Pneuma between body and soul

This paper explores the divergent ideas that different ancient Greek thinkers entertained on the nature of wind and air outside the body, on the role of breath and air within it (e.g. in causing disease), on their contribution to life and intelligence, and on the mind-body problem, where dualists who insisted that the soul is incorporeal were locked in controversy with monists who denied that. One of the distinctive features of Greek thought is its polemical nature, with rival views on offer both on substantive questions and on methodology. Alongside the speculative theories of the philosophers, there were those who tackled the problems empirically. But the advances that Galen (in particular) made in his understanding of the anatomy of the nervous and blood-vascular systems did nothing to resolve the problem of the physical basis of vital functions.