more from Cleanthes

Single Idea 20831

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 1. Physical Mind]

Full Idea

Nothing incorporeal shares an experience with a body …but the soul suffers with the body when it is ill and when it is cut, and the body suffers with the soul - when the soul is ashamed the body turns red, and pale when the soul is frightened.

Gist of Idea

The soul suffers when the body hurts, creates redness from shame, and pallor from fear

Source

Cleanthes (fragments/reports [c.270 BCE]), quoted by Nemesius - De Natura Hominis 2

Book Reference

'The Stoics Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B/Gerson,L.P. [Hackett 2008], p.99


A Reaction

Aha - my favourite example of the corporeal nature of the mind - blushing! It is the conscious content of the thought which brings blood to the cheeks.