On the Immortality of the Soul

...destruction is repugnant. Furthermore, it cannot perish through either the weakness or the decay of the principle or cause from which it derived its origin, since its cause—or if you prefer to say, its eternal principle—is eternal. This also is held as a most powerful argument: that the mind reflects upon itself and knows itself from within, aided by no external organ as an intermediary; and also that it is considered more perfect the more it has freed itself from corporeal bonds and organs, and because it is bound to no thing in the manner of sensible forms, but operates freely as the queen of its own actions, devoted to none, and in no way subject to any. These matters have been treated by many great men, and by me as well, both in my books on the death of Christ and on that which is to be pondered as one's own, as well as elsewhere; I shall not re-examine them more diligently at present, nor introduce them with more lengthy arguments. Nor would I willingly explain here that which is of great importance to me: that the soul not only knows itself but also knows the body, which it indeed informs. From this knowledge it can be gathered that it is not mixed with the body itself: since that which knows is elevated, stripped, and by its own nature distinct from the nature of that which is only known. Therefore, it is another thing, and entirely separate, since it so knows itself as independent of the body that it can decide concerning it at will, and can consider that it is distinct from itself, and often despise it because of the worthlessness and the corruption to which it is subject. But in truth, many false mental representations—which nevertheless may not seem entirely and everywhere improbable to some—can be opposed to these true representations, and thus reasons set against reasons. For it is known among the moderns that Scotus, in the fourth commentary on the Theological Sentences, John Scotus. attempted to dissolve some of those reasons we have touched upon, although many have taken care to restore and reestablish them; and it is not at all difficult for these same reasons to be restored and reestablished, as well as the others which others try to weaken; but also the authorities of philosophers can be Porphyry. opposed to authorities. Porphyry writes—who is held as a distinguished expositor of Aristotle among the Peripatetics, and was greatly respected by Severinus Boethius in his logical commentaries on De Interpretatione, and was of such great authority among the Platonists that the philosopher...