Anime platoniche. Studi sulla psicologia della prima Accademia

The soul becomes a very important philosophical concept and acquires a well-defined ontological structure in Platonic thought, which is developed in the Old Academy and acquires fundamental importance in Middle and Neo-Platonism. Taking into consideration the contributions of the last 3-4 years on this topic, I analyze and problematize the notion of soul in the Old Academy, in particular regarding the thoughts of Speusippus and Xenocrates, Plato’s two successors as head of the Academy. This review demonstrates the meager presence in contemporary literature of studies regarding this issue, which should be furthered. Indeed, the reconstruction and analysis of their doctrines on the soul are crucial for a good understanding of the ancient debates as well as the evolution of psychological problems and approaches in the course of Platonism, Aristotelianism and in the developments of later philosophy.