Sassi, Maria Michela (Author)
Making mental phenomena to depend on certain elements or organs of the body is famously recognized as a distinctive feature of physiologia both in the so-called “autobiography” of Socrates in the Phaedo and in a further “doxographic” passage in the dialogue, where Simmias develops the argument that the soul is like “a blending and an attunement” of the bodily elements. While no earlier thinker is mentioned here, one can easily identify Parmenides and Empedocles as two of the main supporters of the notion that thought and perception depend on the various blendings of the physical constituents of the body. That they had such a view is indeed well known thanks to a few fragments, for whose discussion Aristotle’s and Theophrastus’ comments prove to be particularly helpful. What neither Plato nor Aristotle acknowledge, though, is that no such specific bearer of mental functions as psyche is needed in this kind of account. As a matter of fact, both Parmenides and Empedocles share with the epic and lyric tradition the idea of the precariousness of human knowledge, due to the constant exposure of human beings to change. Yet they “translate” the topos of human existence and thought subjected to the divine into a vision where the physical krasis of the body (not by chance, a medical notion) is all that matters.
...More
Book
Cordero, Nestor-Luis;
(2004)
By Being, It Is: The Thesis of Parmenides
(/isis/citation/CBB000650386/)
Article
Sisko, John E.;
(2003)
Anaxagoras' Parmenidean Cosmology: Worlds within Worlds within the One
(/isis/citation/CBB000530278/)
Thesis
Galsworthy, Carrie;
(2010)
Language and Intent in Empedocles' Cosmic Cycle
(/isis/citation/CBB001560877/)
Thesis
Chang, Lian;
(2010)
Articulation and the Origins of Proportion in Archaic and Classical Greece
(/isis/citation/CBB001567176/)
Book
Empedocles, ;
(2000)
Poem of Empedocles: A text and translation with introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB000101803/)
Article
Trépanier, Simon;
(2014)
From Wandering Limbs to Limbless Gods: δαιμων as Substance in Empedocles
(/isis/citation/CBB001214194/)
Thesis
Trepanier, Simon Gilles Anthony;
(2002)
Empedocles: An Interpretation
(/isis/citation/CBB001562531/)
Book
Tallis, Raymond;
(2007)
The Enduring Significance of Parmenides: Unthinkable Thought
(/isis/citation/CBB000830854/)
Article
Acerbi, F.;
(2000)
Plato: Parmenides 149a7-c3. A proof by complete induction?
(/isis/citation/CBB000111292/)
Article
Austin, Scott;
(2000)
Parmenides and the Closure of the West
(/isis/citation/CBB000111278/)
Article
K. Darcy Otto;
(2016)
Resemblance and the Regress
(/isis/citation/CBB989853171/)
Article
Bredlow, Luis Andrés;
(2011)
Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Parmenides' Theory of Cognition (B 16)
(/isis/citation/CBB001250014/)
Article
Otto, K. Darcy;
(2003)
Solving the Second Horn of the Dilemma of Participation
(/isis/citation/CBB000530275/)
Book
Geldard, Richard G.;
(2007)
Parmenides and the Way of Truth
(/isis/citation/CBB000830113/)
Article
Cherubin, Rose;
(2005)
Light, Night, and the Opinions of Mortals: Parmenides B8.51-61 and B9
(/isis/citation/CBB000670355/)
Article
Otto, K. Darcy;
(2009)
The Logic of the First Horn of the Dilemma of Participation
(/isis/citation/CBB001211438/)
Book
Thanassas, Panagiotis;
(2007)
Parmenides, Cosmos, and Being: A Philosophical Interpretation
(/isis/citation/CBB001036033/)
Article
Romero, Gustavo E.;
(2012)
Parmenides Reloaded
(/isis/citation/CBB001252709/)
Article
Althoff, Jochen;
(2012)
Presocratic Discourse in Poetry and Prose: The Case of Empedocles and Anaxagoras
(/isis/citation/CBB001221686/)
Article
Imai, Masahiro;
(2006)
The Philosophical Influences of Empedocles in the Hippocratic Medical Treatise De Natura Hominis
(/isis/citation/CBB000630944/)
Be the first to comment!