Historical Synopsis of the Aristotelian Commentary Tradition (In Less Than Sixty Minutes)
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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. -
The Place of Ethics in Aristotle's Philosophy
Offprint from OXFORDSTUDIES INANCIENT PHILOSOPHY EDITOR:BRADINWOOD VOLUMEXL Essays in Memory of Michael Frede JAMESALLEN EYJÓLFURKJALAREMILSSON WOLFGANG-RAINERMANN BENJAMINMORISON 3 THEPLACEOFETHICSIN ARISTOTLE’SPHILOSOPHY GEORGEKARAMANOLIS . The issue D the wealth of studies on Aristotle’s ethics, there has been almost nothing, as far as I know, dedicated to considering the place that ethics occupies in Aristotle’s philosophy. This issue does not seem to be interesting to modern students of Aristotle. There was, however, a debate and indeed a controversy about this issue in late antiquity, as I shall show in this paper. There are two questions in- volved here, which are interrelated, and the debate was about both of them. The first concerns the order in which ethics or practical philosophy, more generally, must be studied by the student of Aris- totle’s philosophy. The second concerns the relative significance of this part of philosophy within the framework of Aristotle’s philoso- phical work. Both questions arise from remarks that Aristotle himself makes. The second in particular, some might argue, is addressed by Aris- totle in various parts of his work. In Metaphysics Ε –, for instance, he famously discusses the relative value of theoretical, practical, and productive sciences. Aristotle there argues explicitly that the the- oretical sciences are preferable (hairetōterai) to all others, practical © George Karamanolis It is a pleasure to offer this contribution in honour of Michael Frede, who taught me so much. Drafts of this paper were presented at Princeton, Oxford, and the Department of Theory and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens. I have benefited from the comments of all these audiences. -
Dan Beachy-Quick Anaximander of Miletus, Son of Prixiades…
In the deserts of the heart Let the healing fountain start, In the prison of his days Teach the free man how to praise FREE W.H. Auden POETRY Dan Beachy-Quick Anaximander Free Poetry publishes essays and poetry by today’s leading poets. These chapbooks are available free of Vol. 15 No. 5 April 2020 charge and without copyright. The editor encourages the reproduction of this chapbook and its free distribution, ad infinitum. For further information please contact the editor at: [email protected] Anaximander (trans. by) Dan Beachy-Quick Anaximander of Miletus, son of Prixiades… Anaximander, friend of Thales, and fellow citizen… Anaximander of Miletus, son of Priaxides, whose mind Thales birthed, his student and his successor… Diodorus of Ephesus, writing about Anaximander, says that he affected a tragic pomp (like a goat-skin swollen with wine) and donned clothes to look like holy man. 1 Eratosthenes says, and Hecataeus of Miletus agrees, that Homer and Anaximander were the first two to publish books on Geography. …among the Greeks of whom we know, he was the first to bring forth, from hard toil, a book on the nature of Nature. Like a child left waiting in a field, he wrote down a summary of his principle thoughts, which somehow Apollodorus of Athens happened to find. 2 He wrote , , On Nature The Wandering Earth Of the Constant Sources (in sequential order) , and one other book. Stars, Spheres 1. Diogenes Laertius 26. Aëtius 2. Strabo 27. Aëtius 3. Theophrastus 28. Aëtius 4. Diogenes Laertius 29. Aëtius 5. Strabo 30. Eudemus 6. -
Aspasian Infidelities. on Aspasius' Philosophical Background (EN I)
apeiron 2016; 49(2): 229–259 António Pedro Mesquita* Aspasian Infidelities. On Aspasius’ Philosophical Background (EN I) DOI 10.1515/apeiron-2015-0028 Abstract: The discussion on Aspasius’ philosophical background has benefited in recent years from a wide consensus. According to this consensus, Aspasius should be regarded as a Peripatetic, or even as an “orthodox Peripatetic” (Barnes’ phrase). It is true that Aspasius’ commentary is generally in tune with Aristotle. It is true that he shows an extensive knowledge of Aristotelian research pertinent for the discussions and that he uses Aristotelian concepts, principles, and doctrines with ease as if they were his own, thus denoting an old assimila- tion of those materials and a long accommodation to them. In a word, it is true that Aspasius is an Aristotelian. He is, however, as I will try to show in this paper, an Aristotelian strongly influenced by Stoicism. I will do so by selecting those points from Aspasius’ commentary on book I of the Nicomachean Ethics where the Stoic influence is most flagrantly evident, namely in his interpretation of art (τέχνη), his conception of continence and incontinence and, especially, his interpretation of the relation between happiness, virtue, and external goods in Aristotle. Keywords: Aspasius, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, happiness, virtue, external goods The Consensus The discussion on Aspasius’ philosophical background has benefited in recent years from a wide consensus. A good example of this consensus is the position Barnes sustains on the matter in his excellent “Introduction to Aspasius”, where he states the following1: Next, Aspasius’ philosophical position. Galen calls him a Peripatetic, and it is plain that his pupil taught Galen Peripatetic philosophy. -
Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015, in Sehepunkte 15 (2015), Nr
Citation style Andrea Falcon: Rezension von: Michael J. Griffin: Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015, in sehepunkte 15 (2015), Nr. 7 [15.07.2015], URL:http://www.sehepunkte.de/2015/07/27098.html First published: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2015/07/27098.html copyright This article may be downloaded and/or used within the private copying exemption. Any further use without permission of the rights owner shall be subject to legal licences (§§ 44a-63a UrhG / German Copyright Act). sehepunkte 15 (2015), Nr. 7 Michael J. Griffin: Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire This is a book about the reception of Aristotle's Categories from the first century BC to the second century AD. The Categories does not appear to have circulated in the Hellenistic era. By contrast, this short but enigmatic treatise was at the center of the so-called return to Aristotle in the first century BC. The book under review tells us the story of this remarkable reversal of fortune. The main characters in this story are philosophers working in the three main philosophical traditions of post- Hellenistic philosophy. For the Peripatetic tradition, these are Andronicus of Rhodes and Boethus of Sidon. For the Academic and Platonic tradition, Eudorus of Alexandria and Lucius. For the Stoic tradition, Athenodorus and Cornutus. A supporting role is reserved to the following interpreters of the Categories : Aristo of Alexandria, Ps-Archytas, Nicostratus, Aspasius, Herminus, and Adrastus. In broad outline, the story told in the book goes as follows: Andronicus of Rhodes rescued the Categories from obscurity by deciding to place it at the beginning of his catalogue of Aristotle's writings (chapter 2). -
The Heraclitus Anecdote: De Partibus Animalium I 5.645A17-23
Ancient Philosophy 21 (2001) ©Mathesis Publications 1 The Heraclitus Anecdote: De Partibus Animalium i 5.645a17-23 Pavel Gregoric Chapter 5 of the first book of Aristotle’s De Partibus Animalium contains a short self-contained treatise (644b22-645a36) which has been characterised as a ‘protreptic to the study of animals’ (Peck in Aristotle 1937, 97). Such a charac- terisation of the treatise may be misleading, because Aristotle does not seem to have composed it in order to motivate his audience to go out in the field and study animals, but rather to kindle their interest in the scientific account of ani- mals which he is about to provide. It is reasonable to suppose that Aristotle’s audience, eager to learn something valuable and dignified, needed an explanation of why they should like to hear, amongst other animals, about sponges, snails, grubs, and other humble creatures which are displeasing even to look at, not to mention witnessing the dissections that might have accompanied Aristotle’s lec- tures on animals (cf. Bonitz 1870, 104a4-17; Lloyd 1978). Aristotle explains why such ignoble animals deserve a place in a scientific account of animals and he illustrates that with an anecdote about Heraclitus. So one must not be childishly repelled by the examination of the humbler animals. For in all things of nature there is some- thing wonderful. And just as Heraclitus is said to have spoken to the visitors who wanted to meet him and who stopped as they were approaching when they saw him warming himself by the oven (e‰don aÈtÚn yerÒmenon prÚw t“ fipn“)—he urged them to come in without fear (§k°leue går aÈtoÁw efisi°nai yarroËntaw), for there were gods there too (e‰nai går ka‹ §ntaËya yeoÊw)—so one must approach the inquiry about each animal without aversion, since in all of them there is something natural and beautiful. -
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. -
Aristotelianism in the First Century BC
CHAPTER 5 Aristotelianism in the First Century BC Andrea Falcon 1 A New Generation of Peripatetic Philosophers The division of the Peripatetic tradition into a Hellenistic and a post- Hellenistic period is not a modern invention. It is already accepted in antiquity. Aspasius speaks of an old and a new generation of Peripatetic philosophers. Among the philosophers who belong to the new generation, he singles out Andronicus of Rhodes and Boethus of Sidon.1 Strabo adopts a similar division. He too distinguishes between the older Peripatetics, who came immediately after Theophrastus, and their successors.2 He collectively describes the latter as better able to do philosophy in the manner of Aristotle (φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ ἀριστοτελίζειν). It remains unclear what Strabo means by doing philosophy in the manner of Aristotle.3 But he certainly thinks that the philosophers who belong to the new generation, and not those who belong to the old one, deserve the title of true Aristotelians. For Strabo, the event separating the old from the new Peripatos is the rediscovery and publication of Aristotle’s writings. We may want to resist Strabo’s negative characterization of the earlier Peripatetics. For Strabo, they were not able to engage in philosophy in any seri- ous way but were content to declaim general theses.4 This may be an unfair judgment, ultimately based on the anachronistic assumption that any serious philosophy requires engagement with an authoritative text.5 Still, the empha- sis that Strabo places on the rediscovery of Aristotle’s writings suggests that the latter were at the center of the critical engagement with Aristotle in the 1 Aspasius, On Aristotle’s Ethics 44.20–45.16. -
