Nemesius: On the Nature of Man(49 Translated Texts for Historians)

Nemesius’ treatise On the Nature of Man is an important text for historians of ancient thought, not only as a much-quarried source of evidence for earlier works now lost, but also as an indication of intellectual life in the late fourth century AD. The author was a Christian bishop; the subject is the nature of human beings and their place in the scheme of created things. The medical works of Galen and the philosophical writings of Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonist Porphyry are all major influences on Nemesius; so too the controversial Christian Origen. On the Nature of Man provides the first kown compendium of theological anthropology with a Christian orientation and considerably influenced later Byzantine and medieval Latin philosophical theology.

Table of Contents:
Preface Abbreviations Introduction 1. The importance of Nemesius 2. Nemesius and the scope of his treatise 3. Nemesius' Christianity 4. Nemesius' views 5. Nemesius' sources Nemesius, On the Nature of Man 1. On the nature of man 2. On the soul 3. On the union of soul and body 4. On the body 5. On the elements 6. On imagination 7. On sight 8. On touch 9. On taste 10. On hearing 11. On smell 12. On thought 13. On memory 14. On immanent and expressed reason 15. Another division of the soul 16. On the non-rational part or kind of the soul, which is also called the affective and appetitive 17. On the desirous part 18. On pleasures 19. On distress 20. On anger 21. On fear 22. On the non-rational element that is not capable of obeying reason 23. On the nutritive faculty 24. On pulsation 25. On the generative or seminal faculty 26. Another division of the powers controlling living beings 27. On movement according to impulse or choice, which belongs to the appetitive part 28. On respiration 29. On the intentional and unintentional 30. On the unintentional 31. On the unintentional through ignorance 32. On the intentional 33. On choice 34. About what things do we deliberate? 35. On fate 36. On what is fated through the stars 37. On those who say that choice of actions is up to us 38. On Plato's account of fate 39. On what is up to us, or on autonomy 40. Concerning what things are up to us 41. For what reason were we born autonomous? 42. On providence 43. About what matters there is providence Bibliography Index of passages cited General index

About the Author :
Philip Van Der Eijk is Professor of Greek at Newcastle University. †R.W. Sharples was Professor of Classics at University College London. He published widely on ancient philosophy, especially the Aristotelian tradition (Theophrastus, Alexander of Aphrodisias). His books include 'Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics' (Routledge, 1996), 'Nemesius: On Fate' (Liverpool University Press, 2008), and 'Cicero: On Fate with Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy IV.5–7 and V' and 'Plato: Meno' in the Aris & Phillips Classical Texts series.

Review :
Sharples and van der Eijk are to be thanked and congratulated for their production of this book which, by bringing together much of what is known about this important text, quite distinctly indicates also what still needs to be done for a full understanding of it. Sharples and van der Eijk have made a significant contribution to students of patristics and the late antique world. I hope that this excellent translation will fuel greater study of Nemesius, not only as a witness of lost antique philosophical and medical sources, but as an apologist and theologian in his own right. ...its clear presentation of the work in its late antique context will mightily assist any exploration of this influence. This is a very welcome addition to the already immensely distinguished series, Translated Texts for Historians.