the colloquialisms, &c, in Plato's dialogues which were listed and studied in a former article. 1. Colloquialisms More examples and parallels for usages previously noted: Charm. 154 b 4, Crat. 418 b 8, Phaedo 92 d 4, Parm. 126 c 6, 127 b 1, Polit. 290 d 7, Laws 630 b 7.

Ce que nous connaissons de l’exégèse antique du Timée est limité par le fait que le commentaire de Proclus ne continue pas au‑delà de Tim. 17a‑44b. Grâce à d’autres auteurs, nous possédons un seul fragment de Proclus lui‑même sur le réceptacle du Timée, et un seul fragment des commentaires de Jamblique sur l’espace. Je discute ici ces deux passages et ce que nous trouvons sur le réceptacle, la matière, et la chôra dans le corpus de Proclus. La doctrine que la (...) matière est elle‑même dérivée de l’Un‑Bien et qu’elle ne peut devenir la source d’aucun mal est extrêmement importante pour l’intégrité du système. De plus, comme tous les réceptacles disséminés dans l’ensemble de son système métaphysique, la matière est concue comme une mère, et opposée au masculin et aux logoi formels. Quant au texte de Platon, Proclus n’est pas le premier philosophe à y avoir trouvé trois réceptacles, mais, par sa lecture détaillée du Timée, il est parvenu en certains endroits à ces trois phases du Réceptacle platonicien : une première phase privée de toute forme et qualité, une deuxième qui a reçu les formes, et une troisième en mouvement, désorganisée et irrationnelle, qui ne possède que des traces des formes. (shrink)

his volume investigates Proclus' own thought and his wide-ranging influence within late Neoplatonic, Alexandrine and Byzantinian philosophy and theology. It further explores how Procline metaphysics and doctrines of causality influence and transition into Arabic and Islamic thought, up until Richard Hooker in England, Spinoza in Holland and Pico in Italy. John Dillon provides a helpful overview of Proclus' thought, Harold Tarrant discusses Proclus' influence within Alexandrian philosophy and Tzvi Langermann presents ground breaking work on the Jewish reception of Proclus, (...) focusing on the work of Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (1591-1655), while Stephen Gersh presents a comprehensive synopsis of Proclus' reception throughout Christendom. The volume also presents works from notable scholars like Helen Lang, Sarah Wear and Crystal Addey and has a considerable strength in its presentation of Pseudo-Dionysius, Proclus' transmission and development in Arabic philosophy and the problem of the eternity of the world. It will be important for anyone interested in the development and transition of ideas from the late ancient world onwards. (shrink)