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PLATONISM
Plato Platonism Platonic Academy Middle Platonism Neoplatonism Neoplatonism and Gnosticism Neoplatonism and Christianity Platonism in the Renaissance Cambridge Platonists
ARISTOTELIANISM
Aristotle Aristotelianism Peripatetic school
ISLAMIC ARISTOTELIANISM
Al-Farabi Avicenna Averroes
THOMISM
Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica Thomism
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Socrates
Socrates
Socrates
Socrates Born 470/469 BC Deme Alopece, Athens 399 BC (age approx. 71) Athens Greek Ancient philosophy Western philosophy Classical Greek Epistemology, ethics Socratic method, Socratic irony
Died
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Socrates
"I know that I know nothing" Social gadfly Trial of Socrates Eponymous concepts Socratic dialogue Socratic method Socratic questioning Socratic paradox Socratic problem Disciples
Socrates
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Plato Xenophon Antisthenes Aristippus Related topics Megarians Cynicism Cyrenaics Platonism Stoicism The Clouds
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Socrates (/skrtiz/;[2] Greek: , Ancient Greek pronunciation: [skrts], Skrts; 470/469 BC 399 BC) was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claimWikipedia:Avoid weasel words that Plato's dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. Plato's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains a strong foundation for much western philosophy that followed.
Biography
The Socratic problem
An accurate picture of the historical Socrates and his philosophical viewpoints is problematic: an issue known as the Socratic problem. As Socrates did not write philosophical texts, the knowledge of the man, his life, and his philosophy is entirely based on writings by his students and contemporaries. Foremost among them is Plato; however, works by Xenophon, Aristotle, and Aristophanes also provide important insights.[3] The difficulty of finding the real Socrates arises because these works are often philosophical or dramatic texts rather than straightforward histories. Aside from Thucydides (who makes no mention of Socrates or philosophers in general) and Xenophon, there are in fact no straightforward histories contemporary with Socrates that dealt with his own time and place. A corollary of this is that sources that do mention Socrates do not necessarily claim to be historically accurate, and are often partisan (those who prosecuted and convicted Socrates have left no testament). Historians therefore face the challenge of reconciling the various texts that come from these men to create an accurate and consistent account of Socrates' life and work. The result of such an effort is not necessarily realistic, merely consistent. Plato is frequently viewed as the most informative source about Socrates' life and philosophy. At the same time, however, many scholars believe that in some works Plato, being a literary artist, pushed his avowedly brightened-up version of "Socrates" far beyond anything the historical Socrates was likely to have done or said; and that Xenophon, being an historian, is a more reliable witness to the historical Socrates. It is a matter of much debate which Socrates Plato is describing at any given pointthe historical figure, or Plato's fictionalization. As Martin Cohen has put it, Plato, the idealist, offers "an idol, a master figure, for philosophy. A Saint, a prophet of the 'Sun-God', a teacher condemned for his teachings as a heretic."[4] It is also clear from other writings and historical artifacts, however, that Socrates was not simply a character, or an invention, of Plato. The testimony of Xenophon and Aristotle, alongside some of Aristophanes' work (especially The Clouds), is useful in fleshing out a perception of Socrates beyond Plato's work.
Socrates
Life
Details about Socrates can be derived from three contemporary sources: the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon (both devotees of Socrates), and the plays of Aristophanes. He has been depicted by some scholars, including Eric Havelock and Walter Ong, as a champion of oral modes of communication, standing up at the dawn of writing against its haphazard diffusion.[5] Aristophanes' play The Clouds portrays Socrates as a clown who teaches his students how to bamboozle their way out of debt. Most of Aristophanes' works, however, function as parodies. Thus, it is presumed this characterization was also not literal. Socrates' father was Sophroniscus,[6] a sculptor,[7] and his mother Phaenarete,[8] a midwife. Socrates married Xanthippe, who was much younger than he and was characterized as undesirable in temperament. She bore for him three sons, Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus. His friend Crito of Alopece criticized him for abandoning his sons when he refused to try to escape before his execution.
Carnelian gem imprint representing Socrates, Rome, 1st century BC-1st century AD.
Socrates initially earned his living as a master stonecutter. According to Timon of Phlius and later sources, Socrates took over the profession of stonemasonry from his father who cut stone for the Parthenon. There was a tradition in antiquity, not credited by modern scholarship, that Socrates crafted the statues of the Three Graces, which stood near the Acropolis until the 2nd century AD.[9] Ancient texts seem to indicate that Socrates did not work at stonecutting after retiring. In Xenophon's Symposium, Socrates is reported as saying he devotes himself only to what he regards as the most important art or occupation: discussing philosophy. In The Clouds Aristophanes portrays Socrates as accepting payment for teaching and running a sophist school with Chaerephon, while in Plato's Apology and Symposium and in Xenophon's accounts, Socrates explicitly denies accepting payment for teaching. More specifically, in the Apology Socrates cites his poverty as proof he is not a teacher. Several of Plato's dialogues refer to Socrates' military service. Socrates says he served in the Athenian army during three campaigns: at Potidaea, Amphipolis, and Delium. In the Symposium Alcibiades describes Socrates' valour in the battles of Potidaea and Delium, recounting how Socrates saved his life in the former battle (219e-221b). Socrates' exceptional service at Delium is also mentioned in the Laches by the General after whom the dialogue is named (181b). In the Apology, Socrates compares his military service to his courtroom troubles, and says anyone on the jury who thinks he ought to retreat from philosophy must also think soldiers should retreat when it seems likely that they will be killed in battle. In 406, he was a member of the Boule, and his tribe the Antiochis held the Prytany on the day the Generals of the Battle of Arginusae, who abandoned the slain and the survivors of foundered ships to pursue the defeated Spartan navy, were discussed. Socrates was the Epistates and resisted the unconstitutional demand for a collective trial to establish the guilt of all eight Generals, proposed by Callixeinus. Eventually, Socrates refused to be cowed by threats of impeachment and imprisonment and blocked the vote until his Prytany ended the next day, whereupon the six Generals who had returned to Athens were condemned to death. In 404, the Thirty Tyrants sought to ensure the loyalty of those opposed to them by making them complicit in their activities. Socrates and four others were ordered to bring a certain Leon of Salamis from his home for unjust execution. Socrates quietly refused, his death averted only by the overthrow of the Tyrants soon afterwards.[10]
Socrates
Socrates The full reasoning behind his refusal to flee is the main subject of the Crito. Socrates' death is described at the end of Plato's Phaedo. Socrates turned down Crito's pleas to attempt an escape from prison. After drinking the poison, he was instructed to walk around until his legs felt numb. After he lay down, the man who administered the poison pinched his foot; Socrates could no longer feel his legs. The numbness slowly crept up his body until it reached his heart. Shortly before his death, Socrates speaks his last words to Crito: "Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the Greek god for curing illness, and it is likely Socrates' last words meant that death is the cureand freedom, of the soul from the body. Additionally, in Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths, Robin Waterfield adds another interpretation of Socrates' last words. He suggests that Socrates was a voluntary scapegoat; his death was the purifying remedy for Athens misfortunes. In this view, the token of appreciation for Asclepius would represent a cure for Athens' ailments.
Philosophy
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Socratic method
Perhaps his most important contribution to Western thought is his dialectic method of inquiry, known as the Socratic method or method of "elenchus", which he largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts such as the Good and Justice. It was first described by Plato in the Socratic Dialogues. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer a person would seek. The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the scientific method, in which hypothesis is the first stage. The development and practice of this method is one of Socrates' most enduring contributions, and is a key factor in earning his mantle as the father of political philosophy, ethics or moral philosophy, and as a figurehead of all the central themes in Western philosophy. To illustrate the use of the Socratic method; a series of questions are posed to help a person or group to determine their underlying beliefs and the extent of their knowledge. The Socratic method is a negative method of hypothesis elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. It was designed to force one to examine one's own beliefs and the validity of such beliefs. An alternative interpretation of the dialectic is that it is a method for direct perception of the Form of the Good. Philosopher Karl Popper describes the dialectic as "the art of intellectual intuition, of visualising the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind the common man's everyday world of appearances."[19] In a similar vein, French philosopher Pierre Hadot suggests that the dialogues are a type of spiritual exercise. "Furthermore," writes Hadot, "in Plato's view, every dialectical exercise, precisely because it is an exercise of pure thought, subject to the demands of the Logos, turns the soul away from the sensible world, and allows it to convert itself towards the Good."[20]
Philosophical beliefs
The beliefs of Socrates, as distinct from those of Plato, are difficult to discern. Little in the way of concrete evidence exists to demarcate the two. The lengthy presentation of ideas given in most of the dialogues may be deformed by Plato, and some scholars think Plato so adapted the Socratic style as to make the literary character and the philosopher himself impossible to distinguish. Others argue that he did have his own theories and beliefs, but there is much controversy over what these might have been, owing to the difficulty of separating Socrates from Plato and the difficulty of interpreting even the dramatic writings concerning Socrates. Consequently, distinguishing the philosophical beliefs of Socrates from those of Plato and Xenophon is not easy and it must be remembered that what is attributed to Socrates might more closely reflect the specific concerns of these thinkers. The matter is complicated because the historical Socrates seems to have been notorious for asking questions but not answering, claiming to lack wisdom concerning the subjects about which he questioned others.[21] If anything in general can be said about the philosophical beliefs of Socrates, it is that he was morally, intellectually, and politically at odds with many of his fellow Athenians. When he is on trial for heresy and corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, he uses his method of elenchos to demonstrate to the jurors that their moral values are
Socrates wrong-headed. He tells them they are concerned with their families, careers, and political responsibilities when they ought to be worried about the "welfare of their souls". Socrates' assertion that the gods had singled him out as a divine emissary seemed to provoke irritation, if not outright ridicule. Socrates also questioned the Sophistic doctrine that arete (virtue) can be taught. He liked to observe that successful fathers (such as the prominent military general Pericles) did not produce sons of their own quality. Socrates argued that moral excellence was more a matter of divine bequest than parental nurture. This belief may have contributed to his lack of anxiety about the future of his own sons. Also: There should be no doubt that, despite his claim to know only that he knew nothing, Socrates had strong beliefs about the divine. According to Xenophon, he was a teleologist who held that god arranges everything for the best. Socrates frequently says his ideas are not his own, but his teachers'. He mentions several influences: Prodicus the rhetor and Anaxagoras the philosopher. Perhaps surprisingly, Socrates claims to have been deeply influenced by two women besides his mother: he says that Diotima, a witch and priestess from Mantinea, taught him all he knows about eros, or love; and that Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles, taught him the art of rhetoric.[22] John Burnet argued that his principal teacher was the Anaxagorean Archelaus but his ideas were as Plato described them; Eric A. Havelock, on the other hand, considered Socrates' association with the Anaxagoreans to be evidence of Plato's philosophical separation from Socrates.
Socratic paradoxes
Many of the beliefs traditionally attributed to the historical Socrates have been characterized as "paradoxical" because they seem to conflict with common sense. The following are among the so-called Socratic Paradoxes:[23] No one desires evil. No one errs or does wrong willingly or knowingly. Virtueall virtueis knowledge. Virtue is sufficient for happiness.
The phrase Socratic paradox can also refer to a self-referential paradox, originating in Socrates' phrase, "what I do not know I do not think I know",[24] often paraphrased as "I know that I know nothing."
Knowledge
One of the best known sayings of Socrates is "what I do not know I do not think I know". The conventional interpretation of this remark is that Socrates' wisdom was limited to an awareness of his own ignorance. Socrates believed wrongdoing was a consequence of ignorance and those who did wrong knew no better. The one thing Socrates consistently claimed to have knowledge of was "the art of love", which he connected with the concept of "the love of wisdom", i.e., philosophy. He never actually claimed to be wise, only to understand the path a lover of wisdom must take in pursuing it. It is debatable whether Socrates believed humans (as opposed to gods like Apollo) could actually become wise. On the one hand, he drew a clear line between human ignorance and ideal knowledge; on the other, Plato's Symposium (Diotima's Speech) and Republic (Allegory of the Cave) describe a method for ascending to wisdom. In Plato's Theaetetus (150a), Socrates compares himself to a true matchmaker ( promnestiks), as distinguished from a panderer ( proagogos). This distinction is echoed in Xenophon's Symposium (3.20), when Socrates jokes about his certainty of being able to make a fortune, if he chose to practice the art of pandering. For his part as a philosophical interlocutor, he leads his respondent to a clearer conception of wisdom, although he claims he is not himself a teacher (Apology). His role, he claims, is more properly to be understood as analogous to a midwife ( maia). Socrates explains that he is himself barren of theories, but knows how to bring the theories of others to birth and determine whether they are worthy or mere "wind eggs" ( anemiaion). Perhaps
Socrates significantly, he points out that midwives are barren due to age, and women who have never given birth are unable to become midwives; they would have no experience or knowledge of birth and would be unable to separate the worthy infants from those that should be left on the hillside to be exposed. To judge this, the midwife must have experience and knowledge of what she is judging.
Virtue
Socrates believed the best way for people to live was to focus on the pursuit of virtue rather than the pursuit, for instance, of material wealth. He always invited others to try to concentrate more on friendships and a sense of true community, for Socrates felt this was the best way for people to grow together as a populace. His actions lived up to this: in the end, Socrates accepted his death sentence when most thought he would simply leave Athens, as he felt he could not run away from or go against the will of his community; as mentioned above, his reputation for valor on the battlefield was without reproach. The idea that there are certain virtues formed a common thread in Socrates' teachings. These virtues represented the most important qualities for a person to have, foremost of which were the philosophical or intellectual virtues. Socrates stressed that "the unexamined life is not worth living [and] ethical virtue is the only thing that matters."
Politics
It is argued that Socrates believed "ideals belong in a world only the wise man can understand",[25] making the philosopher the only type of person suitable to govern others. In Plato's dialogue the Republic, Socrates openly objected to the democracy that ran Athens during his adult life. It was not only Athenian democracy: Socrates found short of ideal any government that did not conform to his presentation of a perfect regime led by philosophers, and Athenian government was far from that. It is, however, possible that the Socrates of Plato's Republic is colored by Plato's own views. During the last years of Socrates' life, Athens was in continual flux due to political upheaval. Democracy was at last overthrown by a junta known as the Thirty Tyrants, led by Plato's relative, Critias, who had been a friend of Socrates. The Tyrants ruled for about a year before the Athenian democracy was reinstated, at which point it declared an amnesty for all recent events. Socrates' opposition to democracy is often denied, and the question is one of the biggest philosophical debates when trying to determine exactly what Socrates believed. The strongest argument of those who claim Socrates did not actually believe in the idea of philosopher kings is that the view is expressed no earlier than Plato's Republic, which is widely considered one of Plato's "Middle" dialogues and not representative of the historical Socrates' views. Furthermore, according to Plato's Apology of Socrates, an "early" dialogue, Socrates refused to pursue conventional politics; he often stated he could not look into other's matters or tell people how to live their lives when he did not yet understand how to live his own. He believed he was a philosopher engaged in the pursuit of Truth, and did not claim to know it fully. Socrates' acceptance of his death sentence after his conviction can also be seen to support this view. It is often claimed much of the anti-democratic leanings are from Plato, who was never able to overcome his disgust at what was done to his teacher. In any case, it is clear Socrates thought the rule of the Thirty Tyrants was also objectionable; when called before them to assist in the arrest of a fellow Athenian, Socrates refused and narrowly escaped death before the Tyrants were overthrown. He did, however, fulfill his duty to serve as Prytanis when a trial of a group of Generals who presided over a disastrous naval campaign were judged; even then he maintained an uncompromising attitude, being one of those who refused to proceed in a manner not supported by the laws, despite intense pressure.[26] Judging by his actions, he considered the rule of the Thirty Tyrants less legitimate
Socrates than the Democratic Senate that sentenced him to death. Socrates' apparent respect for democracy is one of the themes emphasized in the 2008 play Socrates on Trial by Andrew Irvine. Irvine argues that it was because of his loyalty to Athenian democracy that Socrates was willing to accept the verdict of his fellow citizens. As Irvine puts it, During a time of war and great social and intellectual upheaval, Socrates felt compelled to express his views openly, regardless of the consequences. As a result, he is remembered today, not only for his sharp wit and high ethical standards, but also for his loyalty to the view that in a democracy the best way for a man to serve himself, his friends, and his city even during times of war is by being loyal to, and by speaking publicly about, the truth.[27]
Covertness
In the Dialogues of Plato, though Socrates sometimes seems to support a mystical side, discussing reincarnation and the mystery religions, this is generally attributed to Plato. Regardless, this view of Socrates cannot be dismissed out of hand, as we cannot be sure of the differences between the views of Plato and Socrates; in addition, there seem to be some corollaries in the works of Xenophon. In the culmination of the philosophic path as discussed in Plato's Symposium, one comes to the Sea of Beauty or to the sight of "the beautiful itself" (211C); only then can one become wise. (In the Symposium, Socrates credits his speech on the philosophic path to his teacher, the priestess Diotima, who is not even sure if Socrates is capable of reaching the highest mysteries.) In the Meno, he refers to the Eleusinian Mysteries, telling Meno he would understand Socrates' answers better if only he could stay for the initiations next week. Further confusions result from the nature of these sources, insofar as the Platonic Dialogues are arguably the work of an artist-philosopher, whose meaning does not volunteer itself to the passive reader nor again the lifelong scholar. According to Olympiodorus the Younger in his Life of Plato,[28] Plato himself "received instruction from the writers of tragedy" before taking up the study of philosophy. His works are, indeed, dialogues; Plato's choice of this, the medium of Sophocles, Euripides, and the fictions of theatre, may reflect the ever-interpretable nature of his writings, as he has been called a "dramatist of reason". What is more, the first word of nearly all Plato's works is a significant term for that respective dialogue, and is used with its many connotations in mind. Finally, the Phaedrus and the Symposium each allude to Socrates' coy delivery of philosophic truths in conversation; the Socrates of the Phaedrus goes so far as to demand such dissembling and mystery in all writing. The covertness we often find in Plato, appearing here and there couched in some enigmatic use of symbol and/or irony, may be at odds with the mysticism Plato's Socrates expounds in some other dialogues. These indirect methods may fail to satisfy some readers. Perhaps the most interesting facet of this is Socrates' reliance on what the Greeks called his "daemonic sign", an averting ( apotreptikos) inner voice Socrates heard only when he was about to make a mistake. It was this sign that prevented Socrates from entering into politics. In the Phaedrus, we are told Socrates considered this to be a form of "divine madness", the sort of insanity that is a gift from the gods and gives us poetry, mysticism, love, and even philosophy itself. Alternately, the sign is often taken to be what we would call "intuition"; however, Socrates' characterization of the phenomenon as "daemonic" may suggest that its origin is divine, mysterious, and independent of his own thoughts. Today, such a voice would be classified under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a command hallucination.
Satirical playwrights
He was prominently lampooned in Aristophanes' comedy The Clouds, produced when Socrates was in his mid-forties; he said at his trial (according to Plato) that the laughter of the theater was a harder task to answer than the arguments of his accusers. Sren Kierkegaard believed this play was a more accurate representation of Socrates than those of his students. In the play, Socrates is ridiculed for his dirtiness, which is associated with the Laconizing fad; also in plays by Callias, Eupolis, and Telecleides. Other comic poets who lampooned Socrates include Mnesimachus and Ameipsias. In all of these, Socrates and the Sophists were criticised for "the moral dangers
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Prose sources
Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle are the main sources for the historical Socrates; however, Xenophon and Plato were direct disciples of Socrates, and they may idealize him; however, they wrote the only continuous descriptions of Socrates that have come down to us in their complete form. Aristotle refers frequently, but in passing, to Socrates in his writings. Almost all of Plato's works center on Socrates. However, Plato's later works appear to be more his own philosophy put into the mouth of his mentor.
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Legacy
Immediate influence
Immediately, the students of Socrates set to work both on exercising their perceptions of his teachings in politics and also on developing many new philosophical schools of thought. Some of Athens' controversial and anti-democratic tyrants were contemporary or posthumous students of Socrates including Alcibiades and Critias. Critias' cousin, Plato would go on to found the Academy in 385 BC, which gained so much renown that 'Academy' became the standard word for educational institutions in later European languages such as English, French, and Italian. Plato's protege, another important figure of the Classical era, Aristotle went on to tutor Alexander the Great and also to found his own school in 335 BC the Lyceum whose name also now means an educational institution.
While "Socrates dealt with moral matters and took no notice at all of nature in general", in his Dialogues, Plato would emphasize mathematics with metaphysical overtones mirroring that of Pythagoras the former who would dominate Western thought well into the Renaissance. Aristotle himself was as much of a philosopher as he was a scientist with extensive work in the fields of biology and physics. Socratic thought which challenged conventions, especially in stressing a simplistic way of living, became divorced from Plato's more detached and philosophical pursuits. This idea was inherited by one of Socrates' older students, Antisthenes, who became the originator of another philosophy in the years after Socrates' death: Cynicism. The idea of asceticism being hand in hand with an ethical life or one with piety, ignored by Plato and Aristotle and somewhat dealt with by the Cynics, formed the core of another philosophy in 281 BC Stoicism when Zeno of Citium would discover Socrates' works and then learn from Crates, a Cynic philosopher.
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Criticism
Evaluation of and reaction to Socrates has been undertaken by both historians and philosophers from the time of his death to the present day with a multitude of conclusions and perspectives. Although he was not directly prosecuted for his connection to Critias, leader of the Spartan-backed Thirty Tyrants, and "showed considerable personal courage in refusing to submit to [them]", he was seen by some as a figure who mentored oligarchs who became abusive tyrants, and undermined Athenian democracy. The Sophistic movement that he railed at in life survived him, but by the 3rd century BC, was rapidly overtaken by the many philosophical schools of thought that Socrates influenced. Socrates' death is considered iconic and his status as a martyr of philosophy overshadows most contemporary and posthumous criticism. However, Xenophon mentions Socrates' "arrogance" and that he was "an expert in the art of pimping" or "self-presentation". Direct criticism of Socrates the man almost disappears after this time, but there is a noticeable preference for Plato or Aristotle over the elements of Socratic philosophy distinct from those of his students, even into the Middle Ages. Some modern scholarship holds that, with so much of his own thought obscured and possibly altered by Plato, it is impossible to gain a clear picture of Socrates amidst all the contradictory evidence. That both Cynicism and Stoicism, which carried heavy influence from Socratic thought, were unlike or even contrary to Platonism further illustrates this. The ambiguity and lack of reliability serves as the modern basis of criticismthat it is nearly impossible to know the real Socrates. Some controversy also exists about Socrates' attitude towards homosexuality[29] and as to whether or not he believed in the Olympian gods, was monotheistic, or held some other religious viewpoint.[30] However, it is still commonly taught and held with little exception that Socrates is the progenitor of subsequent Western philosophy, to the point that philosophers before him are referred to as pre-Socratic.
Notes
[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Socrates& action=edit [2] Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006. [3] Many other writers added to the fashion of Socratic dialogues (called Skratikoi logoi) at the time. In addition to Plato and Xenophon, each of the following is credited by some source as having added to the genre: Aeschines of Sphettus, Antisthenes, Aristippus, Bryson, Cebes, Crito, Euclid of Megara, and Phaedo. It is unlikely Plato was the first in this field (Vlastos, p. 52). [4] Martin Cohen, Philosophical Tales (2008) ISBN 1-4051-4037-2 [5] Ong, pp. 7879. [6] Plato, Laches 180d (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0176:text=Lach. :section=180d), Euthydemus 297e (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0178:text=Euthyd. :section=297e), Hippias Major 298c (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0180:text=Hipp. + Maj. :section=298c) [7] G.W.F. Hegel (trans. Frances H. Simon), Lectures on History of Philosophy (https:/ / d396qusza40orc. cloudfront. net/ kierkegaard/ Lectures_on_the_History_of_Philosophy. pdf) [8] Plato, Theaetetus 149a (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0172:text=Theaet. :section=149a), Alcibiades 1 131e (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0176:text=Alc. 1:section=131e) [9] The ancient tradition is attested in Pausanias, 1.22.8 (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/ ptext?lookup=Paus. + 1. 22. 1); for a modern denial, see Kleine Pauly, "Sokrates" 7; the tradition is a confusion with the sculptor, Socrates of Thebes, mentioned in Pausanias 9.25.3 (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/ ptext?lookup=Paus. + 9. 25. 1), a contemporary of Pindar. [10] Encylopaedia Britannica, Socrates. [11] Here it is telling to refer to Thucydides ( 3.82.8 (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/ ptext?lookup=Thuc. + 3. 82. 8)): "Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on any. Frantic violence, became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a justifiable means of self-defense. The advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected." [12] Brun (1978). [13] Plato. Apology, 2427. [14] Fallon, Warren J. (2001). "Socratic suicide." (http:/ / www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/ pubmed/ 19681231) PubMed. PMID: 19681231. US National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. 121:91-106. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
Socrates
[15] Linder, Doug (2002). "The Trial of Socrates" (http:/ / law2. umkc. edu/ faculty/ projects/ ftrials/ socrates/ socratesaccount. html). University of MissouriKansas City School of Law. Retrieved September 12, 2013. [16] "Socrates (Greek philosopher)" (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 551948/ Socrates). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 12, 2013. [17] R. G. Frey (January 1978). Did Socrates Commit Suicide? (http:/ / journals. cambridge. org/ action/ displayAbstract;jsessionid=3457B5D495BA884D57867116985C0601. journals?fromPage=online& aid=3474668). Philosophy, Volume 53, Issue 203, pp 106-108. University of Liverpool. doi:10.1017/S0031819100016375. [18] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Platonism& action=edit [19] Popper, K. (1962) The Open Society and its Enemies, Volume 1 Plato, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, p133. [20] Hadot, P. (1995) Philosophy as a Way of Life, Oxford, Blackwells, p93. [21] Plato, Republic 336c & 337a, Theaetetus 150c, Apology 23a; Xenophon, Memorabilia 4.4.9; Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 183b7. [22] Plato, Menexenus 235e [23] p. 14, Terence Irwin, The Development of Ethics, vol. 1, Oxford University Press 2007; p. 147, Gerasimos Santas, "The Socratic Paradoxes", Philosophical Review 73 (1964), pp. 14764. [24] Apology of Socrates 21d (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0170:text=Apol. :section=21d). [25] Attributed to "Solomon" in [26] Kagen (1978). [27] Irvine, Andrew D. "Introduction," Socrates on Trial, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008, p. 19. [28] Olympiodorus the Younger, Life of Plato, in The Works of Plato: A New and Literal Version Chiefly from the Text of Stallbaum, p. 234, Bohm, 1854. [29] W. K. C. Guthrie, Socrates (http:/ / books. google. gr/ books?id=a-h35nyFR7IC& dq=), Cambridge University Press, 1971, p. 70. [30] A.A. Long "How Does Socrates' Divine Sign Communicate with Him?", Chapter 5 in: A Companion to Socrates (http:/ / books. google. gr/ books?id=WwpZVuylPgYC& source=gbs_navlinks_s), John Wiley & Sons, 2009, p. 63.
