 Iamblichus also fiercely attacks Plotinus (as well as Theodorus of Asine) for the assumption that “there is something in us that is impassible and always thinking” (In Timaeum [D-1973: Fr. 87]; on this text see Rist 1975 and Dillon 2005). However, here again the attitude of the superior souls with regard to their descent is somewhat obscure: according to Damascius (In Parm. IV, 24.1–7 Combès &amp; Westerink), Iamblichus taught that the first class of souls “descends while not descending”, and that the descent “only effects a presence alongside what is here”. This problem was tackled by van den Berg (1997; opting for the existence of unaffected pure souls and thus positing Iamblichus as an intermediary between Plotinus and Proclus) and Taormina (2012; emphasizing that every soul remains separated from the intelligible and only relates to it through participation). It is, in any case, clear that Iamblichus conceived of the soul’s presence in this world as something natural and normal, not as a transitory exile, even less as “always an evil” (the theory of Cronius, Numenius and Harpocration, criticized in De anima sect. 29 [DF-2002]).