The Appeal to Easiness in Aristotle's Protrepticus
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Dio Chrysostom's Charidemus and Aristotle's Eudemus
Dio Chrysostom’s Charidemus and Aristotle’s Eudemus Katarzyna Jażdżewska IO CHRYSOSTOM’S DIALOGUE Charidemus exhibits a rich intertextual network, and recent scholarship has D explored Dio’s interaction with Plato’s Phaedo, with Hellenistic philosophy (particularly Stoicism and Cynicism), and with consolation, λόγος παραµυθητικός.1 In this note I would like to add to the literary background of the dialogue by arguing that, so far as extant evidence allows us to judge, Dio’s Charidemus seems to have been particularly closely associated with Aristotle’s lost dialogue Eudemus in respect to format, overall character, and themes covered. Aristotle’s Eudemus was a dialogue written to commemorate Eudemus of Cyprus, a deceased friend and a member of the Academy, who died in Syracuse around 354 B.C.E.2 Ps.- Plutarch’s Consolation to Apollonius 115B (= Arist. fr.44) informs us that Aristotle’s work was known under the title Eudemus, or On the soul. We do not know who the interlocutors were; Aristotle may have been one of the speakers.3 From Cicero’s De 1 For Plato see J. Moles, “The Dionian Charidemus,” 187–210, and M. Trapp, “Plato in Dio,” 213–239, in S. Swain (ed.), Dio Chrysostom. Politics, Letters, and Philosophy (Oxford 2000); K. Jażdżewska, “Dio Chrysostom’s Charidemos: A Study,” Eos 101 (2014) 67–81, at 69–76. For consolatory topoi, M. C. Giner Soria, “Acotaciones a un diálogo consolatorio,” Faventia 12–13 (1990) 293–305. For an overview of various influences on the Charidemus, M. Menchelli, Dione di Prusa. Caridemo (Or. XXX) (Naples 1999) 37–75. -
Tradition and Innovation in Olympiodorus' "Orphic" Creation of Mankind Radcliffe .G Edmonds III Bryn Mawr College, [email protected]
Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies Faculty Research Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies and Scholarship 2009 A Curious Concoction: Tradition and Innovation in Olympiodorus' "Orphic" Creation of Mankind Radcliffe .G Edmonds III Bryn Mawr College, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/classics_pubs Part of the Classics Commons Custom Citation Edmonds, Radcliffe .,G III. "A Curious Concoction: Tradition and Innovation in Olympiodorus' 'Orphic' Creation of Mankind." American Journal of Philology 130, no. 4 (2009): 511-532. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/classics_pubs/79 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Radcliffe G. Edmonds III “A Curious Concoction: Tradition and Innovation in Olympiodorus' ‘Orphic’ Creation of Mankind” American Journal of Philology 130 (2009), pp. 511–532. A Curious Concoction: Tradition and Innovation in Olympiodorus' Creation of Mankind Olympiodorus' recounting (In Plat. Phaed. I.3-6) of the Titan's dismemberment of Dionysus and the subsequent creation of humankind has served for over a century as the linchpin of the reconstructions of the supposed Orphic doctrine of original sin. From Comparetti's first statement of the idea in his 1879 discussion of the gold tablets from Thurii, Olympiodorus' brief testimony has been the -
The Protrepticus of Clement of Alexandria: a Commentary
Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui THE PROTREPTICUS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: A COMMENTARY to; ga;r yeu'do" ouj yilh'/ th'/ paraqevsei tajlhqou'" diaskedavnnutai, th'/ de; crhvsei th'" ajlhqeiva" ejkbiazovmenon fugadeuvetai. La falsedad no se dispersa por la simple comparación con la verdad, sino que la práctica de la verdad la fuerza a huir. Protréptico 8.77.3 PREFACIO Una tesis doctoral debe tratar de contribuir al avance del conocimiento humano en su disciplina, y la pretensión de que este comentario al Protréptico tenga la máxima utilidad posible me obliga a escribirla en inglés porque es la única lengua que hoy casi todos los interesados pueden leer. Pero no deja de ser extraño que en la casa de Nebrija se deje de lado la lengua castellana. La deuda que contraigo ahora con el español sólo se paliará si en el futuro puedo, en compensación, “dar a los hombres de mi lengua obras en que mejor puedan emplear su ocio”. Empiezo ahora a saldarla, empleándola para estos agradecimientos, breves en extensión pero no en sinceridad. Mi gratitud va, en primer lugar, al Cardenal Don Gil Álvarez de Albornoz, fundador del Real Colegio de España, a cuya generosidad y previsión debo dos años provechosos y felices en Bolonia. Al Rector, José Guillermo García-Valdecasas, que administra la herencia de Albornoz con ejemplar dedicación, eficacia y amor a la casa. A todas las personas que trabajan en el Colegio y hacen que cumpla con creces los objetivos para los que se fundó. Y a mis compañeros bolonios durante estos dos años. Ha sido un honor muy grato disfrutar con todos ellos de la herencia albornociana. -
