IAMBL

ICHUS:TH

ETW

O-FOLD

NAT

URE

OF

THESO

ULAN

DTH

ECA

USE

SOFHUMAN

AGEN

CY

Dan

iela

P.Ta

ormina

Introd

uctio

n

Iamblichu

sdo

ctrin

eof

thesoul

posesaprob

lem

ofinternal

cons

isten

cy.

Basedon

thefra

gmen

tsof

Dean

imapreserve

din

Joan

nesStob

aeusw

rit-

ings,the

eviden

ceprov

ided

byPrisc

ianof

Lydiaa

ndthec

ommen

tary

onDe

anim

aattributed

toSimpliciusintheman

uscripttraditio

n,theve

ryco

reof

Iamblichu

sdo

ctrin

ewou

ldap

pear

toco

incide

with

theno

tionthat

once

thehu

man

soul

hasd

escend

edinto

theworld

ofbe

comingan

djoined

the

body

,itc

hang

esin

substanc

ewhile

preserving

itsiden

tity.

1As

itha

sbee

nem

phasized

inanu

mbe

rof

impo

rtan

tstudies,thisthesis

was

deve

lope

dan

dform

ulated

bytheph

ilosoph

erin

oppo

sitionto

Plotinusd

octrinethat

thesoul

possessesa

nim

mutab

lean

dun

chan

ging

nature.U

sually

referred

toas

thedo

ctrin

eof

theund

escend

edsoul,thelatte

rviewrestso

nastric

ton

tologicald

istinctionbe

twee

ntheleve

lofthe

soul

andthoseof

realities

supe

riorto

it.2A

closer

exam

inationof

othe

rfra

gmen

tsof

Dean

ima,

aswella

sevide

ncefro

mDam

ascius

andHermiaso

fAlexa

ndria

,wou

ldho

w-

ever

appe

arto

challeng

etheab

overeco

nstruc

tionof

Iamblichu

sdo

ctrin

e.Ba

sedon

thesesources,Iamblichu

swou

ldseem

tobe

draw

ingahierarch

i-cald

istinctionam

ongind

ividua

lsou

lsacco

rdingt

otheirrelationto

chan

ge.

Wha

thewou

ldbe

argu

ingisthat

thesupe

riorc

lass

ofsoulsu

ndergo

esno

chan

gein

substanc

e(see

inpa

rticular

Dam

ascius,C

ommen

tary

onPlatos

Parm

enides

IVp.

24.1

23W.-C

.).Iamblichu

swou

ldthus

appe

arto

begran

t-ingc

ertain

catego

rieso

fsou

lsthes

ames

tatusa

sthe

oneP

lotin

usco

nferso

nallsou

lssomething

Iamblichu

scrit

icise

sinothe

rpassage

sofh

iswrit

ing.

1Se

ePrisc

.Lyd

.Metap

hr.inTh

eoph

r.p.

32.13

19.

SeetooJ.F

.Finam

ore

J.M.D

illon

(200

2)238

241,25

825

9.Other

cruc

ialsou

rces

forIam

blichu

sdo

ctrin

eofthe

soul

areP

rocl.

InTim.iiip.

333.

23fff.

andSimpl.(?)

Inde

an.p

.5.3

3fff.,

p.89

.22fff.,

p.24

0.33

fff.,p

.313.1fff.

(cf.ibid.p

.237.37fff.).T

hese

passag

esha

vebe

enco

llected

andtran

slatedby

A.J.Fe

stug

ire

(195

3)25

225

7an

dJ.Fina

more(200

2)22

927

8.2Iw

ould

here

refert

owha

tbyno

wha

sbecom

eaclassic

workon

thesubject:C.

Stee

l(197

8).F

ormorerecent

stud

ies,seeJ.M

.Dillon

(200

5)an

dJ.Fina

more(200

9).

