Arianna Piazzalunga | KU Leuven (original) (raw)

Organization of Conferences by Arianna Piazzalunga

OCTOBER 28 th-Chair: Franco Ferrari 10.00-11.00 Jan Opsomer (KU Leuven) An Unexpected Source for ... more OCTOBER 28 th-Chair: Franco Ferrari 10.00-11.00 Jan Opsomer (KU Leuven) An Unexpected Source for the First More Geometrico Treatment of Metaphysics: Aristotle. 11.30-12.00-break 11.30-12.30 Anna Motta (Naples) Theme and Target of the Dialogues within the Context of the Neoplatonist Cosmoliterary Theory. OCTOBER 29 th-Chair: Francesco Caruso 17.30-18.00-break 18.00-19.00 15.30-16.30 Francesco Caruso (PhD Roma-Sapienza) How Does Plutarch Regard the World both as a Living Being and a Work of Art? Reconciling two Timaean Metaphors in the Second 'Platonica Quaestio'. 16.30-17.30 Irmgard Männlein-Robert (Tübingen) Porphyry's Περὶ ἀγαλμάτων: Platonic Exegesis between Metaphysics and Physics.

A series of CUP Book Presentations

Papers by Arianna Piazzalunga

Méthexis, 2023

This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a compl... more This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a complex and effective philosophical reasoning: the Middle Platonists conceived of Plato’s text as a web of passages which Plato himself had carefully established. Only a few of them were granted a qualified priority, namely, those offering a complete and comprehensive philosophical account of the key elements which the Platonists regarded as fundamental. This will allow us to show that the Middle Platonists’ preference for the Timaeus does not depend on the fact that it is systematic. Rather it is systematic insofar as it proves capable of giving context to passages from other dialogues and provides them with an account that is philosophically sound.

Apeiron, 2022

The aim of this paper is to explore how the cosmic soul works and how it accomplishes its provide... more The aim of this paper is to explore how the cosmic soul works and how it accomplishes its providential and demiurgic tasks in Chrysippus’ system. Drawing on (i) the analogy Chrysippus establishes between the individuum and the cosmos and (ii) biological and medical theories of respiration, digestion, and pulse, I will show that the movements of Chrysippus’ cosmic soul reproduce the processes of digestion, pulse, and respiration at a cosmic level. My claim is that Chrysippus, in addition to adopting Praxagoras’ notion that inhaled air nourishes pneuma—well established in the scholarship—appropriated Aristotle’s complex mechanism of respiration and digestion based on the teleological role of cold air, crucial for preserving vital heat. So understood, Chrysippus’ application of biological notions to cosmology allows him to endow the active principle with effective causation throughout the cosmos.

Antiquorum Philosophia, 2021

The Stoic model of causality is developed against the background of the demiurgic model of the Ti... more The Stoic model of causality is developed against the background of the demiurgic model of the Timaeus. The Stoics define their god as a demiurge or a designing fire. However, the absence of any mention of a precosmic disorder in the Stoic cosmogony constitutes a great difference between the two models. The aim of this paper is to discuss how this absence shapes the Stoic demiurgic model and whether and to what extent it is still possible to call the Stoic model a ‘demiurgic model’. By ‘demiurgic model’ the Stoics understand the possibility of explaining the cosmos as the product of an intelligent god that acts aiming at the good. I shall claim that, while leaving aside several aspects of the Platonic Timaeus, the Stoics retain this core concept of a providential god. A further problem is raised by the question of intentionality: is it an essential feature of the demiurge? Can intentionality be attributed to the Stoic god? I will discuss how the Stoics make the demiurgic model interact with the biological and the physical models of causation, in order to convey the idea that god’s action is teleologically and providentially oriented.

OCTOBER 28 th-Chair: Franco Ferrari 10.00-11.00 Jan Opsomer (KU Leuven) An Unexpected Source for ... more OCTOBER 28 th-Chair: Franco Ferrari 10.00-11.00 Jan Opsomer (KU Leuven) An Unexpected Source for the First More Geometrico Treatment of Metaphysics: Aristotle. 11.30-12.00-break 11.30-12.30 Anna Motta (Naples) Theme and Target of the Dialogues within the Context of the Neoplatonist Cosmoliterary Theory. OCTOBER 29 th-Chair: Francesco Caruso 17.30-18.00-break 18.00-19.00 15.30-16.30 Francesco Caruso (PhD Roma-Sapienza) How Does Plutarch Regard the World both as a Living Being and a Work of Art? Reconciling two Timaean Metaphors in the Second 'Platonica Quaestio'. 16.30-17.30 Irmgard Männlein-Robert (Tübingen) Porphyry's Περὶ ἀγαλμάτων: Platonic Exegesis between Metaphysics and Physics.

A series of CUP Book Presentations

Méthexis, 2023

This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a compl... more This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a complex and effective philosophical reasoning: the Middle Platonists conceived of Plato’s text as a web of passages which Plato himself had carefully established. Only a few of them were granted a qualified priority, namely, those offering a complete and comprehensive philosophical account of the key elements which the Platonists regarded as fundamental. This will allow us to show that the Middle Platonists’ preference for the Timaeus does not depend on the fact that it is systematic. Rather it is systematic insofar as it proves capable of giving context to passages from other dialogues and provides them with an account that is philosophically sound.

Apeiron, 2022

The aim of this paper is to explore how the cosmic soul works and how it accomplishes its provide... more The aim of this paper is to explore how the cosmic soul works and how it accomplishes its providential and demiurgic tasks in Chrysippus’ system. Drawing on (i) the analogy Chrysippus establishes between the individuum and the cosmos and (ii) biological and medical theories of respiration, digestion, and pulse, I will show that the movements of Chrysippus’ cosmic soul reproduce the processes of digestion, pulse, and respiration at a cosmic level. My claim is that Chrysippus, in addition to adopting Praxagoras’ notion that inhaled air nourishes pneuma—well established in the scholarship—appropriated Aristotle’s complex mechanism of respiration and digestion based on the teleological role of cold air, crucial for preserving vital heat. So understood, Chrysippus’ application of biological notions to cosmology allows him to endow the active principle with effective causation throughout the cosmos.

Antiquorum Philosophia, 2021

The Stoic model of causality is developed against the background of the demiurgic model of the Ti... more The Stoic model of causality is developed against the background of the demiurgic model of the Timaeus. The Stoics define their god as a demiurge or a designing fire. However, the absence of any mention of a precosmic disorder in the Stoic cosmogony constitutes a great difference between the two models. The aim of this paper is to discuss how this absence shapes the Stoic demiurgic model and whether and to what extent it is still possible to call the Stoic model a ‘demiurgic model’. By ‘demiurgic model’ the Stoics understand the possibility of explaining the cosmos as the product of an intelligent god that acts aiming at the good. I shall claim that, while leaving aside several aspects of the Platonic Timaeus, the Stoics retain this core concept of a providential god. A further problem is raised by the question of intentionality: is it an essential feature of the demiurge? Can intentionality be attributed to the Stoic god? I will discuss how the Stoics make the demiurgic model interact with the biological and the physical models of causation, in order to convey the idea that god’s action is teleologically and providentially oriented.