Daniel Jugrin
Studia Philosophiae Christianae UKSW 52(2016)2 DanIel JuGrIn THE WAY OF ἈΝΆΛΥΣΙΣ: CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE PLATONIC TRADITION Abstract. In Clement of Alexandria, the three ways of knowing God appear implicitly in the form: the way of analogy, the way of negation (in the mathematical version), and the way of eminence. A basic aspect of the negation appears as an expression of Clementine criticism on anthropomorphism. The Platonic traditional model of via negativa is related to the mathematical theory of abstraction and is defined as a denial of the material things in order to reach the contemplation of God through pure mind: “we start by abstracting the surface, and we are left with the line; we abstract the line, and we are left with the point; we abstract the point, or strictly speaking the monad, and we are then precipitated into the greatness of Christ” (Stromateis V.11.71.2). Clement of Alexandria is, also, one of the authors who emphasize silence and prayer as having great importance in the knowledge process. The cessation of the activity of the senses leads to the supreme state of contemplation with a pure mind. Silence becomes, in this way, a symbol of God, and knowledge – not a matter of speaking, but of being. Keywords: Clement of Alexandria, Platonic Tradition, knowledge of God, abstractive way, analysis, aphairesis, silence 1. The geometrical method of ἀνάλυσις . 2. Via negativa and the theme of silence in Clement of Alexandria. 3. The origin of the mathematical model of via negativa. St. Justin, martyr and philosopher (103 – 165 AD), was the first Christian thinker who claimed that God can be characterized only in negative terms.1 His vision was familiar in the context of Helle- nistic Judaism: Philo of Alexandria (20 BC – 50 AD)2 had already established the ideas put forward by Justin. -
1 the Rhetorical Use of Torture in Attic Forensic Oratory VASILEIOS
The Rhetorical Use of Torture in Attic Forensic Oratory VASILEIOS ADAMIDIS Mailing Address: Flat 2, 43 Burns street, NG7 4DS Nottingham United Kingdom Email address: [email protected] Tel: +44(0)7930520275 1 The Rhetorical Use of Torture in Attic Forensic Oratory ABSTRACT: Come 'regola', la tortura di schiavi innocenti che è stata concordata dai querelantia fini probatori (βάσανος probatori) fu ritenuto dagli oratori lo strumento più efficace per giungere alla verità. Questo paper, con riferimento alla psicologia dell'antica Grecia, spiega perché la menzionata regola fu di cruciale importanza per la retorica. Gli oratori, sulla base della presunta attendibilità dell'istituzione dei βάσανος, furono in grado di sviluppare argomenti basati sulle sfide (πρόκλησις), che possono essere comprese al meglio alla luce della concezione greca, piuttosto che moderna, di razionalità ed azione umana. Di conseguenza, a dispetto dell'incertezza che circonda l'attualità della tortura a fini probatori nell'età degli oratori, l'importanza retorica dei πρόκλησις εἰς βάσανον è innegabile e va esaminata attentamente. KEYWORDS: Basanos (βάσανος), Greek psychology, human motivation, practical reasoning. *** The institution of torture is highly controversial; its morality is extremely dubious and its expediency is, at minimum, questionable. A particular form of torture that seems completely indefensible from a modern perspective is the torture (βάσανος) of innocent slaves for evidentiary purposes in Athenian law. This has been characterised as ‘wanton and purposeless barbarity’1, yet has been explained as a way classical Athenian citizens reinforced their dominant political status and ‘confirm[ed] their own social hierarchy and cohesion’2. The barbarity and putative irrationality of evidentiary βάσανος3, in addition to the lack of evidence proving the actuality of this practice, make its existence, at least in the period of the Attic orators, doubtful4. -