13
References
Brun, Jean (1978 (sixth edition)). Socrate. Presses universitaires de France. pp.3940. ISBN2-13-035620-6.
(French)
May, Hope (2000). On Socrates. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN0-534-57604-4. Ong, Walter (2002). Orality and Literacy. New York: Routledge. ISBN0-415-28129-6. Kagan, Donald. The Fall of the Athenian Empire. First. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1987. Pausanias, Description of Greece (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.1.1). W. H. S. Jones (translator). Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918). Vol. 1. Books III: ISBN 0-674-99104-4. Vol. 4. Books VIII.22X: ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Thucydides; The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910. (http://www.perseus. tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+toc) Vlastos, Gregory (1991). Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN0-8014-9787-6. Bernas, Richard, cond. Socrate. By Erik Satie. LTM/Boutique, 2006 Bruell, C. (1994). On Platos Political Philosophy, Review of Politics, 56: 261-82. Bruell, C. (1999). On the Socratic Education: An Introduction to the Shorter Platonic Dialogues, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Grube, G.M.A.(2002). "Plato, Five Dialogues". Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Hanson, V.D. (2001). "Socrates Dies at Delium, 424 B.C.", What If? 2, Robert Cowley, editor, G.P. Putnam's Sons, NY. Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: A play based on Aristophanes' Clouds and Plato's Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for modern performance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9783-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-8020-9538-1 (paper); ISBN 978-1-4426-9254-1 (e-pub)
Kamtekar, Rachana (2004). Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito: Critical Essays. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN0-7425-3325-5.
Socrates Kierkegaard, Sren (1968). The Concept of Irony: with Constant Reference to Socrates. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN978-0-253-20111-9. Levinson, Paul (2007). The Plot to Save Socrates. New York: Tor Books. ISBN0-7653-1197-6. Luce, J.V. (1992). An Introduction to Greek Philosophy, Thames & Hudson, NY. Maritain, J. (1930, 1991). Introduction to Philosophy, Christian Classics, Inc., Westminster, MD. Robinson, R (1953). Plato's Earlier Dialectic. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN978-0-19-824777-7. Ch. 2: "Elenchus" (http://www.ditext.com/robinson/dia2.html), Ch. 3: "Elenchus: Direct and Indirect" (http://www. ditext.com/robinson/dia3.html) Taylor, C.C.W., Hare, R.M. & Barnes, J. (1998). Greek Philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Oxford University Press, NY. Taylor, C.C.W. (2001). Socrates: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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External links
Socrates (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007zp21) on In Our Time at the BBC. ( listen now (http:// www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b007zp21/In_Our_Time_Socrates)) Socrates (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates) entry by Debra Nails in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Socrates (https://inpho.cogs.indiana.edu/thinker/3919) at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Greek Philosophy: Socrates (http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/SOCRATES.HTM) Diogenes Lartius, Life of Socrates, translated by Robert Drew Hicks (1925). Paul Shorey (1905). "Socrates". New International Encyclopedia. Original Fresque of Socrates in Archaeological Museum of Ephesus (http://www.amengansie.com/sacrates. html) Socrates Narrates Plato's The Republic (http://www.allphilosophers.com/index.html) Apology of Socrates, by Plato. Project Gutenberg e-texts on Socrates, amongst others: The Dialogues of Plato (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=93) (see also Wikipedia articles on Dialogues by Plato) The writings of Xenophon (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=543), such as the Memorablia and Hellenica. The satirical plays by Aristophanes (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=965) Aristotle's writings (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=2747) Voltaire's Socrates (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4683) A free audiobook of the Socratic dialogue Euthyphro (http://librivox.org/euthyphro-by-plato/) at LibriVox (http://www.librivox.org)
Xenophon
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Xenophon
Xenophon, Greek historian Born 430 BC Athens 354 BC Athens Historian, soldier, mercenary Greek
Died
Occupation Nationality
Xenophon (/znfn/; Greek: , Xenophn, Greek pronunciation:[ksenopn]; c. 430 354 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, and student of Socrates. While not referred to as a philosopher by his contemporaries, his status as such is now a topic of debate. He is known for writing about the history of his own times, the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC, especially for his account of the final years of the Peloponnesian War. His Hellenica, which recounts these times, is considered to be the continuation of Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War. His youthful participation in the failed campaign of Cyrus the Younger to claim the Persian throne inspired him to write about the Persian empire and its history. Despite his birth-association with Athens, Xenophon affiliated himself with Sparta for most of his life. His pro-oligarchic views, service under Spartan generals in the Persian campaign and beyond, as well as his friendship with King Agesilaus II endeared Xenophon to the Spartans, and them to him. A number of his writings display his pro-Spartan bias and admiration, especially Agesilaus and Constitution of Sparta. Other than Plato, Xenophon is the foremost authority on Socrates, having learned under the great philosopher while a young man. He greatly admired his teacher, and well after Socrates death in 399 Xenophon wrote several Socratic dialogues, including an Apology concerning the events of his trial and death. Xenophons works cover a wide range of genres and are written in very uncomplicated Attic Greek. Xenophons works are among the first that many students of Ancient Greek translate on account of the straightforward and succinct nature of his prose. This sentiment was apparent even in ancient times, as Diogenes Laertius states in his Lives of Eminent Philosophers (2.6) that Xenophon was sometimes known as the "Attic Muse" for the sweetness of his diction.
Xenophon
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Life
Early years
Little is known about Xenophon other than what he wrote about himself. Xenophon was born around 430 BC near the city of Athens to an aristocratic family. The years of his youth are not well attested before 401 BC. It was in this year that Xenophon was convinced by his Boeotian friend Proxenus (Anabasis 3.1.9) to participate in the expedition led by Cyrus the Younger against his older brother, King Artaxerxes II of Persia.
Anabasis
Expedition with Cyrus Written years after these events, Xenophon's book Anabasis (Greek: , literally "going up")[1] is his record of the entire expedition of Cyrus against the Persians and the Greek mercenaries journey home. Xenophon writes that he had asked the veteran Socrates for advice on whether to go with Cyrus, and that Socrates referred him to the divinely inspired Delphic oracle. Xenophon's query to the oracle, however, was not whether or not to accept Cyrus' invitation, but "to which of the gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety, with good fortune". The oracle answered his question and told him to which gods to pray and sacrifice. When Xenophon returned to Athens and told Socrates of the oracle's advice, Socrates chastised him for asking so disingenuous a question (Anabasis 3.1.5-7). Under the pretext of fighting Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap of Ionia, Cyrus assembled a massive army composed of native Persian soldiers, but also a large number of Greeks. Prior to waging war against Artaxerxes, Cyrus proposed that the enemy was the Pisidians, and so the Greeks were unaware that they were to battle against the larger army of King Artaxerxes II (Anabasis 1.1.8-11). At Tarsus the soldiers became aware of Cyrus's plans to depose the king, and as a result, refused to continue (Anabasis 1.3.1). However, Clearchus, a Spartan general, convinced the Greeks to continue with the expedition. The army of Cyrus met the army of Artaxerxes II in the Battle of Cunaxa. Despite effective fighting by the Greeks, Cyrus was killed in the battle (Anabasis 1.8.27-1.9.1). Shortly thereafter, Clearchus was invited to a peace conference, where, alongside four other generals and many captains, he was betrayed and executed (Anabasis 2.5.31-32). Return The mercenaries, known as the Ten Thousand, found themselves without leadership far from the sea, deep in hostile territory near the heart of Mesopotamia. They elected new leaders, including Xenophon himself, and fought their way north along the Tigris through hostile Persians and Medes to Trapezus on the coast of the Black Sea (Anabasis 4.8.22). They then made their way westward back to Greece via Chrysopolis (Anabasis 6.3.16). Once there, they helped Seuthes II make himself king of Thrace, before being recruited into the
Route of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand
Xenophon army of the Spartan general Thibron. The Spartans were at war with Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, Persian satraps in Anatolia, probably on account of the aforementioned treacherous slaughter of their general Clearchus. Xenophons military activity with these Spartans marks the final episodes of the Anabasis (Books 6-7).
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Xenophon's politics
Xenophon has long been associated with the opposition of democracy. Although Xenophon seems to prefer oligarchy, or at least the aristocracy, especially in light of his associations with Sparta, none of his works explicitly attack democracy. Some scholars[6] go so far as to say his views aligned with those of the democracy in his time. However, certain works of Xenophon, in particular the Cyropaedia, appear to display his pro-oligarchic politics. This historical-fiction serves as a forum for Xenophon to subtly display his political inclinations.
Cyropaedia
Persians as centaurs The Cyropaedia as a whole lavishes a great deal of praise on the first Persian emperor Cyrus on account of his virtue and leadership quality, and it was through his greatness that the Persian Empire held together. Thus this book is normally read as a positive treatise about Cyrus. However, following the lead of Leo Strauss, David Johnson suggests that there is a subtle but strong layer to the book in which Xenophon conveys criticism of not only the Persians but the Spartans and Athenians as well.[7] In section 4.3 of the Cyropaedia Cyrus makes clear his desire to institute cavalry. He even goes so far to say that he desires that no Persian kalokagathos [8] (noble and good man literally, or simply noble) ever be seen on foot but always on a horse, so much so that the Persians may actually seem to be centaurs (4.3.22-23). Centaurs were often thought of as creatures of ill repute, which makes even Cyrus own advisors wary of the label. His minister Chrysantas admires the centaurs for their dual nature, but also warns that the dual nature does not allow centaurs to fully enjoy or act as either one of their aspects in full (4.3.19-20). In labeling Persians as centaurs through the mouth of Cyrus, Xenophon plays upon the popular post-Persian-war propagandistic paradigm of using mythological imagery to represent the Greco-Persian conflict. Examples of this include the wedding of the Lapiths, giantomachy, Trojan War, and Amazonomachy on the Parthenon frieze. Johnson reads even more deeply into the centaur label. He believes that the unstable dichotomy of man and horse found in a centaur is indicative of the unstable and unnatural alliance of Persian and Mede formulated by Cyrus.[9] The Persian hardiness and austerity is combined with the luxuriousness of the Medes, two qualities that cannot coexist. He cites the regression of the Persians directly after the death of Cyrus as a result of this instability, a union made possible only through the impeccable character of Cyrus.[10] In a further analysis of the centaur model, Cyrus is likened to a centaur such as Chiron, a noble example from an ignoble race. Thus this entire paradigm seems to be a jab at the Persians and an indication of Xenophons general distaste for the Persians.
Xenophon Against empire/monarchy The strength of Cyrus in holding the empire together is praiseworthy according to Xenophon. However, the empire began to decline upon the death of Cyrus. By this example Xenophon sought to show that empires lacked stability and could only be maintained by a person of remarkable prowess, such as Cyrus.[11] Cyrus is idealized greatly in the narrative. Xenophon displays Cyrus as a cold, passionless man. This is not to say that he was not a good ruler, but he is depicted as surreal and not subject to the foibles of other men. By showing that only someone who is almost beyond human could conduct such an enterprise as empire, Xenophon indirectly censures imperial design. Thus he also reflects on the state of his own reality in an even more indirect fashion, using the example of the Persians to decry the attempts at empire made by Athens and Sparta.[12] Although partially graced with hindsight, having written the Cyropaedia after the downfall of Athens in the Peloponnesian War, this work criticizes the Greek attempts at empire and monarchy, dooming them to failure. Against democracy Another passage that Johnson cites as criticism of monarchy and empire concerns the devaluation of the homotimoi. The manner in which this occurs seems also to be a subtle yet poignant jab at democracy. Homotimoi were highly and thoroughly educated and thus became the core of the soldiery as heavy infantry. As the name homotimoi (equal, or same honors i.e. peers) suggests, their small band (1000 when Cyrus fought the Assyrians) shared equally in the spoils of war.[13] However, in the face of overwhelming numbers in a campaign against the Assyrians, Cyrus armed the commoners with similar arms instead of their normal light ranged armament (Cyropaedia 2.1.9). Argument ensued as to how the spoils would now be split, and Cyrus enforced a meritocracy. Many homotimoi found this unfair because their military training was no better than the commoners, only their education, and hand-to-hand combat was less a matter of skill than strength and bravery. As Johnson asserts, this passage decries imperial meritocracy and corruption, for the homotimoi now had to sychophantize to the emperor for positions and honors;[14] from this point they were referred to as entimoi, no longer of the same honors but having to be in to get the honor. On the other hand, the passage seems to be critical of democracy, or at least sympathetic to aristocrats within democracy, for the homotimoi (aristocracy/oligarchs) are devalued upon the empowerment of the commoners (demos). Although empire emerges in this case, this is also a sequence of events associated with democracy. Through his dual critique of empire and democracy, Xenophon subtly relates his support of oligarchy.
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Old Oligarch
A short treatise on the Constitution of Athens exists that was once thought to be by Xenophon, but which was probably written when Xenophon was about five years old. The author, often called in English the "Old Oligarch" or Pseudo-Xenophon, detests the democracy of Athens and the poorer classes, but he argues that the Periclean institutions are well designed for their deplorable purposes. Although the real Xenophon seems to prefer oligarchy over democracy, none of his works so ardently decry democracy as does the Constitution of the Athenians. However, this treatise makes evident that anti-democratic sentiments were extant in Athens in the late 5th century and were only increased after its shortcomings were exploited and made apparent during the Peloponnesian War.
Xenophon
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Historical reality
It is quite clear that Socrates never would have said most of the things that Xenophon relates in his dialogues. Although Xenophon claims to have been present at the Symposium, this is impossible as he was only a young boy at the date which he proposes it occurred. And again, Xenophon was not present at the trial of Socrates, having been on campaign in Anatolia and Persia. Thus he puts into the latters mouth what he would have thought him to say. Like Plato, it seems that Xenophon wrote his Apology and Memorabilia as defenses of his former teacher, not to explain Socrates' relationship to the actual charges incurred, but for the fact that the great persuader failed in his defense.[18] The fact that Plato and Xenophon portray Socrates in different lights is evident of the fact that they were writing in reaction to his condemnation and death, portraying his loss in their own terms and rationalization. This is also indicative that they were not reflecting the literal reality of the court proceedings in their Apologies.
Xenophon
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Modern reception
Xenophon's standing as a political philosopher has been defended in recent times by Leo Strauss, who devoted a considerable part of his philosophic analysis to the works of Xenophon, returning to the high judgment of Xenophon as a thinker expressed by Shaftesbury, Winckelmann, Machiavelli and John Adams. Xenophons lessons on leadership have been reconsidered for their modern-day value. Jennifer OFlannery holds that 'discussions of leadership and civic virtue should include the work of Xenophon....on public education for public service.'[19] The Cyropaedia, in outlining Cyrus as an ideal leader having mastered the qualities of education, equality, consensus, justice and service to state, is the work that she suggests be used as a guide or example for those striving to be leaders. The linking of moral code and education is an especially pertinent quality subscribed to Cyrus that OFlannery believes is in line with modern perceptions of leadership.[20]
List of works
Xenophons entire corpus is extant. The following list of his works exhibits the extensive breadth of genres in which Xenophon wrote.
Xenophon Miscellaneous Hiero: Dialogue of Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, with the lyric poet Simonides, with the topic of conversation being happiness.
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Short treatises
These works were probably written by Xenophon when he was living in Scillus. His days were likely spent in relative leisure here, and he wrote these treatises about the sorts of activities he spent time on. On Horsemanship: Treatise on how to break, train, and care for horses. Hipparchikos: Outlines the duties of a cavalry officer. Hunting with Dogs: Treatise on the proper methods of hunting with dogs and the advantages of hunting. Ways and Means(Poroi): Describes how Athens should deal with financial and economic crisis.
Citations
[1] (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 04. 0057:entry=a)na/ basis), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus [2] Lee, John. 2005. "Xenophon's Anabasis and the Origins of Military Autobiography," in Alex Vernon, ed., Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Discourse 41-60. Kent: Kent State U Press. [3] Lee, John. 2005. "Xenophon's Anabasis and the Origins of Military Autobiography," in Alex Vernon, ed., Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Discourse 41-60. Kent: Kent State U Press. [4] Lee, John. 2005. "Xenophon's Anabasis and the Origins of Military Autobiography," in Alex Vernon, ed., Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Discourse 41-60. Kent: Kent State U Press. [5] Lee, John. 2005. "Xenophon's Anabasis and the Origins of Military Autobiography," in Alex Vernon, ed., Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Discourse 41-60. Kent: Kent State U Press. [6] Farrell, Christopher A. 2012. Laconism and Democracy: Re-reading the Lakedaimonin Politeia and Re-thinking Xenophon in Joanne Paul ed., Governing Diversities 10-35. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [7] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207. [8] http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ morph?l=kalokagaqos& la=greek#Perseus:text:1999. 04. 0058:entry=kaloka)gaqo/ s-contents [9] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207. [10] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207. [11] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207. [12] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207 [13] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207. [14] Johnson, D. M. 2005. Persians as Centaurs in Xenophons Cyropaedia. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol 135, No. 1, pp. 177-207. [15] http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999. 01. 0210%3atext%3dConst. + Lac. [16] Danzig, Gabriel. 2003. Apologizing for Socrates: Plato and Xenophon on Socrates Behavior in Court. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol. 133, No. 2, pp. 281-321. [17] Danzig, Gabriel. 2003. Apologizing for Socrates: Plato and Xenophon on Socrates Behavior in Court. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol. 133, No. 2, pp. 281-321. [18] Danzig, Gabriel. 2003. Apologizing for Socrates: Plato and Xenophon on Socrates Behavior in Court. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Vol. 133, No. 2, pp. 281-321. [19] OFlannery, Jennifer. 2003. Xenophons (The Education of Cyrus) and Ideal Leadership Lessons for Modern Public Administration. Public Administration Quarterly. Vol. 27, No. 1/2, pp. 41-64. [20] OFlannery, Jennifer. 2003. Xenophons (The Education of Cyrus) and Ideal Leadership Lessons for Modern Public Administration. Public Administration Quarterly. Vol. 27, No. 1/2, pp. 41-64.
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Xenophon
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External links
Xenophon (http://www.iep.utm.edu/xenophon) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Diogenes Lartius, Life of Xenophon, translated by Robert Drew Hicks (1925). Leo Strauss' Seminar Transcripts (http://archive.org/search.php?query=Strauss Seminar Xenophon) on Xenophon (1962, 1966); and an audio recording of the entire course on Xenophon's Oeconomicus (http:// archive.org/details/LeoStraussOnXenophonsOeconomicus) (1969) are available for reading, listening or download. Graham Oliver's Xenophon Homepage (http://www.liv.ac.uk/~gjoliver/xenophon.html) Xenophon's Education of Cyrus (Cyropaedia) Web directory (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/small/10. html) Xenophon's Works (http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/x/xenophon/) at The University of Adelaide Famous Quotes by Xenophon (http://quotationpark.com/authors/XENOPHON.html) Sanders (1903) Ph D Thesis on The Cynegeticus (http://www.archive.org/details/cynegeticus00sandrich) Xenophon on Lycurgus.org (http://lycurgus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article& id=14:xenophon-the-polity-of-the-spartans&catid=3:lives&Itemid=7) all about Xenophon. Xenophon audiobooks on librivox.org (https://catalog.librivox.org/search.php?title=&author=xenophon& status=all&action=Search) Perseus.tufts.edu (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0210:text=Const.+ Lac.) Perseus.tufts.edu (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kalokagaqos&la=greek#lexicon)
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PLATONISM
Plato
Plato
Plato: copy of portrait bust by Silanion Born 428/427 or 424/423 BC Athens 348/347 BC (aged c. 80) Athens Greek Ancient philosophy Western philosophy Platonism
Died
Maininterests Rhetoric, art, literature, epistemology, justice, virtue, politics, education, family, militarism Notableideas Theory of Forms, Platonic idealism, Platonic realism, hyperuranion, metaxy, khra
Plato (/pleto/;[1] Greek: , Pltn, "broad";[2] 428/427 or 424/423 BC[a] 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his most-famous student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."[3] Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him, although 1518 of them have been contested. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.[4] Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, religion and
Plato mathematics. Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. His writings related to the Theory of Forms, or Platonic ideals, are the basis for Platonism.
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Biography
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Early life
Little can be known about Plato's early life and education due to the very limited accounts. The philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families inAthens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. His father contributed all which was necessary to give to his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music, gymnastics and philosophy by some of the most distinguished teachers of his era. Birth and family The exact time and place of Plato's birth are not known, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina[b] between 429 and 423 BC.[a] His father was Ariston. According to a disputed tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus, and the king of Messenia, Melanthus.[5] Plato's mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon.[6] Perictione was sister of Charmides and niece of Critias, both prominent figures of the Thirty Tyrants, the brief oligarchic regime, which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War (404403 BC).[7] Besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children; these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of Speusippus (the nephew and successor of Plato as head of his philosophical Academy). According to the Republic, Adeimantus and Glaucon were older than Plato.[8] Nevertheless, in his Memorabilia, Xenophon presents Glaucon as younger than Plato.[9] The traditional date of Plato's birth (428/427) is based on a dubious interpretation of Diogenes Laertius, who says, "When [Socrates] was gone, [Plato] joined Cratylus the Heracleitean and Hermogenes, who philosophized in the manner of Parmenides. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, [Plato] went to Euclides in Megara." As Debra Nails argues, "The text itself gives no reason to infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies the very opposite."[10] In his Seventh Letter, Plato notes that his coming of age coincided with the taking of power by the Thirty, remarking, "But a youth under the age of twenty made himself a laughingstock if he attempted to enter the political arena." Thus, Nails dates Plato's birth to 424/423.[11] According to some accounts, Ariston tried to force his attentions on Perictione, but failed in his purpose; then the god Apollo appeared to him in a vision, and as a result, Ariston left Perictione unmolested.[12] Another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping: an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy.[13] Ariston appears to have died in Plato's childhood, although the precise dating of his death is difficult.[14] Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mother's brother,[15] who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, the leader of the democratic faction in Athens.[16] Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty.[17] Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes' second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in Parmenides.[18] In contrast to his reticence about himself, Plato often introduced his distinguished relatives into his dialogues, or referred to them with some precision: Charmides has a dialogue named after him; Critias speaks in both Charmides and Protagoras; and Adeimantus and Glaucon take prominent parts in the Republic.[19] These and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Plato's family tree. According to Burnet, "the opening scene of the Charmides is a glorification of the whole [family] connection ... Plato's dialogues are not only a memorial to Socrates, but also the happier days of his own family."[20]
Plato Name According to Diogenes Lartius, the philosopher was named Aristocles () after his grandfather, but his wrestling coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed him Platon, meaning "broad," on account of his robust figure.[21] According to the sources mentioned by Diogenes (all dating from the Alexandrian period), Plato derived his name from the breadth (, platyts) of his eloquence, or else because he was very wide (, plats) across the forehead.[22] Recent scholars have argued that the legend about his name being Aristocles originated in the Hellenistic age.[23] Plato was a common name, of which 31 instances are known at Athens alone.[24] Education Apuleius informs us that Speusippus praised Plato's quickness of mind and modesty as a boy, and the "first fruits of his youth infused with hard work and love of study".[25] Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music, and gymnastics by the most distinguished teachers of his time.[26] Dicaearchus went so far as to say that Plato wrestled at the Isthmian games.[27] Plato had also attended courses of philosophy; before meeting Socrates, he first became acquainted with Cratylus (a disciple of Heraclitus, a prominent pre-Socratic Greek philosopher) and the Heraclitean doctrines.[28] W. A. Borody argues that an Athenian openness towards a wider range of sexuality may have contributed to the Athenian philosophers openness towards a wider range of thought, a cultural situation Borody describes as polymorphously discursive.[29]
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Aristotle attributes a different doctrine with respect to the ideas to Plato and Socrates (Metaphysics 987b111). Putting it in a nutshell, Aristotle merely suggests that Socrates' idea of forms can be discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Plato's Forms that exist beyond and outside the ordinary range of human understanding.
