SCS-81: Platonism and Natural Philosophy

In texts like the Timaeus Commentary, Proclus argues that sensible particulars, which are characterized as divisible and partitioned, contain in themselves a “partless form” (ἀμερές εἶδος: cf. III.34.12–15 [Van Riel]/II.25.6–9 [Diehls]) from which divisible, separate qualities, matching the divided character of bodies, come to be.

traditional but possibly false assumption, my paper will consider the best reason, apart from
Socrates’ disinterest in natural science, for distinguishing the views of Plato from those
expressed in Timaeus: the contrasting views on women found in Republic and Timaeus, two
dialogues that Plato clearly linked. But despite the fact that the summary of the Republic at the
beginning of Timaeus leaves out a great deal of the former, it emphasizes the role of women as
guardians, and thus their equality with respect to courage and justice in particular. It is therefore

This paper seeks to elucidate Porphyry’s engagement with Plato’s claim that plants are animals, participating in the third part of the soul (Tim. 76e7-77c5), as part of the third century Neoplatonist’s embryology in his To Gaurus on the Ensoulment of Embryos 4-9 (a text assigned to Galen in the single surviving manuscript but now universally accepted as Porphyrian). The basic thesis of this treatise is that ensoulment in a proper sense occurs upon the parturition of the infant, not at conception or at some point during gestation.

There has yet to be a comprehensive study of Plotinus’ elemental theory. Due in large part to the elements playing an important role in only a few treatises dealing with the sensible world, this component of Plotinus’ thought is generally treated as being entirely downstream of the model of the elements given by Aristotle and other Peripatetic philosophers. Despite this, there have been some challenges to this assumption; in particular, the recognition that Plotinus rejects the existence of the fifth element in treatise II.1.