D. Leitao, trans. When Does Life Begin? A Selection of Greek, Roman, and Christian Texts in Translation

Table of ContentsIntroductionI. Selections from Plato, Aristotle, and the Hippocratic CorpusII. Galen of Pergamum, On the Formation of the Fetus (ca. 170

CE)III. Tertullian of Carthage, On the Soul (excerpts)(ca. 215 CE)IV. Porphyry of Apamea, To Gaurus, or On How embryos

Acquire Soul (ca. 275 CE)V. Anonymous, On Whether What is in the Uterus is a Living

Thing

Aristotle: abortion no longer OK “when

sense and life begin” (Politics, late 4th

century BCE)

Tertullian of Carthage, On the Soul

Goal: Make theories of the soul consistent with Christian scripture

• Unique soul created for each person (no reincarnation): Adam

• Soul created at conception (not at birth, by breathing in cold air)– Infant moves, grows, and is killed in certain

abortive procedures (25)– Matter does not exist before soul: Adam (4-5, 27)

“But sometimes, while still in the womb, an infant is killed because of a necessary act of cruelty (necessaria crudelitate), when it prevents parturition because it lies athwart the opening of the womb: in that case it kills the mother if it does not (also) die itself. And so there are among the implements used by doctors…the ‘embryo-killer’ (embryosphaktes)…[Hippocrates et al.] were convinced that the fetus (conceptum) was a living thing (animal) and pitied a most unfortunate infancy of this sort that it had to be killed first, so that it not have to be hacked apart while alive” (25.4-5; trans. Leitao)

Porphyry of Apamea, To Gaurus, or On How embryos Acquire Soul (ca. 275 CE)

Embryology and the Tripartite Soul

Plato (4th BCE) Aristotle (4th BCE) Galen (2nd CE)Liver Nutritive soul (f, m)Vegetative soul

Heart Sensory soul (f, m) Quasi-animal

(mollusk) soulBrain Rational soul (m+god?) Animal soul

TIME D

URIN

G

PREGN

ANCU

Y

TIME D

URIN

G

PREGN

ANCU

Y

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