64da

niel

ap.ta

ormina

Iwill

bediscussin

gthisprob

lem

inthelig

htof

twopa

ssag

eson

thetw

o-fold

nature

ofthehu

man

soul:t

hefra

gmen

tof

anep

istle

addressedto

Maced

onius,

OnFa

te,p

reserved

inJoan

nesStob

aeus,A

ntho

logion

II8.

45p.

174.9

27;3an

dDe

mysterii

sVIII

67.

TheF

ragm

entfrom

theE

pistle

toMaced

onius

Thef

ragm

entfrom

theE

pistleto

Mac

edon

ius(

OnFa

te)p

reserved

inJoan

nes

Stob

aeus

II8.

45p.

174.

927

W.(45

ain

theTa

ormina-Piccione

edition

)focu

seson

thehu

man

being()

,con

ceived

asamoral

agen

tsitu

ated

with

intheorde

rof

theun

iverse

yeta

tthe

sametim

einde

pend

ento

fit.

Iamblichu

sap

proa

chto

thisiss

ue

onehe

inhe

rited

from

theph

ilosoph

-ical

trad

ition

is

ethicala

ndmetap

hysic

alin

nature

andco

nsist

sin

link-

ingtheindividu

alto

theprinciples

determ

ininghisa

ction.

Thisep

istolary

fragm

ent,no

doub

tdrawnfro

mawider

textua

lcon

text,d

escribes

therela-

tionbe

twee

ntheprinciples

inqu

estio

nan

dthoseof

thewho

le.Indo

ing

so,itr

aisesaprob

lem

cruc

ialfor

thepu

rposes

ofthepresen

tenq

uiry:for

oneof

theprinciples

discussedin

thefra

gmen

t,that

ofa

ctions

(

-

),isde

scrib

edas

beingsep

aratefro

mna

ture(

)and

eman

cipa

tedfro

mthem

ovem

ento

fthe

who

le(

).At

thesametim

e,thisprincipleisun

ambigu

ously

said

tobe

locatedw

ithin

us(

)

andtheus

here

ispa

rtof

the

sphe

reof

nature.W

ithin

us,the

n,wou

ldap

pear

toresid

eaprinciplethat

belong

stoan

ontologicalsph

eresupe

riort

ous.Iss

uchaview

compa

tible

with

thetheo

rythat

distingu

ishes

thesoul

from

leve

lsof

reality

supe

riorto

it,as

itispreserve

din

Joan

nesS

toba

eusI

49.32pp

.365

.53

66.11

andothe

rpa

ssag

esof

Iamblichu

s?Le

tusfirs

texa

minethetext:

upsilonperispomeni

upsilonoxia

upsilonperispomeni

.

,

,

,

,

.

3Fo

rastud

yofthe

fragm

entsfro

mtheE

pistleto

Mac

edon

ius,On

Fate,see

D.P.T

aorm

ina

(2010)

18122

5,336

386.

66da

niel

ap.ta

ormina

This

emen

datio

nha

rdly

solves

thediffficu

ltypo

sedby

thetext:for

itfails

toex

plainho

wtw

oap

parently

iden

tical

principles

may

beassig

nedan

ti-theticalch

aracters.T

hetextua

lproblem

ishe

recloselyintertw

ined

with

the

philo

soph

ical.

Ihav

ethus

chosen

toke

epthetext

asitispreserve

d.In

justificatio

nof

thisch

oice,twoelem

entsmay

beinvo

kedforthe

timebe

ing:

1.Th

epa

ralle

lstruc

ture

ofthefirst

andseco

ndsenten

ceof

thetext:

line10

andlin

e11

.2.

Apa

ralle

lwith

Demyst.VIII7p

.269

.15:

which

wesh

allsho

rtly

return

to.

Wha

treq

uiressomeclarificatio

nis

themea

ning

oftheex

pressio

ns

(line

s910)

and

(lin

e13).

Wha

tAre

TheseP

rincip

les?

