This essay analyses Marsilio Ficino’s interpretation of Theophrastus’s view of the Aristotelian c... more This essay analyses Marsilio Ficino’s interpretation of Theophrastus’s view of the Aristotelian concept of ‘potential intellect’, as found in the fragments preserved in Priscian of Lydia’s Metaphrasis of Theophrastus’s Physics, which Ficino translated and commented on at the end of his life (publication year 1497). Theophrastus’s view, as interpreted by Priscian, was that ‘potential’ does not mean ‘potential to knowledge’, but ‘potential to knowledge in act’. Ficino was thrilled by this finding, for it proved, contra Averroes, that the human mind could not be described as ‘pure potentiality’ and, as such, compared to matter. On the contrary, the mind was an independent substance which did not need external agency in order to initiate and perform thinking.
The story of how souls stood in ranks in front of Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos just before choosi... more The story of how souls stood in ranks in front of Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos just before choosing the form of their next reincarnations is a place to which Plato’s readers kept going back throughout the centuries. Seeking to find answers, they often found new questions. For Plato’s splendid narrative at the very end of the Republic, also known as the ‘Myth of Er’ (X.614-621), is in itself ambiguous, defending and threatening at the same time the soul’s capability for self-determination. This paper will discuss how this myth was received by Plato’s most famous Renaissance translator and interpreter, the Italian Marsilio Ficino. It will focus, in particular, on Ficino’s understanding of the delicate relation between the Fates spinning the ‘Spindle of Necessity’ and the soul’s free agency.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2022
Marsilio Ficino’s view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrol... more Marsilio Ficino’s view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrology, relies on the relations of metaphysical proportion between the different levels of life and being which are central to Platonic philosophy. Drawing primarily on Plotinus, Ficino describes the emergence of life in the embryo as a process in which the World Soul is the true agent. For him, the ‘human nature’ that is present in the developing embryo attracts into the mother’s womb the seed of ‘human nature’ which is present in the World Soul’s vegetative power. Once channelled into the womb, the World Soul’s vegetative power animates the embryo’s body. Now endowed with organic life, the embryo becomes irresistibly attractive to the rational soul, which in this way is drawn down to it and becomes embodied. For Ficino, the moment when ‘rational’ ensoulment happens is completely irrelevant to prefiguring one’s life path, contrary to what was claimed by natal astrology. Nevertheless, it le...
The idea that the soul has a guardian daemon was a common topic among Platonists, informed by dif... more The idea that the soul has a guardian daemon was a common topic among Platonists, informed by different readings of Plato, especially Symp. 202e and Resp. 620e. In his philosophically dense interpretation, Plotinus describes the daemon as the 'pole of attraction' or the erotic disposition that keeps the core of one's personality directed towards the Good. In this way, the daemon promotes the soul's ascent to higher levels of reality through a transition from unconsciousness into consciousness that, across different incarnations, will eventually flow into the disembodied self. In order to unpack this view, this article brings together Enn. III.4 and III.5 with Enn. VI.7, where Plotinus discusses the difference between soul (ψυχή) and the expressed principle (λόγος) belonging to soul. This difference if fundamental to fully understand the role of the guardian daemon in the soul's πρόοδος and ἐπιστροφή.
Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) was greatly intrigued by the questions on free will raised by the myth ... more Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) was greatly intrigued by the questions on free will raised by the myth of Er in Plato's Republic. By focusing on his Argumentum in Platonis Respublicam, this article discusses Ficino's interpretation of the myth in the light of his view on the faculties of the soul-intellect, reason, the imagination, and the vegetative power-and of how they become subject to providence or fate. Moreover, it will situate Ficino's discussion of the myth within his understanding of the universe as an interconnected organism in which different levels of life are perfectly attuned with one another.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2012
The ancient Neoplatonic doctrine that the rational soul has one or more vehicles—bodies of a semi... more The ancient Neoplatonic doctrine that the rational soul has one or more vehicles—bodies of a semi-material nature which it acquires during its descent through the spheres—plays a crucial part in Marsilio Ficino’s philosophical system, especially in his theory of sense-perception and in his account of the afterlife. Of the soul’s three vehicles, the one made of more or less rarefied air is particularly important, according to Ficino, during the soul’s embodied existence, for he identifies it with the spiritus, the pneumatic substance based in the brain which was believed to serve as an instrument for perception and imagination. He refers to the vehicles in his arguments against the theory of the transmigration of souls into the bodies of animals, claiming that the imaginative suffering experienced after death by souls in their aerial bodies are much more acute than the physical pain they might feel in bodies made of flesh and blood. Since the power of the imagination, for Ficino, is ...
