Book contents
- Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
- Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction The Intersection of Biology and Cosmology in Ancient Philosophy
- Chapter 1 Souls and Cosmos before Plato
- Chapter 2 The Ensouled Cosmos in Plato’s Timaeus
- Chapter 3 Platonic ‘Desmology’ and the Body of the World Animal (Tim. 30c–34a)
- Chapter 4 The World Soul Takes Command
- Chapter 5 Begotten and Made
- Chapter 6 The De Motu Animalium on the Movement of the Heavens
- Chapter 7 Biology and Cosmology in Aristotle
- Chapter 8 Recapitulation Theory and Transcendental Morphology in Antiquity
- Chapter 9 The Stoics’ Empiricist Model of Divine Thought
- Chapter 10 Why Is the Cosmos Intelligent?
- Chapter 11 Cardiology and Cosmology in Post-Chrysippean Stoicism
- Chapter 12 The Agency of the World
- Chapter 13 God and the Material World
- Chapter 14 At the Intersection of Cosmology and Biology
- Chapter 15 Is the Heaven an Animal?
- References
- Index
- Index Locorum
Chapter 11 - Cardiology and Cosmology in Post-Chrysippean Stoicism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2021
- Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
- Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction The Intersection of Biology and Cosmology in Ancient Philosophy
- Chapter 1 Souls and Cosmos before Plato
- Chapter 2 The Ensouled Cosmos in Plato’s Timaeus
- Chapter 3 Platonic ‘Desmology’ and the Body of the World Animal (Tim. 30c–34a)
- Chapter 4 The World Soul Takes Command
- Chapter 5 Begotten and Made
- Chapter 6 The De Motu Animalium on the Movement of the Heavens
- Chapter 7 Biology and Cosmology in Aristotle
- Chapter 8 Recapitulation Theory and Transcendental Morphology in Antiquity
- Chapter 9 The Stoics’ Empiricist Model of Divine Thought
- Chapter 10 Why Is the Cosmos Intelligent?
- Chapter 11 Cardiology and Cosmology in Post-Chrysippean Stoicism
- Chapter 12 The Agency of the World
- Chapter 13 God and the Material World
- Chapter 14 At the Intersection of Cosmology and Biology
- Chapter 15 Is the Heaven an Animal?
- References
- Index
- Index Locorum
Summary
The chapter focuses on the role of the heart and the image of the world as a cardiovascular system in the post-Chrysippean tradition. Within this picture, then, it will be shown that in later Stoicism, not only the heart but the blood first and foremost was used in explaining the essence and features of the soul and eventually employed as a model to explain the universe. The existence of a ‘hematic’ variation within cardiocentrism will thus be highlighted, which allows some Stoics to better justify the spreading and the action of the soul within the body, and that of god throughout the cosmos. By doing so, the post-Chrysippean tradition recalls Empedocles’ position. This topic will be first of all studied in Diogenes of Babylon, who stresses the importance of the heart in the wake of his master Chrysippus, yet apparently providing a different definition of the soul as (made of) blood. The chapter examines then Posidonius, whose cardiocentrism – though not strictly ‘hematic’ – differs from that of both Aristotle and Chrysippus and is crucial for his understanding of living beings and natural phenomena. Lastly, the contribution considers Seneca and Manilius, who often represent the universe as a cardiovascular system enlivened by a network of blood vessels.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Cosmology and Biology in Ancient PhilosophyFrom Thales to Avicenna, pp. 190 - 207Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021