Aristotle, On the Life-Bearing Spirit (De spiritu): A Discussion with Plato and his Predecessors on pneuma as the Instrumental Body of the Soul. ... by Abraham P. Bos and Rein Ferwerda

by Abraham P. Bos, Rein Ferwerda (Translator)

In contrast to what is often thought, the work De spiritu is entirely Aristotelian. It provides an indispensable part of Aristotle's philosophy of living nature. In this work he is the first Greek to argue that the most fundamental vital principle is not breath but vital heat. This vital heat forms a unity with the soul, as its instrumental body ( sôma organikon ). The treatise is mainly a debate with Plato's Timaeus .
This new book consists of an Introduction, a Translation, and an extensive Commentary on the text of De spiritu .
The main value of this book is to show convincingly that Aristotle's theory of soul and biology have been misconstrued since 200 AD due to the intervention of Alexander of Aphrodisias.

220 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Abraham P. Bos is a retired professor in Ancient and Patristic philosophy at the 'Vrije Universiteit', Amsterdam, specializing in the philosophy of Aristotle

His doctoral thesis in 1971 was "Een onderzoek naar de kosmologie van Aristoteles in de eerste jaren van zijn wijsgerige activiteit" (A study of the cosmology of Aristotle in the first years of his philosophical activity) His inaugural lecture in 1976 was "Providentia Divina: The Theme of Divine Pronoia in Plato and Aristotle".