Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought: Themes from the Work of Richard Sorabji

603 Pages·2005·3.54 MB·English

by  Ricardo Salles

METAPHYSICS, SOUL, AND ETHICS
IN ANCIENT THOUGHT
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Metaphysics, Soul, and
Ethics in Ancient Thought
Themes from the work of
Richard Sorabji
Edited by
RICARDO SALLES
CLARENDON PRESS . OXFORD
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FOREWORD
The work of Richard Sorabji spans over four decades and encompasses
practicallythewholeofthehistoryofancientthought.Thebreadthofhis
work, combined with his distinctively philosophical concerns and close
attentiontointellectualcontextualdetail,haveestablishedhimasonethe
leading scholars in the study of ancient philosophy in the past half-
century. Metaphysics, the nature of soul, and ethics are three areas in
which his research has transformed our understanding of the deep rela-
tionsbetweenancientandmodernthinkers.Theywerethereforeselected
as the main headings under which the several papers presented here are
organized.Someofthemarepolemicalandtheyallreflectsomehowtheir
authors’ indebtedness to his ground-breaking contributions to these
areas. The essays dealing with Metaphysics range from Democritus to
Numenius on basic questions about the structure and nature of reality:
atoms, necessitation, properties, and time. The section on Soul includes
one essay on the individuation of souls in Plato and five essays on
Aristotle’s and Aristotelian conceptions of the relation between soul
andbody,and,especially,ofthephysicalbasisofperception.Theessays
on Ethics concentrate upon Stoicism and the complex views the Stoics
heldonsuchtopicsasmotivation,akrasia,oikeio¯sis,andtheemotions.It
also includes one essay on the influence of Greek ethics in Modern
Philosophy. The whole is complemented by an Intellectual Autobiog-
raphybyRichardSorabjiandafullBibliographyofhisworks.
Theprojectofwhichthepresentvolumeisthefinaloutcomebeganlife
on a bitterly cold day of the English winter at Oxford, when I first told
Richard about the possibility of doing a conference in his honour. The
conferencewas heldin thewarmandsunnyMexicoCityofMarch2001
at the Institute of Philosophical Research of the National Autonomous
University of Mexico. Early versions of many of the essays that are
published here were delivered at the conference. The conference, and
now this volume, sought to bring together specialists with different
backgrounds, interests and methodologies. Only so would it be possible
togiveaminimallyaccurateideaofthecomplexityandtheextentofthe
influenceofhisworkonpeoplestudyingancientphilosophynowadays.
AtUNAM’sInstituteofPhilosophicalResearch,theprojectasawhole
receivedthegeneroussupportofitsDirector,PauletteDieterlen.Among
other crucial things, she kindly arranged the conference to take place at
the Conference Center of the beautiful Botanical Garden of the main
vi Foreword
campus. Both the conference and part of the research involved in the
edition of the present volume were financed by the General Office for
AcademicAffairs(DGAPA)oftheUNAMandtheNationalCouncilfor
Research and Technology (CONACYT) through the following projects:
PAPIITIN401799andIN401301,andCONACYTJ30724and40891A.
The final steps of the edition were carried out during a Fellowship at
Harvard’sCenterforHellenicStudiesinWashingtonDC.AttheCenterI
greatly benefited from the expert knowledge and assistance of Erika
Bainbridge in compiling the Sorabji Bibliography. My gratitude also
goes to M. M. McCabe and Bob Sharples in London for their ongoing
supportandadvicethroughouttheproject,totheseveralcontributorsfor
theirenthusiasmandtheirhelp,nottomentiontheirpatience,aswellas
to Peter Momtchiloff, Rupert Cousens, Rebecca Bryant, and Jacqueline
BakerfortheirinterestintheprojectandtheirhelpatOxford.
R.S.
CONTENTS
list of contributors x
1. IntellectualAutobiography 1
1. RichardSorabji
Metaphysics 37
2. IntrinsicandRelationalPropertiesofAtomsin
theDemocriteanOntology 39
1. AlexanderP.D.Mourelatos
3. NecessitationandExplanationinPhiloponus’
AristotelianPhysics 65
1. SylviaBerryman
4. AContemporaryLookatAristotle’sChangingNow 81
1. SarahBroadie
5. OntheIndividuationofTimesandEventsin
OrthodoxStoicism 95
1. RicardoSalles
6. StoicMetaphysicsatRome 117
1. DavidSedley
7. PlatonismintheBible:NumeniusofApamea
onExodusandEternity 143
1. M.F.Burnyeat
TheSensesandtheNatureofSoul 171
8. PlatonicSoulsasPersons 173
1. A.A.Long
viii Contents
9. AristotleversusDescartesontheConceptoftheMental 193
1. CharlesH.Kahn
10. PerceptionnaturalizedinAristotle’sDeanima 209
1. RobertBolton
11. TheSpiritandtheLetter:AristotleonPerception 245
1. VictorCaston
12. TheDiscriminatingCapacityoftheSoulinAristotle’s
TheoryofLearning 321
1. FransA.J.deHaas
13. AlexanderofAphrodisiasontheNatureand
LocationofVision 345
1. RobertW.Sharples
Ethics 363
14. Plato’sStoicViewofMotivation 365
1. GabrielaRoxanaCarone
15. ThePresenceofSocratesandAristotleinthe
StoicAccountofAkrasia 383
1. MarceloD.Boeri
16. ExtendorIdentify:TwoStoicAccountsofAltruism 413
1. MaryMargaretMcCabe
17. CompetingReadingsofStoicEmotions 445
1. ChristopherGill
18. WereZenoandChrysippusatOddsinAnalyzingEmotion? 471
1. A.W.Price
19. SenecaonFreedomandAutonomy 489
1. BradInwood
Contents ix
20. MoralPhilosophyandtheConditionsofCertainty:
Descartes’MoraleinContext 507
1. M.W.F.Stone
RichardSorabjiBibliography 551
index locorum 561
index of names 587