Single Idea 14041

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche]

Full Idea

The soul is a body made up of fine parts distributed throught the entire aggregate, most closely resembling breath with a certain admixture of heat, in one way resembling breath and in another resembling heat

Clarification

The 'aggregate' is a combination of atoms

Gist of Idea

The soul is fine parts distributed through the body, resembling hot breath

Source

Epicurus (Letter to Herodotus [c.293 BCE], 63)

Book Reference

Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.13


A Reaction

Remember that 'psuché' refers as much to the life within a creature as it does to the consciousness. The stoics seem to have held a similar view.