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Later life
Plato may have traveled in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and Cyrene, Libya. Said to have returned to Athens at the age of forty, Plato founded one of the earliest known organized schools in Western Civilization on a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus.[31] The Academy was "a large enclosure of ground that was once the property of a citizen at Athens named Academus (some, however, say that it received its name from an ancient hero).[32] The Academy operated until it was destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 84 BC. Neoplatonists revived the Academy in the early 5th century, and it operated until AD 529, when it was closed by Justinian I of Byzantium, who saw it as a threat to the propagation of Christianity. Many intellectuals were schooled in the Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle. Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse. According to Diogenes Laertius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of Dionysius.[33] During this first trip Dionysius's brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse, became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato was sold into slavery and almost faced death in Cyrene, a city at war with Athens, before an admirer bought Plato's freedom and sent him home. After Dionysius's death, according to Plato's Seventh Letter, Dion requested Plato return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II and guide him to become a philosopher king. Dionysius II seemed to accept Plato's teachings, but he became suspicious of Dion, his uncle. Dionysius expelled Dion and kept Plato against his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse. Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and ruled Syracuse for a short time before being usurped by Calippus, a fellow disciple of Plato.
Death
A variety of sources have given accounts of Plato's death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript, suggests Plato died in his bed, whilst a young Thracian girl played the flute to him.[34] Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes Laertius's reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century Alexandrian.[35] According to Tertullian, Plato simply died in his sleep.
Philosophy
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Recurrent themes
Plato often discusses the father-son relationship and the question of whether a father's interest in his sons has much to do with how well his sons turn out. A boy in ancient Athens was socially located by his family identity, and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of their paternal and fraternal relationships. Socrates was not a family man, and saw himself as the son of his mother, who was apparently a midwife. A divine fatalist, Socrates mocks men who spent exorbitant fees on tutors and trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that good character is a gift from the gods. Crito reminds Socrates that orphans are at the mercy of chance, but Socrates is unconcerned. In the Theaetetus, he is found recruiting as a disciple a young man whose inheritance has been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of the older man and his boy lover to the father-son relationship (Lysis 213a, Republic 3.403b), and in the Phaedo, Socrates' disciples, towards whom he displays more concern than his biological sons, say they will feel "fatherless" when he is gone.
In several of Plato's dialogues, Socrates floats the idea that knowledge is a matter of recollection, and not of learning, observation, or study. He maintains this view somewhat at his own expense, because in many dialogues, Socrates complains of his forgetfulness. Socrates is often found arguing that knowledge is not empirical, and that it comes from divine insight. In many middle period dialogues, such as the Phaedo, Republic and Phaedrus Plato advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife. More than one dialogue contrasts knowledge and opinion, perception and reality, nature and custom, and body and soul. Several dialogues tackle questions about art: Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus (265ac), and yet in the Republic wants to outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. In Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests that Homer's Iliad functioned in the ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literature that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted. Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say on many subjects, including politics and art, religion and science, justice and medicine, virtue and vice, crime and punishment, pleasure and pain, rhetoric and rhapsody, human nature and sexuality, as well as love and wisdom.
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms
Metaphysics
"Platonism" is a term coined by scholars to refer to the intellectual consequences of denying, as Plato's Socrates often does, the reality of the material world. In several dialogues, most notably the Republic, Socrates inverts the common man's intuition about what is knowable and what is real. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. In the Theaetetus, he says such people are "eu a-mousoi", an expression that means literally, "happily without the muses" (Theaetetus 156a). In other words, such people live without the divine inspiration that gives him, and people like him, access to higher insights about reality. Socrates's idea that reality is unavailable to those who use their senses is what puts him at odds with the common man, and with common sense. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is blind, and this idea is most famously captured in his allegory of the cave, and more explicitly in his description of the divided line. The allegory of the
Plato cave (begins Republic 7.514a) is a paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible ("noeton") and that the visible world ("(h)oraton") is the least knowable, and the most obscure. Socrates says in the Republic that people who take the sun-lit world of the senses to be good and real are living pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance. Socrates admits that few climb out of the den, or cave of ignorance, and those who do, not only have a terrible struggle to attain the heights, but when they go back down for a visit or to help other people up, they find themselves objects of scorn and ridicule. According to Socrates, physical objects and physical events are "shadows" of their ideal or perfect forms, and exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect versions of themselves. Just as shadows are temporary, inconsequential epiphenomena produced by physical objects, physical objects are themselves fleeting phenomena caused by more substantial causes, the ideals of which they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks that perfect justice exists (although it is not clear where) and his own trial would be a cheap copy of it. The allegory of the cave (often said by scholars to represent Plato's own epistemology and metaphysics) is intimately connected to his political ideology (often said to also be Plato's own), that only people who have climbed out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness are fit to rule. Socrates claims that the enlightened men of society must be forced from their divine contemplations and be compelled to run the city according to their lofty insights. Thus is born the idea of the "philosopher-king", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in the Republic, that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise choice of a ruler.
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Theory of Forms
The Theory of Forms (or Theory of Ideas) typically refers to the belief that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only an "image" or "copy" of the real world. In some of Plato's dialogues, this is expressed by Socrates, who spoke of forms in formulating a solution to the problem of universals. The forms, according to Socrates, are archetypes or abstract representations of the many types of things, and properties we feel and see around us, that can only be perceived by reason (Greek: ). (That is, they are universals.) In other words, Socrates was able to recognize two worlds: the apparent world, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of forms, which may be the cause of what is apparent.
Epistemology
Many have interpreted Plato as statingeven having been the first to writethat knowledge is justified true belief, an influential view that informed future developments in epistemology.[36] This interpretation is partly based on a reading of the Theaetetus wherein Plato argues that knowledge is distinguished from mere true belief by the knower having an "account" of the object of her or his true belief (Theaetetus 201c-d). And this theory may again be seen in the Meno, where it is suggested that true belief can be raised to the level of knowledge if it is bound with an account as to the question of "why" the object of the true belief is so (Meno 97d-98a).[37] Many years later, Edmund Gettier famously demonstrated the problems of the justified true belief account of knowledge. That the modern theory of justified true belief as knowledge which Gettier addresses is equivalent to Plato's is accepted by some scholars but rejected by others.[38] Later in the Meno, Socrates uses a geometrical example to expound Plato's view that knowledge in this latter sense is acquired by recollection. Socrates elicits a fact concerning a geometrical construction from a slave boy, who could not have otherwise known the fact (due to the slave boy's lack of education). The knowledge must be present, Socrates concludes, in an eternal, non-experiential form. In other dialogues, the Sophist, Statesman, Republic, and the Parmenides, Plato himself associates knowledge with the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he calls "expertise" in Dialectic), including through the processes of collection and division.[39] More explicitly, Plato himself argues in the Timaeus that knowledge is always proportionate to the realm from which it is gained. In other words, if one derives
Plato one's account of something experientially, because the world of sense is in flux, the views therein attained will be mere opinions. And opinions are characterized by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand, if one derives one's account of something by way of the non-sensible forms, because these forms are unchanging, so too is the account derived from them. That apprehension of forms is required for knowledge may be taken to cohere with Plato's theory in the Theaetetus and Meno.[40] Indeed, the apprehension of Forms may be at the base of the "account" required for justification, in that it offers foundational knowledge which itself needs no account, thereby avoiding an infinite regression.[41]
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The state
Plato's philosophical views had many societal implications, especially on the idea of an ideal state or government. There is some discrepancy between his early and later views. Some of the most famous doctrines are contained in the Republic during his middle period, as well as in the Laws and the Statesman. However, because Plato wrote dialogues, it is assumed that Socrates is often speaking for Plato. This assumption may not be true in all cases. Plato, through the words of Socrates, asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason stand for different parts of the body. The body parts symbolize the castes of society. Productive, which represents the abdomen. (Workers) the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the "appetite" part of the soul.
Protective, which represents the chest. (Warriors or Guardians) those who are adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul. Governing, which represents the head. (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) those who are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love with wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the community. These correspond to the "reason" part of the soul and are very few. According to this model, the principles of Athenian democracy (as it existed in his day) are rejected as only a few are fit to rule. Instead of rhetoric and persuasion, Plato says reason and wisdom should govern. As Plato puts it: "Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race." (Republic 473c-d)
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Plato describes these "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth" (Republic 475c) and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of the Republic then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce these philosopher kings. However, it must be taken into account that the ideal city outlined in the Republic is qualified by Socrates as the ideal luxurious city, examined to determine how it is that injustice and justice grow in a city Plato in his academy, drawing after a painting by Swedish painter Carl Johan Wahlbom (Republic 372e). According to Socrates, the "true" and "healthy" city is instead the one first outlined in book II of the Republic, 369c372d, containing farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and wage-earners, but lacking the guardian class of philosopher-kings as well as delicacies such as "perfumed oils, incense, prostitutes, and pastries", in addition to paintings, gold, ivory, couches, a multitude of occupations such as poets and hunters, and war. In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state of one's soul, or the will, reason, and desires combined in the human body. Socrates is attempting to make an image of a rightly ordered human, and then later goes on to describe the different kinds of humans that can be observed, from tyrants to lovers of money in various kinds of cities. The ideal city is not promoted, but only used to magnify the different kinds of individual humans and the state of their soul. However, the philosopher king image was used by many after Plato to justify their personal political beliefs. The philosophic soul according to Socrates has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A philosopher has the moderate love for wisdom and the courage to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge about the Good or the right relations between all that exists. Wherein it concerns states and rulers, Plato has made interesting arguments. For instance he asks which is bettera bad democracy or a country reigned by a tyrant. He argues that it is better to be ruled by a bad tyrant, than be a bad democracy (since here all the people are now responsible for such actions, rather than one individual committing many bad deeds.) This is emphasised within the Republic as Plato describes the event of mutiny on board a ship.[42] Plato suggests the ships crew to be in line with the democratic rule of many and the captain, although inhibited through ailments, the tyrant. Plato's description of this event is parallel to that of democracy within the state and the inherent problems that arise. According to Plato, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy (rule by the best) to a timocracy (rule by the honorable), then to an oligarchy (rule by the few), then to a democracy (rule by the people), and finally to tyranny (rule by one person, rule by a tyrant).[43] Aristocracy is the form of government (politeia) advocated in Plato's Republic. This regime is ruled by a philosopher king, and thus is grounded on wisdom and reason. The aristocratic state, and the man whose nature corresponds to it, are the objects of Plato's analyses throughout much of the Republic, as opposed to the other four types of states/men, who are discussed later in his work. In Book VIII, Plato states in order the other four imperfect societies with a description of the state's structure and individual character. In timocracy the ruling class is made up primarily of those with a warrior-like character. In his description, Plato has Sparta in mind. Oligarchy is made up of a society in which wealth is the criterion of merit and the wealthy are in control. In democracy, the state bears resemblance to ancient Athens with traits such as equality of political opportunity and freedom for the individual to do as he likes. Democracy then degenerates into tyranny from the conflict of rich and poor. It is characterized by an undisciplined society existing in chaos, where the tyrant rises as popular champion leading to the formation of his private army and the growth of oppression.[44]
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Unwritten doctrines
For a long time, Plato's unwritten doctrine[45][46][47] had been controversial. Many modern books on Plato seem to diminish its importance; nevertheless, the first important witness who mentions its existence is Aristotle, who in his Physics (209 b) writes: "It is true, indeed, that the account he gives there [i.e. in Timaeus] of the participant is different from what he says in his so-called unwritten teachings ( )." The term literally means unwritten doctrines and it stands for the most fundamental metaphysical teaching of Plato, which he disclosed only orally, and some say only to his most trusted fellows, and which he may have kept secret from the public. The importance of the unwritten doctrines does not seem to have been seriously questioned before the 19th century. A reason for not revealing it to everyone is partially discussed in Phaedrus (276 c) where Plato criticizes the written transmission of knowledge as faulty, favoring instead the spoken logos: "he who has knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words, which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually." The same argument is repeated in Plato's Seventh Letter (344 c): "every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing." In the same letter he writes (341 c): "I can certainly declare concerning all these writers who claim to know the subjects that I seriously study ... there does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any treatise of mine dealing therewith." Such secrecy is necessary in order not "to expose them to unseemly and degrading treatment" (344 d). It is, however, said that Plato once disclosed this knowledge to the public in his lecture On the Good ( ), in which the Good ( ) is identified with the One (the Unity, -), the fundamental ontological principle. The content of this lecture has been transmitted by several witnesses. Aristoxenus describes the event in the following words: "Each came expecting to learn something about the things that are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength, and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came, including numbers, geometrical figures and astronomy, and finally the statement Good is One seemed to them, I imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected it."[48] Simplicius quotes Alexander of Aphrodisias, who states that "according to Plato, the first principles of everything, including the Forms themselves are One and Indefinite Duality ( ), which he called Large and Small ( )", and Simplicius reports as well that "one might also learn this from Speusippus and Xenocrates and the others who were present at Plato's lecture on the Good".[49] Their account is in full agreement with Aristotle's description of Plato's metaphysical doctrine. In Metaphysics he writes: "Now since the Forms are the causes of everything else, he [i.e. Plato] supposed that their elements are the elements of all things. Accordingly the material principle is the Great and Small [i.e. the Dyad], and the essence is the One ( -), since the numbers are derived from the Great and Small by participation in the One" (987 b). "From this account it is clear that he only employed two causes: that of the essence, and the material cause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in everything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms. He also tells us what the material substrate is of which the Forms are predicated in the case of sensible things, and the One in that of the Forms - that it is this the duality (the Dyad, ), the Great and Small ( ). Further, he assigned to these two elements respectively the causation of good and of evil" (988 a). The most important aspect of this interpretation of Plato's metaphysics is the continuity between his teaching and the neoplatonic interpretation of Plotinus[50] or Ficino[51] which has been considered erroneous by many but may in fact have been directly influenced by oral transmission of Plato's doctrine. A modern scholar who recognized the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato was Heinrich Gomperz who described it in his speech during the 7th International Congress of Philosophy in 1930.[52] All the sources related to the have been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as Testimonia Platonica.[53] These sources have subsequently been interpreted by scholars from the German Tbingen School such as Hans Joachim Krmer or Thomas A. Szlezk.[54]
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Dialectic
The role of dialectic in Plato's thought is contested but there are two main interpretations; a type of reasoning and a method of intuition.[55] Simon Blackburn adopts the first, saying that Plato's dialectic is "the process of eliciting the truth by means of questions aimed at opening out what is already implicitly known, or at exposing the contradictions and muddles of an opponent's position."[56] A similar interpretation has been put forth by Louis Hartz, who suggests that elements of the dialectic are borrowed from Hegel.[57] According to this view, opposing arguments improve upon each other, and prevailing opinion is shaped by the synthesis of many conflicting ideas over time. Each new idea exposes a flaw in the accepted model, and the epistemological substance of the debate continually approaches the truth. Hartz's is a teleological interpretation at the core, in which philosophers will ultimately exhaust the available body of knowledge and thus reach "the end of history." Karl Popper, on the other hand, claims that dialectic is the art of intuition for "visualising the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind the common man's everyday world of appearances."[58]
The dialogues
Thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, though modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some of these. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts. The usual system for making unique references to sections of the text by Plato derives from a 16th-century edition of Plato's works by Henricus Stephanus. An overview of Plato's writings according to this system can be found in the Stephanus pagination article. One tradition regarding the arrangement of Plato's texts is according to tetralogies. This scheme is ascribed by Diogenes Laertius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer to Tiberius named Thrasyllus. In the list below, works by Plato are marked (1) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether Plato is the author, and (2) if most scholars agree that Plato is not the author of the work. Unmarked works are assumed to have been written by Plato.[59] I. Euthyphro, Apology (of Socrates), Crito, Phaedo II. Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman III. Parmenides, Philebus, Symposium, Phaedrus IV. First Alcibiades (1), Second Alcibiades (2), Hipparchus (2), (Rival) Lovers (2) V. Theages (2), Charmides, Laches, Lysis VI. Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno VII. (Greater) Hippias (major) (1), (Lesser) Hippias (minor), Ion, Menexenus VIII. Clitophon (1), Republic, Timaeus, Critias IX. Minos (2), Laws, Epinomis (2), Epistles (1).
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The remaining works were transmitted under Plato's name, most of them already considered spurious in antiquity, and so were not included by Thrasyllus in his tetralogical arrangement. These works are labelled as Notheuomenoi ("spurious") or Apocrypha. Axiochus (2), Definitions (2), Demodocus (2), Epigrams (2), Eryxias (2), Halcyon (2), On Justice (2), On Virtue (2), Sisyphus (2).
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Two dialogues Phaedo and Symposium also begin in dramatic form but then proceed to virtually uninterrupted narration by followers of Socrates. Phaedo, an account of Socrates' final conversation and hemlock drinking, is narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates in a foreign city not long after the execution took place.[70] The Symposium is narrated by Apollodorus, a Socratic disciple, apparently to Glaucon. Apollodorus assures his listener that he is recounting the story, which took place when he himself was an infant, not from his own memory, but as remembered by Aristodemus, who told him the story years ago.
The Theaetetus is a peculiar case: a dialogue in dramatic form imbedded within another dialogue in dramatic form. In the beginning of the Theaetetus (142c-143b), Euclides says that he compiled the conversation from notes he took based on what Socrates told him of his conversation with the title character. The rest of the Theaetetus is presented as a "book" written in dramatic form and read by one of Euclides' slaves (143c). Some scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this date wearied of the narrated form.[71] With the exception of the Theaetetus, Plato gives no explicit indication as to how these orally transmitted conversations came to be written down.
Trial of Socrates
The trial of Socrates is the central, unifying event of the great Platonic dialogues. Because of this, Plato's Apology is perhaps the most often read of the dialogues. In the Apology, Socrates tries to dismiss rumors that he is a sophist and defends himself against charges of disbelief in the gods and corruption of the young. Socrates insists that long-standing slander will be the real cause of his demise, and says the legal charges are essentially false. Socrates famously denies being wise, and explains how his life as a philosopher was launched by the Oracle at Delphi. He says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put him at odds with his fellow man, and that this is the reason he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state of Athens. If Plato's important dialogues do not refer to Socrates' execution explicitly, they allude to it, or use characters or themes that play a part in it. Five dialogues foreshadow the trial: In the Theaetetus (210d) and the Euthyphro (2ab) Socrates tells people that he is about to face corruption charges. In the Meno (94e95a), one of the men who brings legal charges against Socrates, Anytus, warns him about the trouble he may get into if he does not stop criticizing important people. In the Gorgias, Socrates says that his trial will be like a doctor prosecuted by a cook who asks a jury of children to choose between the doctor's bitter medicine and the cook's tasty treats (521e522a). In the Republic (7.517e), Socrates explains why an enlightened man (presumably himself) will stumble in a courtroom situation. The Apology is Socrates' defense speech, and the Crito and Phaedo take place in prison after the conviction. In the Protagoras, Socrates is a guest at the home of Callias, son of Hipponicus, a man whom Socrates disparages in the Apology as having wasted a great amount of money on sophists' fees.
Plato In the dialogues Plato is most celebrated and admired for, Socrates is concerned with human and political virtue, has a distinctive personality, and friends and enemies who "travel" with him from dialogue to dialogue. This is not to say that Socrates is consistent: a man who is his friend in one dialogue may be an adversary or subject of his mockery in another. For example, Socrates praises the wisdom of Euthyphro many times in the Cratylus, but makes him look like a fool in the Euthyphro. He disparages sophists generally, and Prodicus specifically in the Apology, whom he also slyly jabs in the Cratylus for charging the hefty fee of fifty drachmas for a course on language and grammar. However, Socrates tells Theaetetus in his namesake dialogue that he admires Prodicus and has directed many pupils to him. Socrates' ideas are also not consistent within or between or among dialogues.
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Platonic scholarship
Although their popularity has fluctuated over the years, the works of Plato have never been without readers since the time they were written.[72] Plato's thought is often compared with that of his most famous student, Aristotle, whose reputation during the Western Middle Ages so completely eclipsed that of Plato that the Scholastic philosophers referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher". However, in the Byzantine Empire, the study of Plato continued. The Medieval scholastic philosophers did not have access to most of the works of Plato, nor the knowledge of Greek needed to read them. Plato's original writings were essentially lost to Western civilization until they were brought from Constantinople in the century of its fall, by George Gemistos Plethon. It is believed that Plethon passed a copy of the Dialogues to Cosimo de' Medici when in 1438 the Council of Ferrara, called to unify the Greek and Latin Churches, was adjourned to Florence, where Plethon then lectured on the relation and differences of Plato and Aristotle, and fired Cosimo with his enthusiasm.[73] During the early Islamic era, Persian and Arab scholars translated much of Plato into Arabic and wrote commentaries and interpretations on Plato's, Aristotle's and other Platonist philosophers' works (see Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes, Hunayn ibn Ishaq). Many of these comments on Plato were translated from Arabic into Latin and as such influenced Medieval scholastic philosophers.[74]
"The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." (Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).
Only in the Renaissance, with the general resurgence of interest in classical civilization, did knowledge of Plato's philosophy become widespread again in the West. Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists who broke with Scholasticism and fostered the flowering of the Renaissance, with the support of the Plato-inspired Lorenzo de Medici, saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences. By the 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's. Notable Western philosophers have continued to draw upon Plato's work since that time. Plato's influence has been especially strong in mathematics and the sciences. He helped to distinguish between pure and applied mathematics by widening the gap between "arithmetic", now called number theory and "logistic", now called arithmetic. He regarded "logistic" as appropriate for business men and men of war who "must learn the art of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops," while "arithmetic" was appropriate for philosophers "because he has to arise out of the sea of change and lay hold of true being." Plato's resurgence further inspired some of the greatest advances in logic since Aristotle, primarily through Gottlob Frege and his followers Kurt Gdel, Alonzo Church, and Alfred Tarski. Albert Einstein suggested that the scientist who takes philosophy seriously would have to avoid systematization and take on many different roles, and possibly appear as a Platonist or Pythagorean, in that such a
Plato one would have "the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an indispensable and effective tool of his research."[75] Many recent philosophers have diverged from what some would describe as the ontological models and moral ideals characteristic of traditional Platonism. A number of these postmodern philosophers have thus appeared to disparage Platonism from more or less informed perspectives. Friedrich Nietzsche notoriously attacked Plato's "idea of the good itself" along with many fundamentals of Christian morality, which he interpreted as "Platonism for the masses" in one of his most important works, Beyond Good And Evil (1886). Martin Heidegger argued against Plato's alleged obfuscation of Being in his incomplete tome, Being and Time (1927), and the philosopher of science Karl Popper argued in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) that Plato's alleged proposal for a utopian political regime in the Republic was prototypically totalitarian. The political philosopher and professor Leo Strauss is considered by some as the prime thinker involved in the recovery of Platonic thought in its more political, and less metaphysical, form. Deeply influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, Strauss nonetheless rejects their condemnation of Plato and looks to the dialogues for a solution to what all three latter day thinkers acknowledge as 'the crisis of the West.'
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The oldest surviving complete manuscript for many of the dialogues is the Clarke Plato (Codex Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39, or Codex Boleianus MS E.D. Clarke 39), which was written in Constantinople in 895 and acquired by Oxford University in 1809.[79] The Clarke is given the siglum B in modern editions. B contains the first six tetralogies and is described internally as being written by "John the Calligrapher" on behalf of Arethas of Caesarea. It appears to have undergone corrections by Arethas himself.[80] For the last two tetralogies and the apocrypha, the oldest surviving complete manuscript is Codex Parisinus graecus 1807, designated A, which was written nearly contemporaneously to B, circa 900 AD.[81] A probably had an initial volume containing the first 7 tetralogies which is now lost, but of which a copy was made, Codex Venetus append. class. 4, 1, which has the siglum T. The oldest manuscript for the seventh tetralogy is Codex Vindobonensis 54. suppl. phil. Gr. 7, with siglum W, with a supposed
Plato date in the twelfth century.[82] In total there are fifty-one such Byzantine manuscripts known, while others may yet be found.[83] To help establish the text, the older evidence of papyri and the independent evidence of the testimony of commentators and other authors (i.e., those who quote and refer to an old text of Plato which is no longer extant) are also used. Many papyri which contain fragments of Plato's texts are among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The 2003 Oxford Classical Texts edition by Slings even cites the Coptic translation of a fragment of the Republic in the Nag Hammadi library as evidence.[84] Important authors for testimony include Olympiodorus the Younger, Plutarch, Proclus, Iamblichus, Eusebius, and Stobaeus. During the early Renaissance, the Greek language and, along with it, Plato's texts were reintroduced to Western Europe by Byzantine scholars. In 1484 there was published a Latin edition of Plato's complete works translated by Marsilio Ficino at the behest of Cosimo de' Medici.[85] Cosimo had been influenced toward studying Plato by the many Byzantine Platonists in Florence during his day, including George Gemistus Plethon. Henri Estienne's edition, including parallel Greek and Latin, was published in 1578. It was this edition which established Stephanus pagination, still in use today.[86]
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Modern editions
The Oxford Classical Texts offers the current standard complete Greek text of Plato's complete works. In five volumes edited by John Burnet, its first edition was published 1900-1907, and it is still available from the publisher, having last been printed in 1993.[87][88] The second edition is still in progress with only the first volume, printed in 1995, and the Republic, printed in 2003, available. The Cambridge Greek and Latin Texts and Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries series includes Greek editions of the Protagoras, Symposium, Phaedrus, Alcibiades, and Clitophon, with English philological, literary, and, to an extent, philosophical commentary.[89][90] One distinguished edition of the Greek text is E. R. Dodds' of the Gorgias, which includes extensive English commentary.[91][92] The modern standard complete English edition is the 1997 Hackett Plato, Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper.[93][94] For many of these translations Hackett offers separate volumes which include more by way of commentary, notes, and introductory material.[95] There is also the Clarendon Plato Series by Oxford University Press which offers English translations and thorough philosophical commentary by leading scholars on a few of Plato's works, including John McDowell's version of the Theaetetus.[96] Cornell University Press has also begun the Agora series of English translations of classical and medieval philosophical texts, including a few of Plato's.[97]
Notes
a. ^ The grammarian Apollodorus of Athens argues in his Chronicles that Plato was born in the first year of the eighty-eighth Olympiad (427 BC), on the seventh day of the month Thargelion; according to this tradition the god Apollo was born this day.[98] According to another biographer of him, Neanthes, Plato was eighty-four years of age at his death. If we accept Neanthes' version, Plato was younger than Isocrates by six years, and therefore he was born in the second year of the 87th Olympiad, the year Pericles died (429 BC).[99] According to the Suda, Plato was born in Aegina in the 88th Olympiad amid the preliminaries of the Peloponnesian war, and he lived 82 years. Sir Thomas Browne also believes that Plato was born in the 88th Olympiad.[100] Renaissance Platonists celebrated Plato's birth on November 7.[101] Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff estimates that Plato was born when Diotimos was archon eponymous, namely between July 29, 428 BC and July 24, 427 BC.[102] Greek philologist Ioannis Kalitsounakis believes that the philosopher was born on May 26 or 27, 427 BC, while Jonathan Barnes regards 428 BC as year of Plato's birth.[103] For her part, Debra Nails asserts that the philosopher was born in 424/423 BC. According to Seneca Plato died at the age of 81 on the same day he was born.[104] b. ^ Diogenes Laertius mentions that Plato "was born, according to some writers, in Aegina in the house of Phidiades the son of Thales". Diogenes mentions as one of his sources the Universal History of Favorinus. According to Favorinus, Ariston, Plato's family, and his family were sent by Athens to settle as cleruchs (colonists retaining their
Plato Athenian citizenship), on the island of Aegina, from which they were expelled by the Spartans after Plato's birth there.[105] Nails points out, however, that there is no record of any Spartan expulsion of Athenians from Aegina between 431411 BC.[106] On the other hand, at the Peace of Nicias, Aegina was silently left under Athens' control, and it was not until the summer of 411 that the Spartans overran the island.[107] Therefore, Nails concludes that "perhaps Ariston was a cleruch, perhaps he went to Aegina in 431, and perhaps Plato was born on Aegina, but none of this enables a precise dating of Ariston's death (or Plato's birth). Aegina is regarded as Plato's place of birth by Suda as well.
