- De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Philosophy
Institute of Philosophy
Kard. Mercierplein 2
B-3000 Leuven
Belgium
Jan Opsomer
KU Leuven, Philosophy, Faculty Member
- Philosophy, Plato, Plato and Platonism, Hellenistic Philosophy, Aristotelianism, Plutarch, and 46 moreAristotle's Commentators, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ethics, Irony, Epicureanism, H.P. Grice, Verbal Irony, Moral Luck, Ammonius, Megarians, New Academy, De E Apud Delphos, Simplicius, Proclus, Damascius, Syrianus, Iamblichus, Plotinus, Olympiodorus, Eudorus, Sextus Empiricus, Carneades, Arcesilaus, Cicero, Antiochus, Alcinous, Ancient Science, History, Science, Astronomy, Ancient Chronological Systems, Calendars, Quaestiones Convivales, Life of Dion, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Classics, Ancient Philosophy, Late Antiquity, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Aristotle, Neoplatonism, Philosophy of Nature, Neoplatonism and late antique philosophy, Natural philosophy, Porphyry, Neoplatonism and Pythagoreanism, Plato's Timaeus, Transmission of knowledge from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, and Transmission of Knowledgeedit
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© 2015 by Tijdschrift voor Filosofie. All rights reserved. Aristotle examines emotions in different works and from different perspectives. Ontologically, they are categorized as passing qualitative states of the soul. Yet they have both a... more
© 2015 by Tijdschrift voor Filosofie. All rights reserved. Aristotle examines emotions in different works and from different perspectives. Ontologically, they are categorized as passing qualitative states of the soul. Yet they have both a bodily and a psychological (mental) aspect. While a proper definition of any emotion would need to render both aspects, in his Rhetoric Aristotle merely offers nominal definitions of emotions in general and of single emotions. He produces a sophisticated analysis of anger, which he defines as a response to a perceived slight. The angry person seeks revenge, which consists in his or her regaining his or her superiority. In order to achieve this, it is necessary that the victim, that is the person responsible for the earlier slight, recognizes that she or he is made to suffer the revenge of the angry person. Anger is therefore accompanied by pain and pleasure: pain because of the perceived slight, pleasure because of the hope for revenge. Anger is morally neutral, but there are good and bad ways of being angry.status: publishe
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Opsomer Jan. Evanghélos Moutsopoulos, Structure, présence et fonctions du kairos chez Proclus. In: Revue Philosophique de Louvain. Quatrième série, tome 103, n°1-2, 2005. pp. 272-275
Research Interests: Philosophy and Kairos
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Atomism
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Cicero
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Iamblichus' theory of self-motion has to be pieced together from various texts and passing remarks. Ever since Aristotle's critique, Plato's concept of the self-motive soul was felt to be problematic. Taking his lead from... more
Iamblichus' theory of self-motion has to be pieced together from various texts and passing remarks. Ever since Aristotle's critique, Plato's concept of the self-motive soul was felt to be problematic. Taking his lead from Plotinus, Iamblichus counters Aristotle's criticism by claiming that true self-motion transcends the opposition between activity and passivity. He moreover argues that it does not involve motion that is spatially extended. Hence it is non-physical. Primary self-motion is the reversion of the soul to itself, by which the soul constitutes itself, i.e. imparts life to itself. This motion is located at the level of essence or substance. The bestowal of life upon the body derives from this fundamental motion. As a result, animals are derivatively self-motive. Secondary self-motions are acts of thought in the broad sense. Contrary to the unmoved motion of intellect, the self-motion of the soul is not beyond time. This somehow fits Iamblichus' theory o...
