L'âme des plantes chez Galien

The soul of plants in Galen’s De propriis placitis

Talk by Antoine Pietrobelli (Université de Franche-Comté) 

 
We are delighted to announce the next Phusis kai Phuta webinar on Friday, Feb. 24, at 4pm Paris (10am EST).


Abstract: It is well established that the De propriis placitis is one of the last works composed by Galen. It is therefore often considered as the doctrinal testament of the physician-philosopher, but this hypothesis is far from satisfactory. I would like to show that the central question of this treatise is rather the soul of plants and to try to reconstruct the polemical debate in which it is embedded. If Galen intends to defend the plausible opinion that plants have a soul, it is partly to align himself with Plato’s esoteric teaching, but mainly because the plant paradigm helps him to explain the functioning of the human body.

If you would like to attend, and are not already on our mailing list, please email lwash(at)colgate(dot)edu, ale.buccheri(at)gmail(dot)com, or amace(at)univ-fcomte(dot)fr, and we will add you to our mailing list to receive a link for each session.

For the full program, please see https://phusiskaiphuta.wordpress.com