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Footnotes
[1] Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006. [2] Diogenes Laertius 3.4; p. 21, David Sedley, Plato's Cratylus (http:/ / assets. cambridge. org/ 052158/ 4922/ sample/ 0521584922ws. pdf), Cambridge University Press 2003; Seneca, Epistulae, VI, 58, 30: illi nomen latitudo pectoris fecerat. [3] Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: The Free Press, 1978), 39. [4] Irwin, T. H., "The Platonic Corpus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 6364 and 6870. [5] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III * D. Nails, "Ariston", 53 * U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Plato, 46 [6] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, I [7] W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy', IV, 10 * A.E. Taylor, Plato, xiv * U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Plato, 47 [8] Plato, * U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Plato, 47 [9] Xenophon, Memorabilia, 3.6. 1 (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0208& layout=& loc=3. 6. 1) [10] Nails, Debra (2002). The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics. Hackett Publishing. ISBN 0-87220-564-9. p247 [11] Nails, Debra (2002). The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics. Hackett Publishing. ISBN 0-87220-564-9, p 246 [12] Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, 1 * Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, I [13] Cicero, De Divinatione, I, 36 [14] D. Nails, "Ariston", 53 * A.E. Taylor, Plato, xiv [15] Plato, * D. Nails, "Perictione", 53 [16] Plato, * Plutarch, Pericles, IV [17] Plato, and * Aristophanes, Wasps, 97 (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0044;query=card=#3;layout=;loc=54) [18] Plato, [19] W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, IV, 11 [20] C.H. Kahn, Plato and the Socratic Dialogue, 186 [21] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV [22] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV * A. Notopoulos, The Name of Plato, 135 [23] Tarn, L., "Plato's Alleged Epitaph" in Collected Papers (1962-1999) (Brill, 2001), p. 61. [24] Guthrie, W. K. C., A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. IV, Plato: the man and his dialogues, earlier period (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 12 (footnote). [25] Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, 2 [26] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV * W. Smith, Plato, 393 [27] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, V [28] Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1. 987a (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0052& query=section=#15& layout=& loc=1. 987b) [29] W. A. Borody (1998), Figuring the Phallogocentric Argument with Respect to the Classical Greek Philosophical Tradition, Nebula, A Netzine of the Arts and Science, Vol. 13, pp. 1-27 (http:/ / kenstange. com/ nebula/ feat013/ feat013. html [30] Leo Strauss, The City and Man (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), 501.
Plato
[31] Huntington Cairns, Introduction to Plato: The Collected Dialogues, p. xiii. [32] Robinson, Arch. Graec. I i 16. [33] Platonica: the anecdotes concerning the life and writings of Plato, p. 73. [34] James V. Schall, S. J., "On the Death of Plato" (http:/ / www. morec. com/ schall/ docs/ dieplato. htm) The American Scholar, 65 (Summer, 1996.) [35] Riginios, 195. [36] Fine, G., "Introduction" in Plato on Knowledge and Forms: Selected Essays (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 5. [37] McDowell, J., Plato: Theaetetus (Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 230. [38] Fine, G., "Knowledge and Logos in the Theaetetus", Philosophical Review, vol. 88, no. 3 (July, 1979), p. 366. Reprinted in Fine (2003). [39] Taylor, C. C. W., "Plato's Epistemology" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 176187. [40] Lee, M.-K., "The Theaetetus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 432. [41] Taylor, op. cit., 189. [42] Republic, p. 282 [43] Luke Mastin, Plato (2008). The Basics of Philosophy (http:/ / www. philosophybasics. com/ philosophers_plato. html) Retrieved on April 22, 2012. [44] Plato, Republic, translated with an introduction by Desmond Lee, Penguin Group (Second revised edition, 1974) pp.298-320. ISBN 0-14-044048-8 [45] Rodriguez- Grandjean, Pablo. Philosophy and Dialogue: Plato's Unwritten Doctrines from a Hermeneutical Point of View (http:/ / www. bu. edu/ wcp/ Papers/ Anci/ AnciRodr. htm), Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, in Boston, Massachusetts from August 1015, 1998. [46] Reale, Giovanni, and Catan, John R., A History of Ancient Philosophy, SUNY Press, 1990. ISBN 0-7914-0516-8. Cf. p.14 and onwards. [47] Krmer, Hans Joachim, and Catan, John R., Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics: A Work on the Theory of the Principles and Unwritten Doctrines of Plato with a Collection of the Fundamental Documents, (Translated by John R. Catan), SUNY Press, 1990. ISBN 0-7914-0433-1, Cf. pp.38-47 [48] Elementa harmonica II, 3031; quoted in Gaiser, Konrad, "Plato's Enigmatic Lecture 'On the Good'", Phronesis Vol. 25, No. 1 (1980), p. 5. [49] In Aristotelis Physica, p. 151, 611 Diels; quoted in Gaiser (1980), op. cit., pp. 89. Tarn says that Simplicius received the information concerning Speusippus and Xenocrates and the others from Porphyry, and thatalthough Porphyry also received much information about Plato's lecture from Alexanderthis particular bit of information came from Dercyllides; see Tarn, Leonardo, Speusippus of Athens (Brill Publishers, 1981), p. 226. [50] Plotinus describes this in the last part of his final Ennead (VI, 9) entitled On the Good, or the One ( ). Jens Halfwassen states in Der Aufstieg zum Einen (http:/ / ccat. sas. upenn. edu/ bmcr/ 2006/ 2006-08-16. html) (2006) that "Plotinus' ontologywhich should be called Plotinus' henology - is a rather accurate philosophical renewal and continuation of Plato's unwritten doctrine, i.e. the doctrine rediscovered by Krmer and Gaiser." [51] In one of his letters (Epistolae 1612) Ficino writes: "The main goal of the divine Plato ... is to show one principle of things, which he called the One ( -)", cf. Marsilio Ficino, Briefe des Mediceerkreises (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=KuYYAAAAIAAJ), Berlin, 1926, p. 147. [52] H. Gomperz, Plato's System of Philosophy, in: G. Ryle (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Philosophy (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=zN0MAAAAIAAJ), London 1931, pp. 426-431. Reprinted in: H. Gomperz, Philosophical Studies (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ox81AAAAIAAJ), Boston, 1953, pp. 119-24. [53] K. Gaiser, Testimonia Platonica. Le antiche testimonianze sulle dottrine non scritte di Platone, Milan, 1998. First published as Testimonia Platonica. Quellentexte zur Schule und mndlichen Lehre Platons as an appendix to Gaiser's Platons Ungeschriebene Lehre, Stuttgart, 1963. [54] For a brief description of the problem see for example K. Gaiser, Plato's enigmatic lecture "On the Good" (http:/ / www. ingentaconnect. com/ content/ brill/ phr/ 1980/ 00000025/ F0020001/ art00002), Phronesis 25 (1980), pp. 5-37. A detailed analysis is given by Krmer in his Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics: A Work on the Theory of the Principles and Unwritten Doctrines of Plato With a Collection of the Fundamental Documents (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=T2k6edyBklwC), Albany: SUNY Press, 1990. Another good description is by Giovanni Reale: Toward a New Interpretation of Plato (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=xmsGAAAACAAJ), Washington, D.C.: CUA Press, 1997. Reale summarizes the results of his research in A History of Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=QfvRZSlJd3MC), Albany: SUNY Press, 1990. However the most complete analysis of the consequences of such an approach is given by Thomas A. Szlezak in his fundamental Reading Plato (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=x34szlJIRIgC), New York: Routledge, 1999. Another supporter of this interpretation is the german philosopher Karl Albert, cf. Griechische Religion und platonische Philosophie (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=5D4NAAAAIAAJ), Hamburg, 1980 or Einfhrung in die philosophische Mystik (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=VFvoAAAACAAJ), Darmstadt, 1996. Hans-Georg Gadamer is also sympathetic towards it, cf. J. Grondin, Gadamer and the Tbingen School (http:/ / www. philo. umontreal. ca/ prof/ documents/ GadamerandtheTubingenSchool2006. doc06. doc) and Gadamer's 1968 article Plato's Unwritten Dialectic reprinted in his Dialogue and Dialectic (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?hl=en& lr=& id=HfNUhz7T6ocC). Gadamer's final position on the subject is stated in his introduction to La nuova interpretazione di Platone. Un dialogo tra Hans-Georg Gadamer e la scuola di Tubinga (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=wNzXAQAACAAJ), Milano 1998. [55] Blackburn, Simon. 1996. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 104 [56] Blackburn, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, 104 [57] Hartz, Louis. 1984. A Synthesis of World History. Zurich: Humanity Press [58] Popper, K. (1962) The Open Society and its Enemies, Volume 1, London, Routledge, p. 133.
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Plato
[59] The extent to which scholars consider a dialogue to be authentic is noted in John M. Cooper, ed., Complete Works, by Plato (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997), vvi. [60] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Dialogues_of_Plato& action=edit [61] Bloom, Harold (1982). Agon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 5. [62] p. 9, John Burnet, Platonism, University of California Press 1928. [63] p. xiv, J. Cooper (ed.), Plato: Complete Works, Hackett 1997. [64] Richard Kraut, "Plato" (http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ plato/ ), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 24 June 2008; Malcolm Schofield (1998, 2002), "Plato", in E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge.com (http:/ / www. rep. routledge. com/ article/ A088), accessed 24 June 2008; Christopher Rowe, "Interpreting Plato", in H. Benson (ed.), A Companion to Plato, Blackwell 2006. [65] T. Brickhouse & N. Smith, "Plato" (http:/ / www. iep. utm. edu/ p/ plato. htm), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 24 June 2008. [66] See W. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4, Cambridge University Press 1975; G. Vlastos, Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher, Cambridge University Press 1991; T. Penner, "Socrates and the Early Dialogues", in R. Kraut (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, Cambridge University Press 1992; C. Kahn, Plato and the Socratic Dialogue, Cambridge University Press 1996; G. Fine, Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul, Oxford University Press 1999. [67] Dodds, E.R. The Greeks and the Irrational. [68] Brandwood, L., The Chronology of Plato's Dialogues (Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 251. [69] Constance Chu Meinwald, Plato's Parmenides (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). [70] "The time is not long after the death of Socrates; for the Pythagoreans [Echecrates & co.] have not heard any details yet" (J. Burnet, Plato's Phaedo, Oxford 1911, p. 1.) [71] sect. 177, J. Burnet, Greek Philosophy, MacMillan 1950. [72] John M. Cooper, "Introduction" in Plato: Complete Works (Hackett, 1997), p. vii. [73] D. F. Lackner, "The Camaldolese Academy: Ambrogio Traversari, Marsilio Ficino and the Christian Platonic Tradition" in Allen and Rees (eds.), Marsilio Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy (Brill, 2001), p. 24. [74] See: Burrell, D., "Platonism in Islamic Philosophy" in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge, 1998); D. N. Hasse, "Plato arabico-latinus" in Gersh and Hoenen (eds.), The Platonic Tradition (De Gruyter , 2002), pp. 33-45. [75] Einstein, "Remarks to the Essays Appearing in this Collective Volume in Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, The Library of Living Philosophers, vol. 7. (MJF Books, 1970), pp. 683684. [76] Irwin, T. H., "The Platonic Corpus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 64 & 74. See also Slings, S. R., "Remarks on Some Recent Papyri of the Politeia", Mnemosyne, vol. 40, no. 1 (1987), p. 34: "... primary MSS. together offer a text of tolerably good quality" (this is without the further corrections of other sources). [77] Slings, S. R., "Remarks on Some Recent Papyri of the Politeia", Mnemosyne, vol. 40, no. 1 (1987), p. 31. [78] John M. Cooper, "Introduction" in Plato: Complete Works (Hackett, 1997), pp. viii-xii. [79] Manuscripts - Philosophy Faculty Library (http:/ / www. ouls. ox. ac. uk/ philosophy/ collections/ manuscripts) [80] Dodds, E. R., Plato Gorgias (Oxford University Press, 1959), pp. 35-36. [81] Dodds, E. R., Plato Gorgias (Oxford University Press, 1959), p. 37. [82] Dodds, op. cit., p. 39. [83] Irwin, T. H., "The Platonic Corpus" in Fine, G. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 71. [84] Slings, S. R., Platonis Rempublicam (Oxford University Press, 2003), xxiii. [85] Michael J. B. Allen, "Introduction" in Marsilio Ficino: The Philebus Commentary (University of California Press, 1979), p. 12. [86] Bernard Suzanna, Les dialogues de Platon: L'dition d'Henri Estienne... (http:/ / plato-dialogues. org/ stephanus. htm) [87] John M. Cooper, op. cit., pp. xii & xxvii. [88] Oxford Classical Texts - Classical Studies & Ancient History Series - Series - Academic, Professional, & General - Oxford University Press (http:/ / ukcatalogue. oup. com/ category/ academic/ series/ classicalstudies/ oct. do) [89] Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics - Series - Academic and Professional Books - Cambridge University Press (http:/ / www. cambridge. org/ ca/ knowledge/ series/ series_display/ item3936986/ Cambridge-Greek-and-Latin-Classics/ ) [90] Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries - Series - Academic and Professional Books - Cambridge University Press (http:/ / www. cambridge. org/ ca/ knowledge/ series/ series_display/ item3936941/ Cambridge-Classical-Texts-and-Commentaries/ ) [91] Terence Irwin, "Preface" and "Introduction" in Plato, Gorgias (Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. vi & 11. [92] E. R. Dodds, Plato, Gorgias (Oxford University press, 1959). [93] Gail Fine, Plato 1 (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 482. [94] Complete Works - Philosophy (http:/ / www. hackettpublishing. com/ philosophy/ complete-works) [95] http:/ / www. hackettpublishing. com/ catalogsearch/ result/ ?q=Plato [96] Clarendon Plato Series - Philosophy Series - Series - Academic, Professional, & General - Oxford University Press (http:/ / ukcatalogue. oup. com/ category/ academic/ series/ philosophy/ cps. do) [97] Cornell University Press : Agora Editions (http:/ / www. cornellpress. cornell. edu/ collections/ ?collection_id=137) [98] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, II [99] F.W. Nietzsche, Werke, 32 [100] T. Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, XII
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Plato
[101] [102] [103] [104] [105] [106] [107] D. Nails, The Life of Plato of Athens, 1 U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Plato, 46 | birth_place = * Seneca, Epistulae, VI, 58, 31: natali suo decessit et annum umum atque octogensimum. Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III D. Nails, "Ariston", 54 Thucydides, 5.18 | birth_place = * Thucydides, 8.92
44
References
Primary sources (Greek and Roman)
Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, I. See original text in Latin Library (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/apuleius/ apuleius.dog1.shtml). Aristophanes, The Wasps. See original text in Perseus program (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0043:line=1). Aristotle, Metaphysics. See original text in Perseus program (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0051:book=1:section=980a). Cicero, De Divinatione, I. See original text in Latin library (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/ divinatione1.shtml). Diogenes Lartius, Life of Plato, translated by Robert Drew Hicks (1925). Plato. Charmides. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Wikisource.. See original text in Perseus program (http://www. perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0175:text=Charm.:section=153a). Plato. Gorgias. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Wikisource.. See original text in Perseus program (http://www. perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0177:text=Gorg.:section=447a). Plato, Parmenides. See original text in Perseus program (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0173:text=Parm.:section=126a). Plato. The Republic. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Wikisource.. See original text in Perseus program (http://www. perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0168). Plutarch (1683) [written in the late 1st century]. " Pericles". Lives. Trans. John Dryden. Wikisource.. See original text in Perseus program (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01. 0181:text=Per.:chapter=39:section=1). Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Trans. Richard Crawley. Wikisource., V, VIII. See original text in Perseus program (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0199). Xenophon, Memorabilia. See original text in Perseus program (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0207:book=1:chapter=1:section=1).
Secondary sources
Browne, Sir Thomas (16461672). Pseudodoxia Epidemica IV.xii (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/ pseudo412.html#b26). Guthrie, W.K.C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy: Volume 4, Plato: The Man and His Dialogues: Earlier Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-31101-2. Kahn, Charles H. (2004). "The Framework". Plato and the socratic dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-64830-0. Kierkegaard, Sren (1992). "Plato". The Concept of Irony. Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-02072-3. Nails, Debra (2006). "The Life of Plato of Athens". A Companion to Plato edited by Hugh H. Benson. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN1-4051-1521-1. Nails, Debra (2002). "Ariston/Perictione". The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics. Hackett Publishing. ISBN0-87220-564-9.
Plato Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1967). "Vorlesungsaufzeichnungen". Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (in German). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN3-11-013912-X. Notopoulos, A. (April 1939). "The Name of Plato". Classical Philology (The University of Chicago Press) 34 (2): 135145. doi: 10.1086/362227 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/362227). "Plato". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002. "Plato". Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume XVI (in Greek). 1952. "Plato" (http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest& page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Plato&field=hw_eng&num_per_page=25&db=REAL). Suda. 10th century. Smith, William (1870). "Plato" (http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2725.html). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Tarn, Leonardo (2001). Collected Papers 1962-1999. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN9004123040. Taylor, Alfred Edward (2001). Plato: The Man and his Work. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-41605-4. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ulrich von (2005 (first edition 1917)). Plato: his Life and Work (translated in Greek by Xenophon Armyros). Kaktos. ISBN960-382-664-2.
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Further reading
Alican, Necip Fikri (2012). Rethinking Plato: A Cartesian Quest for the Real Plato. Rodopi. ISBN978-90-420-3537-9. Allen, R. E. (1965). Studies in Plato's Metaphysics II. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0710036264 Ambuel, David (2006). Image and Paradigm in Plato's Sophist. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-04-9 Arieti, James A. Interpreting Plato: The Dialogues as Drama, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-8476-7662-5 Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5 Barrow, Robin (2007). Plato: Continuum Library of Educational Thought. Continuum. ISBN0-8264-8408-5. Cadame, Claude (1999). Indigenous and Modern Perspectives on Tribal Initiation Rites: Education According to Plato, pp.278312, in Padilla, Mark William (editor), "Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society" (http://books.google.com/books?id=-0JVScga2oYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=rites+of+passage+ in+ancient+greece), Bucknell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X Cooper, John M. & Hutchinson, D. S. (Eds.) (1997). Plato: Complete Works. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN0-87220-349-2. Corlett, J. Angelo (2005). Interpreting Plato's Dialogues. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-02-5 Durant, Will (1926). The Story of Philosophy. Simon & Schuster. ISBN0-671-69500-2. Derrida, Jacques (1972). La dissmination, Paris: Seuil. (esp. cap.: La Pharmacie de Platon, 69-199) ISBN 2-02-001958-2 Field, G.C. (Guy Cromwell) (1969). The Philosophy of Plato (2nd ed. with an appendix by R. C. Cross. ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-888040-5. Fine, Gail (2000). Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-875206-7 Finley, M. I. (1969). Aspects of antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies The Viking Press, Inc., USA Garvey, James (2006). Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books. Continuum. ISBN0-8264-9053-0. Guthrie, W. K. C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy (Plato - The Man & His Dialogues - Earlier Period), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31101-2 Guthrie, W. K. C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy (Later Plato & the Academy) Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31102-0 Havelock, Eric (2005). Preface to Plato (History of the Greek Mind), Belknap Press, ISBN 0-674-69906-8
Plato Hamilton, Edith & Cairns, Huntington (Eds.) (1961). The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters. Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN0-691-09718-6. Harvard University Press publishes the hardbound series Loeb Classical Library, containing Plato's works in Greek, with English translations on facing pages. Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: A play based on Aristophanes' Clouds and Plato's Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for modern performance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9783-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-8020-9538-1 (paper) Irwin, Terence (1995). Plato's Ethics, Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-508645-7 Jackson, Roy (2001). Plato: A Beginner's Guide. London: Hoder & Stroughton. ISBN0-340-80385-1. Jowett, Benjamin (1892). [The Dialogues of Plato. Translated into English with analyses and introductions by B. Jowett.], Oxford Clarendon Press, UK, UIN:BLL01002931898 Kochin, Michael S. (2002). Gender and Rhetoric in Plato's Political Thought. Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN0-521-80852-9. Kraut, Richard (Ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-43610-9. Krmer, Hans Joachim (1990). Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics (http://books.google.com/ books?id=T2k6edyBklwC). SUNY Press. ISBN0-7914-0433-1. Lilar, Suzanne (1954), Journal de l'analogiste, Paris, ditions Julliard; Reedited 1979, Paris, Grasset. Foreword by Julien Gracq Lilar, Suzanne (1963), Le couple, Paris, Grasset. Translated as Aspects of Love in Western Society in 1965, with a foreword by Jonathan Griffin London, Thames and Hudson. Lilar, Suzanne (1967) A propos de Sartre et de l'amour , Paris, Grasset. Lundberg, Phillip (2005). Tallyho - The Hunt for Virtue: Beauty,Truth and Goodness Nine Dialogues by Plato: Pheadrus, Lysis, Protagoras, Charmides, Parmenides, Gorgias, Theaetetus, Meno & Sophist. Authorhouse. ISBN1-4184-4977-6. Melchert, Norman (2002). The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. McGraw Hill. ISBN0-19-517510-7. Meinwald, Constance Chu (1991). Plato's Parmenides. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-506445-3. Miller, Mitchell (2004). The Philosopher in Plato's Statesman. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-16-2 Mohr, Richard D. (2006). God and Forms in Plato - and other Essays in Plato's Metaphysics. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-01-8 Moore, Edward (2007). Plato. Philosophy Insights Series. Tirril, Humanities-Ebooks. ISBN 978-1-84760-047-9 Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. (1995). "Genres in Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy" (http://books. google.com/books?id=n3MeQikAp00C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0), Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-48264-X Oxford University Press publishes scholarly editions of Plato's Greek texts in the Oxford Classical Texts series, and some translations in the Clarendon Plato Series. Reale, Giovanni (1990). A History of Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle (http://books.google.com/ books?id=QfvRZSlJd3MC). SUNY Press. ISBN0-7914-0516-8. Reale, Giovanni (1997). Toward a New Interpretation of Plato (http://books.google.com/ books?id=xmsGAAAACAAJ). CUA Press. ISBN0-8132-0847-5. Sallis, John (1996). Being and Logos: Reading the Platonic Dialogues. Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-21071-2. Sallis, John (1999). Chorology: On Beginning in Plato's "Timaeus". Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-21308-8. Sayre, Kenneth M. (2006). Plato's Late Ontology: A Riddle Resolved. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-09-4
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Plato Seung, T. K. (1996). Plato Rediscovered: Human Value and Social Order. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 0-8476-8112-2 Smith, William. (1867 original). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. University of Michigan/Online version. Stewart, John. (2010). Kierkegaard and the Greek World - Socrates and Plato. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-6981-4 Szlezak, Thomas A. (1999). Reading Plato (http://books.google.com/books?id=x34szlJIRIgC). Routledge. ISBN0-415-18984-5. Taylor, A. E. (2001). Plato: The Man and His Work, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-41605-4 Thomas Taylor has translated Plato's complete works. Vlastos, Gregory (1981). Platonic Studies, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-10021-7 Vlastos, Gregory (2006). Plato's Universe - with a new Introducution by Luc Brisson, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-13-1 Zuckert, Catherine (2009). Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-99335-5
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External links
Plato (https://inpho.cogs.indiana.edu/thinker/3724) at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Plato (http://philpapers.org/browse/plato) at PhilPapers Works available on-line: Works by Plato (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Plato) at Perseus Project - Greek & English hyperlinked text Works of Plato (Jowett, 1892) (http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show. php?title=166&Itemid=99999999) Works by Plato (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Plato) at Project Gutenberg Spurious and doubtful works (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=688) at Project Gutenberg Plato complete works, annotated and searchable, at ELPENOR (http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/ greek-texts/ancient-greece/plato/default.asp) Euthyphro (http://librivox.org/euthyphro-by-plato/) LibriVox recording Ion (http://librivox.org/ion-by-plato/) LibriVox recording The Apology of Socrates (http://librivox.org/apology-of-socrates-by-plato/) (Greek), LibriVox recording Quick Links to Plato's Dialogues (English, Greek, French, Spanish) (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/ tetral.htm) The Dialogues of Plato -5 vols (mp3) tr. by B. Jowett (http://www.archive.org/details/ DIALOGUES-OF-PLATO-BJ-V2-3ED) at archive.org The Dialogues of Plato with Apocryphal Works (http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=classical:plato) at demonax.info (http://demonax.info)
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Plato (http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/) Plato's Organicism (http://www.iep.utm.edu/platoorg/) Plato's Phaedo (http://www.iep.utm.edu/phaedo/) Plato's Political Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/platopol/)
Plato Middle Platonism (http://www.iep.utm.edu/midplato/) Neoplatonism (http://www.iep.utm.edu/neoplato/) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Plato (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/) Plato's Ethics (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics/) Friendship and Eros (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-friendship/) Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-metaphysics/) Plato on Utopia (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-utopia/) Rhetoric and Poetry (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-rhetoric/)
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Other Articles: Excerpt from W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. IV, "Plato: the man and his dialogues, earlier period" (http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/guthrie-plato.asp), Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp.838 Website on Plato and his works: Plato and his dialogues by Bernard Suzanne (http://plato-dialogues.org/ plato.htm) Reflections on Reality and its Reflection: comparison of Plato and Bergson; do forms exist? (http://www.sfo. com/~eameece/rrr.html) "Plato and Totalitarianism: A Documentary Study" (http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/ Quotes/plato.htm) "Plato and Platonism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. Online library "Vox Philosophiae" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080126175146/http://www.filozofie.eu/ index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=34) Comprehensive Research Materials: Approaching Plato: A Guide to the Early and Middle Dialogues (http://campus.belmont.edu/philosophy/ Book.pdf) Works by or about Plato (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-139459) in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Other sources: Interview with Mario Vegetti on Plato's political thought. The interview, available in full on video, both in Italian and English, is included in the series Multi-Media Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (http://www. conoscenza.rai.it/site/it-IT/?ContentID=850&Guid=d0e858c408994cdb8db858e320e6bece).
