Corporeal soul and elemental doxography

Use in the book

The first theory makes soul an exceedingly subtle body permeating the visible body. Ficino’s catalogue attributes fire to Democritus, Leucippus and Hipparchus; air to Anaximenes, Diogenes of Apollonia and Critias; water to Hippias; earth to Hesiod and Pronopides; fire and air to Boethus and Epicurus; and water and earth to Xenophantes. These are Ficino’s reported associations, not independently authenticated ancient quotations. They must not be repaired into a modern doxography without evidence.

The subsequent arguments repeatedly concede subtlety to the opponent. Dense matter cannot readily penetrate the organs, but rarefied fire or air still leaves the question why this body gives life. If fire as fire were soul, every fire would be alive. A proposed fifth subtle body outside the four elements merely repeats the same explanatory problem. At the end of the book subtlety turns against the hypothesis: a soul-body light enough to spread through the organs would, on Ficino’s physical assumptions, be exceptionally fleeting and unable to preserve memory.

Places to read

1. VI.1.2The elemental theories are enumerated as the first rejected position.
2. VI.6.1, VI.6.2, VI.6.3Density, rarity and a fifth body are tested without treating subtle matter as spirit.
3. VI.13.7The opponent’s subtle body becomes the unstable breath of the memory reductio.

Translation in this edition

The diminutive “little body” matters: it marks the proposed hidden bodily constituent, not an affectionate name for the visible person. Xenophantes in VI.1.2 and Xenophanes Colophonius in VI.1.5 are different printed names and are not silently merged. Natural claims here belong to the historical argument.

Anaximenes; Diogenes; Critias

Anaximenes; Diogenes; Critias. Printed forms: Anaximenes; Critias; Diogenes Apolloniates.

Authorities named for the airy soul account. Diogenes is explicitly of Apollonia; the three names remain part of a reported classification. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

Boethus; Epicurus; Xenophantes

Boethus; Epicurus; Xenophantes. Printed forms: Boethus; Epicurus; Xenophantes.

Names attached to mixed-element accounts of soul. Boethus and Epicurus are linked with fire and air, Xenophantes with water and earth; Xenophantes is not silently merged with Xenophanes below. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

corporeus; corporalis; incorporeus

corporeus; corporalis; incorporeus. Printed forms: corporale; corporalem; corporali; corporalia; corporalis; corporalium; corporea; corpoream; corporeis; corporeum; incorporale; incorporalem; incorporali; incorporalia; incorporalis; incorporea; incorpoream; incorporeum.

Bodily and nonbodily predicates, whose scope is distinct from visible versus invisible. A subtle invisible body remains bodily; incorporeality also needs to be distinguished from the stronger conclusion of independence from material origin. References: VI.1.5, VI.1.6, VI.2.1, VI.2.2, VI.2.6, VI.2.8, VI.2.13, VI.3.1, VI.4.1, VI.6.3, VI.12.13, VI.12.18. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

corpusculum

corpusculum. Printed forms: corpusculi; corpusculo; corpusculum.

A small or exceptionally subtle body posited as the animating constituent. The diminutive belongs to the rejected corporealist account and does not mean an incorporeal point. References: VI.1.2, VI.1.3. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

A little body, specifically the subtle bodily thing popularly supposed to be soul. The diminutive belongs to a hypothesis Ficino rejects, not his positive definition of soul. References: VIII.2.1. See Food, truth, and the hungry mind.

Democritus; Leucippus; Hipparchus

Democritus; Leucippus; Hipparchus. Printed forms: Democritus; Hipparchus; Leucippus.

Authorities to whom Ficino attributes a fiery soul-body. The record reports this edition’s doxography and does not independently certify those ancient doctrines. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

Hippias; Hesiodus; Pronopides

Hippias; Hesiodus; Pronopides. Printed forms: Hesiodus; Hippias; Pronopides.

The names attached to watery soul and to earthy soul respectively. Ficino assigns water to Hippias, earth to Hesiod and Pronopides; no silent correction of the unusual name is made. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

igneus; aereus; aqueus; terreus

igneus; aereus; aqueus; terreus. Printed forms: aereum; aqueum; igneum; terreum.

Fiery, airy, watery and earthy: elemental composition predicates. These are different reported answers to what the hypothesized soul-body consists of. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

suffundere

suffundere. Printed forms: suffusa; suffusum.

To pour or diffuse throughout. The first theory and later reductio imagine the subtle soul-body dispersed through the coarser organism and organs. References: VI.1.2, VI.13.7. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

tenuis; crassus

tenuis; crassus. Printed forms: crassiori; tenuissimum.

Physically fine or subtle; comparatively coarse. The initial contrast distinguishes two bodily textures and does not yet distinguish body from soul. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.

Elemental-soul authorities (authorities and interlocutors)

Elemental-soul authorities. The opening classification reports fiery accounts under Democritus, Leucippus and Hipparchus; airy accounts under Anaximenes, Diogenes of Apollonia and Critias; watery under Hippias; earthy under Hesiod and Pronopides; fire-and-air under Boethus and Epicurus; and water-and-earth under Xenophantes. These associations are the source’s doxography. Xenophantes is not silently identified with Xenophanes of Colophon. References: VI.1.2. See Corporeal soul and elemental doxography.