The Common Wine Cult of Christ and the Orphic Dionysos: the Wine and Vegetation Saviour Deity Dionysos As Model for the Dying and Rising Christ
REL 4990, MA thesis. Culture and Ideas, History of Religion. Autumn 2010. Maritha E. Gebhardt. Page: 1 The common wine cult of Christ and the Orphic Dionysos: the wine and vegetation saviour deity Dionysos as model for the dying and rising Christ. MA Thesis, Master's Programme in Culture and Ideas, History of Religion, Department of Culture and Oriental Languages, Autumn 2010, by Maritha Elin Gebhardt. Synopsis: In 2005 the Hebrew University Excavation Project unearthed a small incense burner from the fourth century C.E. in the Jewish capital of the Galilee, Sepphoris, depicting a crucified figure, Bacchic satyrs and maenads, and the Christian representation of the sacrifice of Isaac in symbolic form as a ram caught in the thicket of a bush. Five years later the book Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, by Herrero de Jáuregui, refers to two large funerary cloths, one depicts a Dionysiac scene similar to the murals from the Villa dei Misteri and the other one show scenes from the life of Jesus and Mary, both found in the same tomb in Egypt. Both of these depictions testify to the continued syncretism of the Orphic and the Christian symbols and that people in the Hellenistic era found the figure of Christ similar to the Bacchic Orpheus. In my thesis I claim that the dying and rising saviour deity of Dionysos is the forerunner to the dying and rising saviour deity of Christ. I claim that I will prove this by showing that the cult of Christ is a wine cult. The epiphany of Jesus was as a human guest at a party, turning water into wine at the wedding-feast at Cana in John 2:1-11, likewise the epiphany of the wine-god Dionysos is in a similar scene as the Cana-miracle, where he turns water into wine (Achilleus Tatius' De Leucippes et Clitophontis amoribus 2.2:1-2.3:1). -
Historical Synopsis of the Aristotelian Commentary Tradition (In Less Than Sixty Minutes)
HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS OF THE ARISTOTELIAN COMMENTARY TRADITION (IN LESS THAN SIXTY MINUTES) Fred D. Miller, Jr. CHAPTER 1 PERIPATETIC SCHOLARS Aristotle of Stagira (384–322 BCE) Exoteric works: Protrepticus, On Philosophy, Eudemus, etc. Esoteric works: Categories, Physics, De Caelo, Metaphysics, De Anima, etc. The legend of Aristotle’s misappropriated works Andronicus of Rhodes: first edition of Aristotle’s works (40 BCE) Early Peripatetic commentators Boethus of Sidon (c. 75—c. 10 BCE) comm. on Categories Alexander of Aegae (1st century CE)comm. on Categories and De Caelo Adrastus of Aphrodisias (early 1st century) comm. on Categories Aspasius (c. 131) comm. on Nicomachean Ethics Emperor Marcus Aurelius establishes four chairs of philosophy in Athens: Platonic, Peripatetic, Stoic, Epicurean (c. 170) Alexander of Aphrodisias (late 2nd —early 3rd century) Extant commentaries on Prior Analytics, De Sensu, etc. Lost comm. on Physics, De Caelo, etc. Exemplar for all subsequent commentators. Comm. on Aristotle’s Metaphysics Only books 1—5 of Alexander’s comm. are genuine; books 6—14 are by ps.-Alexander . whodunit? Themistius (c. 317—c. 388) Paraphrases of Physics, De Anima, etc. Paraphrase of Metaphysics Λ (Hebrew translation) Last of the Peripatetics CHAPTER 2 NEOPLATONIC SCHOLARS Origins of Neoplatonism Ammonius Saccas (c. 175—242) forefather of Neoplatonism Plotinus (c. 205—260) the Enneads Reality explained in terms of hypostases: THE ONE—> THE INTELLECT—>WORLD SOUL—>PERCEPTIBLE WORLD Porphyry of Tyre (232–309) Life of Plotinus On the School of Plato and Aristotle Being One On the Difference Between Plato and Aristotle Isagoge (Introduction to Aristotle’s Categories) What is Neoplatonism? A broad intellectual movement based on the philosophy of Plotinus that sought to incorporate and reconcile the doctrines of Plato, Pythagoras, and Aristotle with each other and with the universal beliefs and practices of popular religion (e.g. -
Walter Nicgorski: Cicero on Aristotle and Aristotelians 35 and the Teachings of the Peripatetic School Founded by Aristotle