Platonism
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Platonism
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Platonism
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Part of a series on
Neoplatonism
Philosophy portal
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Platonism (with a capital "P") is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. With a lower case "p", "platonism" refers to the philosophy that affirms the existence of abstract objects, which are asserted to "exist" in a "third realm distinct both from the sensible external world and from the internal world of consciousness, and is the opposite of nominalism (with a lower case "n").[2] Lower case "platonists" need not accept any of the doctrines of Plato. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism. The central concept of Platonism is the distinction between the reality that is perceptible, but not intelligible, and that which is intelligible, but imperceptible; to this distinction the Theory of Forms is essential. The forms are typically described in dialogues such as the Phaedo, Symposium and Republic as transcendent, perfect archetypes, of which objects in the everyday world are imperfect copies. In the Republic the highest form is identified as the Form of the Good, the source of all other forms, which could be known by reason. In the Sophist, a later work, the forms being, sameness and difference are listed among the primordial "Great Kinds". In the 3rd century BC, Arcesilaus adopted skepticism, which became a central tenet of the school until 90 BC when Antiochus added Stoic elements, rejected skepticism, and began a period known as Middle Platonism. In the 3rd century AD, Plotinus added mystical elements, establishing Neoplatonism, in which the summit of existence was the One or the Good, the source of all things; in virtue and meditation the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought, and many Platonic notions were adopted by the Christian church which understood Platonic forms as God's thoughts, whilst Neoplatonism became a major influence on Christian mysticism, in the West through St Augustine, Doctor of the Catholic Church whose Christian writings were heavily influenced by Plotinus' Enneads,[3] and in turn were foundations for the whole of Western Christian thought.[4]
Philosophy
The primary concept is the Theory of Forms. The only true being is founded upon the forms, the eternal, unchangeable, perfect types, of which particular objects of sense are imperfect copies. The multitude of objects of sense, being involved in perpetual change, are thereby deprived of all genuine existence.[5] The number of the forms is defined by the number of universal concepts which can be derived from the particular objects of sense. The following excerpt may be representative of Plato's middle period metaphysics and epistemology:
Platonism [Socrates:]"Since the beautiful is opposite of the ugly, they are two." [Glaucon:]"Of course." "And since they are two, each is one?" "I grant that also." "And the same account is true of the just and unjust, the good and the bad, and all the forms. Each of them is itself one, but because they manifest themselves everywhere in association with actions, bodies, and one another, each of them appears to be many." "That's right." "So, I draw this distinction: On one side are those you just now called lovers of sights, lovers of crafts, and practical people; on the other side are those we are now arguing about and whom one would alone call philosophers." "How do you mean?" "The lovers of sights and sounds like beautiful sounds, colors, shapes, and everything fashioned out of them, but their thought is unable to see and embrace the nature of the beautiful itself." "That's for sure." "In fact, there are very few people who would be able to reach the beautiful itself and see it by itself. Isn't that so?" "Certainly." "What about someone who believes in beautiful things, but doesn't believe in the beautiful itself and isn't able to follow anyone who could lead him to the knowledge of it? Don't you think he is living in a dream rather than a wakened state? Isn't this dreaming: whether asleep or awake, to think that a likeness is not a likeness but rather the thing itself that it is like?" "I certainly think that someone who does that is dreaming." "But someone who, to take the opposite case, believes in the beautiful itself, can see both it and the things that participate in it and doesn't believe that the participants are it or that it itself is the participants--is he living in a dream or is he awake? "He's very much awake." (Republic Bk. V, 475e-476d, translation G.M.A Grube) Book VI of the Republic identifies the highest form as the Form of the Good, the cause of all other Ideas, and that on which the being and knowing of all other Forms is contingent. Conceptions derived from the impressions of sense can never give us the knowledge of true being; i.e. of the forms. It can only be obtained by the soul's activity within itself, apart from the troubles and disturbances of sense; that is to say, by the exercise of reason. Dialectic, as the instrument in this process, leading us to knowledge of the forms, and finally to the highest form of the Good, is the first of sciences. Later Neoplatonism, beginning with Plotinus, identified the Good of the Republic with the so-called transcendent, absolute One of the first hypothesis of the Parmenides (137c-142a). Platonist ethics is based on the Form of the Good. Virtue is knowledge, the recognition of the supreme form of the Good. And, since in this cognition, the three parts of the soul, which are reason, spirit, and appetite, all have their share, we get the three virtues, Wisdom, Courage, and Moderation. The bond which unites the other virtues is the virtue of Justice, by which each part of the soul is confined to the performance of its proper function. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. In many interpretations of the Timaeus Platonism,[6] like Aristotelianism, poses an eternal universe, as opposed to the nearby Judaic tradition that the universe had been created in historical time, with its continuous history recorded. Unlike Aristotelianism, Platonism describes idea as prior to matter and identifies the person with the soul. Many Platonic notions secured a permanent place in Christianity.[7]
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Platonism
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History
The Academy
Platonism was originally expressed in the dialogues of Plato, in which the figure of Socrates is used to expound certain doctrines, that may or may not be similar to the thought of the historical Socrates, Plato's master. Plato delivered his lectures at the Academy, a precinct containing a sacred grove outside the walls of Athens. The school continued there long after Plato's death. There were three periods: the Old, Middle, and New Academy. The chief figures in the Old Academy were Speusippus (Plato's nephew), who succeeded him as the head of the school (until 339 BC), and Xenocrates (till 313 BC). Both of them sought to fuse Pythagorean speculations on number with Plato's theory of forms.
Around 266 BC, Arcesilaus became head of the Academy. This phase, known as the Middle Academy, strongly emphasized Academic skepticism. It was characterized by its attacks on the Stoics and their assertion of the certainty of truth and our knowledge of it. The New Academy began with Carneades in 155 BC, the fourth head in succession from Arcesilaus. It was still largely skeptical, denying the possibility of knowing an absolute truth; both Arcesilaus and Carneades believed that they were maintaining a genuine tenet of Plato.
Middle Platonism
Around 90 BC, Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, making way for the period known as Middle Platonism, in which Platonism was fused with certain Peripatetic and many Stoic dogmas. In Middle Platonism, the Platonic Forms were not transcendent but immanent to rational minds, and the physical world was a living, ensouled being, the World-Soul. Pre-eminence in this period belongs to Plutarch. The eclectic nature of Platonism during this time is shown by its incorporation into Pythagoreanism (Numenius of Apamea) and into Jewish philosophy (Philo of Alexandria).
Neoplatonism
In the third century, Plotinus recast Plato's system, establishing Neoplatonism, in which Middle Platonism was fused with mysticism. At the summit of existence stands the One or the Good, as the source of all things.[8] It generates from itself, as if from the reflection of its own being, reason, the nous, - wherein is contained the infinite store of ideas. The world-soul, the copy of the nous, is generated by and contained in it, as the nous is in the One, and, by informing matter in itself nonexistent, constitutes bodies whose existence is contained in the world-soul. Nature therefore is a whole, endowed with life and soul. Soul, being chained to matter, longs to escape from the bondage of the body and return to its original source. In virtue and philosophical thought it has the power to elevate itself above the reason into a state of ecstasy, where it can behold, or ascend to, that one good primary Being whom reason cannot know. To attain this union with the Good, or God, is the true function of human beings. Plotinus' disciple, Porphyry, followed by Iamblichus, developed the system in conscious opposition to Christianity. The Platonic Academy was re-established during this time period; its most renowned head was Proclus (died 485), a celebrated commentator on Plato's writings. The Academy persisted until Roman emperor Justinian closed it in 529.
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Modern Platonism
Apart from historical Platonism originating from thinkers such as Plato himself, Numenius, Plotinus, Augustine and Proclus, we may wish to consider the theory of abstract objects in the modern sense. Platonism is the view that there exist such things as abstract objects where an abstract object is an object that does not exist in space or time and which is therefore entirely non-physical and non-mental. Platonism in this sense is a contemporary view.[11] This modern Platonism (sometimes rendered "platonism," with a lower-case p, to distinguish it from the ancient schools) has been endorsed in one way or another at one time or another by numerous philosophers (most of whom taking a particular interest in the philosophy and foundations of logic and mathematics), including Bernard Bolzano, Gottlob Frege, Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, Alonzo Church, Kurt Gdel, W.V. Quine, Hilary Putnam, George Bealer and Edward Zalta. Modern Platonism recognizes a range of objects, including numbers, sets, truth values, properties, types, propositions and meanings.
References
[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Neoplatonism& action=edit [2] "Philosophers who affirm the existence of abstract objects are sometimes called platonists; those who deny their existence are sometimes called nominalists. This terminology is lamentable, since these words have established senses in the history of philosophy, where they denote positions that have little to do with the modern notion of an abstract object. However, the contemporary senses of these terms are now established, and so the reader should be aware of them... In this connection, it is essential to bear in mind that modern platonists (with a small p) need not accept any of the doctrines of Plato, just as modern nominalists need not accept the doctrines of the medieval Nominalists." "Abstract Objects", Gideon Rosen, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), (http:/ / plato.
Platonism
stanford. edu/ archives/ spr2012/ entries/ abstract-objects/ ) [3] O'Connell SJ, RJ, The Enneads and St Augustine's Vision of Happiness. Vigiliae Christianae 17 (1963) 129-164 (JSTOR) [4] Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol 1, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 100-600; Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol 3, The Growth of Mediaeval Theology 600-1300, section, "The Augustinian Synthesis" [5] Oskar Seyffert, (1894), Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, page 481 [6] cf. Proclus' commentary on the Timaeus; Cornford 1937 [7] "Platonism." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 [8] Oskar Seyffert, (1894), Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, page 484 [9] Armstrong, A. H., ed., The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge, 1970. [10] Louth, Andrew. The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983. [11] http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ platonism/
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External links
Christian Platonists and Neoplatonists (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/cp.htm) Islamic Platonists and Neoplatonists (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/ip.htm) Orphic Platonism (http://orphicplatonism.com/)
Platonic Academy
Coordinates: 375933N 234229E [1]
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Ship of state Myth of Er The chariot Related articles
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The Academy (Ancient Greek: ) was founded by Plato (428/427 BC 348/347 BC) in ca. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle (384 BC 322 BC) studied there for twenty years (367 BC 347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. Although philosophers continued to teach Plato's philosophy in Athens during the Roman era, it was not until AD 410 that a revived Academy was re-established as a center for Neoplatonism, persisting until 529 AD when it was finally closed down by Justinian I.
Site
Before the Akademia was a school, and even before Cimon enclosed its precincts with a wall,[2] it contained a sacred grove of olive trees dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, outside the city walls of ancient Athens.[3] The archaic name for the site was Hekademia (), which by classical times evolved into Akademia and was explained, at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC, by linking it to an Athenian hero, a legendary "Akademos". The site of the Academy was sacred to Athena and other immortals; it had sheltered her religious cult since the Bronze Age, a cult that was Ancient road to the Academy. perhaps also associated with the hero-gods the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces), for the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited with revealing to the Divine Twins where Theseus had hidden Helen. Out of respect for its long tradition and the association with the Dioscuri, the Spartans would not ravage these original "groves of Academe" when they invaded Attica,[4] a piety not shared by the Roman Sulla, who axed the sacred olive trees of Athena in 86 BC to build siege engines.
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Among the religious observances that took place at the Akademeia was a torchlit night race from altars within the city to Prometheus' altar in the Akademeia. Funeral games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac procession from Athens to the Hekademeia and then back to the polis.[5] The road to Akademeia was lined with the gravestones of Athenians.
The site of the Academy[6] is located near Colonus, approximately, 1.5 km north of Athens' Dipylon gates.[7] The site was rediscovered in the 20th century, in modern Akadimia Platonos neighbourhood; considerable excavation has been accomplished and visiting the site is free.[8] Visit to the archaeological site of the Academy in Athens. Visitors today can visit the archaeological site of the Academy located on either side of the Cratylus street in the area of Colonos and Plato Academy ( Post Code GR 10442 ) . Either side of the Cratylus street are important monuments, like the Sacred House Geometric Era , the Gymnasium ( 1st BC - 1st century AD ), the protohelladic Vaulted House that should be of the era of the mythical hero Academos that gave the name to the Academy and the Peristyle Building ( 4th century BC ) , which is perhaps the only major building that belonged to the actual Academy of Plato.
Plato's Academy
What was later to be known as Plato's school probably originated around the time Plato acquired inherited property at the age of thirty, with informal gatherings which included Theaetetus of Sunium, Archytas of Tarentum, Leodamas of Thasos, and Neoclides.[9] According to Debra Nails, Speusippus "joined the group in about 390." She claims, "It is not until Eudoxus of Cnidos arrives in the mid-380s that Eudemus recognizes a formal Academy." There is no historical record of the exact time the school was officially founded, but modern scholars generally agree that the time was the mid-380s, probably sometime after 387, when Plato is thought to have returned from his first visit to Italy and Sicily.[10] Originally, the location of the meetings was Plato's property as often as it was the nearby Academy gymnasium; this remained so throughout the fourth century.[11]
Platonic Academy Though the Academic club was exclusive, not open to the public,[12] it did not, during at least Plato's time, charge fees for membership.[13] Therefore, there was probably not at that time a "school" in the sense of a clear distinction between teachers and students, or even a formal curriculum.[14] There was, however, a distinction between senior and junior members.[15] Two women are known to have studied with Plato at the Academy, Axiothea of Phlius and Lasthenia of Mantinea.[16] In at least Plato's time, the school did not have any particular doctrine to teach; rather, Plato (and probably other associates of his) posed problems to be studied and solved by the others.[17] There is evidence of lectures given, most notably Plato's lecture "On the Good"; but probably the use of dialectic was more common.[18] According to an Plato's academy, mosaic from Pompeii. unverifiable story, dated of some 700 years after the founding of the school, above the entrance to the Academy was inscribed the phrase "Let None But Geometers Enter Here."[19] Many have imagined that the Academic curriculum would have closely resembled the one canvassed in Plato's Republic.[20] Others, however, have argued that such a picture ignores the obvious peculiar arrangements of the ideal society envisioned in that dialogue.[21] The subjects of study almost certainly included mathematics as well as the philosophical topics with which the Platonic dialogues deal, but there is little reliable evidence.[22] There is some evidence for what today would be considered strictly scientific research: Simplicius reports that Plato had instructed the other members to discover the simplest explanation of the observable, irregular motion of heavenly bodies: "by hypothesizing what uniform and ordered motions is it possible to save the appearances relating to planetary motions."[23] (According to Simplicius, Plato's colleague Eudoxus was the first to have worked on this problem.) Plato's Academy is often said to have been a school for would-be politicians in the ancient world, and to have had many illustrious alumni.[24] In a recent survey of the evidence, Malcolm Schofield, however, has argued that it is difficult to know to what extent the Academy was interested in practical (i.e., non-theoretical) politics since much of our evidence "reflects ancient polemic for or against Plato."[25]
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Diogenes Lartius divided the history of the Academy into three: the Old, the Middle, and the New. At the head of the Old he put Plato, at the head of the Middle Academy, Arcesilaus, and of the New, Lacydes. Sextus Empiricus enumerated five divisions of the followers of Plato. He made Plato founder of the first Academy; Arcesilaus of the second; Carneades of the third; Philo and Charmadas of the fourth; Antiochus of the fifth. Cicero recognised only two Academies, the Old and New, and made the latter commence with Arcesilaus.[26]
Old Academy
Plato's immediate successors as "scholarch" of the Academy were Speusippus (347339 BC), Xenocrates (339314 BC), Polemo (314269 BC), and Crates (c. 269266 BC). Other notable members of the Academy include Aristotle, Heraclides, Eudoxus, Philip of Opus, and Crantor.
The School of Athens by Raphael (15091510), fresco at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.
Middle Academy
Around 266 BC Arcesilaus became scholarch. Under Arcesilaus (c. 266241 BC), the Academy strongly emphasized Academic skepticism. Arcesilaus was followed by Lacydes of Cyrene (241215 BC), Evander and Telecles (jointly) (205 c. 165 BC), and Hegesinus (c. 160 BC).
New Academy
The New or Third Academy begins with Carneades, in 155 BC, the fourth scholarch in succession from Arcesilaus. It was still largely skeptical, denying the possibility of knowing an absolute truth. Carneades was followed by Clitomachus (129 c. 110 BC) and Philo of Larissa ("the last undisputed head of the Academy," c. 11084 BC).[27][28] According to Jonathan Barnes, "It seems likely that Philo was the last Platonist geographically connected to the Academy."[29] Around 90 BC, Philo's student Antiochus of Ascalon began teaching his own rival version of Platonism rejecting Skepticism and advocating Stoicism, which began a new phase known as Middle Platonism.
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Neoplatonic Academy
Philosophers continued to teach Platonism in Athens during the Roman era, but it was not until the early 5th century (c. 410) that a revived Academy was established by some leading Neoplatonists.[34] The origins of Neoplatonist teaching in Athens are uncertain, but when Proclus arrived in Athens in the early 430s, he found Plutarch of Athens and his colleague Syrianus teaching in an Academy there. The Neoplatonists in Athens called themselves "successors" (diadochoi, but of Plato) and presented themselves as an uninterrupted tradition reaching back to Plato, but there cannot have actually been any geographical, institutional, economic or personal continuity with the original Academy.[35] The school seems to have been a private foundation, conducted in a large house which Proclus eventually inherited from Plutarch and Syrianus.[36] The heads of the Neoplatonic Academy were Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, Proclus, Marinus, Isidore, and finally Damascius. The Neoplatonic Academy reached its apex under Proclus (died 485). The last "Greek" philosophers of the revived Academy in the 6th century were drawn from various parts of the Hellenistic cultural world and suggest the broad syncretism of the common culture (see koine): Five of the seven Academy philosophers mentioned by Agathias were Syriac in their cultural origin: Hermias and Diogenes (both from Phoenicia), Isidorus of Gaza, Damascius of Syria, Iamblichus of Coele-Syria and perhaps even Simplicius of Cilicia. At a date often cited as the end of Antiquity, the emperor Justinian closed the school in 529 A.D.. The last Scholarch of the Academy was Damascius (d. 540). According to the sole witness, the historian Agathias, its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I in his capital at Ctesiphon, carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science. After a peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empire in 532, their personal security (an early document in the history of freedom of religion) was guaranteed. It has been speculated that the Academy did not altogether disappear.[37] After his exile, Simplicius (and perhaps some others), may have travelled to
Emperor Justinian I. In 529 A.D. the Academy was placed under state control by order of Justinian, effectively strangling this training-school for Hellenism.
Platonic Academy Harran, near Edessa. From there, the students of an Academy-in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long enough to facilitate the Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in Baghdad. One of the earliest academies established in the east was the 7th century Academy of Gundishapur in Sassanid Persia
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Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Platonic_Academy& params=37_59_33_N_23_42_29_E_ Plutarch Life of Cimon xiii:7 Thucydides ii:34 Plutarch, Life of Theseus xxxii Paus. i 29.2, 30.2; Plut. Vit. Sol. i 7 A Beginner's History of Philosophy, Volume 1. By Herbert Ernest Cushma. Pg 219 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=33QBAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA219) [7] Mazarakis Ainian, A. - Alexandridou A,. "The Sacred House of the Academy Revisited" (http:/ / www. academia. edu/ 1133686/ Mazarakis_Ainian_A. _-_Alexandridou_A. _The_Sacred_House_of_the_Academy_Revisited). [8] greeceathensaegeaninfo.com (http:/ / www. greeceathensaegeaninfo. com/ h-athens/ ancient/ plato-academy. htm) [9] pp. 56, D. Nails, "The Life of Plato of Athens", in H. Benson (ed.), A Companion to Plato, Blackwell Publishing 2006. [10] pp. 1920, W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4, Cambridge University Press 1975; p. 1, R. Dancy, "Academy", in D. Zeyl (ed.), Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, Greenwood Press 1997. I. Mueller gives a much broader time frame "...some time between the early 380s and the middle 360s..." perhaps reflecting our real lack of evidence about the specific date (p. 170, "Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth", in R. Kraut (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, Cambridge University Press 1992). [11] D. Sedley, "Academy", in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed.; p. 4, J. Barnes, "Life and Work", in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, Cambridge University Press 1995; J. Barnes, "Academy", E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge 1998, accessed 13 Sept 2008, from http:/ / www. rep. routledge. com/ article/ A001. [12] p. 31, J. Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2000. [13] p. 170, Mueller, "Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth"; p. 249, D. Nails, The People of Plato, Hackett 2002. [14] pp. 170171, Mueller, "Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth"; p. 248, Nails, The People of Plato. [15] Barnes, "Academy". [16] http:/ / www. hackettpublishing. com/ philosophy/ women-in-the-academy [17] p. 2, Dancy, "Academy". [18] p. 2, Dancy, "Academy"; p. 21, Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4; p. 3436, Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction. [19] p. 67, V. Katz, History of Mathematics [20] p. 22, Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4. [21] pp. 17071, Mueller, "Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth". [22] M. Schofield, "Plato", in E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge 1998/2002, retrieved 13 Sept 2008, from http:/ / www. rep. routledge. com/ article/ A088 ; p. 32, Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction. [23] Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle's "On the Heavens" 488.724, quoted on p. 174, Mueller, "Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth". [24] p. 23, Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4; G. Field, "Academy", in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd ed. [25] p. 293, "Plato & Practical Politics", in Schofield & C. Rowe (eds.), Greek & Roman Political Thought, Cambridge University Press 2000. [26] Charles Anthon, (1855), A Classical Dictionary, page 6 [27] Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (1996), s.v. "Philon of Larissa." [28] See the table in The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?vid=ISBN0521250285) (Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 5354. [29] "Academy", E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge 1998, accessed 14 Sept 2008, from http:/ / www. rep. routledge. com/ article/ A001. [30] Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, 1990, A History of Ancient Philosophy: The schools of the Imperial Age, page 207. SUNY Press [31] Plutarch, Sulla 12 (http:/ / penelope. uchicago. edu/ Thayer/ E/ Roman/ Texts/ Plutarch/ Lives/ Sulla*. html); cf. Appian, Roman History xii, 5.30 (http:/ / www. livius. org/ ap-ark/ appian/ appian_mithridatic_06. html) [32] Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, 1990, A History of Ancient Philosophy: The schools of the Imperial Age, page 208. SUNY Press [33] Cicero, De Finibus, book 5 [34] Alan Cameron, "The last days of the Academy at Athens," in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society vol 195 (n.s. 15), 1969, pp 729. [35] Gerald Bechtle, Bryn Mawr Classical Review of Rainer Thiel, Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule in Athen. Stuttgart, 1999 (http:/ / ccat. sas. upenn. edu/ bmcr/ 2000/ 2000-04-19. html) (in English). [36] The Cambridge Ancient History, (1970), Volume XIV, page 837. Cambridge University Press. [37] Richard Sorabji, (2005), The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200600 AD: Psychology (with Ethics and Religion), page 11. Cornell University Press
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References
H. Cherniss, The Riddle of the Early Academy, CUP (1945). R. E. Wycherley, Peripatos: The Athenian Philosophical Scene. Greece & Rome, parts I (1961) and II (1962). J. Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (1978). R. M. Dancy Two Studies in the Early Academy SUNY (1991). J. Dillon, The Heirs of Plato. A Study of the Old Academy (347274 BC) OUP (2003).
