Temporal discourse and psychic ascent · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordDiscursus is successive passage, including movement from one cognition or affection to another.
In the Platonic TheologyThe positive account follows the exclusion of bodily self-motion.
In this editionThe apparatus applies the authorial correction ad incorporalia in VI.12.18; the uncorrected ad corporalia would reverse the crucial object of ascent.
A place to readProductive seminal succession and cognitive-affective discourse are separately described.

Meaning

Discursus is successive passage, including movement from one cognition or affection to another. Ascensio and descensio name ordered reasoning between effects and principles through intermediate causes. Revolutio is a turning or circuit of thought, not necessarily a change of bodily place.

Use in the book

The positive account follows the exclusion of bodily self-motion. Bodies nevertheless display an inward source of motion, which the Platonist identifies as soul. In the governing power, seeds arise successively to produce bodily effects. In cognition, the soul moves from one cognition and affection to another, ascending from effects through causes to highest principles and descending back through causes to effects. The two successions belong to different functions of the same psychic life.

Ficino assigns this discursive pattern to soul specifically. God and angels see and possess all together; bodies do not act through themselves; corporeal forms do not rise toward incorporeal things. Soul’s reasoned ascent beyond bodily nature is therefore used to show that it is neither body nor a divided bodily form. This does not make sequential reasoning superior to angelic simultaneity. It places soul at the intermediate grade: inwardly self-moving and capable of higher objects, yet temporally unfolding rather than possessing all at once.

Places to read

VI.12.17Productive seminal succession and cognitive-affective discourse are separately described.
VI.12.18Discursive motion is proper to soul and distinguished from divine/angelic simultaneity and bodily inactivity.

Translation in this edition

The apparatus applies the authorial correction ad incorporalia in VI.12.18; the uncorrected ad corporalia would reverse the crucial object of ascent. Per se is immediately glossed per naturam ac vim propriam, anchoring its sense in the soul’s nature and power.

ad incorporalia

ad incorporalia. Printed forms: ad incorporalia.

Toward incorporeal things, the corrected object of the denied bodily-form motion. The authorial correction is crucial to the inference that reasoning to higher realities exceeds corporeal nature. References: VI.12.18. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

ascensio; descensio

ascensio; descensio. Printed forms: causas medias; descensio; temporalis ascensio.

An ascent and descent through intermediate causes. Thought goes from lowest effects to highest principles and back, preserving causal order in both directions. References: VI.12.17. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

discursio; revolutio

discursio; revolutio. Printed forms: discursiones; revolutiones.

Courses and turnings of thought. They are real motions of soul’s activity without being the eight bodily motions or physical changes of place. References: VI.12.18. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

discursus temporalis

discursus temporalis. Printed forms: cognitione affectioneque; discursus temporalis.

Temporal passage between cognitions and affections. Discursive cognition is not identified with the simultaneously complete knowledge attributed to God and angels. References: VI.12.17. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

emergere

emergere. Printed forms: emergentium.

Arising or emerging successively. The seeds emerge in varying manners to generate corporeal effects; their sequence is a motion proper to soul. References: VI.12.17. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

origo; principium; causa

origo; principium; causa. Printed forms: causa; causam; causas; originem; origo; principia; principiis; principium.

Origin, principle and cause, each naming an explanatory beginning in context. Material origin, the source of nutrition and reasoning through causes are distinct applications; a first explanatory principle need not be first merely in elapsed time. References: VI.3.1, VI.4.1, VI.12.5, VI.12.7, VI.12.10, VI.12.17. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

per naturam ac vim propriam

per naturam ac vim propriam. Printed forms: per naturam ac vim propriam.

Through one’s own nature and power. The phrase explicitly glosses per se in the account of soul’s discursive self-motion. References: VI.12.18. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

simul possidere et videre

simul possidere et videre. Printed forms: simul omnia possident atque vident.

Possessing and seeing everything together. This differentiates God and angels from temporally discursive soul without making them inactive. References: VI.12.18. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

simul; vicissim; invicem

simul; vicissim; invicem. Printed forms: invicem; simul; vicissim.

Together or simultaneously; in return; reciprocally. Simultaneous knowledge differs from sequential discourse, while reciprocal transformation or part-to-part action is not primary identical self-motion. References: VI.7.2, VI.12.4, VI.12.18. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.

vicissitudo seminum

vicissitudo seminum. Printed forms: temporalis vicissitudo seminum.

Temporal succession of productive seeds or principles. This belongs to the soul’s bodily governing activity, distinguished from successive cognition and affection. References: VI.12.17. See Temporal discourse and psychic ascent.