Events Calendar – British School at Athens
Annual Michael Frede Memorial Lecture
Professor Hendrik Lorenz (Princeton University), “Aristotle on defining souls”
Abstract: I argue that De Anima 2.2-3 dramatically changes the picture about the definability of the soul that emerged in the first chapter of that book. The upshot of that change is that the soul as such is not definable, although a general explication of the term ‘soul’ can be, and has been, provided. The best such explication is that the soul is the first fulfillment of a natural body that is instrumental. This cannot be a definition because there is no single nature by having which souls are souls. On a more positive note, Aristotle does think, at least in De Anima 2.2-3, that there are specifiable natures of plant soul, beast soul, and human soul, so that definitions of these three kinds of soul can be provided. Employing resources from De Anima 2.1-3, I present the three definitions that Aristotle seems to have in mind. Along the way, I bolster the case for thinking that the general account of the soul that is presented in De Anima 2.1 is not meant to be a definition at all.
Bio: Hendrik Lorenz was educated at Cambridge and Oxford and works at Princeton University. He is the author of numerous publications on Plato, Aristotle and other ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, as well as on topics in medieval and early modern philosophy.
Hybrid lecture
photo: Michael Frede
When: 18 May @ 6:00 pm EEST
Where: British School at Athens, Upper House – Athens – 52 Souedias Street