External links
"Academy". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. The Academy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/academy/), entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Middle Platonism
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Middle Platonism is the modern name given to a stage in the development of Plato's philosophy, lasting from about 90 BC, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected the scepticism of the New Academy, until the development of Neoplatonism under Plotinus in the 3rd century. Middle Platonism absorbed many doctrines from the rival Peripatetic and Stoic schools. The pre-eminent philosopher in this period was Plutarch (c. 45-120), who defended the freedom of the will, and the immortality of the soul. He sought to show that God, in creating the world, had transformed matter, as the receptacle of evil, into the divine soul of the world, but where it continued to operate as the source of all evil. God is a transcendent being, which operates through divine intermediaries, which are the gods and daemons of popular religion. Numenius of Apamea (c. 160) combined Platonism with Neopythagoreanism and other, eastern, philosophies, in a move which would prefigure the development of Neoplatonism.
History
Antiochus of Ascalon (c. 125-68 BC), was the pupil of Philo of Larissa, and the teacher of Cicero. Through his influence, Platonism made the transition from Scepticism to Eclecticism.[1] Whereas Philo had still adhered to the doctrine that there is nothing absolutely certain, Antiochus returned to a pronounced dogmatism. Among other objections to Scepticism, was the consideration that without firm convictions no rational content of life is possible. He pointed out that it is a contradiction to assert that nothing can be asserted or to prove that nothing can be proved; that we cannot speak of false ideas and at the same time deny the distinction between false and true.[2] He expounded the Academic, Peripatetic, and Stoic systems in such a way as to show that these three schools deviate from one another only in minor points. He himself was chiefly interested in ethics, in which he tried to find a middle way between Zeno, Aristotle and Plato. For instance, he said that virtue suffices for happiness, but for the highest grade of happiness bodily and external goods are necessary as well. This eclectic tendency was favoured by the lack of dogmatic works by Plato.[3] Middle Platonism was promoted by the necessity of considering the main theories of the post-Platonic schools of philosophy, such as the Aristotelian logic and the Stoic psychology and ethics (theory of goods and emotions).[4] On the one hand the Middle Platonists were engaged like the later Peripatetics in scholarly activities such as the exposition of Plato's doctrines and the explanation of his dialogues; on the other hand they attempted to develop the Platonic theories systematically. In so far as it was subject in this to the influence of Neopythagoreanism, it was of considerable importance in preparing the way for Neoplatonism. The most important of the Middle Platonists was Plutarch (45-120), who also won fame as an historian. Although he was a Platonist, he was open to the influence of the Peripatetics, and even, in some details, to the Stoics, despite his polemics against their principles; he rejected absolutely only Epicureanism.[5] In opposition to Stoic materialism and Epicurean "atheism," he cherished a pure idea of God that was more in accordance with Plato. Nevertheless he adopted a second principle in order to explain the constitution of the physical world. This principle he sought not in any indeterminate matter, but in the evil world-soul which had from the beginning been bound up with matter, but in the creation was filled with reason and arranged by it. Thus it was transformed into the divine soul of the world, but continued to operate as the source of all evil. He elevated God above the finite world, but he believed that God
Middle Platonism comes to our aid by direct revelations; this enabled Plutarch to justify popular belief in prophecy.[6] The gods of popular religion are merely different names for one and the same divine Being and the powers that serve them. Daemons were for him agents of God's influence on the world. Plutarch defended freedom of the will and the immortality of the soul. Platonic-Peripatetic ethics were upheld by Plutarch against the opposing theories of the Stoics and Epicureans. Among later Middle Platonists there were Theon of Smyrna, who wrote a mathematical introduction to Plato, and Gaius (2nd century) who was a teacher of Platonist philosophy. His pupil, Albinus, wrote an account of his lectures, of which we possess the introduction. Around the same time, Alcinous wrote an extant treatise on Platonism, in which he postulated three principles: the first God, the ideas, which are regarded as thoughts of this "first God", and matter.[7] Apuleius (c. 125), a popular writer, expounded an eclectic Platonism in his books On the God of Socrates and On Plato and his Doctrine which are written in Latin. Maximus of Tyre (c. 180), like Plutarch, endeavoured to bridge the gulf between a transcendent God and matter by the assumption of numerous daemons as intermediaries. Atticus (c. 175) opposed the eclecticism which had invaded the school and contested the theories of Aristotle as an aberration from Plato. He was an uncompromising supporter of Plato and regarded the theory of immortality as the basis of his whole system. Nevertheless in this theology he approached more closely to the Stoic idea of immanence. Numenius of Apamea (c. 160) combined both Neopythagoreanism and Platonism. He exhibited a far-going syncretism. Like Plutarch he supposed that an evil soul was combined with matter.[8] From this the mortal part of the human soul is derived, which he described as the second irrational soul. Because of its guilt the soul had to descend from its bodiless life into the body, and after its departure from the body, if it does not need to undergo further incarnation, it becomes indistinguishably united with God. A gift of God is the wisdom which is the highest good, and this gift is only granted to those who devote themselves to the ultimate good to the exclusion of all other thoughts.
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References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 273 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 274 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 305 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 306 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 307 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 308 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 309 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 310
Further reading
Dillon, John, M. (1977), The Middle Platonists, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
External links
Middle Platonism in Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/midplato.htm)
Neoplatonism
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Neoplatonism
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Neoplatonism
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Neoplatonism (or Neo-Platonism) is a modern term used to designate a tradition of philosophy that arose in the 3rd century C.E. and persisted until shortly after the closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens in 529 CE by Justinian I. Neoplatonists were heavily influenced both by Plato and by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from Plato. Collectively, the Neoplatonists formed a continuous tradition of philosophers, which began with Plotinus. One of the characteristic features of Plotinus' system, which was also taken up by subsequent Neoplatonists, is the doctrine of "the One" beyond being. For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is an utterly simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the most adequate names are "the One" or "the Good." The One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist, or to be a being. Rather, the creative principle of all things is beyond being, a notion which is derived from book VI of the Republic,[1] when, in the course of his famous analogy of the Sun, Plato says that the Good is beyond being ( ) in power and dignity.[2] Even though the Neoplatonists shared in common, in its most general outlines, the cosmological scheme formulated by Plotinus, and even though they were in general exercised by some of the same philosophical questions, they also diverged sharply on many matters. There are multiple ways to categorize the differences among the Neoplatonists according to their differing views, but one way[3] counts three distinct phases in Neoplatonism after Plotinus: the work of his student Porphyry, that of Iamblichus and his school in Calchis, and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the Academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished. Thinkers of this final period include Syrianus, Olympiodorus the Younger, Proclus and Damascius. A distinguishing feature of the Neoplatonism of later thinkers, such as those of Iamblichus and Proclus, is an embrace of magical practices, or theurgy, which they taught promoted the soul's development through a process called henosis. Neoplatonism has been very influential throughout history. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian and Jewish thinkers. In Muslim lands, Neoplatonic texts were available in Persian and Arabic translations, and notable thinkers such al-Farabi, Avicenna and Moses Maimonides incorporated Neoplatonic elements into their own thinking.
Neoplatonism Although the revitalization of Neoplationism amongst Italian Renaissance thinkers such as Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola is perhaps more famous, Latin translations of Late Ancient Neoplatonic texts were first available in the Christian West much earlier, in the Middle Ages. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, had direct access to works by Proclus, Simplicius and Dionysius the Areopagite, and he knew about other Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, through secondhand sources.[4] The influence of Neoplatonism also extends into forms of culture beyond philosophy, and well into the modern era, for instance, in Renaissance Aesthetics, and in the work of modernist poets such as W.B. Yeats[5] and T.S. Eliot, to name only several examples.
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Origins
The most important forerunners of Neoplatonism are the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, and the Neopythagoreans, especially Numenius of Apamea. Philo, a forerunner of Neoplatonism, translated Judaism into terms of Stoic, Platonic and Neopythagorean elements, and held that God is "supra rational," who can be reached only through "ecstasy", and that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge. The earliest Christian philosophers, such as Justin and Athenagoras, who attempted to connect Christianity with Platonism, and the Christian Gnostics of Alexandria, especially Valentinus and the followers of Basilides, also mirrored elements of Neoplatonism, albeit without its rigorous self-consistency.
Neoplatonism
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Teachings
Neoplatonism is generally a metaphysical and epistemological philosophy. Neoplatonism is a form of idealistic monism (also called theistic monism) and combines elements of Polytheism (see Monistic-polytheism). Although the founder of Neoplatonism is supposed to have been Ammonius Saccas, the Enneads of his pupil Plotinus are the primary and classical document of Neoplatonism. As a form of mysticism, it contains theoretical and practical parts, the first dealing with the high origin of the human soul showing how it has departed from its first estate, and the second showing the way by which the soul may again return to the Eternal and Supreme. The system can be divided between the invisible world and the phenomenal world, the former containing the transcendent One from which emanates an eternal, perfect, essence (nous), which, in turn, produces the world-soul.
The One
The primeval Source of Being is the One and the Infinite, as opposed to the many and the finite. It is the source of all life, and therefore absolute causality and the only real existence. However, the important feature of it is that it is beyond all Being, although the source of it. Therefore, it cannot be known through reasoning or understanding, since only what is part of Being can be thus known according to Plato. Being beyond existence, it is the most real reality, source of less real things. It is, moreover, the Good, insofar as all finite things have their purpose in it, and ought to flow back to it. But one cannot attach moral attributes to the original Source of Being itself, because these would imply limitation. It has no attributes of any kind; it is being without magnitude; in strict propriety, indeed, we ought not to speak of it as existing; it is "above existence," "above goodness." It is also active without a substratum; as active force the primeval Source of Being is perpetually producing something else, without alteration, or motion, or diminution of itself. This production is not a physical process, but an emission of force; and, since the product has real existence only in virtue of the original existence working in it, Neoplatonism may be described as a species of dynamic panentheism. Directly or indirectly, everything is brought forth by the "One." In it all things, so far as they have being, are divine, and God is all in all. Derived existence, however, is not like the original Source of Being itself, but is subject to a law of diminishing completeness. It is indeed an image and reflection of the first Source of Being; but the further the line of successive projections is prolonged the smaller is its share in the true existence. The totality of being may thus be conceived as a series of concentric circles, fading away towards the verge of non-existence, the force of the original Being in the outermost circle being a vanishing quantity. Each lower stage of being is united with the "One" by all the higher stages, and receives its share of reality only by transmission through them. All derived existence, however, has a drift towards, a longing for, the higher, and bends towards it so far as its nature will permit. Plotinus' treatment of the substance or essence (ousia) of the one was to reconcile Plato and Aristotle. Where Aristotle treated the monad as a single entity made up of one substance (here as energeia). Plotinus reconciled Aristotle with Plato's "the good" by expressing the substance or essence of the one as potential or force.[6]
Demiurge or Nous
The original Being initially emanates, or throws out, the nous, which is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things. It is simultaneously both being and thought, idea and ideal world. As image, the nous corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derivative, it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the nous is the highest sphere accessible to the human mind, while also being pure intellect itself. Nous is the most critical component of idealism, Neoplatonism being a pure form of idealism.[7][8] The demiurge (the nous) is the energy, or ergon (does the work), that manifests or organizes the material world into perceivability.
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The world-soul
The image and product of the motionless nous is the world-soul, which, according to Plotinus, is immaterial like the nous. Its relation to the nous is the same as that of the nous to the One. It stands between the nous and the phenomenal world, is permeated and illuminated by the former, but is also in contact with the latter. The nous/spirit is indivisible; the world-soul may preserve its unity and remain in the nous, but at the same time it has the power of uniting with the corporeal world and thus being disintegrated. It therefore occupies an intermediate position. As a single world-soul it belongs in essence and destination to the intelligible world; but it also embraces innumerable individual souls; and these can either allow themselves to be informed by the nous, or turn aside from the nous and choose the phenomenal world and lose themselves in the realm of the senses and the finite.
Practice
Here, then, we enter upon the practical philosophy. Along the same road by which it descended the soul must retrace its steps back to the supreme Good. It must first of all return to itself. This is accomplished by the practice of virtue, which aims at likeness to God, and leads up to God. In the ethics of Plotinus all the older schemes of virtue are taken over and arranged in a graduated series. The lowest stage is that of the civil virtues, then follow the purifying, and last of all the divine virtues. The civil virtues merely adorn the life, without elevating the soul. That is the office of the purifying virtues, by which the soul is freed from sensuality and led back to itself, and thence to the nous. By means of ascetic observances the human becomes once more a spiritual and enduring being, free from all sin. But there is still a higher attainment; it is not enough to be sinless, one must become "God" (henosis). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One in other words, through an ecstatic approach to it. Thought cannot attain to this, for thought reaches only to the nous, and is itself a kind of motion. It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the soul can recognize and touch the primeval Being. Hence the soul must first pass through a spiritual curriculum. Beginning with the contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it then retires upon itself and withdraws into the depths of its own being, rising thence to the nous, the world of ideas. But even there it does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not we have made ourselves." The last stage is reached when, in the highest tension and concentration, beholding in silence and utter forgetfulness of all things, it is able as it were to lose itself. Then it may see God, the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment it enjoys the highest indescribable bliss; it is as it were swallowed up of divinity, bathed in the light of eternity. Porphyry says that on four occasions during the six years of their intercourse, Plotinus attained to this ecstatic union with God.
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Celestial hierarchy
The religious philosophy of Plotinus for himself personally sufficed, without the aid of the popular religion or worship. Nevertheless he sought for points of support in these. God is certainly in the truest sense nothing but the primeval Being who is revealed in a variety of emanations and manifestations. Plotinus taught the existence of an ineffable and transcendent One, the All, from which emanated the rest of the universe as a sequence of lesser beings. Later Neoplatonic philosophers, especially Iamblichus, added hundreds of intermediate beings such as gods, angels and demons, and other beings as mediators between the One and humanity. The Neoplatonist gods are omni-perfect beings and do not display the usual amoral behaviour associated with their representations in the myths. The One God, The Good. Transcendent and ineffable. The Hypercosmic Gods Those that make Essence, Life, and Soul The Demiurge The creator The Cosmic Gods Those who make Being, Nature, and Matterincluding the gods known to us from classical religion.
Salvation
Neoplatonists believed human perfection and happiness were attainable in this world, without awaiting an afterlife. Perfection and happiness seen as synonymous could be achieved through philosophical contemplation. They did not believe in an independent existence of evil. They compared it to darkness, which does not exist in itself but only as the absence of light. So too, evil is simply the absence of good. Things are good insofar as they exist; they are evil only insofar as they are imperfect, lacking some good that they should have. It is also a cornerstone of Neoplatonism to teach that all people return to the Source. The Source, Absolute, or One is what all things spring from and, as a superconsciousness (nous), is where all things return. It can be said that all consciousness is wiped clean and returned to a blank slate when returning to the Source. All things have force or potential (dynamis) as their essence. This dynamis begets energy (energeia).[10][11][12] The Neoplatonists believed in the pre-existence, and immortality of the soul.[13][14] The human soul consists of a lower irrational soul and a higher rational soul (mind), both of which can be regarded as different powers of the one soul. It was widely held that the soul possesses a "vehicle",[15] accounting for the human soul's immortality and allowing for its return to the One after death.[16] After bodily death, the soul takes up a level in the afterlife corresponding with the level at which it lived during its earthly life.[17][18] The Neoplatonists believed in the principle of reincarnation. Although the most pure and holy souls would dwell in the highest regions, the impure soul would undergo a purification, before descending again,[19] to be reincarnated into a new body, perhaps into animal form.[20] Plotinus believed that a soul may be reincarnated into another human or even a different sort of animal. Porphyry maintained instead that human souls were only reincarnated into other humans.[21] A soul that has returned to the One, achieves union with the cosmic universal soul,[22] and does not descend again, at least, not in this world period.
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Logos
The term "Logos" was interpreted variously in neoplatonism. Plotinus refers to Thales[23] in interpreting Logos as the principle of meditation, the interrelationship between the Hypostases[24] (Soul, Spirit (nous) and the 'One'). St. John introduces a relation between 'Logos' and the Son, Christ,[25] while St. Paul calls it 'Son', 'Image' and 'Form'. Victorinus subsequently differentiated the Logos interior to God and the Logos related to the world by creation and salvation. Augustine re-interpreted Aristotle and Plato in the light of early Christian thought.[26] In his Confessions he describes the Logos as the divine eternal Word.[27] Augustine's Logos "took on flesh" in Christ, in whom the logos was present as in no other man.[28] He influenced Christian thought throughout the Hellenistic world[29] and strongly influenced Early Medieval Christian Philosophy. Perhaps the key subject in this was Logos. After Plotinus' (around 205270 A.D.) and his student Porphyry (around 232309 A.D.) Aristotle's (non-biological) works entered the curriculum of Platonic thought. Porphyry's introduction (Isagoge) to Aristotle's Categoria was important as an introduction to logic, and the study of Aristotle became an introduction to the study of Plato in the late Platonism of Athens and Alexandria. The commentaries of this group seek to harmonise Plato, Aristotle and, often, the Stoa.[30] Some works of neoplatonism were attributed to Plato or Aristotle. De Mundo, for instance, is thought not to be the work of a 'pseudo-Aristotle' though this remains debatable.[31]
Neoplatonist philosophers
Ammonius Saccas
Ammonius Saccas (birth unknown, death ca. 265 AD, Greek: ) is a founder of Neoplatonism and the teacher of Plotinus. Little is known of Ammonius Saccas other than that both Christians (see Eusebius, Jerome, and Origen) and pagans (see Porphyry and Plotinus) claimed him a teacher and founder of the Neoplatonic system. Porphyry stated in On the One School of Plato and Aristotle, that Ammonius' view was that the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were in harmony. Eusebius and Jerome claimed him as a Christian until his death, whereas Porphyry claimed he had renounced Christianity and embraced pagan philosophy.
Plotinus
Plotinus (Greek: ) (ca. 205270) was a major Greco-Egyptian[32] philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the father of Neoplatonism. Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads. While he was himself influenced by the teachings of classical Greek, Persian and Indian philosophy and Egyptian theology,[33] his metaphysical writings later inspired numerous Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics over the centuries. Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity or distinction; likewise it is beyond all categories of being and non-being. The concept of "being" is derived by us from the objects of human experience, and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects, and therefore is beyond the concepts that we derive from them. The One "cannot be any existing thing", and cannot be merely the sum of all such things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence), but "is prior to all existents".
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Porphyry
Porphyry (Greek: , c. A.D. 233 c. 309) was a Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher. He wrote widely on astrology, religion, philosophy, and musical theory. He produced a biography of his teacher, Plotinus. He is important in the history of mathematics because of his Life of Pythagoras, and his commentary on Euclid's Elements, which Pappus used when he wrote his own commentary.[1] Porphyry is also known as an opponent of Christianity and defender of Paganism; of his Adversus Christianos (Against the Christians) in 15 books, only fragments remain. He famously said, "The gods have proclaimed Christ to have been most pious, but the Christians are a confused and vicious sect."
Iamblichus
Iamblichus, also known as Iamblichus Chalcidensis, (ca. 245 - ca. 325, Greek: ) was a Syrian neoplatonist philosopher who determined the direction taken by later Neoplatonic philosophy, and perhaps western philosophical religions themselves. He is perhaps best known for his compendium on Pythagorean philosophy. In Iamblichus' system the realm of divinities stretched from the original One down to material nature itself, where soul in fact descended into matter and became "embodied" as human beings. The world is thus peopled by a crowd of superhuman beings influencing natural events and possessing and communicating knowledge of the future, and who are all accessible to prayers and offerings. Iamblichus had salvation as his final goal (see henosis). The embodied soul was to return to divinity by performing certain rites, or theurgy, literally, 'divine-working.'
Proclus
Proclus Lycaeus (February 8, 412 April 17, 485), surnamed "The Successor" or "diadochos" (Greek Prklos ho Didokhos), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Greek philosophers (see Damascius). He set forth one of the most elaborate, complex, and fully developed Neoplatonic systems. The particular characteristic of Proclus' system is his insertion of a level of individual ones, called henads between the One itself and the divine Intellect, which is the second principle. The henads are beyond being, like the One itself, but they stand at the head of chains of causation (seirai or taxeis) and in some manner give to these chains their particular character. They are also identified with the traditional Greek gods, so one henad might be Apollo and be the cause of all things apollonian, while another might be Helios and be the cause of all sunny things. The henads serve both to protect the One itself from any hint of multiplicity, and to draw up the rest of the universe towards the One, by being a connecting, intermediate stage between absolute unity and determinate multiplicity.
Emperor Julian
Julian (born c.331died June 26, 363), was a Roman Emperor (361363) of the Constantinian dynasty. He was the last pagan Roman Emperor, and tried to reform traditional Pagan worship by unifying Hellenic worship in the Roman empire in the form of Neoplatonism developed by Iamblichus. Julian sought to do this after the legalization of Christianity and its widespread success within the Eastern Roman Empire and to a lesser extent, the Western Roman Empire.
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Simplicius
Simplicius of Cilicia (c. 530CE), a pupil of Damascius, is not known as an original thinker, but his remarks are thoughtful and intelligent and his learning is prodigious.Wikipedia:Avoid weasel words To the student of Greek philosophy his commentaries are invaluableWikipedia:Avoid weasel words, as they contain many fragments of the older philosophers as well as of his immediate predecessors.
Michael Psellos
Michael Psellos (1018-1078) a Byzantine monk, writer, philosopher, politician and historian. He wrote many philosophical treatises such as, De omnifaria doctrina. He was quite the thinker, and he wrote most of his philosophy during his time as a court politician at Constantinople in the 1030s and 40's.
Gemistus Pletho
Gemistus Pletho (born c. 1355died 1452, Greek: ) remained the preeminent scholar of Neoplatonic philosophy in the late Byzantine Empire. He introduced his understanding and insight into the works of Neoplatonism during the failed attempt to reconcile the East-West schism at the council of Florence. At Florence Pletho met Cosimo de' Medici and influenced the latter's decision to found a new Platonic Academy there. Cosimo subsequently appointed as head Marsilio Ficino, who proceeded to translate all Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other Neoplatonist works into Latin.
Neoplatonism Blind, and the Jewish Neoplatonic philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol, who modified it in the light of their own monotheism. Neoplatonist ideas also influenced Islamic and Sufi thinkers such as al Farabi and Avicenna. Neoplatonism ostensibly survived in the Eastern Christian Church as an independent tradition and was reintroduced to the west by Plethon, an avowed pagan and opponent of the Byzantine Church inasmuch as the latter, under Western scholastic influence, relied heavily upon Aristotelian methodology. Plethon's Platonic revival following the Council of Florence (143839) largely accounts for the renewed of interest in Platonic philosophy that accompanied the Renaissance.
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Islamic Neoplatonism
"For Muslims, Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus are part of the Islamic tradition in the same manner that Abraham is regarded to be a prophet of Islam." Arabic scholars and philosophers utilized the works of Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and other Neoplatonist philosophers to evaluate, assess, and eventually adapt Neoplatonism to conform to the monotheistic constraints of Islam. Arabic scholars, like earlier Neoplatonic thinkers, read and philosophized the works of Plato, and developed similar questions and conclusions. The translation and interpretation of Islamic Neoplatonists had lasting effects on western philosophers, affecting Descartes' view on the conception of being. Important figures that translated and shaped Islamic Neoplatonism were Avicenna (Ibn Sina), al-Ghazali, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and al-Himsi. There were three major reasons for the prominence of Neoplatonic influences in the Islamic world: 1. Availability of Neoplatonic texts: Arabic translations and paraphrases of Neoplatonic works were readily available to Muslim scholars greatly due to the availability of the Greek copies, in part because of the Muslims came to rule over some of the more important centers of Greek civilization (Egypt and Syria). 2. Spatial and temporal proximity: "Plotinus and other Neoplotanists lived only a few centuries before the rise of Islam, and many of them were Egyptian Greeks." 3. Neoplatonism's mystical perspectives: Plotinus' system has similar content to Islamic mysticism, like Islamic Sufism. This eased the acceptance of Neoplatonic doctrines by Islamic philosophers. Islamic Neoplatonism differs from traditional Neoplatonism because of its incorporation of Islamic theology, most commonly through the change in definitions of the One and the First Principle. "What changes Neoplatonism is the transcendence of the First Principle." Muslim philosophers changed the Neoplatonic characteristics of the One into those attributable to God as present in Islamic scripture, notably transferring the First Principle to God. By assigning the First Principle to God they are altering the definition to fit the definition of God determined by scripture. Philosophers described God as free from Platonic forms and having divine omniscience and providence. The notion of the divine Intellect is altered under Islamic Neoplatonism and is once again attributed to God. Plotinus doesn't believe in the idea of intelligent design of the universe by an omnipotent being. Islamic philosophers adapted divine Intellect to reinforce scripture, in that God is a transcendent being, omnipresent and inalterable to the effects of his creation. The translations of the works that extrapolate the tenets of God in Neoplatonism present no major modification from their original Greek sources, showing the doctrinal shift towards monotheism. "The greatest cluster of Neoplatonic themes is found in religious mystical writings, which in fact transform purely orthodox doctrines such as creation into doctrines such as emanationism, which allow for a better framework for the expression of Neoplatonic themes and the emergence of the mystical themes of the ascent and mystical union." Islamic philosophers used the framework of Islamic mysticism in their interpretation of Neoplatonic writings and concepts. Parviz Morewedge gives four suppositions about the nature of Islamic Mysticism: The Unity of Being "An inherent potential unity among all dimensions of world-experience." The Mediator Figure "The mediation between finite man and the ultimate being."
Neoplatonism The Way of Salvation "Knowledge is embedded in the path of self-realization." Passing trials advances one through stages until transcendence. The Language of Symbolic Allegory "Mystical texts are often written in the allegorical language of tales."
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Renaissance Neoplatonism
"Of all the students of Greek in Renaissance Italy, the best-known are the Neoplatonists who studied in and around Florence" (Hole). Neoplatonism was not just a revival of Plato's ideas, it is all based on Plotinus' created synthesis, which incorporated the works and teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras and other Greek philosophers. The Renaissance in Italy was the revival of classic antiquity, and this started at the fall of the Byzantine empire, who were considered the "librarians of the world," because of their great collection of classical manuscripts, and the number of humanist scholars that resided in Constantinople (Hole). Neoplatonism in the Renaissance combined the ideas of Christianity and a new awareness of the writings of Plato. Marsilio Ficino (143399) was "chiefly responsible for packaging and presenting Plato to the Renaissance" (Hole). In 1462, Cosimo I de' Medici, patron of arts, who had an interest in humanism and Platonism, provided Ficino with all 36 of Plato's dialogues in Greek for him to translate. Between 1462 and 1469, Ficino translated these works into Latin, making them widely accessible, as only a minority of people could read Greek. And between 1484 and 1492, he translated the works of Plotinus, making them available for the first time to the West. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (146394) was another excelling Neoplatonist during the Italian Renaissance. He could not only speak and write in Latin and Greek, but he also had immense knowledge on the Hebrew and Arabic languages. The pope banned his works because they were viewed as heretical - unlike Ficino, who managed to stay on the right side of the church. The efforts of Ficino and Pico to introduce Neoplatonic and Hermetic doctrines into the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church has recently been evaluated in terms of an attempted "Hermetic Reformation."[37]
Cambridge Platonists
In the seventeenth century in England, Neoplatonism was fundamental to the school of the Cambridge Platonists, whose luminaries included Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, Benjamin Whichcote and John Smith, all graduates of Cambridge University. Coleridge claimed that they were not really Platonists, but "more truly Plotinists": "divine Plotinus", as More called him. Later, Thomas Taylor (not a Cambridge Platonist) was the first to translate Plotinus' works into English.[38][39]
Modern Neoplatonism
In the essay "Inner and Outer Realities: Jean Gebser in a Cultural/Historical Perspective", Integral philosopher Allan Combs claims that ten modern thinkers can be called Neo-Platonists: Goethe, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Coleridge, Emerson, Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, Jean Gebser and the modern theorist Brian Goodwin. He sees these thinkers as participating in a tradition that can be distinguished from the empiricist and materialist Western philosophical traditions.[40] In the philosophy of mathematics, in the early 20th century, the German philosopher, Gottlob Frege, renewed the interest in Plato's theory of mathematical objects (and other abstract objects, in general). Since then, a number of philosophers, such as Crispin Wright and Bob Hale have defended and developed this neo-platonist account of mathematics.
Neoplatonism Some cite American poet Ezra Pound as a Neo-platonist, albeit from a rather Confucian perspective due to his great admiration for Plotinus and his writings on philosophy and religion.Wikipedia:Please clarify Religiously he described himself in public as a Hellenistic Pagan.[citation needed] Other notable modern Neoplatonists include Thomas Taylor, "the English Platonist," who wrote extensively on Platonism and translated almost the entire Platonic and Plotinian corpora into English, and the Belgian writer Suzanne Lilar. Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick identified as a Neoplatonist, and explores related mystical experiences and religious concepts in his theoretical work, compiled in The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick.[citation needed]
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References
[1] [2] [3] [4] Dodds, E.R. "The Parmenides of Plato and the Origin of the Neoplatonic 'One'". The Classical Quarterly, Jul-Oct 1928, vol.22,p.136 Plato, Republic 509b http:/ / www. oxfordbibliographies. com/ view/ document/ obo-9780195389661/ obo-9780195389661-0201. xml Wayne Hankey, "Aquinas, Plato, and Neo-Platonism" http:/ / www. dal. ca/ content/ dam/ dalhousie/ pdf/ fass/ Classics/ Hankey/ Aquinas%20Plato%20and%20Neo-Platonism%20for%20Oxford. pdf [5] http:/ / books. google. com/ books/ about/ Yeats_Neoplatonism_and_the_Aesthetic_of. html?id=QME4twAACAAJ [6] Neoplatonism and Gnosticism Negative theology in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism by Curtis L Hancock pg 177 http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=WSbrLPup7wYC& pg=PA173& dq=plotinus+ energeia& sig=_pNuhvtMY4HEJWulC7-WTIWGDTA [7] Schopenhauer wrote of this Neoplatonist philosopher: "With Plotinus there even appears, probably for the first time in Western philosophy, idealism that had long been current in the East even at that time, for it taught (Enneads, iii, lib. vii, c.10) that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time, with the explanation: 'For there is for this universe no other place than the soul or mind' (neque est alter hujus universi locus quam anima), indeed the ideality of time is expressed in the words: 'We should not accept time outside the soul or mind' (oportet autem nequaquam extra animam tempus accipere)." (Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume I, "Fragments for the History of Philosophy," 7) [8] Similarly, professor Ludwig Noir wrote: "For the first time in Western philosophy we find idealism proper in Plotinus (Enneads, iii, 7, 10), where he says, "The only space or place of the world is the soul," and "Time must not be assumed to exist outside the soul." Ludwig Noir , Historical Introduction to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. It is worth noting, however, that like Plato but unlike Schopenhauer and other modern philosophers, Plotinus does not worry about whether or how we can get beyond our ideas in order to know external objects. [9] Neoplatonism and Gnosticism pgs 42-45 http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=WSbrLPup7wYC& pg=PA173& dq=plotinus+ energeia& sig=_pNuhvtMY4HEJWulC7-WTIWGDTA [10] D. G. Leahy, Faith and Philosophy: The Historical Impact, pages 5-6 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=VrB53l4wNK0C& pg=PA5& lpg=PA5& dq=plotinus+ energy& source=web& ots=rbnlnnwui5& sig=84RfXY8ErxUowZm2xT21Nuk8_II#PPA6,M1). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. [11] Enneads VI 9.6 [12] Richard T. Wallis, Jay Bregman, Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, page 173 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=WSbrLPup7wYC& pg=PA173& lpg=PA173& dq=plotinus+ energeia& source=web& ots=rSvPOK74Yy& sig=lb0TdaLZyt-jjyQGbnisTJkR5A4& hl=en#PPA176,M1). SUNY Press [13] Plotinus, iv. 7, "On the immortality of the Soul." [14] Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Brown, Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Oleg Grabar, 1999, Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World, page 40. Harvard University Press. [15] See Plato's Timaeus, 41d, 44e, 69c, for the origin of this idea. [16] Paul S. MacDonald, 2003, History of the Concept of Mind: Speculations About Soul, Mind and Spirit from Homer to Hume, page 122. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. [17] Plotinus, iii.4.2 [18] Andrew Smith, 1974, Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition: A Study in Post-Plotinian Neoplatonism, page 43. Springer. [19] Andrew Smith, 1974, Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition: A Study in Post-Plotinian Neoplatonism, page 58. Springer. [20] "Whether human souls could be reborn into animals seems to have become quite a problematical topic to the later neoplatonists." - Andrew Smith, (1987), Porphyrian Studies since 1913, ANRW II 36, 2. [21] Remes, Pauliina, Neoplatonism (University of California Press, 2008), p. 119. [22] James A. Arieti, Philosophy in the Ancient World: An Introduction, page 336. Rowman & Littlefield [23] Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Carlos Steel [24] The journal of neoplatonic studies, Volumes 7-8, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, 1999, P 16 [25] Theological treatises on the Trinity, By Marius Victorinus, Mary T. Clark, P25 [26] Neoplatonism and Christian thought (Volume 2), By Dominic J. O'Meara, page 39 [27] Confessiones, Augustine, P 130
Neoplatonism
[28] De immortalitate animae of Augustine: text, translation and commentary, By Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo.), C. W. Wolfskeel, introduction [29] Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Douwe Runia [30] Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Frans de Haas [31] De Mundo, Loeb Classical Library, Introductory Note, D.J. Furley [32] George Sarton (1936). "The Unity and Diversity of the Mediterranean World", Osiris 2, p. 406-463 [429-430]. [33] Porphyry, On the Life of Plotinus and the Order of His Books, Ch. 3 (Armstrong's Loeb translation). [34] http:/ / www. unl. edu/ classics/ faculty/ turner/ triadaft. htm [35] See E. Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria; Rainer Thiel, Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule in Athen, and a review by Gerald Bechtle, University of Berne, Switzerland, in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2000.04.19 (http:/ / ccat. sas. upenn. edu/ bmcr/ 2000/ 2000-04-19. html). Online version retrieved June 15, 2007. [36] Encyclopdia Britannica, Higher Education in the Byzantine Empire, 2008, O.Ed. [37] Heiser, James D., Prisci Theologi and the Hermetic Reformation in the Fifteenth Century, Repristination Press: Texas, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4610-9382-4 [38] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry for Plotinus (http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ plotinus/ ) [39] Notopoulos, J.A. "Shelley and Thomas Taylor" Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Jun., 1936), pp. 502-517 (http:/ / links. jstor. org/ sici?sici=0030-8129(193606)51:2<502:SATT>2. 0. CO;2-G) [40] Inner and Outer Realities: Jean Gebser in a Cultural/Historical Perspective (http:/ / www. cejournal. org/ GRD/ Realities. htm) by Allan Combs
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Further reading
The London Philosophy Study Guide (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/) offers many suggestions on what to read, depending on the student's familiarity with the subject: Post-Aristotelian philosophy (http://www. ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/Post-Arist.htm) Ruelle, an edition of Damascius On First Principles, (Paris, 1889) Whittaker, The Neo-Platonists, (Cambridge, 1901) Cambridge Companion to Plotinus. Ed. L.P. Gerson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) Neoplatonic Philosophy. Introductory Readings. Trans. and ed. by John M. Dillon and Lloyd P. Gerson, (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2004). Chiaradonna, Riccardo and Franco Trabattoni (edd.), Physics and Philosophy of Nature in Greek Neoplatonism: Proceedings of the European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop (il Ciocco,Castelvecchio Pascoli, june 22-24, 2006) (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2009) (Philosophia antiqua, 115). Doull, James (1999). "Neoplatonism and the Origin of the Cartesian Subject" (http://www2.swgc.mun.ca/ animus/Articles/Volume 4/doull4.pdf). Animus 4. ISSN 1209-0689 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/ 1209-0689). Retrieved August 9, 2011. Gertz, Sebastian R. P., Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism: Studies on the Ancient Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, Brill: Leiden, 2011.
External links
Neoplatonism (http://www.iep.utm.edu/neoplato) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Prometheus Trust (http://www.prometheustrust.co.uk/) International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (http://www.isns.us) Christian Platonists and Neoplatonists: Historical and Modern (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/cp.htm) Islamic Platonists and Neoplatonists (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/ip.htm) Aristotle's Categories at Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2412/2412-h/2412-h.htm) Confessiones (Book I-XIII) - Augustine at Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3296/pg3296. html)
Neoplatonism This articleincorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press
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Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of Hellenistic philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century, based on the teachings of Plato and some of his early followers. Neoplatonism took definitive shape with the philosopher Plotinus, who claimed to have received his teachings from Ammonius Saccas, a dock worker and philosopher in Alexandria. Neoplatonists considered themselves simply "Platonists", although they also wished to distinguish themselves from various earlier interpreters of Plato, such as the New Academy followers of skepticism like Arcesilaus and Cicero, Clitomachus, Carneades with its probabilistic account of knowledge. A more precise term for the group, suggested by the scholar John D. Turner, is orthodox (neo) Platonism. Gnosticism is a term created by modern scholars to describe a collection of religious groups, many of which thought of themselves as Christians, and which were active in the first few centuries AD.[2] There has been considerable scholarly controversy over exactly which sects fall within this grouping. Sometimes Gnosticism is used narrowly to refer only to religious groups such as Sethians and Archontics who seem to have used the term gnostikoi as a self-designation, even though early Platonists and Ebionites also used the term and are not considered to be Gnostics. Sometimes it is used a little more broadly to include groups similar to or influenced by Sethians, such as followers of Basilides or Valentinius and later the Paulicians. Sometimes it is used even more broadly to cover all groups which heavily emphasized gnosis, therefore including Hermetics and Neoplatonists as well. This article discusses the relationship between Neoplatonism and Gnosticism.
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism Although the Greek stem gno- was in common use, "like many of the new words formed with -(t)ikos, gnostikos was never very widely used and never entered ordinary Greek; it remained the more or less exclusive property of Plato's subsequent admirers, such as Aristotle, Philo Judaeus, Plutarch, Albinus, Iamblichus and Ioannes Philoponus. Most important of all in its normal philosophical usage gnostikos was never applied to the person as a whole, but only to mental endeavours, facilities, or components of personality."[3] Thus, if it really is true that some Christians referred to themselves as gnostikoi, or "professed to be" gnostikoi, as Porphyry and Celsus (two pagans who wrote against Christianity), Clement of Alexandria, and Irenaeus claim, then this would be the novel coinage of a very distinctive moniker as opposed to a continuation of traditional usage. Further, it might well mark a self-designating proper name rather than merely a self-description. Indeed, it would have sounded like technical philosophical jargon at the time. In contrast, merely claiming to have or supply gnosis would have been a common claim in the 2nd century CE, unworthy of notice in many Christian and Hellenistic circles.
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Neoplatonism
By the third century Plotinus had shifted Platonist thought far enough that modern scholars consider the period a new movement called "Neoplatonism"although Plotinus took his position to conform with the Old Academics and the Middle Platonists, especially via his teacher Ammonius Saccas; Alexander of Aphrodisias, who was later head of the Lyceum in Athens; and Numenius of Apamea a forerunner of the Neo-Pythagoreans and Neo-Platonists. Plotinus seems to have been influenced by Gnostics only to the extent of writing a polemic against them (which Porphyry has rearranged into Ennead 3.8, 5.8, 5.5, and 2.9).[6]
Gnosticism
Scholarship on Gnosticism has been greatly advanced by the discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi texts, which shed light on some of the more puzzling comments by Plotinus and Porphyry regarding the Gnostics. More importantly, the texts help to distinguish different kinds of early Gnostics. It now seems clear that "Sethian" and "Valentinian"[7] gnostics attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy,[8] and were rebuffed by some Neoplatonists, including Plotinus. Plotinus considered his opponents "heretics",[9]
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism "imbeciles" and "blasphemers"[10] erroneously arriving at misotheism as the solution to the problem of evil, taking all their truths over from Plato.[11] They were in conflict with the idea expressed by Plotinus that the approach to the infinite force which is the One or Monad can not be through knowing or not knowing.[12] Although there has been dispute as to which gnostics Plotinus was referring to, it appears they were Sethian.[13] The earliest origins of Gnosticism are still obscure and disputed, but they probably include influence from Plato, Middle Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism, and this seems to be true both of the more Sethian Gnostics, and of the Valentinian Gnostics. Further, if we compare different Sethian texts to each other in an attempted chronology of the development of Sethianism during the first few centuries, it seems that later texts are continuing to interact with Platonism. Earlier texts such as Apocalypse of Adam show signs of being pre-Christian and focus on the Seth of the Jewish bible (not the Egyptian God Set who is sometimes called Seth in Greek). These early Sethians may be identical to or related to the Ophites or to the sectarian group called the Minuth by Philo. Later Sethian texts such as Zostrianos and Allogenes draw on the imagery of older Sethian texts, but utilize "a large fund of philosophical conceptuality derived from contemporary Platonism, (that is late middle Platonism) with no traces of Christian content.". Indeed the Allogenes doctrine of the "triple-powered one" is "the same doctrine as found in the anonymous Parmenides commentary (Fragment XIV) ascribed by Hadot to Porphyry ... and is also found in Plotinus' Ennead 6.7, 17, 13-26." However, by the 3rd century Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus, Porphyry and Amelius are all attacking the Sethians. It looks as if Sethianism began as a pre-Christian tradition, possibly a syncretic Hebrew[14] Mediterranean baptismal movement from the Jordan Valley. With Babylonian and Egyptian pagan elements, Hellenic philosophy. That incorporated elements of Christianity and Platonism as it grew, only to have both Christianity and Platonism reject and turn against it. Professor John D. Turner believes that this double attack led to Sethianism fragmentation into numerous smaller groups (Audians, Borborites, Archontics and perhaps Phibionites, Stratiotici, and Secundians).
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Neoplatonism and Gnosticism or mind, also reason. Plotinus was critical of the gnostic derivation of the Demiurge from Wisdom as Sophia, the anthropomorphic personification of wisdom as a feminine spirit deity not unlike the goddess Athena or the Christian Holy Spirit. These objections seem applicable to some of the Nag Hammadi texts, although others such as the Valentinians, or the Tripartite Tractate, appear to insist on the goodness of the world and the Demiurge. (Plotinus indicated that if gnostics really believed this world to be a prison, then they might at any moment free themselves from it by committing suicide.)
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References
[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Neoplatonism_and_Gnosticism& action=edit [2] Filoramo, Giovanni (1990). A History of Gnosticism. Blackwell. pp. 142-7 [3] Layton, Bentley. "Prolegomena to the Study of Ancient Gnosticism" in The Social World of the First Christians: Essays in Honor of Wayne Meeks. ed L. Michael White and O. Larry Yarborough. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995 [4] Turner, John. "Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History" in Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity, 1986 p. 59 [5] Layton, Bentley. The Gnostic Scriptures. Doubleday 1987 [6] Harder, "Scrift Plotins" ??? [7] This is what the scholar A. H. Armstrong wrote as a footnote in his translation of Plotinus' Enneads in the tract named against the Gnostics. Footnote from Page 264 1. From this point to the end of ch.12 Plotinus is attacking a Gnostic myth known to us best at present in the form it took in the system of Valentinus. The Mother, Sophia-Achamoth, produced as a result of the complicated sequence of events which followed the fall of the higher Sophia, and her offspring the Demiurge, the inferier and ignorant maker of the material universe, are Valentinian figures: cp. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 1.4 and 5. Valentinius had been in Rome, and there is nothing improbable in the presence of Valentinians there in the time of Plotinus. But the evidence in the Life ch.16 suggests that the Gnostics in Plotinus's circle belonged rather to the other group called Sethians on Archonties, related to the Ophites or Barbelognostics: they probably called themselves simply "Gnostics." Gnostic sects borrowed freely from each other, and it is likely that Valentinius took some of his ideas about Sophia from older Gnostic sources, and that his ideas in turn influenced other Gnostics. The probably Sethian Gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi included Valentinian treatise: ep. Puech, Le pp. 162-163 and 179-180. [8] Schenke, Hans Martin. "The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. E. J. Brill 1978 [9] Introductory Note This treatise (No.33 in Porphyry's chronological order) is in fact the concluding section of a single long treatise which Porphyry, in order to carry out the design of grouping his master's works, more or less according to subject, into six sets of nine treatise, hacked roughly into four parts which he put into different Enneads, the other three being III. 8 (30) V. 8 (31) and V .5 (32). Porphyry says (Life ch. 16.11) that he gave the treatise the Title "Against the Gnostics" (he is presumably also responsible for the titles of the other sections of the cut-up treatise). There is an alternative title in Life. ch. 24 56-57 which runs "Against those who say that the maker of the universe is evil and the universe is evil. The treatise as it stands in the Enneads is a most powerful protest on behalf of Hellenic philosophy against the un-Hellenic heresy (as it was from the Platonist as well as the orthodox Christian point of view) of Gnosticism. A.H. Armstrong introduction to II 9. Against the Gnostics Pages 220-222 [10] They claimed to be a privileged caste of beings, in whom alone God was interested, and who were saved not by their own efforts but by some dramatic and arbitrary divine proceeding; and this, Plotinus claimed, led to immorality. Worst of all, they despised and hated the material universe and denied its goodness and the goodness of its maker . For a Platonist, is utter blasphemy -- and all the worse because it obviously derives to some extent from the sharply other-worldly side of Plato's own teaching (e.g. in the Phaedo). At this point in his attack Plotinus comes very close in some ways to the orthodox Christian opponents of Gnosticism, who also insist that this world is the work of God in his goodness. But, here as on the question of salvation, the doctrine which Plotinus is defending is as sharply opposed on other ways to orthodox Christianity as to Gnosticism: for he maintains not only the goodness of the material universe but also its eternity and its divinity. A.H. Armstrong introduction to II 9. Against the Gnostics Pages 220-222 [11] The teaching of the Gnostics seems to him untraditional, irrational and immoral. They despise and revile the ancient Platonic teachings and claim to have a new and superior wisdom of their own: but in fact anything that is true in their teaching comes from Plato, and all they have done themselves is to add senseless complications and pervert the true traditional doctrine into a melodramatic, superstitious fantasy designed to feed their own delusions of grandeur. They reject the only true way of salvation through wisdom and virtue, the slow patient study of truth and pursuit of perfection by men who respect the wisdom of the ancients and know their place in the universe. A.H. Armstrong introduction to II 9. Against the Gnostics Pages 220-222 [12] Enneads VI 9.6 [13] A. H. Armstrong (translator), Plotinus' Enneads in the tract named Against the Gnostics: Footnote, p. 264 1. From this point to the end of ch.12 Plotinus is attacking a Gnostic myth known to us best at present in the form it took in the system of Valentinus. The Mother, Sophia-Achamoth, produced as a result of the complicated sequence of events which followed the fall of the higher Sophia, and her offspring the Demiurge, the inferior and ignorant maker of the material universe, are Valentinian figures: cp. Irenaues adv. Haer 1.4 and 5. Valentinius had been in Rome, and there is nothing improbable in the presence of Valentinians there in the time of Plotinus. But the evidence in the Life ch.16 suggests that the Gnostics in Plotinus's circle belonged rather to the other group called Sethians on Archonties, related to the Ophites or Barbelognostics: they probably called themselves simply "Gnostics." Gnostic sects borrowed freely from each other, and it is likely that Valentinius took some of his ideas about Sophia from older Gnostic sources, and that his ideas in turn influenced other Gnostics. The probably Sethian Gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi included Valentinian treatise: ep. Puech, Le pp. 162-163 and 179-180. [14] http:/ / www. amazon. com/ dp/ 1565639448 [15] http:/ / www. gnosis. org/ naghamm/ intpr. htm [16] http:/ / www. unl. edu/ classics/ faculty/ turner/ John%20Turner%20-%20HomePage. htm [17] http:/ / ccat. sas. upenn. edu/ rs/ rak/ courses/ 535/ reviews/ Turner-CP. htm
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Bibliography
Turner, John D., The Platonizing Sethian texts from Nag Hammadi in their Relation to Later Platonic Literature (http://jdt.unl.edu/triadaft.htm), ISBN 0-7914-1338-1. Turner, John D., and Ruth Majercik, eds. Gnosticism and Later Platonism: Themes, Figures, and Texts. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000. Wallis, Richard T. (1992). Neoplatonism and Gnosticism for the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-1337-3 - ISBN 0-7914-1338-1.
External links
International Society of Neoplatonic Studies (http://www.isns.us/texts.htm) Ancient philosophy society (http://www.ancientphilosophysociety.org/) Society of Biblical Literature (http://www.sbl-site.org/)
Neoplatonism
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Augustine of Hippo
Main topics Original sin Divine grace Invisible church Predestination Incurvatus in se Augustinian hypothesis Just War Augustinian theodicy
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Works
The City of God Confessions On Christian Doctrine Soliloquies Enchiridion Influences and followers Plotinus St. Monica Ambrose Possidius Thomas Aquinas Bonaventure Luther Calvin Jansen Related topics Neoplatonism Pelagianism Augustinians Scholasticism Jansenism Order of St. Augustine
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Christian mysticism
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Neoplatonism was a major influence on Christian theology throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the West due to St. Augustine of Hippo, who was influenced by the early Neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry, and the works of the Christian writer Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, who was influenced by later Neoplatonists, such as Proclus and Damascius.
Late Antiquity
Certain central tenets of Neoplatonism served as a philosophical interim for the Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo on his journey from dualistic Manichaeism to Christianity. As a Manichee, Augustine had held that evil has substantial being and that God is made of matter; when he became a Neoplatonist, he changed his views on these things. As a Neoplatonist, and later a Christian, Augustine believed that evil is a privation of good and that God is not material. Perhaps more importantly, the emphasis on mystical contemplation as a means to directly encounter God or the One, found in the writings of Plotinus and Porphyry, deeply affected Augustine. He reports at least two mystical experiences in his Confessions which clearly follow the Neoplatonic model. According to his own account of his important discovery of 'the books of the Platonists' in Confessions Book 7, Augustine owes his conception of both God and the human soul as incorporeal substance to Neoplatonism.
Neoplatonism and Christianity When writing his treatise 'On True Religion' several years after his 387 baptism, Augustine's Christianity was still tempered by Neoplatonism, but he eventually decided to abandon Neoplatonism altogether in favor of a Christianity based on his own reading of Scripture.[citation needed] Many other Christians were influenced by Neoplatonism, especially in their identifying the Neoplatonic One, or God, with Yahweh. The most influential of these would be Origen, who potentially took classes from Ammonius Saccas (but this is not certain because there may have been a different philosopher, now called Origen the pagan, at the same time), and the late 5th century author known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Neoplatonism also had links with Gnosticism, which Plotinus rebuked in his ninth tractate of the second Enneads: "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of The Kosmos and The Kosmos Itself to Be Evil" (generally known as "Against The Gnostics"). Due to their belief being grounded in Platonic thought, the Neoplatonists rejected Gnosticism's vilification of Plato's demiurge, the creator of the material world or cosmos discussed in the Timaeus. Although Neoplatonism has been referred to as orthodox Platonic philosophy by scholars like Professor John D. Turner [34], this reference may be due in part to Plotinus' attempt to refute certain interpretations of Platonic philosophy, through his Enneads. Plotinus believed the followers of gnosticism had corrupted the original teachings of Plato. Despite the influence this philosophy had on Christianity, Justinian I would hurt later Neoplatonism by ordering the closure of the refounded Academy of Athens in 529.[3] The closing of the academy was followed by the opening of the secular University of Constantinople. Which was not officially called a University before this and was actually found as the University of the palace hall of Magnaura in 425 AD. The school at Constantinople had been an academic institution for many years before it was called a university; the original institution was founded by the emperor Theodosius II.[4]
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Middle Ages
Pseudo-Dionysius proved significant for both the Byzantine and Roman branches of Christianity. His works were translated into Latin by John Scotus Eriugena in the 9th century.