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. -
A New Testimony on the Platonist Gaius
A New Testimony on the Platonist Gaius Michele Trizio PART FROM a single Delphic inscription (FD III.4 103), the testimonia of the life and work of second-century AMiddle Platonist Gaius fall into two classes.1 The first includes first-hand observations of later philosophers up to Proclus: Porphyry, for instance, reports that Gaius was one of several authors read regularly by Plotinus’ entourage.2 Galen tells us that he followed the classes of two of Gaius’ pupils in Pergamum and Smyrna respectively.3 As to Proclus, he twice mentions Gaius, among other Platonists, in his commentaries on the Republic and the Timaeus.4 The second class of testimonia includes statements concerning Gaius’ scholarship on Plato in three important Greek MSS. The first of these, Paris.gr. 1962, is a ninth-century MS. of the so-called ‘philosophical collection’, which, among others entries, contains a pinax at f. 146v men- tioning ᾿Αλβίνου τῶν Γαίου σχολῶν ὑποτυπώσεων πλατωνικῶν δογµάτων. That is to say, Albinus’ edition of Gaius’ scholia on 1 On Gaius and the related bibliography see J. Whittaker, “Gaius,” in R. Goulet (ed.), Dictionnaire de philosophes antiques III (Paris 2000) 437–440. All testimonia on Gaius are collected and discussed with reference to previous literature in A. Gioè, Filosofi medioplatonici del II secolo d.c. (Naples 2002). 2 V.Plot. 14, ed. P. Henry and H.-R. Schwyzer, Plotini opera I (Leiden 1951) 19.10–14. 3 De propriorum animi 41, ed. W. de Boer (CMG V.4.1.1, Leipzig 1937); Libr.propr. 2.1, ed. V. Boudon-Millot (Paris 2007). -
Iamblichus and Julian''s ''Third Demiurge'': a Proposition
Iamblichus and Julian”s ”Third Demiurge”: A Proposition Adrien Lecerf To cite this version: Adrien Lecerf. Iamblichus and Julian”s ”Third Demiurge”: A Proposition . Eugene Afonasin; John M. Dillon; John F. Finamore. Iamblichus and the Foundations of Late Platonism, 13, BRILL, p. 177-201, 2012, Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts and Contexts. Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, 10.1163/9789004230118_012. hal-02931399 HAL Id: hal-02931399 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02931399 Submitted on 6 Sep 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Iamblichus and Julian‟s “Third Demiurge”: A Proposition Adrien Lecerf Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France [email protected] ABSTRACT. In the Emperor Julian's Oration To the Mother of the Gods, a philosophical interpretation of the myth of Cybele and Attis, reference is made to an enigmatic "third Demiurge". Contrary to a common opinion identifying him to the visible Helios (the Sun), or to tempting identifications to Amelius' and Theodorus of Asine's three Demiurges, I suggest that a better idea would be to compare Julian's text to Proclus' system of Demiurges (as exposed and explained in a Jan Opsomer article, "La démiurgie des jeunes dieux selon Proclus", Les Etudes Classiques, 71, 2003, pp. -
SCEPTICAL ARGUMENTATION and PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY: By
SCEPTICAL ARGUMENTATION AND PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY: TOPICS IN HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY by Máté Veres Submitted to Central European University Department of Philosophy In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Gábor Betegh CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2016 Table of contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 7 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1. Keep calm and carry on: Sextan Pyrrhonism as a kind of philosophy ....... 17 1. Philosophy and inquiry ............................................................................................ 18 2. The road to Pyrrhonism ........................................................................................... 22 2.1. The 'origins' of scepticism (PH I. 12) ............................................................... 22 2.2. The goal of Pyrrhonism (PH I. 26 and 29)........................................................ 26 2.3. Men of talent ..................................................................................................... 34 3. The origin of Pyrrhonism ......................................................................................... 37 3.1. The Partisan Premise