Soul and its Instrumental Body

Abraham P. Bos, Ph.D. (1971) in Philosophy, M.A. Classics, M.A. Philosophy, Free University of Amsterdam, is Professor in Ancient and Patristic Philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on Aristotle and on Philo of Alexandria and the Churchfathers.

• Introduction1. Aristotle’s psychology reconsidered2. The modern debate on Aristotle’s psychology3. Pneuma as the organon of the soul in De motu animalium4. What body is suitable for receiving the soul (De anima I 3, 407b13-26)?5. Aristotle’s new psychology in De anima II 1-26. The soul in its instrumental body as the sailor in his ship (De anima II 1, 413a8-9)7. Aristotle’s problems with the standard psychological theories8. The role of vital heat and pneuma in De generatione animalium9. ‘Fire above’: the relation of the soul to the body that receives soul, in Aristotle’s De longitudine et brevitate vitae 2-310. Pneuma and the theory of soul in De mundo11. The ultimate problem: how did Aristotle relate the intellect, which is not bound up with sôma, to the soul, which is always connected with sôma?12. Aristotle’s lost works: the consequences of reinterpreting the psychology of De anima13. The information on Aristotle’s Eudemus14. The fifth element as the substance of the soul15. The comparison of the steersman and his ship in Aristotle’s lost works and elsewhere16. The soul’s ‘bondage’ according to a lost work by Aristotle17. The integration of the psychology of Aristotle’s Eudemus and his De anima18. Final considerations and conclusionsBibliographyIndex nominumIndex locorum

"The book deals with a fascinating research subject and it is written in a very clear and accessible style. It includes an extensive bibliography (23 pp.), an index of ancient and modern authors, and a very helpful list of references to the texts of Aristotle and to other ancient texts."G.P. Luttikhuizen, Philosophia Reformata, 2004.