Az égitestek érzékelése és a kozmikus szimpátia Plótinosnál
The perception of celestial bodies and cosmic sympathy in Plotinus

Summary/Abstract: In his treatise On the Difficulties about the Soul II (IV. 4 [28]) Plotinus discusses the sense-perception of the celestial bodies; yet his examination is not systematic but emerges in connection with other aporiai. After briefly outlining the historical background of the celestial bodies’ sense-perception, I draw attention to an apparent contradiction in Plotinus’ account. While in IV. 4. 8 he maintains that the celestial bodies possess neither conscious sense-perception nor memory, in IV. 4. 25, 13–14 he nevertheless attributes to them a form of accidental (κατὰ συμβεβηκός) seeing and hearing, the latter being restricted to the hearing of prayers. Plotinus is clearly aware that this claim places him in a dilemma: if the celestial bodies hear prayers and fulfil them only later they must remember them; if, however, they lack memory it becomes uncertain how they could respond to prayers at all. Plotinus resolves this difficulty through the theory of cosmic sympathy, according to which the hearing and fulfilment of prayers by the heavenly bodies are not the result of conscious perception and intentional agency, but rather of the unconscious automatism of sympathetic relations (IV. 4. 30–42). In this paper, I argue that for Plotinus the issue of the perception of the celestial bodies is primarily a theodicean rather than a psychological problem. First, I contend that the theory of cosmic sympathy in itself does not provide a fully satisfactory explanation of the delayed effects of prayer; rather, these are better accounted for by the relation between prayer and magic, insofar as prayer in Plotinus already functions as a form of magical action in which request and response are simultaneous. Second, I argue that although the accidental perception of the celestial bodies may prima facie be understood as a merely sensory affection, there are strong reasons to interpret their hearing – and perhaps even their seeing – as a metaphorical description of sympathetic interactions.

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