Περί φύσεως ανθρώπου

by Nemesius, Ιωάννης Πλεξίδας (Translator)

Τι είναι ο άνθρωπος και ποια είναι η θέση του στον κόσμο; Στο ερώτημα αυτό προσπαθεί να απαντήσει ο Νεμέσιος Εμέσης· το κείμενο αποτελεί την πρώτη συστηματική προσπάθεια μιας φιλοσοφικής ανθρωπολογίας, δεδομένου ότι προβληματικοποιεί την ανθρώπινη ύπαρξη και θέτει τον άνθρωπο ως πρόβλημα για τον ίδιο τον εαυτό του. Ο Νεμέσιος θέτει το πρόβλημα της ανθρώπινης ουσίας και της σχέσης της με τον υπόλοιπο κόσμο· κατορθώνει μια κατηγοριοποίηση του ψυχοφυσικού είναι, τοποθετώντας τον άνθρωπο στην κορυφή της αλυσίδας των όντων. Ο Νεμέσιος επισημαίνει την ανωτερότητα του ανθρώπου, η οποία εκπηγάζει από την ιδιαίτερη σχέση του ανθρώπου με το Θεό. Ο άνθρωπος δε νοείται ως ένα ον ανάμεσα σε όλα τα άλλα, ως μια ακόμη ενδοκόσμια περίπτωση. Προκειμένου να φωτιστεί το μυστήριο του ανθρώπου, σύμφωνα με το Νεμέσιο, προϋποτίθεται η κατανόηση του ανθρώπου στα όρια της σχέσης του με το Θεό. Το ερώτημα περί ανθρώπου τότε και μόνο τότε αποκτά νόημα, διότι τότε και μόνο τότε είναι αυθεντικό.

Genres: Philosophy, Ancient History

600 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 390

About the author

Nemesius (c. AD 390), was a Christian philosopher, and the author of the treatise De Natura Hominis ("On Human Nature"). According to the title of his book, he was the Bishop of Emesa (in Syria). His book is an attempt to compile a system of anthropology from the standpoint of Christian philosophy.

Nemesius was also a physiological theorist. He based much of his writing on previous work of Aristotle and Galen, and it has been speculated that he anticipated William Harvey's discovery of the circulation of blood. There is evidence that supports that he was well read in the writings of Galen and may have had some medical training. Other views included a five-theory hierarchy of Divine Providence. These theories are developed from an earlier Platonic theory.

Nemesius was one of the earliest advocates of the idea that different cavities of the brain were responsible for different functions. His Doctrine of Ventricle localisation of Mental Functioning is a reconciliation of Platonic doctrines on the soul with Christian philosophy and also emphasized Greek scientific interpretation and knowledge of the human body. This doctrine was attributed to Gregory of Nyssa, and was not recognized as the work of Nemesius until the 7th century.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nemesius is a 4th Century Christian bishop who in this work is listing what the science of his day thought about a human being, both in terms of the body and the soul. He summarizes a great deal of ancient Hellenistic knowledge including what the great ancient philosophers wrote about being human. It becomes obvious that the ancient Christians accepted as true much of what the Hellenistic philosophers concluded about being human and used that to interpret the Bible. While some of what they wrote might be considered ancient science, it is all intermixed with philosophy. The ancients did not have the modern idea that science skeptically tests ideas to determine truth. Instead they tended to give great weight to whatever the ancient teachers said and so passed along ideas as tradition, not constantly testing the ideas. They were not superstitious but science conformed more to a logical tradition of philosophical arguments rather than to performing tests to see if the ideas conformed to reality. Much ancient Christian anthropology comes from Hellenistic thinkers and is read into the Scriptures. Judaism was not very philosophical and tended to hold to more concrete ideas which allowed the Christians to read the Hellenistic science (philosophy) into the biblical texts without much problem. In the book, the earlier chapters which focused more on the science (how the body functions) was more interesting to me than the later chapters which dealt mostly with philosophical ideas of the soul or free will or intelligence. Nemesius seems to be very immersed in the ideas of the great philosophers and is aware when they contradict each other. His work also tells me that the ancient Christian teachers were well versed in the science of their day and had no problem with using it to interpret the Scriptures. They wanted to know the truth and were well aware that the Bible does not contain everything that can be known about this world.