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In
Stoic philosophy,
pneuma is the concept of the "breath of life," a mixture of the elements air (in motion) and fire (as warmth). Originating among Greek medical writers who locate human vitality in the breath, pneuma for the Stoics is the active, generative principle that organizes both the individual and the
cosmos. In its highest form, the pneuma constitutes the human soul (
psychê), which is a fragment of the pneuma that is the soul of God (
Zeus). As a force that structures
matter, it exists even in inanimate objects.
