The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Logic and metaphysics

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Logic and metaphysics
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801489891

The third volume of this invaluable sourcebook covers three main subject areas: the metaphysics of Aristotle's logical works; logic; and the higher metaphysics of Neoplatonism.

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Logic and metaphysics

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Logic and metaphysics
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy, Ancient
ISBN:

The physics of the commentators was innovative: the Neoplatonists thought that the world of space and time was causally ordered by a nonspatial, nontemporal world, and this view required orignal thinking. Of the sixth-century Neoplatonists, Simplicius considered his teacher's ideas on space and time to be unprecedented, and Philoponus revised Aristotelianism to produce a new physics built around the Christian belief in God's Creation of the world. The thinkers of the Middle Ages borrowed from Philoponus and other commentators the proofs of a finite past, the idea of degrees of latitude in change and mixture, and in dynamics the idea of impetus and the defense of motion in a vacuum. -- Back cover.

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Psychology (with ethics and religion)

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Psychology (with ethics and religion)
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801489877

The third volume of this invaluable sourcebook covers three main subject areas. First, the metaphysics of Aristotle's logical works: the concepts of universal and particular underwent surprising transformations in this period, which gave rise to debates, still raging today, on personal survival after an interruption such as death. Second, logic in a more conventional sense: perhaps the most impressive debate was on the existence of the subject in singular and universal statements. There was also debate about the very different Aristotelian and Stoic conceptions of syllogism, of modal logic, of induction, of the nature of mathematics, and of philosophy of language. Third, the higher metaphysics of the Neoplatonists taught Augustine, and indirectly Descartes, to look for truth within themselves. The Neoplatonists struggled with the question whether our higher intellectual selves have distinct individuality, and thus they fed both sides in the great medieval debate between Aquinas and the followers of Averroes on individual human immortality. All sources appear in English translation and are carefully linked and cross-referenced by editorial comment and explanation. Bibliographies are provided throughout.

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Physics

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Physics
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2004
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

This is a sourcebook that draws upon the 400 years of transition from ancient Greek philosophy to the medieval philosophy of Islam and the West. Philosophy was then often written in the form of commentaries on the works of Plato and Aristotle. Many ideas wrongly credited to the Middle Ages derive from this period, e.g. that of impetus in dynamics and intentional objects in philosophy of mind. The later Neoplatonist commentators fought a losing battle with Christianity, but inadvertently made Aristotle acceptable to Christians by ascribing to him belief in a Creator God and human immortality. They also provided a panorama of up to 1000 years of preceding Greek philosophy, much of it otherwise lost. They serve as the missing link essential for understanding the history of Western philosophy. The physics of the commentators was innovatory. The Neoplatonists among them thought that the world of space and time was causally ordered by a non-spatial, non-temporal world, and this required original thinking. Of the sixth-century Neoplatonists, Simplicius considered his teacher's ideas on space and time to be unprecedented, and Philoponus revised Aristotelianism, to produce a new physics built around the Christian belief in God's creation of the world. The Middle Ages borrowed from Philoponus and other commentators, the proofs of a finite past, the idea of degrees of latitude in change and mixture, and in dynamics the idea of impetus and the defence of motion in a vacuum. All sources appear in English translation and are carefully linked and cross-referenced by editorial comment and explanation.

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Physics

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Physics
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801489884

Physics in Neoplatonist thought, the subject which occupies the second volume of this sourcebook, was innovative: the world of space and time was causally ordered by a nonspatial, nontemporal world, and this view required original thinking

The Ancient Commentators on Plato and Aristotle

The Ancient Commentators on Plato and Aristotle
Author: Miira Tuominen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2016-09-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317492587

In late antiquity the works of Plato and Aristotle were subject to intense study, which eventually led to the development of a new literary form, the philosophical commentary. Until recently these commentaries were understood chiefly as sources of information for the masters - Plato and Aristotle - they commented upon. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly acknowledged that the commentators themselves - Aspasius, Alexander, Themistius, Porphyry, Proclus, Philoponus, Simplicius and others - even though they worked in the Platonist - Aristotelian framework, contributed to this tradition in original, innovative and significant ways such that their commentaries are philosophically important sources in their own right. This book provides the first systematic introduction to the 'philosophy' of the commentators: their way of doing philosophy and the kind of philosophical problems they found interesting.Although there was no philosophy of the commentators in the sense of a definite set of doctrines, Tuominen shows how the commentary format was nevertheless a vehicle for original philosophical theorizing and argues convincingly that the commentators should take their place alongside other philosophers of antiquity in the history of western philosophy.

