Writings

A vivid interest in the problems of the soul is demonstrated in the writings of Byzantine philosophers such as Michael Psellos, Nikephoros Blemmydes, Sophonias, Michael of Ephesus, Nikephoros Choumnos, and Gennadios Scholarios. A large number of short treatises discussing particular philosophical issues on the unity of the soul and the body, and the faculties of the soul appear in Byzantine thought. There were also various texts in which psychological issues were dealt with - such as theological treatises on the soul (Nicetas Stethatos) or medical works (Symeon Seth).

Most Byzantine philosophers wrote compendia, paraphrases, and commentaries on the classical authors, and Byzantine thought was influenced by the rigorous revival of the interest in commentaries on Aristotle from the earlier period (sixth century). Especially Philoponos’ commentary was extremely influential in Byzantium and most Byzantine thinkers adapted his commentary on the De anima to their anthropological treatises (Michael Psellos, the work Doxai peri psyches falsely attributed to Michael Psellos, John Italos, Nikephoros Blemmydes, Sophonias, Theodoros Metochites, and Gennadios Scholarios). Philoponos held that Aristotle agreed with Plato about the three kinds of soul - the vegetative soul, which is inseparable from the body, the irrational soul which is separable from the body but inseparable from the pneuma, and the rational soul which is the substance which transcends all body (separable and immortal).

Authors like Gennadios Scholarios relied not only on the ancient philosophers but also on Latin philosophers (Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas).