James Wilberding

This chapter argues that there is a unique embryological theory that is advanced by a wide-ranging group of Neoplatonists. This theory consists of three theses: there is a single (male) seed; this seed is a collection of immaterial form-principles in state of potentiality; and these principles must be actualized by an external agent, who is usually identified with the mother. What is revolutionary about this theory is its ascribing this crucial active role to the female. A close examination of texts by Porphyry, Proclus, Ammonius, Asclepius, Simplicius, and Philoponus demonstrates how widely held this theory was in Neoplatonic circles. It is further argued that this theory results from the application of the metaphysical model of emanation to embryology.

This paper proposes a new way of understanding the thematic unity of the Timaeus. One of the major obstacles to appreciating the unity of the dialogue has been the apparent disconnect between the prologue, which prominently includes Critias’ account of ancient Athens (20d–26d), and Timaeus’ cosmological account. Past attempts to establish unity have worked on the assumption that the Timaeus as a whole is looking forward to the Critias and have sought to show that Critias’ account is in some sense complementary to Timaeus’ cosmological program. Building on recent work that calls the authenticity of the Critias into question, I argue that we can best appreciate the thematic unity of the dialogue by reading Timaeus’ account as a critical response to Critias’ account.

The most characteristic feature of Plotinus’ ethics is his distinction of social or civic virtues (aretai politikai) and kathartic or purificatory virtues (aretai kathartikai), from which later Neoplatonists developed the doctrine of the scales of virtues. Already in Plotinus himself, civic and karthartic virues are steps of an ascending movement that successively purifies the philosopher’s soul and enables it to contemplate Intellect itself, where the paradigmatic Forms of the virtues reside. This chapter discusses the characteristics of the Plotinian kinds of virtue and the ways in which they are acquired and addresses the problem – much debated in scholarship – if and how, in an ethical theory that largely equates virtue and self-perfection, there can be a convincing argument for other-regard and an ethics of social life.

Plotinus’ cosmology is a neglected but important part of his philosophy. Broadly speaking, it can be read as an exegesis of Plato’s Timaeus, the philosophical difficulties and ambiguities of which it attempts to clarify. Against a literal reading of Plato, Plotinus defends the everlastingness of the world for metaphysical reasons and addresses the problem how a corporeal being, which is in constant flux, can be eternal. He discusses the role of the World Soul in the transmission of the transcendent Forms to the visible cosmos (an issue left open by Plato) and explains how the spiritual motion of Intellect and Soul can be the cause of heavenly motion, which is corporeal.

Forms, Souls, and Embryos allows readers coming from different backgrounds to appreciate the depth and originality with which the Neoplatonists engaged with and responded to a number of philosophical questions central to human reproduction, including: What is the causal explanation of the embryo's formation? How and to what extent are Platonic Forms involved? In what sense is a fetus 'alive,' and when does it become a human being? Where does the embryo's soul come from, and how is it connected to its body? This is the first full-length study in English of this fascinating subject, and is a must-read for anyone interested in Neoplatonism or the history of medicine and embryology.

The concept of the world soul is difficult to understand in large part because over the course of history it has been invoked to very different ends and within the frameworks of very different philosophical systems, with very different concepts of the world soul emerging as a result. This volume brings together eleven chapters by leading philosophers in their respective fields that collectively explore the various ways in which this concept has been understood and employed, covering the following philosophical areas: Platonism, Stoicism, Medieval, Indian (Vedāntic), Kabbalah, Renaissance, Early Modern, German Romanticism, German Idealism, American Transcendentalism, and contemporary quantum mechanics and panpsychism theories. In addition, short reflections illuminate the impact the concept of the world soul has had on a small selection of areas outside of philosophy: harmony, biology (spontaneous generation), the music of Henry Purcell, psychoanalysis, and Gaia theories.

Plotinus stands at a crossroads in ancient philosophy, between the more than 600 years of philosophy that came before him and the new Platonic tradition. He was the first and perhaps the greatest systematizer of Plato's thought, and all later students of Plato in the following centuries approached Plato through him. This Companion from a new generation of ancient philosophy scholars reflects the current state of research on Plotinus, with chapters on topics including mathematics, fate and determinism, happiness, the theory of forms, categories of reality, matter and evil, and Plotinus' legacy. The volume offers an accessible overview of the thought of one of the pivotal figures in the history of philosophy, and reveals his importance as a thinker whose impact goes far beyond his importance as an interpreter of Plato.

David Foster Wallace was genuinely troubled by what he perceived to be a serious incongruity in the mental lives of elite athletes. To perform with grace and beauty, elite athletes must be ‘geniuses,’ yet in conversation and prose these same athletes often exhibit such vapidity and banality that he was tempted to simply write them off as unintelligent or worse. In response to this puzzle, Wallace developed different philosophical conceptions of the elite athlete aimed at bridging the gap between genius and dumb jock. For Wallace, this was an exercise designed to help him live a more compassionate life.

Teratogenesis poses a real problem for all those who wish to see the natural world as a success story, and this includes the Neoplatonists. On their view even ordinary biological reproduction is governed by principles ultimately derived from intelligible Forms. Thus, the generation of terata would seem to call into question the very efficacy of these intelligible principles in the sensible world, since these would seem to be cases in which matter has gotten the upper hand over the intelligible. Although the corpus of surviving Neoplatonic works offers no systematic discussion of the problems surrounding teratology, it is possible to find a number of passages which deal with the explanation of terata. In this article these passages are collected and discussed. It is argued inter alia that, far from capitulating in the face of this putative evidence against the full efficacy of intelligible causes in the world, the Neoplatonists managed to use these phenomena to the advantage of their own views

In Ennead II.1 (40) Plotinus is primarily concerned to argue for the everlastingness of the universe, the heavens, and the heavenly bodies as individual substances. Here he must grapple both with the philosophical issue of personal identity through time and with the rich tradition of cosmology which pitted the Platonists against the Aristotelians and Stoics. What results is a historically informed cosmological sketch explaining the constitution of the heavens as well as sublunar and celestial motion. This book contains an extensive introduction aimed at providing the necessary background in Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic cosmology, the text itself, and a line-by-line commentary designed to elucidate its philosophical, philological and historical details.