Die erkennende Seele des Menschen und ihre Funktion im Porklos-Kommentar von Joane Petrizi

Abstract

Joane Petrizi (12th century) – the most significant Georgian medieval philosopher – devoted intensive work to Neoplatonic philosophy. Particularly important is his Georgian translation of Proclus’ Elementatio theologica, on which he commented extensively. One of the most important problems of Joane Petrizi’s Commentaries is that of the cognizing soul, which is to be presented in relation to the man’s cognitive faculty. In his Commentaries, Petrizi speaks mainly of the soul in general and of its different types in nuce, nevertheless to explain some important aspects of the Neoplatonic gnoseology by means of Petrizi’s concept of “man’s soul”, proves to be a fruitful effort. In his Commentaries Joane Petrizi frequently makes use of the terms the “soul of man” and “man’s soul”. A clear definition of “man’s soul”, as one of the most important types of souls, can be attained through a unified analysis of passages on the “particular soul”, which are scattered in Commentaries.