Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordConcursus and concursio are a coming together of constituents; ordinator is what orders their meeting.
In the Platonic TheologyVI.11 begins with an allowed pair of formulations: soul either is a kind of life or has life following it, since bodies receive life through soul.
In this editionThe apparatus applies the correction aliquid rather than unum aliquid in the final constituent alternative.
A place to readThree possibilities for life in elemental constituents are tested before the single-element case.

Meaning

Concursus and concursio are a coming together of constituents; ordinator is what orders their meeting. Conflare suggests combining or composing. Life as comes and pedisequa is life as companion and attendant, an alternative to directly identifying soul with life.

Use in the book

VI.11 begins with an allowed pair of formulations: soul either is a kind of life or has life following it, since bodies receive life through soul. A supposed soul-body composed of elements then meets a threefold test. If each element independently lives, there are many souls occupying one seat rather than one composite soul. If none lives, the meeting alone cannot explain life; even if life arises in a conjunction, it does so in a determinate arrangement, requiring an inward orderer. If only some constituent lives, that alone is soul and the others are unnecessary to constitute soul itself.

A single element is no escape, since it is composed of matter and form. Formless matter cannot supply life, so the form must be the animating source. Ficino thus distinguishes conjunction from what explains its particular life-producing order. This is his objection to an emergent life from otherwise lifeless constituents; it should neither be recast as a modern experimental disproof of biological emergence nor stripped of its formal-causal premise. The permitted “life or attendant life” formulation also prevents forcing a stricter identity than the opening states.

Places to read

VI.11.1Three possibilities for life in elemental constituents are tested before the single-element case.
VI.12.9A different opponent later proposes the integrity of the whole as the source of self-motion.

Translation in this edition

The apparatus applies the correction aliquid rather than unum aliquid in the final constituent alternative. The local question is where explanatory life resides, not a numerical census of chemical elements. “Element” retains the work’s historical natural-philosophical meaning.

comes; pedisequa

comes; pedisequa. Printed forms: comitem; pedisequam.

Companion and attendant. Soul may be described either as life or as having life following it; both formulations explain bodies receiving life through soul. References: VI.11.1. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.

componere; constituere

componere; constituere. Printed forms: componi; componitur; composita; compositi; compositis; compositum; constitutum; constitutus.

To compose or constitute, and what is composed or constituted. A living composite, its elemental constituents and a hypothesis posed as a whole’s integrity receive distinct analyses; composed does not itself mean alive. References: VI.2.4, VI.2.10, VI.7.1, VI.11.1, VI.12.9. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.

conflatus; concursus

conflatus; concursus. Printed forms: concursionis; concursu; conflata.

Composed together; conjunction of constituents. Mere assembly is distinguished from the determinate order through which a living effect is supposedly produced. References: VI.11.1. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.

elementum

elementum. Printed forms: elementa; elementis; elemento; elementorum; elementum.

An element of bodily nature; in V.132 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 the four creaturely 'elements' are expressly analogical constituents. Elemental transformation presupposes matter; the Pythagorean analogy does not make spirits composites of literal earth, water, air and fire. References: V.4.1, V.4.6, V.13.7. See Art and elemental transformation.

An elemental constituent of natural body. The hypothesis of a soul made of several elements is separated from the case of one element still composed of matter and form. References: VI.11.1. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.

informis materia

informis materia. Printed forms: informis materia.

Matter considered without determining form. It cannot provide life either to another or itself, so even a living element would live through its form. References: VI.11.1. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.

intimus ordinator

intimus ordinator. Printed forms: intimus ordinator.

The inward source ordering the conjunction. If life follows a particular arrangement, Ficino assigns explanatory priority to its orderer rather than to lifeless elements as such. References: VI.11.1. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.

ordinare; ordo

ordinare; ordo. Printed forms: ordinantis; ordinat; ordinator; ordinatrix; ordine; ordinem.

To order; order or the source of coordination. Determinate conjunction, bodily regulation and limited growth require an orderer in Ficino’s causal account; order is not merely where objects stand spatially. References: VI.1.6, VI.11.1, VI.13.8. See Elements, conjunction and the inward orderer.