On Aristotle's On the soul
By: Themistius ; translated by Robert B. Todd.
Contributors: Todd, Robert B.
Series: [The ancient commentators on Aristotle]
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Ithaca, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
Subjects: Aristotle.; Soul -- Early works to 1800.; Psychology -- Early works to 1850.
Genres: Early works to 1800.; Early works to 1850.
Description: Themistius ran his own philosophical school in Constantinople in the middle of the fourth century A.D. His paraphrases of Aristotle's writings are unlike the elaborate commentaries produced by Alexander of Aphrodisias, or the later Neoplatonists Simplicius and Philoponus. His aim was to provide a clear and independent restatement of Aristotle's text which would be accessible as an elementary exegesis.

But he also discusses important philosophical problems, reports and disagrees with other commentaries including the lost commentary of Porphyry, and offers interpretations of Plato.

Themistius' paraphrase of Aristotle's On the Soul is his most important and influential work. It is also the first extant commentary on this work of Aristotle to survive from antiquity. A rival to that of Alexander of Aphrodisias, it represents one of the main interpretations of Aristotle's theory of the intellect, which was debated throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It continues to be an important text for the reconstruction of Aristotle's philosophical psychology today.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [198]-203) and indexes.
Series statement from jacket.