Mathematizing the Human Soul
Mathematizing the Human Soul
This chapter investigates the development of Ptolemy's psychological theory from On the Kritêrion to the Harmonics. It argues that Ptolemy composed the former before the latter, and that comparison of the two texts reveals Ptolemy's move from a less to a more restrictive model of the soul. This move follows from Ptolemy's effort to mathematize the soul, to analyze its parts and species in concordance with mathematical, specifically harmonic, ratios. When Ptolemy mathematized the soul he sought to improve his account of the soul's structure, to make it epistemically sound. This endeavor to improve and mathematize his psychology resulted in discernible incongruities between On the Kritêrion and the Harmonics.
Keywords: On the Kritêrion, Harmonics, soul, Claudius Ptolemy, psychological theory
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