Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca Et Byzantina – serie

This book is the first study of the ontological system of Alexander of Aphrodisias (floruit c. 200 AD), famous for his commentaries on the works of Aristotle. By drawing not only on the entire known corpus of the commentator's works, but also on numerous new Greek and Arabic sources, Marwan Rashed aimsat defining Alexander’s place in the history of metaphysics. Alexander’s attempt to substantiate the objectivity of the Aristotelian form draws down the curtain on the phase of the Hellenistic peripatos, at the same time marking the beginning of medieval Aristotelianism.

In Greek Late Antiquity philosophy defined itself above all through the interpretation of authoritative texts such as Plato’s dialogues or the treatises of Aristotle.This work looks at the last Late Antique commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, the pagan Simplicius and the Christian Philoponus (both 6th cent. AD). Golitsis demonstrates how differently the two contemporaries interpreted the philosophical tradition and how this led them to deduce different routes to finding the truth.

The volume collects the most important papers Pierluigi Donini wrote in the last three decades with the aim of promoting a better assessment of post-hellenistic philosophy. The philosophical relevance of post-hellenistic philosophy is now widely (though not yet universally) recognized. Yet much remains to be done. The common practice of focusing each single school in itself detracts from a balanced assessment of the strategies exploited by many philosophers of the period. On the assumption that debates among schools play a major role in the philosophy of the commentators, Donini concentrates on the interaction between leading Aristotelians and Platonists and demonstrates that the developments of both systems of thought were heavily influenced by a continuous confrontation between the two schools. And whereas in cases such as Alcinous and Aspasius this is basically uncontroversial, for other authors such us Alexander, Antiochus and Plutarch the pioneering work of Donini paves the way for a better understanding of their doctrines and definitely confirms the intellectual importance of the first imperial age, when the foundations were laid of versions of both Aristotelianism and Platonism which were bound to influence the whole history of European thought, from Late Antiquity onwards.

Proklos’ „Tria Opuscula“ - seine drei philosophiegeschichtlich einflussreichen Abhandlungen „De decem dubitationibus circa providentiam“, „De providentia et fato et eo quod in nobis“ und „De malorum subsistentia“ - sind vollständig in der mittelalterlichen lateinischen Übersetzung Wilhelms von Moerbeke sowie fragmentarisch in griechischen Texten spätantiker und byzantinischer Autoren greifbar. Wilhelm zielt in seiner Übersetzung darauf, seine griechische Vorlage so exakt wie möglich wiederzugeben, und wählt dafür ein artifizielles Latein, dessen Sinn sich an vielen Stellen nur dann erschließt, wenn, v.a. mit Blick auf Wilhelms Übersetzungsmethode und Proklos' philosophischen Sprachgebrauch, untersucht wird, wie erstens der von Wilhelm übersetzte und wie zweitens der Originaltext der Werke zu rekonstruieren ist. Diese Untersuchung wird in Form eines Stellenkommentars geleistet; er dient zugleich der Erläuterung der hier publizierten ersten vollständigen griechischen Retroversion der „Tria Opuscula“, die aus der genannten Untersuchung hervorgegangen ist.

Forms and Concepts is the first comprehensive study of the central role of concepts and concept acquisition in the Platonic tradition. It sets up a stimulating dialogue between Plato’s innatist approach and Aristotle’s much more empirical response. The primary aim is to analyze and assess the strategies with which Platonists responded to Aristotle’s (and Alexander of Aphrodisias’) rival theory. The monograph culminates in a careful reconstruction of the elaborate attempt undertaken by the Neoplatonist Proclus (6th century AD) to devise a systematic Platonic theory of concept acquisition.

This volume includes twelve studies by international specialists on Aristotle and his commentators. Among the topics treated are Aristotle’s political philosophy and metaphysics, the ancient and Byzantine commentators’ scholia on Aristotle’s logic, philosophy of language and psychology as well as studies of broader scope on developmentalism in ancient philosophy and the importance of studying Late Antiquity.

Anonymous’ and Stephanus’ commentaries, written in the 12th century AD, are the first surviving commentaries on Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Their study, including the environment in which they were written and the philosophical ideas expressed in them, provides a better understanding of the reception of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in Byzantium, the Byzantine practice of commenting on classical texts, and what can be called “Byzantine philosophy”. For the first time, this book explores the context of production of the commentaries, discusses the identity and features of their authors, and reveals their philosophical and philological significance. In particular, I examine the main topics discussed by Aristotle in the Rhetoric as contributing to persuasion, namely valid and fallacious rhetorical arguments, ethical notions, emotional response and style, and I analyse the commentators’ interpretations of these topics. In this analysis, I focus on highlighting the value of the philosophical views expressed, and on creating a discussion between the Byzantine and the modern interpretations of the treatise. Conclusively, the two commentators need to be considered as independent thinkers, who aimed primarily at integrating the treatise within the Aristotelian philosophical system.

Neoplatonists from Plotinus onward incorporate Aristotle’s logic and ontology into their philosophies: this process is of both intrinsic and historical interest and paves the way for subsequent philosophical debates in the Middle Ages and beyond. The ten essays collected in this book focus on the readings of Aristotle by Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Their discussions cover key issues in the history of logic and metaphysics such as substance, hylomorphism, causation, existence, and predication. Among the topics tackled in this volume are Plotinus’ criticism of Aristotle’s physical essentialism, which is a major chapter in the history of metaphysics, and the interpretation of Porphyry’s Isagoge, one of the most influential and enigmatic works in the history of philosophy. Further essays focus on the readings of Aristotle’s categories developed by Porphyry and Iamblichus, which raise interesting questions at the intersection of logic and ontology, and on the integration of Aristotle’s ontology into Neoplatonist accounts of being and existence.

How were Aristotle’s Sophistical Refutations read in Antiquity? What were the perceived intentions, messages and problems of this treatise, the last within the Organon? This book presents newly discovered fragments from the lost ancient commentaries by Aspasios, Herminos, Alexander and Syrianos on Aristotle’s Sophistical Refutations. After presenting the fragments, which were preserved by the humanist and philosopher Agostino Nifo (ca. 1473-1538), the introduction makes the case for their authenticity. There follows an edition of the fragments, accompanied by a translation and detailed commentary. This material sheds new light on the history and philosophy of logic, and especially on the theory of fallacies. It further documents how the Sophistical Refutations were interpreted and used in ancient Aristotelianism. Finally, it complements our knowledge of the philosophy of two major Aristotelians, Herminos and his pupil, the great Alexander of Aphrodisias. This study is of immediate relevance to readers with an interest in philosophy, logic, history, and/or Greco-Roman antiquity. Because it concerns the use and abuse of fallacies, and ways to counteract them, it also has countless practical applications in all fields of mundane life.

Book I of Aristotle's De partibus animalium, independent of the other three books, is a general introduction to Aristotle's biological work. However, the great importance of this text and the attention paid to its content by scholars is in sharp contrast to its neglect in terms of textual editing: previous editions have dealt with only a fraction of the tradition.This book therefore begins with the recensio of the manuscript tradition that has come down to us, reconstructing the genealogy of some 50 Greek manuscripts, an Arabic translation from the 9th century, as well as two medieval and two renaissance Latin translations. In addition, the independent textual witnesses ― 25 Greek codices, the Arabic and the two medieval Latin translations ― allow the text of two lost late antique copies, the Hyparchetypes α and β, to be reconstructed. Their readings, the variants, are decisive for the constitution of the text.The first historical-critical new edition resulting from the examinatio of the text transmitted can improve the Louis edition of 1956 in more than 60 places.