Philosophy of Intellect and Vision in the De anima of Themistius

Abstract

Themistius was born into an aristocratic family and ran a paripatetic school of philosophy in Constantinople in the mid-fourth century, between 345 and 355. He made use of Alexander’s De anima in his commentary on the De anima of Aristotle, which is considered to be the earliest surviving commentary on Aristotle’s work, as Alexander’s commentary itself did not survive. Themistius may also have been influenced by Plotinus, and Porphyry, whom he criticizes. Themistius refers often to works of Plato, especially the Timaeus, and attempts a synthesis of Aristotle and Plato, a synthesis which was continued in the Neoplatonic tradition. As it has been seen in Alexander that thought and perception are intimately connected, almost identical, Themistius goes to much greater length to differentiate the two. Sense perception must be distinguished from reasoning, because all animals are capable of sense perception, while only humans are capable of reasoning; while there are only five kinds of sense perception, there are many varieties of the capacity for reasoning; and the functions of sense perception and reasoning can be differentiated

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

  • Only published works are available at libraries.

Similar books and articles

Aquinas and Themistius on Intellect.Lorelle Lamascus - 2006 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 80:255-273.
Themistius on concept acquisition and knowledge of essences.Myrna Gabbe - 2010 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 92 (3):215-235.
Philosophy of Intellect and Vision in the De anima and De intellectu of Alexander of Aphrodisias.John Shannon Hendrix - 2010 - School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation Faculty Publications.
An Arabic translation of Themistius Commentary on Aristoteles De anima.M. C. Themistius, Ishaq ibn Hunayn & Lyons - 1973 - Columbia,: University of South Carolina Press. Edited by Isḥāqibin Ḥunayn.
Colloquium 1: Themistius on Soul and Intellect in Aristotle’s De Anima.John Finamore - 2011 - Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 26 (1):1-23.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-07-24

Downloads
14 (#846,545)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references