Porphyry : To Gaurus on How Embryos Are Ensouled and on What Is in Our Power

Porphyry; Wilberding, James (TRN)

ISBN 10: 1472557875 / ISBN 13: 9781472557872

Published by Bloomsbury Academic, 2014

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 20021430-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Porphyry : To Gaurus on How Embryos Are Ensouled and on What Is in Our Power
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472557875
• ISBN 13: 9781472557872
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Concerning embryos, Porphyry takes an original view on issues that had been left undecided by his teacher Plotinus and earlier by the doctor Galen. What role is played in the development of the embryo by the souls or the natures of the father, of the mother, of the embryo, or of the whole world? Porphyry's detailed answer, in contrast to Aristotle's, gives a significant role to the soul and to the nature of the mother, without, however, abandoning Aristotle's view that the mother supplies no seed. In the fragments of On What is in Our Power, "Porphyry" discusses Plato's idea that we choose each of our incarnations, and so are responsible for what happens in our lives.

This volume contains an English translation of the two commentaries, as well as extensive notes, an introduction and a bibliography.

About the Authors

James Wilberding is Lecturer in Ancient Thought, School of Historical Studies, Newcastle University.

Richard Sorabji is Research Professor of Philosophy at King's College London and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, UK. He is the author of many books, including Necessity, Clause and Blame, Matter, Space and Motion, and Time, Creation and the Continuum, all published by Bloomsbury, and general editor of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series.

James Wilberding is Professor of Philosophy at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. He has published widely on ancient philosophy, including two volumes in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series: Philoponus Against Proclus on the Eternity of the World 12-18 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2006) and Porphyry to Gaurus on How Embryos are Ensouled and On What is in Our Power (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011).

Michael Griffin is Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is co-editor of the series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle and translator of two of its volumes: Olympiodorus: Life of Plato and On Plato First Alcibiades 1–9 (Bloomsbury 2014) and Olympiodorus: On Plato First Alcibiades 10–28 (Bloomsbury 2015).