Michael Psellos’ Philosophical Opuscula on the Soul. Introductory Guidelines Emerged from an On-Going Translation Process
Michael Psellos’ Philosophical Opuscula on the Soul. Introductory Guidelines Emerged from an On-Going Translation Process
Author(s): Adrian PodaruSubject(s): History of Philosophy, Theology and Religion
Published by: Editura Universității Aurel Vlaicu
Keywords: Soul; intellect; Michael Psellos; Byzantine philosophy; Byzantine theology
Summary/Abstract: The second volume of “Michaelis Pselli Philosophica Minora”, which was edited and published in Leipzig, in 1989, contains a large number of opuscula dealing with the soul. It is a rather complex analysis and, even if Michael Psellos was a Christian monk of the eleventh Century who lived in Byzantium and who was a contemporary of Saint Symeon the New Theologian, this analysis is done mostly by using classical philosophical authors (Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Proclus) or Christian authors who were interested in a philosophical approach of such topics, as for example Nemesius, bishop of Emessa, who wrote On the Nature of Man, and John Philoponus, the great Christian Aristotelian commentator of the sixth Century. The present paper tries to point out some aspects of these opuscula, without going into a deep and thorough analysis, since the philosophical work of Psellos presented not such a great interest among the scholars as to produce significant articles and studies and, therefore, the secondary literature on this topic is rather scarce. In fact, these philosophical opuscula have never been translated into any modern language and it is my project of translating them into Romanian that aroused my interest for these texts.
Journal: Teologia
- Issue Year: 83/2020
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 103-115
- Page Count: 12
- Language: English