Time and Soul: From Aristotle to St. Augustine

Johannes Zachhuber

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2022

Time and Soul

From Aristotle to St. Augustine

Johannes Zachhuber
Funded by: Einstein Center Chronoi

Volume 6 in the series Chronoi

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110692754

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

Can time exist independently of consciousness? In antiquity this question was often framed as an enquiry into the relationship of time and soul. Aristotle cautiously suggested that time could not exist without a soul that is counting it. This proposal was controversially debated among his commentators. The present book offers an account of this debate beginning from Aristotle’s own statement of the problem in Book IV of the Physics. Subsequent chapters discuss Aristotle’s Peripatetic followers, Boethus of Sidon and Alexander of Aphrodisias; his Neoplatonic readers, Plotinus and Simplicius; and early Christian authors, Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine. At the centre of the debate stood the relation between the subjective time in the soul and the objective time of the cosmos. Both could be seen as united in the world soul as the seat of subjective time on a cosmic scale. But no solution to the problem was final. No theory gained general acceptance. The book shows the fascinating variety and plurality of ideas about time and soul throughout antiquity. Throughout antiquity, the problem of time and soul remained as intriguing as it proved intractable.

Author / Editor information

Johannes Zachhuber, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
1 Aristotle on Time and Soul Open Access Download PDF	10
2 Time and Soul in the Peripatetic Tradition Open Access Download PDF	22
3 Soul and Time in Neoplatonist Interpretations of Aristotle Open Access Download PDF	47
4 Time and Soul in Patristic Thought Open Access Download PDF	63
Conclusion Open Access Download PDF	82
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	87
General Index Open Access Download PDF	94
Index of Ancient Sources Open Access Download PDF	97

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars and students of philosophy, theology and classics
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 98
Keywords: Aristotle; time perception; Neoplatonism; Early Christianity

eBook

Published: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 9783110692754

Paperback

Published: July 18, 2022
ISBN: 9783110692723