The Concept of Pneuma After Aristotle

In the history of the concept of pneuma, the writings of Aristotle are considered a turning point: he develops a complex conception of pneuma and assigns it a central role in the generation, development and workings of the body and soul. After Aristotle, the importance and supremacy of pneuma in medical and philosophical thought is almost undisputed; yet, while it constitutes an important stage in this history, the period after Aristotle has attracted little attention. The aim of this conference is to fill this lacuna by focusing on post-Aristotelian conceptions of pneuma, and tracing changes in the history of ideas of pneuma from the early Hellenistic period to the early Middle Ages.

The conference will look at the concept of pneuma from a number of perspectives: (a) the role of pneuma in physics, psychology, physiology, embryology and pathology; (b) definitions of pneuma among different schools and where & why these views intersect, e.g. Peripatetic, Stoic, Medical (Dogmatic, Methodist, “Pneumatist”), Neoplatonist, Arabic; (c) pneuma in social & religious contexts—e.g., pagan, Talmudic, Christian, Islamic. 

PROGRAMME 

THURSDAY, JULY 2

09:30–09:45      Welcome and Introduction

The Peripatetic Tradition

09:45–10:45     Soul and Pneuma in Pseudo-Aristotle’s De spiritu (Pavel Gregoric, University of Zagreb)

10:45–11:00     Short coffee break

11:00–12:00     Strato on Pneuma (Luciana Repici, Torino University)

12:00–14:00     Lunch Break

14:00–15:00     Aristotle’s Second Breath: The Concept of Pneuma in the Ancient Greek Tradition of Natural Problems (Michiel Meeusen, KU Leuven)

15:00–15:30     Coffee break

Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods

15:30–16:30     Pneuma in Hellenistic Medicine (Heinrich von Staden, IAS, Princeton)

16:30–16:45     Short coffee break

16:45–17:45     The Spirit of Stoicism (Teun Tieleman, Utrecht)

FRIDAY, JULY 3

Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods (Continued)

09:30–10:30    Asclepiades of Bythinia on Pneuma (David Leith, Exeter)

10:30–10:45     Short coffee break

Galen

10:45–11:45     Galen’s Account of the Lung as an Instrument of Pneumatic Elaboration (Julius Rocca, HU Berlin)

11:45–13:45     Lunch break

13:45–14:45     Vital Pneuma, Tonos and the Spirited Part of the Soul in Galen (Julia Trompeter, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

14:45–15:00     Short coffee break

15:00–16:00     Pneuma in Galen: Physiology, Metaphysics and Aristotle (Peter N. Singer, HU Berlin)

16:00–16:30     Coffee break

16:30–17:30     “Tonic Movement”: Pneumatic Dynamics and Motoricity according to Galen (Armelle Debru, Paris)

17:30–17:45     Short coffee break

17:45–18:45     “An Instrument of the Soul”:  Philosophical and Medical Context of Galen’s Physiology of Pneuma (Inna Kupreeva, Edinburgh)

SATURDAY, JULY 4

Neoplatonic Tradition

10:00–11:00      The Pneumatic Body and the Animation of the Embryo (James Wilberding, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

11:00–11:30      Short coffee break

11:30–12:30      The Neoplatonic Concept of the Pneumatic Ochema (Bettina Bohle, TOPOI, Berlin)

12:30–14:30      Lunch Break

Muslim and Byzantine Traditions     

14:30–15:30      Arab Physicians, Philosophers and Theologians on Pneuma (Pauline Koetschet, CNRS)

15:30–16:00      Coffee Break

16:00–17:00      Theories on Pneuma in the Work of the Late Byzantine Physician John Zacharias Aktouarios (Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, King’s College London)

17:00–17:30   Concluding Remarks