Philoponus: On Aristotle Categories 1–5 with Philoponus: A Treatise Concerning the Whole and the Parts

Philoponus: On Aristotle Categories 1–5 with Philoponus: A Treatise Concerning the Whole and the Parts
Author: Riin Sirkel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2014-12-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472584120

Philoponus' On Aristotle Categories 1-5 discusses the nature of universals, preserving the views of Philoponus' teacher Ammonius, as well as presenting a Neoplatonist interpretation of Aristotle's Categories. Philoponus treats universals as concepts in the human mind produced by abstracting a form or nature from the material individual in which it has its being. The work is important for its own philosophical discussion and for the insight it sheds on its sources. For considerable portions, On Aristotle Categories 1-5 resembles the wording of an earlier commentary which declares itself to be an anonymous record taken from the seminars of Ammonius. Unlike much of Philoponus' later writing, this commentary does not disagree with either Aristotle or Ammonius, and suggests the possibility that Philoponus either had access to this earlier record or wrote it himself. This edition explores these questions of provenance, alongside the context, meaning and implications of Philoponus' work. The English translation is accompanied by an introduction, comprehensive commentary notes, bibliography, glossary of translated terms and a subject index. The latest volume in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, the edition makes this philosophical work accessible to a modern readership. Philoponus was a Christian writing in Greek in 6th century CE Alexandria, where some students of philosophy were bilingual in Syriac as well as Greek. In this Greek treatise translated from the surviving Syriac version, Philoponus discusses the logic of parts and wholes, and he illustrates the spread of the pagan and Christian philosophy of 6th century CE Greeks to other cultures, in this case to Syria. Philoponus, an expert on Aristotle's philosophy, had turned to theology and was applying his knowledge of Aristotle to disputes over the human and divine nature of Christ. Were there two natures and were they parts of a whole, as the Emperor Justinian proposed, or was there only one nature, as Philoponus claimed with the rebel minority, both human and divine? If there were two natures, were they parts like the ingredients in a chemical mixture? Philoponus attacks the idea. Such ingredients are not parts, because they each inter-penetrate the whole mixture. Moreover, he abandons his ingenious earlier attempts to support Aristotle's view of mixture by identifying ways in which such ingredients might be thought of as potentially preserved in a chemical mixture. Instead, Philoponus says that the ingredients are destroyed, unlike the human and divine in Christ. This English translation of Philoponus' treatise is the latest volume in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series and makes this philosophical work accessible to a modern readership. The translation in each volume is accompanied by an introduction, comprehensive commentary notes, bibliography, glossary of translated terms and a subject index.

The Philosophy of Early Christianity in the Era of Digitalisation

The Philosophy of Early Christianity in the Era of Digitalisation
Author: Yip Mei Loh
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2021-06-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1527570452

The benefits of the digital age are huge. Our lives have been transformed, both in the developed and the undeveloped world. However, this transformation has its dark side. The same powerful technologies have enabled cultural or religious grooming to flourish, unmoderated social ‘influencing’ to have free reign, fake information to spread, and sophisticated hackers to create destabilizing international mayhem. What place does the Church have in all this? How does it respond? What about the master philosophers of the neo-Platonic age, whose wisdom, borne of the great philosopher himself, was formed through the emerging doctrines of the early Christian church? The excellent and thought-provoking essays gathered here provide answers to these questions and more.

Philoponus: On Aristotle Posterior Analytics 1.1-8

Philoponus: On Aristotle Posterior Analytics 1.1-8
Author: Philoponus,
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2014-04-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472501519

Aristotle's Posterior Analytics elaborates for the first time in the history of Western philosophy the notions of science and the requirements for the distinctive kind of knowledge scientists possess. His model is mathematics and his treatment of science amounts to a philosophical discussion, from the perspective of Aristotelian syllogistic, of mathematical proofs and the principles they are based on. Chapters 1-8 expound the foundations of Aristotle's theory, pointing out the similarities and differences between scientific knowledge and other types of knowledge, establishing the need for basic principles, and identifying the types of principles and the source of necessity associated with scientific facts. Philoponus' massive commentary, the most complete ancient discussion of Posterior Analytics Book 1, offers uniquely valuable testimony to the way this book was read and understood in late antiquity, as well as providing information on earlier interpretations. Of particular interest is Philoponus' account of scientific principles, which is based not only on Aristotle but also on the Greek mathematical tradition, especially Euclid and his commentator Proclus.