WALTER NICGORSKI Cicero on Aristotle and Aristotelians ABSTRACT: Set against tendencies in the Renaissance and later political theory to see Cicero in tension with Aristotle, this research essay reports the results of a close study of all of Cicero’s texts that bear on his reading, understanding and assessment of Aristotle and the Peripatetic school. The essay necessarily attends to Cicero’s sources for his encoun- ter with Aristotle and affirms, with some qualifications, Cicero’s overall continuity with the moral and political thought of Aristotle. KEYWORDS: Aristotle, Cicero, Socrates, Theophrastus, Peripatetic, New Academy, Rhetoric, Stoic, Dialogues, Virtue, Equality, Petrarch. [M]y philosophical writings differing very little from Peri- patetic teachings, for both I and those men wish to follow in the Socratic and Platonic tradition… (Cicero, De Officiis I. 2) cicero was rome’s “best Aristotelian”. (dante)1 The authority of the American Declaration of Independen- ce rests in part on its drawing from “elementary books of public right as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc.” (Tho- mas Jefferson, 1824/1973. 12) This research essay provides the basis, in cicero’s own writings, to see his moral and political thinking as a significant Roman manifestation of political Aristo- telianism. It examines closely his assessment of Aristotle’s political legacy and the necessary preliminary topic of cicero’s sources for understanding Aristotle 1 This was dante’s judgement according to A. E. Douglas (1965, 162) and Paul Renucci (1954, 331). A seemingly different claim made by the 20th century scholar Ernest Fortin (1996, 33) was that cicero and Varro are “Plato’s roman disciples.” WALTER NICGORSKI: CICERO ON ARISTOTLE AND ARISTOTELIANS 35 and the teachings of the Peripatetic school founded by Aristotle. -
BIBLIOGRAPHY for a New Edition of ARISTOTLE's PROTREPTICUS
1 PROVISIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY for a new edition of ARISTOTLE'S PROTREPTICUS compiled by D. S. Hutchinson and Monte Ransome Johnson version of 2013 February 25 A. Primary Sources 1. Aristotle a. Collections of fragments of Aristotle's lost works, including his Protrepticus b. Editions and translations of fragments of Aristotle’s Protrepticus c. Editions and translations of papyri attributable to Aristotle's Protrepticus d. Editions and translations of the Aristotle Corpus e. Editions and translations of other lost works of Aristotle 2. Isocrates 3. Plato 4. Archytas of Tarentum 5. Heraclides of Pontus 6. Anonymous Iamblichi 7. Cicero 8. Clement of Alexandria (AD II-III) 9. Lactantius (AD III-IV) 10. Iamblichus of Chalcis (AD III-IV) a. Manuscripts of the Protrepticus b. Printed editions and translations of the Protrepticus c. Editions and translations of other works of Iamblichus 11. Ancient Commentators a. Aristocles of Messene (AD I) b. Alexander of Aphrodisias (AD II) c. Ammonius (AD V) d. Proclus (AD V) e. Olympiodorus the younger (AD V-VI) f. Philoponus (AD VI) g. Asclepius of Tralles (AD VI) h. Elias (AD VI-VII) i. David the Invincible Philosopher (AD VI-VII) j. Anonymous Scholion on Cod.Par.Gr.2064 12. Boethius (AD V-VI) 13. Stobaeus (AD VI) B. Secondary Sources (arranged alphabetically) 2 A. Primary Sources 1. Aristotle a. Collections of fragments of Aristotle's lost works, including his Protrepticus Flashar, H. Aristoteles: Fragmente zu Philosophie, Rhetorik, Poetik, Dictung. Darmstadt, 2006. Gigon, O. Librorum deperditorum fragmenta = vol. iii of Aristoteles Opera. Berlin, 1987. Gohlke, P. Aristoteles Fragmente. Paderborn, 1959. -
Chapter Five
chapter five STRATEGIES OF PERSUASION IN SOLON’S ELEGIES Maria Noussia As recent works on early or “pre-rhetorical”/“pre-conceptual” rhetoric have shown,1 there is good reason to believe that a practical under- standing of the means of persuasion existed long before the advent of formal rhetoric in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC. In this paper I will explore the concept of “pre-rhetorical rhetoric” in the ele- gies of Solon.2 There is still no widespread recognition of the rhetorical dimension of Solon’s poetry, despite a certain number of recent studies.3 In order to uncover Solon’s argumentative operation and strategies of persuasion I will rely heavily on Aristotle (and to a much lesser degree, on the late fourth century BC treatise On Rhetoric dedicated to Alexander, which has been transmitted among Aristotle’s works but is generally attributed to the sophist Anaximenes of Lampsacus, and which cen- tres on quick, concise instruction about convincing an audience). As a systematic tract, Aristotle’s Rhetoric allows us to identify a number of effects and devices in earlier texts, even if the writers of those texts did not use Aristotle’s terminology or method of reasoning, and even if not everything is explicable in Aristotle’s terms. Of course Aristotle’s 1 E.g. Walker (2000); Karp (1977); Enos (1993); Cole (1991); Kennedy (1963) 26–51. There is still, however, no textbook on “pre-rhetorical” rhetoric. I am most grateful to C. Carey, M. Fantuzzi, R. Hunter and M. Vetta for stimulating criticism of an earlier draft of this paper as well as to the organizers and the participants of the Nijmegen Conference for much help and criticism before, during and since that occasion. -