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dated, the comments in the introduction could be leveraged to aid in studies of Pauline reception. Finally, if one agrees with Z.’s two-fold division of the textual tradition, the introduction contains a detailed list of variants within... more
dated, the comments in the introduction could be leveraged to aid in studies of Pauline reception. Finally, if one agrees with Z.’s two-fold division of the textual tradition, the introduction contains a detailed list of variants within the two traditions in addition to cataloguing the variants at the appropriate places in the textual apparatus. Petrus in Rom is thus warmly recommended to scholars and students of Christian origins as well as to libraries who support them. Z.’s expertise as a Classicist and textual scholar comes to the fore in his much-needed update to the Martyrdom of Peter and Martyrdom of Paul. His study of Peter in Rome also challenges traditional interpretations at nearly every turn. Although such challenges are useful for recalling the slender evidence upon which ancient historians must reconstruct arguments, Z.’s particular lines of argumentation may not convince all readers. Nevertheless, readers owe a debt of gratitude to Z. for his work as author and editor and to the publisher for releasing this reasonably priced paperback edition.
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Plato's "Timaeus" contains a powerful and influential myth, of the construction of the universe by a divine craftsman. A god imposed reason on necessity, to bring order from a primeval 'receptacle' of disordered... more
Plato's "Timaeus" contains a powerful and influential myth, of the construction of the universe by a divine craftsman. A god imposed reason on necessity, to bring order from a primeval 'receptacle' of disordered matter. There results the 'child' that is the cosmos - a copy of an externally-existing perfect model. Here eight new essays, from an international cast of scholars, explore aspects of this challenging work: the principles of the mythical narrative, how the world soul and human body are formed, implications for illness - mental and physical - and the importance of music and harmonious proportion. Later developments are also treated: Aristotles' theory of generation, the commentary of Proclus and elements of modern evolutionary theory.
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Late ancient Platonists discuss two theories in which geometric entities xplain natural phenomena : the regular polyhedra of geometric atomism and the ccentrics and epicycles of astronomy. Simplicius explicitly compares the status of the... more
Late ancient Platonists discuss two theories in which geometric entities xplain natural phenomena : the regular polyhedra of geometric atomism and the ccentrics and epicycles of astronomy. Simplicius explicitly compares the status of the first to the hypotheses of the astronomers. The point of omparison is the fallibility of both theories, not the (lack of) reality of the entities postulated. Simplicius has strong realist commitments as far as astronomy is concerned. Syrianus and Proclus, too, do not consider the polyhedra as devoid of physical reality. Proclus rejects epicycles and eccentrics, but accepts the reality of material homocentric spheres, moved by their own souls. The spheres move the astral objects contained in them, which, however, add motions caused by their own souls. The epicyclical and eccentric hypotheses are useful, as they help us to understand the complex motions resulting from the interplay of spherical motions and volitional motions of the planets. Yet astral souls do not think in accordance with human theoretical constructs, but rather grasp the complex patterns of their motions directly. Our understanding of astronomy depends upon our own cognition of intelligible patterns and their mathematical images.status: publishe
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This chapter focuses on the force of the analogy and Socrates' prescription for recognizing the soul. It discusses the condition of the embodied soul compared with that of Glaucus. To look at the god in his sea-bound condition,... more
This chapter focuses on the force of the analogy and Socrates' prescription for recognizing the soul. It discusses the condition of the embodied soul compared with that of Glaucus. To look at the god in his sea-bound condition, encrusted with all sorts of marine detritus is, says Socrates, to be prevented from glimpsing him as he really is. Soul's independence from body is given by its distinct ontological status: indestructible as opposed to destructible. This independence is built into the metaphysical framework that the immortality argument has purported to establish. So those elements are essentially add-ons to the soul that will come and go with the body. Socrates lays great emphasis, on the objective of viewing the soul in its pure form. If the soul's ideal state is incompatible with embodiment, one can still speak intelligibly, where the soul is embodied, of one component being the natural ruler.
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This chapter deals with a section from Asclepius' commentary on Metaphysics, Bèta. It contains a testimony on Proclus' teaching, in which Proclus is reported to have made an ambivalent comment on Porphyrius' Isagoge. The background of the... more
This chapter deals with a section from Asclepius' commentary on Metaphysics, Bèta. It contains a testimony on Proclus' teaching, in which Proclus is reported to have made an ambivalent comment on Porphyrius' Isagoge. The background of the debate has to do with Plotinus' analysis of essential attributes in Ennead II.6 [17]. Proclus' view is probably that the so-called "essential accidents" are first observed in individuals. Proclus criticises the view that these essential accidents secondarily belong to the Forms. For in the Forms, there are no accidents at all. If they belong to universals, these universals must be universals post rem. Another issue discussed in this passage is about the usefulness of aporiae.