Harmony and Contrast: Plato and Aristotle in the Early Modern Period, 2022
5 Ficino's Platonis opera omnia included thirty-five dialogues (some of which are now regarded as... more 5 Ficino's Platonis opera omnia included thirty-five dialogues (some of which are now regarded as spurious) and Plato's Letters.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2022
Marsilio Ficino's view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrol... more Marsilio Ficino's view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrology, relies on the relations of metaphysical proportion between the different levels of life and being which are central to Platonic philosophy. Drawing primarily on Plotinus, Ficino describes the emergence of life in the embryo as a process in which the World Soul is the true agent. For him, the 'human nature' that is present in the developing embryo attracts into the mother's womb the seed of 'human nature' which is present in the World Soul's vegetative power. Once channelled into the womb, the World Soul's vegetative power animates the embryo's body. Now endowed with organic life, the embryo becomes irresistibly attractive to the rational soul, which in this way is drawn down to it and becomes embodied. For Ficino, the moment when 'rational' ensoulment happens is completely irrelevant to prefiguring one's life path, contrary to what was claimed by natal astrology. Nevertheless, it leaves an important mark on one's physio-psychological makeup.
This essay analyses Marsilio Ficino’s interpretation of Theophrastus’s view of the Aristotelian c... more This essay analyses Marsilio Ficino’s interpretation of Theophrastus’s view of the Aristotelian concept of ‘potential intellect’, as found in the fragments preserved in Priscian of Lydia’s Metaphrasis of Theophrastus’s Physics, which Ficino translated and commented on at the end of his life (publication year 1497). Theophrastus’s view, as interpreted by Priscian, was that ‘potential’ does not mean ‘potential to knowledge’, but ‘potential to knowledge in act’. Ficino was thrilled by this finding, for it proved, contra Averroes, that the human mind could not be described as ‘pure potentiality’ and, as such, compared to matter. On the contrary, the mind was an independent substance which did not need external agency in order to initiate and perform thinking.
The story of how souls stood in ranks in front of Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos just before choosi... more The story of how souls stood in ranks in front of Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos just before choosing the form of their next reincarnations is a place to which Plato’s readers kept going back throughout the centuries. Seeking to find answers, they often found new questions. For Plato’s splendid narrative at the very end of the Republic, also known as the ‘Myth of Er’ (X.614-621), is in itself ambiguous, defending and threatening at the same time the soul’s capability for self-determination. This paper will discuss how this myth was received by Plato’s most famous Renaissance translator and interpreter, the Italian Marsilio Ficino. It will focus, in particular, on Ficino’s understanding of the delicate relation between the Fates spinning the ‘Spindle of Necessity’ and the soul’s free agency.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2022
Marsilio Ficino’s view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrol... more Marsilio Ficino’s view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrology, relies on the relations of metaphysical proportion between the different levels of life and being which are central to Platonic philosophy. Drawing primarily on Plotinus, Ficino describes the emergence of life in the embryo as a process in which the World Soul is the true agent. For him, the ‘human nature’ that is present in the developing embryo attracts into the mother’s womb the seed of ‘human nature’ which is present in the World Soul’s vegetative power. Once channelled into the womb, the World Soul’s vegetative power animates the embryo’s body. Now endowed with organic life, the embryo becomes irresistibly attractive to the rational soul, which in this way is drawn down to it and becomes embodied. For Ficino, the moment when ‘rational’ ensoulment happens is completely irrelevant to prefiguring one’s life path, contrary to what was claimed by natal astrology. Nevertheless, it le...
The idea that the soul has a guardian daemon was a common topic among Platonists, informed by dif... more The idea that the soul has a guardian daemon was a common topic among Platonists, informed by different readings of Plato, especially Symp. 202e and Resp. 620e. In his philosophically dense interpretation, Plotinus describes the daemon as the 'pole of attraction' or the erotic disposition that keeps the core of one's personality directed towards the Good. In this way, the daemon promotes the soul's ascent to higher levels of reality through a transition from unconsciousness into consciousness that, across different incarnations, will eventually flow into the disembodied self. In order to unpack this view, this article brings together Enn. III.4 and III.5 with Enn. VI.7, where Plotinus discusses the difference between soul (ψυχή) and the expressed principle (λόγος) belonging to soul. This difference if fundamental to fully understand the role of the guardian daemon in the soul's πρόοδος and ἐπιστροφή.
Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) was greatly intrigued by the questions on free will raised by the myth ... more Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) was greatly intrigued by the questions on free will raised by the myth of Er in Plato's Republic. By focusing on his Argumentum in Platonis Respublicam, this article discusses Ficino's interpretation of the myth in the light of his view on the faculties of the soul-intellect, reason, the imagination, and the vegetative power-and of how they become subject to providence or fate. Moreover, it will situate Ficino's discussion of the myth within his understanding of the universe as an interconnected organism in which different levels of life are perfectly attuned with one another.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2012
The ancient Neoplatonic doctrine that the rational soul has one or more vehicles—bodies of a semi... more The ancient Neoplatonic doctrine that the rational soul has one or more vehicles—bodies of a semi-material nature which it acquires during its descent through the spheres—plays a crucial part in Marsilio Ficino’s philosophical system, especially in his theory of sense-perception and in his account of the afterlife. Of the soul’s three vehicles, the one made of more or less rarefied air is particularly important, according to Ficino, during the soul’s embodied existence, for he identifies it with the spiritus, the pneumatic substance based in the brain which was believed to serve as an instrument for perception and imagination. He refers to the vehicles in his arguments against the theory of the transmigration of souls into the bodies of animals, claiming that the imaginative suffering experienced after death by souls in their aerial bodies are much more acute than the physical pain they might feel in bodies made of flesh and blood. Since the power of the imagination, for Ficino, is ...
Harmony and Contrast: Plato and Aristotle in the Early Modern Period, 2022
5 Ficino's Platonis opera omnia included thirty-five dialogues (some of which are now regarded as... more 5 Ficino's Platonis opera omnia included thirty-five dialogues (some of which are now regarded as spurious) and Plato's Letters.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2022
Marsilio Ficino's view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrol... more Marsilio Ficino's view on ensoulment, which can be extrapolated from his critique of natal astrology, relies on the relations of metaphysical proportion between the different levels of life and being which are central to Platonic philosophy. Drawing primarily on Plotinus, Ficino describes the emergence of life in the embryo as a process in which the World Soul is the true agent. For him, the 'human nature' that is present in the developing embryo attracts into the mother's womb the seed of 'human nature' which is present in the World Soul's vegetative power. Once channelled into the womb, the World Soul's vegetative power animates the embryo's body. Now endowed with organic life, the embryo becomes irresistibly attractive to the rational soul, which in this way is drawn down to it and becomes embodied. For Ficino, the moment when 'rational' ensoulment happens is completely irrelevant to prefiguring one's life path, contrary to what was claimed by natal astrology. Nevertheless, it leaves an important mark on one's physio-psychological makeup.
Plato and Aristotle were very much alive between the 15th and the 17th century. The essays in thi... more Plato and Aristotle were very much alive between the 15th and the 17th century. The essays in this volume investigate the interaction, both in terms of harmony and contrast, between the two philosophers in early modernity, that is in a time when long-forgotten texts became available and a new philological awareness was on the rise. Dealing with famous and less famous early modern interpreters and philosophers, from a transnational and translinguistic perspective, this volume reveals the agendas at stake behind the discussions on Plato's and Aristotle's philosophies. In studying these texts, it is hard to imagine a more significant collision of big names with big ideas. This book takes us to the centre of the intellectual life of the period and its most exciting debates.
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition XVI/1, pp. 95-97, 2022
Raymond Klibansky (1905-2005) is a leading figure in the history of Platonic scholarship. His def... more Raymond Klibansky (1905-2005) is a leading figure in the history of Platonic scholarship. His defence of the continuity of the Platonic tradition from late antiquity to the Renaissance, firmly grounded in a wealth of textual evidence that he assembled and edited with philological finesse and historical sensibility, has made a significant contribution to our understanding of Medieval Platonism. All those interested in Plato's complex reception history should become familiar with Klibansky's Corpus Platonicum Medii Aevi (1940-1962) and The Continuity of the Platonic Tradition during the Middle Ages (1936). Hence, Raymond Klibansky and the Warburg Literary Network: Intellectual Peregrinations from Hamburg to London and Montreal is welcomed as a much-needed addition to the bibliography of work on Platonism. The different chapters in this book place Klibansky in dialogue with the vibrant community of scholars associated with the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, which originated from the private library of the German-Jewish historian of art and culture Aby Warburg (1866-1929). The Bibliothek is a treasure trove for scholars working on the afterlife of classical antiquity and the transmission of texts and ideas during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. After escaping Hitler's Germany in 1933, the library found its home in London. Now part of the Warburg Institute, the library welcomes its readers in Woburn Square, one of the many Bloomsbury squares nestled between grand Georgian houses that at the beginning of the twentieth century hosted thriving literary salons. Its open shelves are organised according to a specific topography that Warburg himself called 'the law of the good neighbour' , one that draws the reader looking for one book to the kindred books sitting next to it. This classification system, which places books in conversation with one another, is intended to drive scholarly investigations towards unexpected findings and the weaving of narratives of connection and disconnection. Between these shelves, and sitting at the Library's desks, generations of students and scholars have given shape to some of the most influential works in Western intellectual and cultural history. Indeed, the history of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg is not only the history of its books, but also that of the scholars and scholar-librarians who read, wrote, taught, bought, and classified those books. Klibansky was one of them.
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