Die gespannte Seele: Tonos bei Galen

Galen talks about tension, tonos, in a physiological sense, which seems to be related to either the innate heat of the living being, the good mixture of its humors, or the body’s pneuma. This paper shows that Galen, with some important distinctions concerning the substance of the soul, derives this use of tonos from the Stoics. But beyond that, it shows that Galen uses tonos in a strict psychological sense derived from Plato as well, and integrates it in his characterization of the operations of the spirited part of the soul.