Soul Matters: Plato and Platonists on the Nature of the Soul

Platonic discourses concerning the soul are incredibly rich and multitiered. Plato's own diverse and disparate arguments and images offer competing accounts of how we are to understand the nature of the soul. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that the accounts of Platonists who engage Plato’s dialogues are often riddled with questions. This volume takes up the theories of well-known philosophers and theologians, including Plato, Plotinus, Proclus, the emperor Julian, and Origen, as well as lesser-known but equally important figures in a collection of essays on topics such as transmigration of the soul, the nature of the Platonist enlightenment experience, soul and gender, pagan ritual practices, Christian and pagan differences about the soul, mental health and illness, and many other topics. Contributors include Crystal Addey, Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Dirk Baltzly, Robert Berchman, Jay Bregman, Luc Brisson, Kevin Corrigan, John Dillon, John F. Finamore, Lloyd P. Gerson, Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum, Elizabeth Hill, Sarah Klitenic Wear, Danielle A. Layne, Ilaria L. E. Ramelli, Gregory Shaw, Svetla Slaveva-Griffine, Suzanne Stern-Gillet, Harold Tarrant, Van Tu, and John D. Turner. Cover Contents Foreword Abbreviations Introduction Part 1. Madness, Irrationality, and Healing Irrationality in the Platonic Tradition Plato on the Manic Soul1 Plato and Plotinus on Healing Intellect Sober and Intellect Drunk Part 2. Ontologies and Epistemologies Soul in Plato Is the Soul a Form? Against the Stereotype of Abstract Knowledge in Plato Of Orioles, Owls, and Aviaries Initial Stages on the Ladder of Ascent to the Intelligible World Part 3. Hermeneutics and Methodologies The Indefinite Dyad and The Platonic Equality Soul in the Earliest Multilevel Interpretations Apuleius’s Platonic Laboratory1 Proclus Interprets Hesiod Part 4. Ritual Contexts, Inspiration, and Embodied Practices Julian and Sallust on the Ascent of the Soul and Theurgy The Optimal Times for Incarnation Prophets and Poets Part 5. Christian and Pagan Perspectives The Soul in Bardaisan, Origen, and Evagrius Proclus, Hermias, and Cyril of Alexandria on the Embodied Soul Christian and Pagan Neoplatonism Contributors Ancient Sources Index Modern Authors Index Subject Index