Intentional Action in Lucretius: External and Internal Causality

Anthony A. Long

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Chapter 11 Intentional Action in Lucretius

External and Internal Causality

于New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

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Anthony A. Long

Anthony A. Long
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类型:: 章节

Page Range:: 229–243

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004751149_012

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Abstract

Imperial Platonists allude critically to the Epicurean theory of the indeterminate “swerve” of atoms, but they do not discuss its role in the atomists’ account of intentional action. For that we have to turn to Lucretius. There are two accounts of intentional action in Lucretius. One of these (call it internal causality) occurs in his treatment of atomic motion (book 2, 261–271 = A). This passage attributes the origin of intentional action to free and undetermined voluntas, which it seems to identify with a minute and entirely random swerve of the mind’s atoms from their normal, downward trajectory. The other account (call it external causality) occurs in Lucretius’s treatment of simulacra, the tenuous films emitted from the surface of objects, which constitute the source of our perceptions and thoughts if we select and focus on them (book 4, 877–891 = B). Text A makes no mention of simulacra. Text B also attributes intentional action to voluntas, but it does not call voluntas free or undetermined, and it makes no mention of the swerve. Hence the question arises of whether and how texts A and B are related. Despite the striking differences indicated, I conclude that the two accounts of intentional action are fundamentally consistent and mutually reinforcing.

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New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

In Honour of Paul Kalligas

丛编： Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, 卷： 35

Cover New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

ISBN:: 9789004751149

出版社:: Brill

印刷出版日期:: 26 Feb 2026

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Chapter 11 Intentional Action in Lucretius

External and Internal Causality

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New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

In Honour of Paul Kalligas

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