Simon Trépanier | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)

Papers by Simon Trépanier

The Soul and the Celestial Afterlife in Greek Philosophy before Plato, 2021

One might also want to inquire on what account the soul up in the air is better off and more immo... more One might also want to inquire on what account the soul up in the air is better off and more immortal (ἀθανατωτέρα) than that in living creatures. Aristotle De Anima A 5, 411a11-13 1.1 The Soul and the Celestial Afterlife This study is an investigation into the soul and the celestial afterlife in Greek philosophy before Plato. 1 My main thesis is that the concept of a celestial afterlife did indeed exist before Plato in the philosophical tradition, and I hope to prove it by offering some specifics. At the same time, study of the celestial afterlife throws new light upon different, often competing early Greek philosophical conceptions of the soul, salvation, and immortality. A better grasp of this diversity of views will be my second and related objective. We can begin with a few initial clarifications. In its historic setting, the celestial afterlife seems to presuppose two connected notions. The first is survival of the soul, the notion that some sentient part of us continues to exist after death. The second is the idea that at death this surviving soul goes up, instead of down. Of the two, only the second is new. All souls go to Hades in the Iliad, while Hesiod and the poet of the Odyssey are only slightly more relaxed, allowing a select few to emigrate to Elysium or the Isles of 14 simon trépanier

Bartosh, H. and C. Guthrie King eds. Heat, Pneuma and Soul in Aristotle and his Predecessors, Cambridge, 80-105., 2020

This study is an investigation of soul in Empedocles and its relation to Aristotelian soul, heat ... more This study is an investigation of soul in Empedocles and its relation to Aristotelian soul, heat and pneuma, both in terms of historical influences and of the role played by Aristotle and Theophrastus in the transmission of our evidence. The focus is on soul within the body, as opposed to but not in abstraction from the soul's career outside the body.

‘Empedocles on the Origin of Plants: P. Strasb. gr. Inv. 1665-1666, sections d, b and f.’ In C. Vassalo, ed.’ Presocratics and Papyrological Tradition. Studia Praesocratica 10, De Gruyter, 271-298., 2019

This study aims to improve the text of section d of the Strasbourg Papyrus of Empedocles.1 In par... more This study aims to improve the text of section d of the Strasbourg Papyrus of Empedocles.1 In particular, I will test the reconstruction advanced by Janko (2004), who proposes attributing sections f and b to the same column as section d and argues that all three sections are from col. 12 of the ancient roll. I offer several new suggestions to improve the text and thereby reinforce Janko's reconstruction of the column. My main departure from Janko will be to argue that the unity of ll. d 11-18 plus sections b and f can be better shown if we assume that the subject of the passage is a description of the origins of plants alone, not of animals or of living things in general. This in turn provides a new reason for thinking that section b, a catalogue of animals with hard, earthy parts on the outside, belongs to the bottom of the same column as section d. The catalogue is offered to support an analogy in which trees, where hard, earthy bark is on the outside, are likened to animals with hard, earthy outsides, such as conches, turtles, and hedgehogs. The study is in four parts. Part 1 introduces the papyrus, part 2 is my edition of the unified sections d plus f and b, while parts 3 and 4 offer various arguments and exegetical comments to support the reconstruction.

Classical Antiquity, 2017

This study reconstructs Empedocles’ eschatology and cosmology, arguing that they presuppose one a... more This study reconstructs Empedocles’ eschatology and cosmology, arguing that they presuppose one another. Part one surveys body and soul in Empedocles and argues that the transmigrating daimon is a long-lived compound made of the elements air and fire. Part two shows that Empedocles situates our current life in Hades, then considers the testimonies concerning different cosmic levels in Empedocles and compares them with the afterlife schemes in Pindar’s Second Olympian Ode and Plato’s Phaedo myth. Part three offers a new edition of sectiond lines 5–10 of the Strasbourg papyrus of Empedocles that reinforces the connection between transmigration and different cosmic locations for souls. Part four reconstructs Empedocles’ cosmology, identifies three different levels or habitats of soul, and, more tentatively, suggests that Empedoclean “long-lived gods” are best understood as stars.