Line

s1011m

entio

nboththeseprinciples

ofthewho

le(

).T

hese

prin

ciplesw

eren

odo

ubta

lsooriginallyfeatured

ina

sectionof

thetext

that

isno

wlost,a

siss

ugge

sted

bythepron

ounth

ese

which

isused

.Itis

likelythetw

oprinciples

inqu

estio

nareprov

iden

cean

dfate,w

hich

areex

amined

intheprev

ious

eclogu

e.While

theseco

ndpa

ssag

edo

esno

timmed

iately

follo

wthefirst,itish

ighlyprob

able

that

itis

from

thelatte

rtha

tthe

twoterm

sare

here

take

nup

again.

Thereferenc

esubseq

uently

mad

eto

nature

andthemov

emen

toft

hewho

leno

doub

tlend

scon

firmationto

thehy

pothesisthat

oneof

thetw

oprinciples

isfate,

since

Iamblichu

sde

scrib

esfate

asna

ture.E

vide

nceis

instea

dlack

ingfor

thes

econ

dprinciple,althou

ghits

iden

tificationwith

prov

iden

ceispe

rfectly

plau

sible,n

otleastb

ecau

sein

thewrit

ings

oflaterP

latonists

particularly

thosefollo

wingIamblichu

sprov

iden

ceis

common

lyrega

rded

ason

eof

thecauses

ofhu

man

actio

n.Wha

tisc

rucial,inthis

resp

ect,is

Proc

lusDe

prov

iden

tia,w

hich

argu

esthat

prov

iden

cean

dfate

difffe

rfrom

onean

othe

r

ambo

[scil

.provide

ntia

etfatum]q

uida

mcausas

mun

diet

eoru

mqu

einmun

dofiu

ntesse,p

reex

istereau

tem

prov

iden

tiam

fato,e

tomniaqu

idem

quecum

que

(bu

titisa

lsothecase

that

theo

rigin

ofactio

nin

usisbo

thinde

pend

ento

fNaturea

ndem

ancipa

tedfro

mthemov

emen

tofthe

universe).T

hetw

oscho

lars

argu

ethat

itseem

sne

cessaryt

oinsert

be

fore

,as

thisph

rase

need

stobe

subjectrathe

rtha

npred

icate

ofthesenten

cepreced

ingit

(ad.

loc.)

.

68da

niel

ap.ta

ormina

ofself-de

term

ination.

Thisprincipleof

actin

gthat

depe

ndso

nprov

iden

cebu

tnot

onfate

wou

ldtran

scen

dthelatte

r.In

theex

tractfrom

Iamblichu

sep

istle,a

slin

e23

reve

als,this

principleis

said

toresid

ein

thesoul:inits

inferio

rpart,which

issubjecttofate,asw

ella

sinits

supe

riorp

art,which

isinde

pend

ento

ffate.

Theov

eralls

truc

ture

oftheargu

men

tpresented

ineclogu

e45

awou

ldno

wap

pear

tobe

largelyco

nsist

ent.

Atlin

es9

11wefindap

rincipleo

fhum

anactin

gdescribingt

heco

ndition

oftheem

bodied

soul.T

hisp

rincipleby

necessity

obey

sthe

lawso

fprovi-

denc

ean

dfate.

Atlin

es11

13this

principleis

said

toim

plyaprincipleof

individu

alactio

nsthat

escape

sthe

lawso

ffate.Itisfurthe

rspe

cifie

d(line

s13

16)tha

tthis

principleof

individu

alactio

nspreced

esan

dis

moreno

blethan

the

orde

roffate.

Then

(atlines

162

1)thethem

eof

lines

911is

take

nup

againan

ditis

stated

that

bytheproc

esso

fgen

erationsoulsa

reallotte

dcertainregion

sof

theun

iverse,throu

ghan

actp

resupp

osingthetotalityof

theun

iverse.

