Please join us for the first of two talks by our visiting scholar Elisa Coda (CNRS)! For more information on Elisa and her work, see her visitor page.
Title: "Do the Celestial Spheres Think? And What? Themistius’ On the Heavens"
Abstract: This lecture is devoted to the earliest ancient commentary on the De Caelo that has come down to us, penned by Themistius. We will analyze some passages taking into account Themistius’ sources. The heavens are conceived as ensouled; their movements are caused by their souls’ desire to imitate the immobility of the First Cause, God. Themistius manages to create the harmony of Aristotle’s De Caelo and the Metaphysics: we shall focus on the Neoplatonic inspiration of his account.
Elisa's talk will be given in person, but there will also be an option to join via Zoom. If you would like the Zoom link, please email us at histphil@nd.edu.