Ennead IV 5[29] has been poorly served by translators and commentators, misreporting what Plotinus wrote and, with these mangled results, asserting that this part of his treatise on the “Problems about the Soul” is merely a disjointed series of doxographical fragments with little compelling contribution to make. More careful translation and analysis reveal something strikingly different and original. First, he gives a cogent critique of the theories of Plato and Aristotle concerning the body between and the role of daylight. Second, (...) he substitutes his own account in terms of both sympathy and the principle of two acts, explaining vision both during the day as well as at night, notably deficient in previous accounts. Third, he derives some surprisingly original corollaries about the nature of light and the source of color. (shrink)

Este artigo explora a relação que Descartes estabelece com as noções de forma e de matéria do aristotelismo escolástico ao tratar da interação entre as substâncias nas correspondências com Elisabeth, Gassendi e Arnauld. Partindo do exemplo do peso utilizado por Descartes em diversas cartas, traça-se uma relação de identidade entre a noção de forma em Tomás de Aquino e de pensamento em Descartes, assim como se traça a crítica à noção de forma, entendida como qualidade oculta, para os corpos inanimados. (...) Por fim, explora-se a interpretação ocasionalista do sistema cartesiano e a relevância dos movimentos celestes para a explicação dos movimentos naturais em Tomás de Aquino.This paper deals with the relation that Descartes points between his system and concepts of matter and form from Aristotelian scholasticism. The resemblance arises when Descartes treats interaction among substances in correspondences with Elisabeth, Gassendi and Arnauld. Beginning with the example of the scholastic concept of weight, used many times by Descartes, this article traces an identity between concepts of form in Thomas Aquinas and of thought in Descartes, as well as traces his criticism on the concept of form, understood as hidden qualities, to inanimate bodies. Finally, this paper investigates Cartesian occasionalism as well as the importance of celestial movements for a better comprehension of nature in Thomas Aquinas. (shrink)