Itmay

thus

beargu

edthat

thefirs

tsectio

nof

thet

exta

ndthelast(lin

es9

11an

d162

1)refert

otheco

ndition

ofsoulsw

ithin

therealm

ofge

neratio

nan

dde

scrib

etheon

tologicalc

onditio

nof

embo

died

souls,

whe

reas

the

remaining

sections

(line

s11

16)po

intt

oasp

ecificpo

ssibility

with

inthis

cond

ition

:the

persist

ence

inthesoul

ofthein

putof

aprinciplesupe

rior

tothena

turalo

rder.

Inthelig

htof

theab

oveco

nsiderations

,itisc

lear

that

thetext

preserve

din

theman

uscripttrad

ition

ispe

rfectly

acceptab

lean

dthat

itwou

ldbe

amist

aketo

emen

dit,

both

from

aph

ilologicala

ndaph

ilosoph

ical

per-

spectiv

e.In

thepa

ssag

ein

questio

n,Iamblichu

sdo

esno

tmerelyiden

tify

twoprinciples

ofhu

man

actio

n(asW

achs

muthst

extw

ould

suggest),b

utalso

defin

estherelatio

nof

subo

rdinationbe

twee

nthetw

o,which

inturn

explains

thepresen

cewith

inus

ofan

imman

entprincipleon

tologically

depe

nden

tupo

nasupe

riora

ndtran

scen

dent

principle.

TheN

etwo

rkof

Princip

les

Ethics

Thetheo

rypresen

tedin

thefra

gmen

tofIam

blichu

sep

istle

possessesg

en-

eral

valuean

dis

centered

arou

ndthesource

orcauseof

actio

n.Startin

gfro

mthehum

anprincipleof

actin

g(

)

,ane

tworkof

four

principles

isestablish

ed,a

llof

which

lack

anyde

signa

-tio

nbu

tare

scrupu

lously

defin

edwith

resp

ecttoon

ean

othe

r.Th

ehum

an

iambl

ichu

s:th

etw

o-fo

ldna

ture

ofth

eso

ul69

principleof

actin

gis

cons

onan

twith

theprinciples

ofthewho

le(

),mea

ning

itdo

esno

tstand

inop

posit

ionto

theseprinciples,

butisr

athe

rclosely

conn

ectedto

them

andco

ntrib

utes

totheorde

rthe

yestablish

.To

thisfirstco

nnectio

naseco

ndon

eisjuxtap

osed

:for

thehum

anprin-

cipleof

actin

gim

pliest

heex

isten

cew

ithin

uso

faprin

cipleof

actio

ns

(

)

which

does

notd

epen

don

nature

andissupe

rior

toit

inothe

rwords,a

principlefre

efro

mfate.

Theex

plan

atorycatego

riesforthetw

oprinciples

ofactio

n,then

,are

includ

edin

theorde

roffate

andfr

eefro

msuch

orde

r.T

hese

catego

ries

ensure

continuity

with

thes

ubsequ

enta

rgum

ent:forthe

ycon

tinue

toillus-

tratet

hetw

o-fold

nature

ofthes

oulo

np.

174.21fff.

anotioncruc

ialfor

the

attempt

toex

plainho

wescaping

thelawso

ffateispo

ssible.Ins

ofar

asthe

soul

isself-mov

ing,

itisinde

pend

ento

fexterna

lthing

s;ye

tins

ofar

asitis

inco

ntactw

iththebo

dy,itisintertwined

with

theorde

rofthe

universe,

that

isto

sayf

ate.In

such

away

,astrong

correspo

nden

ceisdraw

nbe

twee

ntheseco

ndition

sand

theprev

ious

two

o

fhum

anactio

n,suggestin

git

isthese

tha

tdeterminetheva

rious

activ

ities

ofthesoul.

TheN

etwo

rkof

Princip

les

Metap

hysic

s

Thene

tworkof

principles

establish

edin

thefra

gmen

tfrom

theEp

istle

toMac

edon

ius,alon

gwith

theno

tionof

thetw

o-fold

cond

ition

ofthesoul,

finds

asig

nific

anta

nden

lighten

ingpa

ralle

linbo

okVIII

oftheso-called

Demysterii

s.7Th

equ

estio

nhe

reison

cemoretheinflu

ence

offate,yet

this

isex

amined

notf

rom

anethicals

tand

point(

asis

thecase

intheEp

istle

toMac

edon

ius),b

utfro

mametap

hysic

alpe

rspe

ctive.