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‘Spuren einer wissenschaftlichen platonischen Theologie in Salustios’ De deis’, in Die pagane Theologie des Philosophen Salustios, eingeleitet, übersetzt und mit interpretierenden Essays versehen von Nicole Belayche, Robbert M. van den... more
‘Spuren einer wissenschaftlichen platonischen Theologie in Salustios’ De deis’, in Die pagane Theologie des Philosophen Salustios, eingeleitet, übersetzt und mit interpretierenden Essays versehen von Nicole Belayche, Robbert M. van den Berg, Adrien Lecerf, Detlef Melsbach und Jan Opsomer; herausgegeben von Detlef Melsbach (SAPERE, 41), Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2022, 115-38. ISBN 9783161576676
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Open workshop on Aristotle, Time, and Phenomenology organized by the KU Leuven's De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy and the Husserl-Archives Centre for Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy. The... more
Open workshop on Aristotle, Time, and Phenomenology organized by the KU Leuven's De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy and the Husserl-Archives Centre for Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy. The workshop will be be held on Friday, December 9th in Raadzaal (HIW), Leuven, 3000 Belgium, from 1 to 4 pm.
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Ever since its inaugural impulse in Brentano’s thinking, phenomenological philosophy has time and again been reborn of an essential confrontation with Aristotle and Aristotelianism. Whether explicitly or implicitly, the development of... more
Ever since its inaugural impulse in Brentano’s thinking, phenomenological philosophy has time and again been reborn of an essential confrontation with Aristotle and Aristotelianism. Whether explicitly or implicitly, the development of phenomenological philosophy through its key figures—Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Patočka, and others—has sought to measure itself, its distance as well as proximity, in relation to the legacy of Aristotle’s thinking. This presence of Aristotle and Aristotelianism within phenomenological thought has taken different forms, with various thematic orientations (the body, time, language, metaphysics, etc.) and methods of engagement. Yet, an elemental form of this relationship is an incessant movement of departure and return, or searching. The history of phenomenological thought is as emphatically a departure from Aristotle (“metaphysics of presence,” “ontology of substance,” “logical prejudice,” etc.) as it is an emphatic return to the phenomenological yield of Aristotle’s thinking.
This conference is organized in the broader context of the celebration of the 2,400 years anniversary “Aristotle Today.” Under the auspices of the Center for Historical Ontology (Heidelberg – Helsinki – Leuven), 13 conferences on different aspects of Aristotle’s thinking and its reception were organized in 2016 (for a full list: www.c-h-o.eu) in major European universities (and in the USA).
The conference will held on December 12-14 in the Huis Bethlehem (Auditorium Wolfspoort), Schapenstraat 34, Leuven, 3000 Belgium.
For further information, please check the official website: http://aristotle2016.ophen.org/
This conference is organized in the broader context of the celebration of the 2,400 years anniversary “Aristotle Today.” Under the auspices of the Center for Historical Ontology (Heidelberg – Helsinki – Leuven), 13 conferences on different aspects of Aristotle’s thinking and its reception were organized in 2016 (for a full list: www.c-h-o.eu) in major European universities (and in the USA).
The conference will held on December 12-14 in the Huis Bethlehem (Auditorium Wolfspoort), Schapenstraat 34, Leuven, 3000 Belgium.
For further information, please check the official website: http://aristotle2016.ophen.org/
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Now published as: Ofellius Laetus, Platonist: Natural History and Alien Wisdom in the First Century CE, in: Yosef Z. Liebersohn, Ivor Ludlam, Amos Edelheit (eds.), For a Skeptical Peripatetic. Festschrift in Honour of John Glucker... more
Now published as: Ofellius Laetus, Platonist: Natural History and Alien Wisdom in the First Century CE, in: Yosef Z. Liebersohn, Ivor Ludlam, Amos Edelheit (eds.), For a Skeptical Peripatetic. Festschrift in Honour of John Glucker (Studies in Ancient Moral and Political Philosophy, 3), Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, 2017, 250-263.