TY - CHAP
T1 - Introduction
AU - Long, Alex
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - When ancient philosophers describe the fate of the soul or the human being after death, in which cases should we attribute to them a theory of immortality? When their texts describe people – or their souls, parts, or possessions – as being or becoming ‘immortal’, what does the word mean? The research brought together here explores these questions. Whether or not we should stipulate the meaning of immortality depends on which question we are addressing. The first question is about our own use of the words ‘immortal’ and ‘immortality’ when reading and trying to understand ancient theories, and here it may be appropriate to set down that ‘immortal’ means, for example, everlasting. That is how Phillip Horky understands ‘immortal’ and ‘immortality’ in his chapter on whether Pythagorean theories of reincarnation (or, as it is also called, the transmigration of souls) require souls to be everlasting.
AB - When ancient philosophers describe the fate of the soul or the human being after death, in which cases should we attribute to them a theory of immortality? When their texts describe people – or their souls, parts, or possessions – as being or becoming ‘immortal’, what does the word mean? The research brought together here explores these questions. Whether or not we should stipulate the meaning of immortality depends on which question we are addressing. The first question is about our own use of the words ‘immortal’ and ‘immortality’ when reading and trying to understand ancient theories, and here it may be appropriate to set down that ‘immortal’ means, for example, everlasting. That is how Phillip Horky understands ‘immortal’ and ‘immortality’ in his chapter on whether Pythagorean theories of reincarnation (or, as it is also called, the transmigration of souls) require souls to be everlasting.
UR - https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108935777
UR - https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?isn=9781108832281&rn=1
U2 - 10.1017/9781108935777.001
DO - 10.1017/9781108935777.001
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
SN - 9781108832281
SN - 9781108941006
SP - 1
EP - 11
BT - Immortality in ancient philosophy
A2 - Long, A.G.
PB - Cambridge University Press
CY - Cambridge
ER -