The Ancient Reception of Euripides' Bacchae from Athens to Byzantium
Simon Perris and Fiachra Mac Góráin The ancient reception of Euripides’ Bacchae from Athens to Byzantium Abstract: This chapter offers a reception history of Euripides’ Bacchae from its original production until its intertextual transformation in the Byzantine Christus Patiens. It traces a broad arc from Classical Athens through the Roman Empire, taking in also Hellenistic Alexandria, the Greek-speaking East, Christianity, and Byzantine literature. By examining the cultural contexts and inflections of the different receptions of one poetic text – Greek, Roman and Italian, ‘Eastern’, and Christian – it exposes distinctions between religious or cultural attitudes to Bac- chus/Dionysus across a broad range of Greek and Latin sources. The discussion is divided into four thematic sections, within which receptions are mostly pre- sented in chronological order: Classic Bacchae; Performances; Narratives; and Christian discourse. These sections encompass drama, epic, didactic, epyllion, historiography, biography, epigram, scholarly citations, and theological texts. A selection of the most significant case studies receive in-depth discussion in the body of the chapter; for completeness, the reception history of Bacchae is filled out by listing additional receptions in summary form in an appendix. Introduction Euripides’ Bacchae was undoubtedly the single most influential literary text for constructions of Dionysus throughout Greco-Roman antiquity. In this chapter, we examine how receptions of the play across the spectrum of Greek and Roman literature act as a barometer for cultural attitudes to Dionysus. Many of the most significant and revealing receptions occur in Latin texts or in Greek texts that deal with Roman subjects, whether Plutarch’s Antony, Greek epigrams about Italian pantomime performances, or Christian writings polemicizing against Greek and Roman cults. -
EXCAVATING the IMAGINATION: the ARABIC AFTERLIFE of ARISTOTLE's PHANTASIA by Jessica L. Radin a Thesis Submitted in Conformity
EXCAVATING THE IMAGINATION: THE ARABIC AFTERLIFE OF ARISTOTLE’S PHANTASIA By Jessica L. Radin A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of the Study of Religion University of Toronto @Copyright by Jessica L. Radin 2018 EXCAVATING THE IMAGINATION: THE ARABIC AFTERLIFE OF ARISTOTLE’S PHANTASIA Jessica L. Radin Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto 2018 ABSTRACT : This dissertation focuses on the afterlife of Aristotle’s work on the imagination, specifically in the work of al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd, and Maimonides. Drawing on previous scholarship that has investigated the philosophical and psychological role of the imagination in Aristotle, this dissertation considers the role that Aristotle’s Rhetoric had to play in later Arabic readings of Aristotle. This dissertation demonstrates that it wasthe rich life of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the Arabic world that lead to a slow-burning association of imagination and politics. For al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd, and Maimonides, the imagination is the psychological feature of human beings that make us susceptible to persuasive speech. Since the images of imagination in human beings are restrained and directed by the rational faculty, they can also be directed, although not restrained, by the power of persuasive speech. The imagination allows human beings to imagine the world differently from the way it is, but at the same time it is not intrinsically capable of ascertaining which future or change is good. But human reason, with its deliberative powers, allows us to distinguish between persuasion based on emotional triggers and habitual desires and the truly remarkable innovations that can stem only from the partnership between imagination and reason.