INCORPOREALS IN THE ONTOLOGY OF CREATED BEINGS IN THE BYZANTINE PHILOSOPHY OF MICHAEL PSELLOS
INCORPOREALS IN THE ONTOLOGY OF CREATED BEINGS IN THE BYZANTINE PHILOSOPHY OF MICHAEL PSELLOS

Summary/Abstract: In this contribution I tried to show that Psellos has a complex understanding of the ontology of the being of incorporeal entities that is shaped mainly from a Christian position but also supplemented by the methodological use of positions from ancient philosophy. There is surely a lot more to say about this problem, but I think the classical notions of soul or forms cannot be very easily included into Psellos philosophical framework. His discussion with the pagan philosophy is not only complex but depends also on the circumstance and context of the problems he is discussing in specific texts. Regarding incorporeal beings, he seems to advocate the existence of angels and souls while forms do not seem to have an own ontological realm between God and sensible cosmos. The question of Platonic forms as the thoughts of gods is tricky. On the one side Psellos points to God as direct cause of creation, on the other side he holds back on characterizing God’s thoughts.

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