Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity PDF
Preview Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity
Divination and Human Nature • Divination and Human Nature • A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity Peter T. Struck Pri n c eton U n i v e r si t y Pre s s Pri n c eton a n d Ox f o rd Copyright © 2016 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR press.princeton.edu Design concept by Natalie B. Dohrmann Jacket images (from left to right): 1. Alchemy / Alamy Stock Photo, 2. Birds / Shutterstock, 3. Sketch of the Liver of Piacenza All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Struck, Peter T., author. Title: Divination and human nature : a cognitive history of intuition in classical antiquity / Peter T. Struck. Description: Prince ton, NJ : Prince ton University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2016005144 | ISBN 9780691169392 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy, Ancient. | Divination—G reece. | Intuition. Classifi cation: LCC B171 .S85 2016 | DDC 133.3093—d c23 LC reco rd available at http://l ccn. l oc. g ov/ 2 016005144 British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available Th is book has been composed in Minion Pro Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Roger and Sally • CONTENTS • Acknowledgments ix Introduction. Divination and the History of Surplus Knowledge 1 Chapter 1. Plato on Divination and Nondiscursive Knowing 37 Chapter 2. Aristotle on Foresight through Dreams 91 Chapter 3. Posidonius and Other Stoics on Extra-S ensory Knowledge 171 Chapter 4. Iamblichus on Divine Divination and Human Intuition 215 Conclusion. Reconsidering Penelope 251 Bibliography 263 Index Locorum 277 Subject Index 287 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • This project has benefited enormously over the years from generosity of many kinds. I thank the National Humanities Center where the early work began, and the Center for Advanced Studies in the Be- havioral Sciences at Stanford, which provided an orientation toward the evidence that informed the whole of the work. A project that began aimed at semiotics took on a cognitive dimension under the eye-opening tutelage of colleagues there. Further, I have benefi ted greatly from re- sponses to presentations at universities I list here in alphabetical order: the Académie Royale Belgique, Brown, Chicago, University of Cincinnati, Columbia, Corpus Christi College Oxford, Dartmouth, Fordham, Flor- ida State, Indiana University, Kent University, Leiden, Harvard, Uni- versity of North Carolina, Ohio State, the Scuola Normale Superiore, Smith, Stanford, Toronto, Texas, University of Washington, and Wes- leyan. Conversations with colleagues on the Journal of the History of Ideas have been continuously challenging and enlightening and helped to reshape the framing of the introduction. And fi nally, the inspiring community of classicists at the University of Pennsylvania was essential at the many infl ection points of the project. Penn’s Department of Clas- sical Studies provides continuous evidence of the pleasure of study and discovery, and the salutary benefi ts of supportive challenge and intel- lectual rigor. Earlier versions of some parts of the chapters have been previously published. Parts of the introduction appeared as “A Cogni- tive Approach to Divination in Antiquity,” in the Journal of the His- tory of Ideas (January 2016); sections of chapter 1 appeared as “Plato and Divination,” in Archiv für Religionsgeschichte in 2014. An earlier version of a part of chapter 4 awaits the publication of Divine Powers in Late Antiquity, edited by Eirini Viltanioti and Anna Marmodoro, from Oxford University Press (2016). I thank Laura Agosto for research x • Acknowledgments work she did for me on Stoic notions of the seed; Alex Ramos for help preparing the manuscript; and graduate students Roshan Abraham, Jae Han, and Daniel Harris- McCoy for their stimulating discussions; but especially Natalie Dohrmann and Adam Struck, who continue to be the prime movers.
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