Ancient and Medieval Theories of Soul

Dear Colleagues,

Soul as an object of philosophical enquiry has always formed a point of convergence between metaphysics and ethics, and hence anthropology, as well as natural philosophy, especially qua biology. Philosophers have been pondering about soul’s status, structure and interrelations from the very beginnings of philosophy, and still do today, despite the more recent development of psychology as an autonomous scientific discipline with various subdivisions. The journal Philosophies, sensitive not only to core issues calling for philosophical reflection, but also to the various historical and cultural settings in which philosophical concepts and theological ideas were put forth, aims to devote a Special Issue to what pertains to theories of soul that were formulated in Antiquity and the Long Middle Ages. The time delineation makes sense, since the Middle Ages, in its triple expression in Western Europe (Latin-speaking), Byzantium (Greek-speaking) and the Islamic World, can be seen as the inheritor of the ancient philosophical wisdom, which dealt specifically with soul (of both human and non-human beings).

Hence, we are pleased to invite you to submit articles on the topic as has been broadly defined above. Papers can be comparative (in both the diachronic and the synchronic axes) or not; in the case of comparative articles, philosophy and science in the Renaissance would be another point of reference in itself (as an inheritor of ancient and medieval wisdom), as well as its so-called scientiae occultae. Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following: divisions and faculties of soul; soul and personal identity; soul’s relation to body; the role and mechanics of cognition; the role and mechanics of sense-perception; imagination, dreams and prophecy; soul as an image of the divine; the state of intellect; soul’s desires and will.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Georgios Steiris
Dr. Dimitrios Vasilakis
Guest Editors

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• soul and body
• cognition
• desire
• imagination
• faculties and divisions of soul
• intellect
• perception
• will