The Soul as “Harmony” in Late Antiquity and in the Latin Middle Ages. A Note on Thomas Aquinas as a Reader of Themistius’ In Libros De Anima Paraphrasis

The importance of Themistius’ paraphrasis of the De Anima is often ackowledged in scholarship mostly with respect to Thomas Aquinas’ own understanding of the Aristotelian doctrine of intellection, and occasionally also with respect to Avicenna and Averroes. This focus on Themistius’ interpretation of De Anima III should not prevent those interested in the history of the reception of Aristotle from taking into account other ideas typical of this paraphrasis. The present article argues that Themistius’ emphasis on soul as ousia, prompted by Plotinus’ polemics against the doctrine of soul as ‘harmony’ that Themistius quotes almost literally, was crucial for Thomas Aquinas’ own exegesis in his Sentencia Libri De Anima.