Mnemosyne

This article presents a new, complete edition of Empedocles, On Nature 1.265-290, in particular l... more This article presents a new, complete edition of Empedocles, On Nature 1.265-290, in particular lines 1.273-287 or a (ii) 3-17 of the Strasbourg papyrus of Empedocles, P. Strasb. gr. Inv. 1665-1666. The edition is based on two new supplements to section a (ii) grounded on doxographic testimony. These new supplements confirm that the passage is devoted to cosmology, specifically the relation between place and the elements. That in turn provides a reliable framework for a reconstruction of the remaining lines. More controversially, the reconstruction gives new grounds for rejecting the controversial variant reading συνερχόµεθα, ‘we come together’, found in two or perhaps three instances in the papyrus. If the content of the passage is consistently cosmological, these new variants must be no more than scribal errors.

Apeiron, 2014

First He becomes the seed of a man, which is light gathered from all the limbs of the body. Aitar... more First He becomes the seed of a man, which is light gathered from all the limbs of the body. Aitareya-Upanishad, opening of section 5 'But even he, whom one would most expect to speak consistently, Empedocles…' Aristotle Met. B 1000a25

Within the corpus of texts potentially available to him-of which we only have tiny i fraction-whi... more Within the corpus of texts potentially available to him-of which we only have tiny i fraction-which Epicurean texts were the sources used by Lucretius? The identity of these texts remains disputed, not because we doubt their ultimate Epicurean origin, even when Lucretius is our only source, but because of changes Lucretius sometimes can make where strongparallels are otherwise possible. For if Lucretius can changeat feast the structure of arguments, e.g. for rhetorical effect in book 3, this then blurs the line we might otherwise use to establish such parallels. Various degrees of remove from the original are possible without necessarily excluding the validity of a proposed source, thereby openingthe field to speculation. ' So as not to overburden this introduction with references, I will, for now, merely sketch key interpretative alternatives, and substantiate these claims with references to argued scholarly positions in later sections. My thanks to Richard Sorabji and Bob Sharples. | am particularly grateful to Bob Sharples for permission to recycle someofhis notes in section IV although he should not be held responsible for the views therein, as I have modified them to suit my purposes.

1. The Single-Work Hypothesis 2. The Framework: Proem and Doctrine 3. Interpreting the Framework ... more 1. The Single-Work Hypothesis 2. The Framework: Proem and Doctrine 3. Interpreting the Framework 4. The Persuasion of Empedocles 5. Conclusion

... EMPEDOCLE: LES POMMES DE LA DISCORDE ... les savants, en rdglant toutes les questions ci-deva... more ... EMPEDOCLE: LES POMMES DE LA DISCORDE ... les savants, en rdglant toutes les questions ci-devant ouvertes, font plut6t figure de pomme(s) de ... e Katharmoi di Empedocle" (181-196); T. Dorandi, "Qualche considerazione de metodo" (197-204); M. Laura Gemelli Marciano ...

Essays in Philosophy

Fragment 17 of Empedocles has long been recognized as the most important in the corpus. In 1998, ... more Fragment 17 of Empedocles has long been recognized as the most important in the corpus. In 1998, the significance of this 35-line fragment was further increased by the publication of the Strasbourg papyrus, containing roughly 74 lines of Empedocles.

Mnemosyne, 2003

This paper presents an alternative interpretation and reconstruction of ensemble a from the Stras... more This paper presents an alternative interpretation and reconstruction of ensemble a from the Strasbourg papyrus of Empedocles, P. Strasb. gr. Inv. 1665-1666 , first published by A. Martin and O. Primavesi in 1999. I claim that Martin and Primavesi's working hypothesis for the reconstruction of lines a (ii) 3-17 , upon which most of their individual supplements rely, is wrong, and that the doctrinal implications they draw from it are unfounded. Against them, I propose an alternate reconstruction of the text. If correct, two consequences follow from my alternative. First, it presents further reasons to reject a controversial variant reading revealed by the papyrus, retained by the editors, and the "we" of my title. Second, it provides new support for the role of chance in Empedocles' cosmic cycle, a theme largely ignored in modern scholarship on Empedocles.

The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2013