From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAnaisthētōs means without sensation or imperceptibly, with the edition choosing the former in context.
- In this workPlutarch says that plants preserve what suits them by drawing water from their surroundings without sensation.
- In this editionThe edition says that the two ends of transmission agree and that plant sensation is exactly what Aëtius says.
- A place to readUses anaisthētōs in describing plants drawing the suitable water.
Meaning
Anaisthētōs means without sensation or imperceptibly, with the edition choosing the former in context. The Latin sentire means to perceive or feel; desiderio means by desire. These forms belong to different witnesses whose claims must not be amalgamated.
Use in the book
Plutarch says that plants preserve what suits them by drawing water from their surroundings without sensation. Nicolaus' On Plants, in the Latin version transmitted through intermediary languages, attributes desire, sensation, pain, pleasure, intellect, and understanding to Anaxagoras, Empedocles under the name Abrucalis, and in one clause Democritus. At minimum, these reports stand in tension. Aëtius' statement that plants contain male and female principles does not resolve it, because sex and perception are different predicates. It is possible that differing uses of sensation or differing source traditions underlie the discrepancy, but the excerpt does not let us choose confidently. The safest account is therefore a dossier of attributed positions: an insensible uptake in Plutarch and a richly sentient plant in the mediated Nicolaus tradition. The conflict is evidence about transmission as well as plant philosophy.
Places to read
- A 70 (testimony)2Plutarch, Table Talk. Uses anaisthētōs in describing plants drawing the suitable water.
- A 70 (testimony)2Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants. Attributes desire, feeling, pain, pleasure, and understanding in a mediated and grouped account.
Translation in this edition
The edition says that the two ends of transmission agree and that plant sensation is exactly what Aëtius says. The printed Aëtian notice does not actually assert sensation, and Plutarch's phrase resists the proposed harmony.