Byzantine Philosophy

Georgi Kapriev, D.Sc. (1960), St. Kliment Ochridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria, is a professor of ancient and medieval – Latin and Byzantine – philosophy. He is author of numerous books and articles, and editor of a number of volumes, including The Dionysian Traditions (Brepols, 2021) and (as co-editor and author) Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie: Die Philosophie des Mittelalters, Bd. 1: Byzanz, Judentum (Schwabe, 2019).

• PrefacePart1 The ContextIntroduction1 Byzantium and the Byzantine Commonwealth2 The Emergence of Byzantine Philosophy3 The Patristics4 Theology5 Philosophy6 Periodization of Byzantine Philosophical Culture1 Byzantium and the Byzantine commonwealth8 Rationality and Thirst for Knowledge9 Philosophy in Byzantium and Byzantine philosophy10 ConclusionPart2 Main Topics and Concepts1 Teachings on the Energies1 The Teaching of Aristotle2 The Interpretation of the Theory of Energies by Martin Heidegger3 Hellenic Reception4 Beginning of the Christian Reception of the Doctrine of Energies5 The Doctrine of Energies in Christian Thinkers of the 4th Century6 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite7 Maximus the Confessor8 John Damascene9 An Intermediate Balance10 The Doctrine of Energies and Western Philosophical Thought11 Photius of Constantinople12 Michael Psellus13 Nicetas of Maroneia14 George of Cyprus (GregoryII)15 Gregory Palamas16 Barlaam, Acindynus and Gregoras17 Prochorus Cydones18 The Doctrine of Energies in the Works of the next Palamite Generation19 Essential Energy and Accident20 The Lack of Correctly Formulated Logical Distinction between Essence and Energy21 George Scholarius and the Definition of the Distinction22 Perichoresis and Synergy23 Callistus Angelicudes: Essential Energy and Hypostasis24 Hexis—the Hypostasizing Factor2 The Principles of Being1 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite2 Maximus the Confessor3 Metaphysics of the Concrete4 The Analogous Independence of Being5 Logos/Principle of Essence and Tropos/Mode of Existence6 Being—Well/Bad-Being—Eternal-Being7 The Co-Creator3 Nature and Hypostasis1 Nature/Essence2 Hypostasis3 Hypostasis and Person4 Relation and Synergy5 Individual4 The Human Being1 The logos of Man2 Image of God, Microcosm and Ancestral Sin3 The Psychosomatic Unity of the Human Being4 The Human Body5 The Soul5 Human Knowledge1 Rational Knowledge2 Experiential Knowledge6 Will and Freedom1 John Cassian’s Doctrine of Freedom2 The Cappadocians3 Nemesius of Emesa4 Maximus the Confessor5 John Damascene6 Photius of Constantinople7 Michael Psellus8 Providence and Fortune in Historiography9 The Debate about Fate in the 15th Century10 Deification and Freedom according to Gregory Palamas11 Concluding Remarks7 Time, Aeon, Eternity1 Hellenic Tradition2 Basil the Great. The Cappadocians3 Maximus the Confessor4 Michael Psellus5 System of the Interaction of Structures6 Concluding Observations8 History and metaphysics1 Political Thought and Historiography2 Historicity as a Foundational Element of Byzantine PhilosophyBibliographyIndices