Basedon

this

new

perspe

ctive,

Iamblichu

srecallstheHermetic

doctrin

eacco

rdingto

which

man

hastwosouls:

upsilonoxia

,

[i.e.

],

,

-

,

,

!

"

,

,

-

,

.

7Ontheco

ntex

tinwhich

therelatio

nbe

twee

nthesetw

otextsist

obe

envisage

d,see

I.Had

ot(200

4)esp.

116an

dn.

405.

72da

niel

ap.ta

ormina

Conc

lusio

n

Theprinciplesupe

riort

ona

ture

that

iswith

inus,the

n,wou

ldno

tapp

ear

tomak

ethesoul

each

soul

belong

totheintelligiblerealm;n

orwou

lditap

pear

toinfuse

thesoul

with

theintelligiblewith

outa

lterin

gthelatte

rstran

scen

dent

status.R

athe

r,this

principlerefle

ctsthemetap

hysic

alview

ofpa

rticipationthat

Iamblichu

sado

ptst

ode

scrib

etheon

e-sid

edrelatio

nbe

twee

ninferio

rand

supe

rior.In

thisresp

ect,thes

oulw

hich

hasfreed

itself

from

fate

also

acqu

iresa

sharein

thepo

wer

ofthede

miurgean

dop

erates

insuch

away

asto

ascend

towha

tis

supe

riorto

itself.Th

elaw

ofthe

distinctionsepa

ratin

gtheva

rious

orde

rsof

reality

here

still

holds;in

away

,itis

even

reinforced

:for

thesoul

isrega

rded

asha

ving

utterly

descen

ded

into

thesens

ible

realm

ofwhich

itform

san

integral

part

even

ifitis

inde

pend

ento

fthisr

ealm

whe

nitturnst

oon

tologically

supe

riorn

atures,

participatingin

them

throug

hassim

ilatio

n.11

Referenc

es

Dillon

,J.M

.200

5.Ia

mblichu

sCr

iticism

ofPlotinusD

octrineof

theUnd

escend

edSo

ul,in

R.Ch

iarado

nna(ed.),

Stud

isulla

nimain

Plotino,

Nap

les:Bibliopo

lis,

pp.3373

51.

Dillon

,J.,Po

lleichtne

r,W.,ed

.and

tran

s.20

09.Iam

blichu

sofC

halcis,

TheL

etters.

Atlanta:Scho

lars

Press.

Festug

ire,A

.J.1953.L

aR

vlatio

ndHerms

Trism

gist

e,iii

,Les

doctrin

esde

lme,

Paris

:Vrin

.Fina

more,J.F

.200

9.Ia

mblichu

sand

theInterm

ediate

Natureof

theHum

anSo

ul,

inM.A

chard,

W.H

anke

yan

dJ.-M.N

arbo

nne(eds.),

Perspe

ctives

surleN

opla-

tonism

e,Qu

bec:Pressesd

elU

nive

rsit

Lava

l,123

136.

Fina

more,J.,

Dillon

,J.,e

d.an

dtran

s.20

02.Iam

blichu

s,De

anim

a.Le

iden

:Brill.

Had

ot,I.200

4.Stud

ieso

ntheN

eoplaton

istHierocle

s,Tran

slatedfro

mtheFren

chby

M.C

hase,Philade

lphia:Trans

actio

nsof

theA

merican

Philo

soph

icalSo

ciety

94.

i.Staa

b,G.2

002.

Pythag

oras

inde

rSp

tan

tike.

Stud

ienzu

DeVita

Pythag

oricade

sIamblich

osvo

nCh

alkis,Mn

chen

Leipz

ig:Sau

r.Stee

l,C.

1978

.The

Chan

ging

Self.

AStud

yofthe

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