Theories of the Soul in the Early Peripatos

This subproject deals with theories of the soul in the early Peripatos among Aristotle’s direct disciples. We especially focus on the harmonia theory of soul. Proponents of this theory argue, in various ways, that the soul, i.e. the principle of life, should be understood through the analogy to musical harmony. In this picture the relationship between the soul and the living being is the same or a similar one as the relationship between a musical harmony and a sounding tuned instrument. Many scholars have seen parallels between the ancient harmonia theory of the soul and epiphenomenalism, a popular position in contemporary philosophy of mind which holds that the soul is something supervening on the body, a secondary effect which has no causal influence on the body (Gottschalk 1971; Caston 1997).

Cicero (e.g. Tusc. 1, 10, 20), among other sources, reports that two of Aristotle’s main disciples, Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus, advanced a harmonia theory of the soul. By advocating this theory, Aristotle’s followers stand in a long tradition – presumably (challenged by Gottschalk 1971) – leading back to the early Pythagoreans. However, pinpointing the precise content of their theories proves challenging. This difficulty arises partly from the transmission of multiple versions of the harmonia theory (De an. I 4) and partly because the surviving accounts of the harmonia theory come exclusively from hostile or critical sources.

What is striking is that a theory severely criticized by both Plato and Aristotle appears so frequently among Aristotle’s most famous disciples. And even within Aristotle’s own treatise on the soul, despite his rigorous criticism, the harmonia theory receives an extensive treatment, relative to other theories of his predecessors. Some scholars even suggest that Aristotle’s hylomorphic account of the soul is a version of the harmonia theory (Young 2012). Within the framework of this subproject, we aim to find the precise content of the Peripatetic harmonia theories of the soul, and to examine whether and how they form a response to Aristotle’s own considerations on the soul. Through this investigation, we also hope to gain a deeper understanding of the role the harmonia theory plays in Aristotle’s own conception of the soul.

The research questions of the subproject:

  1. What can be said about the various versions of the harmonia theory of soul in the early Peripatos? (1)
  2. What do the theories consist in? (1)
  3. How do the theories respond to the Aristotelian theory of the soul? (2)
  4. To what extent do they incorporate Aristotle’s criticism of similar ideas?
  5. How do these theories connect to similar Presocratic theories of the soul? Or do they only bear the same name? (3)
  6. What was Aristotle’s stance towards the harmonia theory of soul? (4)

The aims of the subproject:

  1. To offer a most detailed reconstruction of the Peripatetic harmonia theories of the soul.
  2. To conduct an in-depth study of their relations to the Aristotelian theory of the soul.
  3. To investigate their origins and their connections to similar pre-Socratic theories of the soul.
  4. To achieve a closer understanding of Aristotle’s stance on the harmonia theory through the insights gained from 1–3.