This topic is interesting in many respects. We will address e.g. the following questions: In what sense is the soul, being a non-extended entity, bodily localized? Why does the soul have to be bodily localized at all, and need all capacities of the soul be localized in the same bodily part? Are the different capacities or parts of soul separate in account only, as Aristotle seems to claim, or are they also partly localized in different parts of the body, as Alexander states? Can all parts of the soul be bodily localized? What secures the unity of the soul, and thereby the unity of the living body, if different soul capacities are partly localized in different bodily parts and what is the relation of the primarily ensouled central organ to the other parts of the body?
We will discuss these issues through a close reading of the following two short texts: on the first day we will read the very end of Alexander’s own treatise De Anima (94.7 – 100. 17). On the second day, we will read Plotinus answer to exactly that passage (IV 3, 20-23). Please join us!