From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordPhantasma is an image associated with imagination, distinguished from phantasia as the image-presenting activity.
- In StobaeusPorphyry compares the accompaniment of perception by bodily affection with the accompaniment of intellection by imagination.
- In this edition“Image” is sufficient when its relation to imagination is stated.
- A place to beginImage and impression are compared as accompaniments of different cognitive activities.
- English renderings
- image; image in imagination
Meaning
Phantasma is an image associated with imagination, distinguished from phantasia as the image-presenting activity. An image need not, merely by being an image, be false.
Use in the book
Porphyry compares the accompaniment of perception by bodily affection with the accompaniment of intellection by imagination. The phantasma is placed on the latter side of the analogy. The wording is difficult, but it clearly differentiates an image from the activity or power through which images occur.
Places to read
- I.49.19.2Image and impression are compared as accompaniments of different cognitive activities.
Translation in this edition
“Image” is sufficient when its relation to imagination is stated. “Fantasy” would add an implication of invention or unreality.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 344. The final analogy is textually uncertain; the printed reference to intellection is retained rather than replaced by a proposed correction.