more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 14041

[filed under theme 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 Ref

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.

The 25 ideas from 'Letter to Herodotus'

14028 Nothing comes to be from what doesn't exist [Epicurus]
14027 If we are to use words in enquiry, we need their main, unambiguous and uncontested meanings [Epicurus]
14029 If disappearing things went to nothingness, nothing could return, and it would all be gone by now [Epicurus]
14030 The totality is complete, so there is no room for it to change, and nothing extraneous to change it [Epicurus]
14031 Space must exist, since movement is obvious, and there must be somewhere to move in [Epicurus]
14032 Totality has no edge; an edge implies a contrast beyond the edge, and there can't be one [Epicurus]
14033 Bodies are unlimited as well as void, since the two necessarily go together [Epicurus]
14034 There exists an infinity of each shape of atom, but the number of shapes is beyond our knowledge [Epicurus]
14035 Atoms just have shape, size and weight; colour results from their arrangement [Epicurus]
14036 There are endless cosmoi, some like and some unlike this one [Epicurus]
6010 Illusions are not false perceptions, as we accurately perceive the pattern of atoms [Epicurus, by Modrak]
14037 Atoms only have shape, weight and size, and the properties which accompany shape [Epicurus]
14038 There cannot be unlimited division, because it would reduce things to non-existence [Epicurus]
14039 Above and below us will never appear to be the same, because it is inconceivable [Epicurus]
14040 Observation and applied thought are always true [Epicurus]
14041 The soul is fine parts distributed through the body, resembling hot breath [Epicurus]
14042 The soul cannot be incorporeal, because then it could neither act nor be acted upon [Epicurus]
14043 The void cannot interact, but just gives the possibility of motion [Epicurus]
14044 The perceived accidental properties of bodies cannot be conceived of as independent natures [Epicurus]
14045 Accidental properties give a body its nature, but are not themselves bodies or parts of bodies [Epicurus]
14046 A 'body' is a conception of an aggregate, with properties defined by application conditions [Epicurus]
14047 Bodies have impermanent properties, and permanent ones which define its conceived nature [Epicurus]
14048 Astronomical movements are blessed, but they don't need the help of the gods [Epicurus]
14049 We aim to know the natures which are observed in natural phenomena [Epicurus]
14050 We aim to dissolve our fears, by understanding their causes [Epicurus]