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Renaissance
Marsilio Ficino, who translated Plotinus, Proclus, as well as Plato's complete works into Latin, was the central figure of a major Neoplatonist revival in the Renaissance. His friend, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was also a major figure in this movement. Renewed interest in Plotinian philosophy contributed to the rational theology and philosophy of the "Cambridge Platonist" circle (B. Whichcote, R. Cudworth, J. Smith, H. More, etc.). Renaissance Neoplatonism also overlapped with or graded into various forms of Christian esotericism.
Christoplatonism
Christoplatonism is a term used to refer to a dualism opined by Plato, which influenced the Church, which holds spirit is good but matter is evil. According to author Randy Alcorn, Christoplatonism directly "contradicts the Biblical record of God calling everything He created good."
References
[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Augustine& action=edit [2] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Christian_mysticism& action=edit [3] See Rainer Thiel, Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule in Athen, and a review by Gerald Bechtle, University of Berne, Switzerland, in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2000.04.19 (http:/ / ccat. sas. upenn. edu/ bmcr/ 2000/ 2000-04-19. html). Online version retrieved June 15, 2007. [4] The Formation of the Hellenic Christian Mind by Demetrios Constantelos ISBN 0-89241-588-6 (http:/ / www. amazon. com/ dp/ 0892415886) . The fifth century marked a definite turning point in Byzantine higher education. Theodosios founded in 425 a major university with 31 chairs for law, philosophy, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, rhetoric and other subjects. Fifteen chairs were assigned to Latin and 16 to Greek. The university was reorganized by Michael II (842867) and flourished down to the fourteenth century [5] Constantine Cavarnos, Orthodoxy and Philosophy, The Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 2003 pages [6] Gregory Palamas, The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, in The Philokalia, The Complete Text Volume 4, translated by Palmer, Sherrand and Ware, published 1995 Faber and Faber. pages 360-361 [7] Gregory Palamas, The Triads, edited by John Meyendorff, Paulist Press 1983. [8] Sarah Coakley and Charles M. Stang, Re-thinking Dionysius the Areopagite, John Wiley and Sons, 2009 [9] Andrew Louth, Denys the Areopagite, Continuum Books, 1989, Pages 20-21 [10] Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, page 29 [11] John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes, Fordham University Press, 1974, pages 27-28)
Literature
Gerard O'Daly, Platonism Pagan and Christian: Studies in Plotinus and Augustine, Variorum Collected Studies Series 719 (2001), ISBN 978-0-86078-857-7.
External links
Christian Platonism and Christian Neoplatonism (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/cp.htm)
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Notes
[1] Yates, Frances A. (1964) Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. University of Chicago Press 1991 edition: ISBN 0-226-95007-7 [2] Paul Oskar Kristeller, Eight Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance. Stanford University Press (Stanford, California, 1964.) P. 62. [3] Heiser, James D., Prisci Theologi and the Hermetic Reformation in the Fifteenth Century, Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4610-9382-4.
External links
Christian Platonists and Neoplatonists (http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/cp.htm)
Cambridge Platonists
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Cambridge Platonists
The Cambridge Platonists were a group of theologians and philosophers at the University of Cambridge in the middle of the 17th century. The leading figures were Ralph Cudworth and Henry More.
Views
The Cambridge Platonists used the framework of the philosophia perennis of Agostino Steuco, and from it argued for moderation. They believed that Henry More of the Cambridge Platonist school. reason is the proper judge of disagreements, and so they advocated dialogue between the Puritan and Laudian traditions. The orthodox English Calvinists of the time found in their views an insidious attack, by-passing as it did the basic theological issues of atonement and justification by faith. Given the circle's Cambridge background in Puritan colleges, the undermining was intellectually all the more effective. John Bunyan complained in those terms about Edward Fowler, a close latitudinarian follower. Their understanding of reason was as "the candle of the Lord": an echo of the divine within the human soul and an imprint of God within man. They believed that reason could judge the private revelations of Puritan narrative, and investigate contested rituals and liturgy of the Church of England. For this approach they were called "latitudinarian". The dogmatism of the Puritan divines, with their anti-rationalist demands, was, they felt, incorrect. They also felt that the Calvinist insistence on individual revelation left God uninvolved with the majority of mankind. At the same time, they were reacting against the reductive materialist writings of Thomas Hobbes. They felt that the latter, while rationalist, were denying the idealistic part of the universe. To the Cambridge Platonists, religion and reason were in harmony, and reality was known not by physical sensation alone, but by intuition of the intelligible Forms that exist behind the material world of everyday perception. Universal, ideal forms ( la Plato) inform matter, and the physical senses are unreliable guides to their reality. In response to the mechanical philosophy, More proposed a "Hylarchic Principle", and Cudworth a concept of "Plastic Nature".
Cambridge Platonists
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Representatives
Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway (1631-1679) Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) Ralph Cudworth (16171688) Nathaniel Culverwel (16191651) Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680) Damaris Cudworth Masham (1659-1708) Henry More (16141687) John Norris (1657-1711) George Rust (d.1670) John Smith (16181652) Peter Sterry (16131672) Benjamin Whichcote (16091683) John Worthington (1618-1671)
Notes
[1] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography theme "Cambridge Platonists (act. 1630s1680s) ". (http:/ / www. oxforddnb. com/ view/ theme/ 94274?& back=6119)
Further reading
C. A. Patrides. The Cambridge Platonists (Cambridge, 1980) ISBN 0-521-29942-X
Park, Jae-Eun. " Gale's Reformed Platonism: Focusing on His Discourse of "Creation" and "Providence" in The Court of the Gentiles (http://www.academia.edu/6321441/ Theophilus_Gales_Reformed_Platonism_Focusing_on_His_Discourse_of_Creation_and_Providence_in_The_Court_of_the_Gent Theophilus)," Mid-America Journal of Theology 24 (2013): 121-142.
Cambridge Platonists
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External links
Cambridge Platonism (http://cambridgeplatonism.wordpress.com/)
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ARISTOTELIANISM
Aristotle
Aristotle
Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippus, c.330BCE. The alabaster mantle is modern. Born 384BCE Stagira, Chalcidice (Chalkidiki), northern Greece 322BCE (aged 62) Euboea, Greece
Died
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Maininterests
Aristotle
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Notableideas Golden mean Aristotelian logic Syllogism Hexis Hylomorphism Theory of the soul
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Aristotle (/rsttl/;[2] Greek: [aristot ls], Aristotls; 384 322BCE)[3] was a Greek philosopher born in Stagirus, northern Greece, in 384BCE. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c.347BCE). His writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedonia, tutored Alexander the Great between 356 and 323BCE. According to the Encyclopdia Britannica, Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history.... Every scientist is in his debt.[citation needed] Teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books. The fact that Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views of Platonism, but, following Platos death, Aristotle immersed himself in empirical studies and shifted from Platonism to empiricism.[4] He believed all peoples' concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works. Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended into the Renaissance and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century.Wikipedia:Please clarify His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism profoundly influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thought during the Middle Ages and continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as "The First Teacher" (Arabic: ).
Aristotle His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold" it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived.[5]
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Life
Aristotle, whose name means "the best purpose", was born in 384BCE in Stagira, Chalcidice, about 55 km (34 miles) east of modern-day Thessaloniki. His father Nicomachus was the personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Although there is little information on Aristotle's childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy.[6] At about the age of eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy. He remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47BCE. The traditional story about his departure records that he was disappointed with the Academy's direction after control passed to Plato's nephew Speusippus, although it is possible that he feared anti-Macedonian sentiments and left before Plato had died.[7] Aristotle and Plato's compatibility has been a strongly debated topic. Recently, Harold Cherniss summarized Aristotle's Platonism from the standpoint of classicist Werner Jaeger, stating that: "Jaeger, in whose eyes Plato's philosophy was the "matter" out of which the newer and higher form of Aristotle's thought proceeded by a gradual but steady and undeviating development (Aristotles, p.11), pronounced the "old controversy", whether or not Aristotle understood Plato, to be "absolut verstandnislos". Yet this did not prevent LeisegangWikipedia:Avoid weasel words from reasserting that Aristotle's own pattern of thinking was incompatible with a proper understanding of Plato."[8][9] Contrary to Leisegang's sympathies, Jaeger was sympathetic to a compatible reading of Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor. There, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermias's adoptive daughter or niece. She bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias' death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343BCE.[10] Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave lessons not only to Alexander, but also to two other future kings: Ptolemy and Cassander.[11] Aristotle encouraged Alexander toward eastern conquest and his attitude towards Persia was unabashedly ethnocentric. In one famous example, he counsels Alexander to be "a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants". By 335BCE, Artistotle had returned to Athens, establishing his own school there known as the Lyceum. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next twelve years. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stagira, who bore him a son whom he named after his father, Nicomachus. According to the Suda, he also had an eromenos, Palaephatus of Abydus.[12] This period in Athens, between 335 and 323BCE, is when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works. He wrote many dialogues of which only fragments have survived. Those works that
Aristotle have survived are in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication; they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics. Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek knowledge. Near the end of his life, Alexander became paranoid and wrote threatening letters to Aristotle. Aristotle had made no secret of his contempt for Alexander's pretense of divinity and the king had executed Aristotle's grandnephew Callisthenes as a traitor. A widespread tradition in antiquity suspected Aristotle of playing a role in Alexander's death, but there is little evidence.[13] Following Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens was rekindled. In 322BCE, Eurymedon the Hierophant denounced Aristotle for not holding the gods in honor, prompting him to flee to his mother's family estate in Chalcis, explaining: "I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy"[14] a reference to Athens's prior trial and execution of Socrates. He died in Euboea of natural causes later that same year, having named his student Antipater as his chief executor and leaving a will in which he asked to be buried next to his wife.[15] In general, the details of the life of Aristotle are not well-established. The biographies of Aristotle written in ancient times are often speculative and historians only agree on a few salient points.[16]
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Memory
According to Aristotle, memory is the ability to hold a perceived experience in your mind and to have the ability to distinguish between the internal appearance and an occurrence in the past. In other words, a memory is a mental picture (phantasm) in which Aristotle defines in De Anima, as an appearance which is imprinted on the part of the body that forms a memory. Aristotle believed an imprint becomes impressed on a semi-fluid bodily organ that undergoes several changes in order to make a memory. A memory occurs when a stimuli is too complex that the nervous system (semi-fluid bodily organ) cannot receive all the impressions at once. These changes are the same as those involved in the operations of sensation, common sense, and thinking .[17] The mental picture imprinted on the bodily organ is the final product of the entire process of sense perception. It does not matter if the experience was seen or heard, every experience ends up as a mental image in memory Aristotle uses the word memory for two basic abilities. First, the actual retaining of the experience in the mnemonic imprint that can develop from sensation. Second, the intellectual anxiety that comes with the imprint due to being impressed at a particular time and processing specific contents. These abilities can be explained as memory is neither sensation nor thinking because is arises only after a lapse of time. Therefore, memory is of the past, [18] prediction is of the future, and sensation is of the present. The retrieval of our imprints cannot be performed suddenly. A transitional channel is needed and located in our past experiences, both for our previous experience and present experience. Aristotle proposed that slow-witted people have good memory because the fluids in their brain do not wash away their memory organ used to imprint experiences and so the imprint can easily continue. However, they cannot be too slow or the hardened surface of the organ will not receive new imprints. He believed the young and the old do not properly develop an imprint. Young people undergo rapid changes as they develop, while the elderlys organs are beginning to decay, thus stunting new imprints. Likewise, people who are too quick-witted are similar to the young and the image cannot be fixed because of the rapid changes of their organ. Since intellectual functions are not involved in memory, memories belong to some animals too, but only those in which have perception of time.
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Recollection
Since Aristotle believes people receive all kinds of sense perceptions and people perceive them as images or imprints, people are continually weaving together new imprints of things they experience. In order to search for these imprints, people search the memory itself. Within the memory, if one experience is offered instead of a specific memory, that person will reject this experience until they find what they are looking for. Recollection occurs when one experience naturally follows another. If the chain of "images" is needed, one memory will stimulate the other. If the chain of "images" is not needed, but expected, then it will only stimulate the other memory in most instances. When people recall experiences, they stimulate certain previous experiences until they have stimulated the one that was needed .[19] Recollection is the self-directed activity of retrieving the information stored in a memory "imprint" after some time has passed. Retrieval of stored information is dependent on the scope of mnemonic capabilities of a being (human or animal) and the abilities the human or animal possesses .[20] Only humans will remember "imprints" of intellectual activity, such as numbers and words. Animals that have perception of time will be able to retrieve memories of their past observations. Remembering involves only perception of the things remembered and of the time passed. Recollection of an "imprint" is when the present experiences a person remembers are similar with elements corresponding in character and arrangement of past sensory experiences. When an "imprint" is recalled, it may bring forth a large group of related "imprints" .[21] Aristotle believed the chain of thought, which ends in recollection of certain imprints, was connected systematically in three sorts of relationships: similarity, contrast, and contiguity. These three laws make up his Laws of Association. Aristotle believed that past experiences are hidden within our mind. A force operates to awaken the hidden material to bring up the actual experience. According to Aristotle, association is the power innate in a mental state, which operates upon the unexpressed remains of former experiences, allowing them to rise and be recalled .[22]
Thought
Logic
With the Prior Analytics, Aristotle is credited with the earliest study of formal logic,[23] and his conception of it was the dominant form of Western logic until 19th century advances in mathematical logic.[24] Kant stated in the Critique of Pure Reason that Aristotle's theory of logic completely accounted for the core of deductive inference. History Aristotle "says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had nothing else on an earlier date to speak of'". However, Plato reports that syntax was devised before him, by Prodicus of Ceos, who was concerned by the correct use of words. Logic seems to have emerged from dialectics; the earlier philosophers made frequent use of concepts like reductio ad absurdum in their discussions, but never truly understood the logical implications. Even Plato had difficulties with logic; although he had a reasonable conception of a deductive system, he could never actually construct one, thus he relied instead on his dialectic.[25]
Aristotle portrayed in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle as a scholar of the 15th century AD.
Plato believed that deduction would simply follow from premises, hence he focused on maintaining solid premises so that the conclusion would logically follow. Consequently, Plato realized that a method for obtaining conclusions would be most beneficial. He never succeeded in devising such a method, but his best attempt was published in his book Sophist, where he introduced his division method.
Aristotle Analytics and the Organon What we today call Aristotelian logic, Aristotle himself would have labeled "analytics". The term "logic" he reserved to mean dialectics. Most of Aristotle's work is probably not in its original form, since it was most likely edited by students and later lecturers. The logical works of Aristotle were compiled into six books in about the early 1st century AD: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Categories On Interpretation Prior Analytics Posterior Analytics Topics On Sophistical Refutations
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The order of the books (or the teachings from which they are composed) is not certain, but this list was derived from analysis of Aristotle's writings. It goes from the basics, the analysis of simple terms in the Categories, the analysis of propositions and their elementary relations in On Interpretation, to the study of more complex forms, namely, syllogisms (in the Analytics) and dialectics (in the Topics and Sophistical Refutations). The first three treatises form the core of the logical theory stricto sensu: the grammar of the language of logic and the correct rules of reasoning. There is one volume of Aristotle's concerning logic not found in the Organon, namely the fourth book of Metaphysics.
Aristotle's epistemology
Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle's philosophy aims at the universal. Aristotle's ontology, however, finds the universal in particular things, which he calls the essence of things, while in Plato's ontology, the universal exists apart from particular things, and is related to them as their prototype or exemplar. For Aristotle, therefore, epistemology is based on the study of particular phenomena and rises to the knowledge of essences, while for Plato epistemology begins with knowledge of universal Forms (or ideas) and descends to knowledge of particular imitations of these. For Aristotle, "form" still refers to the unconditional basis of phenomena but is "instantiated" in a particular substance (see Universals and particulars, below). In a certain sense, Aristotle's method is both inductive and deductive, while Plato's is essentially deductive from a priori principles. In Aristotle's terminology, "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy examining the phenomena of the natural world, and includes fields that would be regarded today as physics, biology and other natural sciences. In modern times, the scope of philosophy has become limited to more generic or abstract inquiries, such as ethics and metaphysics, in which logic plays a major role. Today's philosophy tends to exclude empirical study of the natural world by means of the scientific method. In contrast, Aristotle's philosophical endeavors encompassed virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry.
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms.
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In the larger sense of the word, Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as "science". Note, however, that his use of the term science carries a different meaning than that covered by the term "scientific method". For Aristotle, "all science (dianoia) is either practical, poetical or theoretical" (Metaphysics 1025b25). By practical science, he means ethics and politics; by poetical science, he means the study of poetry and the other fine arts; by theoretical science, he means physics, mathematics and metaphysics. If logic (or "analytics") is regarded as a study preliminary to philosophy, the divisions of Aristotelian philosophy would consist of: (1) Logic; (2) Theoretical Philosophy, including Metaphysics, Physics and Mathematics; (3) Practical Philosophy and (4) Poetical Philosophy. In the period between his two stays in Athens, between his times at the "Aristotle" by Francesco Hayez (17911882) Academy and the Lyceum, Aristotle conducted most of the scientific thinking and research for which he is renowned today. In fact, most of Aristotle's life was devoted to the study of the objects of natural science. Aristotle's metaphysics contains observations on the nature of numbers but he made no original contributions to mathematics. He did, however, perform original research in the natural sciences, e.g., botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, and several other sciences. Aristotle's writings on science are largely qualitative, as opposed to quantitative. Beginning in the 16th century, scientists began applying mathematics to the physical sciences, and Aristotle's work in this area was deemed hopelessly inadequate. His failings were largely due to the absence of concepts like mass, velocity, force and temperature. He had a conception of speed and temperature, but no quantitative understanding of them, which was partly due to the absence of basic experimental devices, like clocks and thermometers. His writings provide an account of many scientific observations, a mixture of precocious accuracy and curious errors. For example, in his History of Animals he claimed that human males have more teeth than females.[26] In a similar vein, John Philoponus, and later Galileo, showed by simple experiments that Aristotle's theory that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter object is incorrect. On the other hand, Aristotle refuted Democritus's claim that the Milky Way was made up of "those stars which are shaded by the earth from the sun's rays," pointing out (correctly, even if such reasoning was bound to be dismissed for a long time) that, given "current astronomical demonstrations" that "the size of the sun is greater than that of the earth and the distance of the stars from the earth many times greater than that of the sun, then... the sun shines on all the stars and the earth screens none of them."[27] In places, Aristotle goes too far in deriving 'laws of the universe' from simple observation and over-stretched reason. Today's scientific method assumes that such thinking without sufficient facts is ineffective, and that discerning the validity of one's hypothesis requires far more rigorous experimentation than that which Aristotle used to support his laws. Aristotle also had some scientific blind spots. He posited a geocentric cosmology that we may discern in selections of the Metaphysics, which was widely accepted up until the 16th century. From the 3rd century to the 16th century, the dominant view held that the Earth was the rotational center of the universe. Since he was perhaps the philosopher most respected by European thinkers during and after the Renaissance, these thinkers often took Aristotle's erroneous positions as given, which held back science in this epoch.[28] However, Aristotle's scientific shortcomings should not mislead one into forgetting his great advances in the many scientific fields. For instance, he founded logic as a formal science and created foundations to biology that were not superseded for two millennia. Moreover, he introduced the fundamental notion that nature is composed of things that
Aristotle change and that studying such changes can provide useful knowledge of underlying constants.
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Geology
As quoted from Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology: He [Aristotle] refers to many examples of changes now constantly going on, and insists emphatically on the great results which they must produce in the lapse of ages. He instances particular cases of lakes that had dried up, and deserts that had at length become watered by rivers and fertilized. He points to the growth of the Nilotic delta since the time of Homer, to the shallowing of the Palus Maeotis within sixty years from his own time... He alludes... to the upheaving of one of the Eolian islands, previous to a volcanic eruption. The changes of the earth, he says, are so slow in comparison to the duration of our lives, that they are overlooked; and the migrations of people after great catastrophes, and their removal to other regions, cause the event to be forgotten. He says [12th chapter of his Meteorics] 'the distribution of land and sea in particular regions does not endure throughout all time, but it becomes sea in those parts where it was land, and again it becomes land where it was sea, and there is reason for thinking that these changes take place according to a certain system, and within a certain period.' The concluding observation is as follows: 'As time never fails, and the universe is eternal, neither the Tanais, nor the Nile, can have flowed for ever. The places where they rise were once dry, and there is a limit to their operations, but there is none to time. So also of all other rivers; they spring up and they perish; and the sea also continually deserts some lands and invades others The same tracts, therefore, of the earth are not some always sea, and others always continents, but every thing changes in the course of time.'[29]
Physics
Five elements Aristotle proposed a fifth element, aether, in addition to the four proposed earlier by Empedocles. Earth, which is cold and dry; this corresponds to the modern idea of a solid. Water, which is cold and wet; this corresponds to the modern idea of a liquid. Air, which is hot and wet; this corresponds to the modern idea of a gas. Fire, which is hot and dry; this corresponds to the modern ideas of plasma and heat. Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up the heavenly spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and planets).
Each of the four earthly elements has its natural place. All that is earthly tends toward the center of the universe, i.e., the center of the Earth. Water tends toward a sphere surrounding the center. Air tends toward a sphere surrounding the water sphere. Fire tends toward the lunar sphere (in which the Moon orbits). When elements are moved out of their natural place, they naturally move back towards it. This is "natural motion"motion requiring no extrinsic cause. So, for example, in water, earthy bodies sink while air bubbles rise up; in air, rain falls and flame rises. Outside all the other spheres, the heavenly, fifth element, manifested in the stars and planets, moves in the perfection of circles. Motion Aristotle defined motion as the actuality of a potentiality as such.[30] Aquinas suggested that the passage be understood literally; that motion can indeed be understood as the active fulfillment of a potential, as a transition toward a potentially possible state. Because actuality and potentiality are normally opposites in Aristotle, other commentators either suggest that the wording which has come down to us is erroneous, or that the addition of the "as such" to the definition is critical to understanding it.
Aristotle Causality, the four causes Aristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about can be attributed to four different types of simultaneously active causal factors: Material cause describes the material out of which something is composed. Thus the material cause of a table is wood, and the material cause of a car is rubber and steel. It is not about action. It does not mean one domino knocks over another domino. The formal cause is its form, i.e., the arrangement of that matter. It tells us what a thing is, that any thing is determined by the definition, form, pattern, essence, whole, synthesis or archetype. It embraces the account of causes in terms of fundamental principles or general laws, as the whole (i.e., macrostructure) is the cause of its parts, a relationship known as the whole-part causation. Plainly put, the formal cause is the idea existing in the first place as exemplar in the mind of the sculptor, and in the second place as intrinsic, determining cause, embodied in the matter. Formal cause could only refer to the essential quality of causation. A simple example of the formal cause is the mental image or idea that allows an artist, architect, or engineer to create his drawings. The efficient cause is "the primary source", or that from which the change under consideration proceeds. It identifies 'what makes of what is made and what causes change of what is changed' and so suggests all sorts of agents, nonliving or living, acting as the sources of change or movement or rest. Representing the current understanding of causality as the relation of cause and effect, this covers the modern definitions of "cause" as either the agent or agency or particular events or states of affairs. So, take the two dominoes, this time of equal weighting, the first is knocked over causing the second also to fall over. The final cause is its purpose, or that for the sake of which a thing exists or is done, including both purposeful and instrumental actions and activities. The final cause or teleos is the purpose or function that something is supposed to serve. This covers modern ideas of motivating causes, such as volition, need, desire, ethics, or spiritual beliefs. Additionally, things can be causes of one another, causing each other reciprocally, as hard work causes fitness and vice versa, although not in the same way or function, the one is as the beginning of change, the other as the goal. (Thus Aristotle first suggested a reciprocal or circular causality as a relation of mutual dependence or influence of cause upon effect). Moreover, Aristotle indicated that the same thing can be the cause of contrary effects; its presence and absence may result in different outcomes. Simply it is the goal or purpose that brings about an event. Our two dominoes require someone or something to intentionally knock over the first domino, since it cannot fall of its own accord. Aristotle marked two modes of causation: proper (prior) causation and accidental (chance) causation. All causes, proper and incidental, can be spoken as potential or as actual, particular or generic. The same language refers to the effects of causes, so that generic effects assigned to generic causes, particular effects to particular causes, operating causes to actual effects. Essentially, causality does not suggest a temporal relation between the cause and the effect. Optics Aristotle held more accurate theories on some optical concepts than other philosophers of his day. The earliest known written evidence of a camera obscura can be found in Aristotle's documentation of such a device in 350 BC in Problemata. Aristotle's apparatus contained a dark chamber that had a single small hole, or aperture, to allow for sunlight to enter. Aristotle used the device to make observations of the sun and noted that no matter what shape the hole was, the sun would still be correctly displayed as a round object. In modern cameras, this is analogous to the diaphragm. Aristotle also made the observation that when the distance between the aperture and the surface with the image increased, the image was magnified.
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Aristotle Chance and spontaneity According to Aristotle, spontaneity and chance are causes of some things, distinguishable from other types of cause. Chance as an incidental cause lies in the realm of accidental things. It is "from what is spontaneous" (but note that what is spontaneous does not come from chance). For a better understanding of Aristotle's conception of "chance" it might be better to think of "coincidence": Something takes place by chance if a person sets out with the intent of having one thing take place, but with the result of another thing (not intended) taking place. For example: A person seeks donations. That person may find another person willing to donate a substantial sum. However, if the person seeking the donations met the person donating, not for the purpose of collecting donations, but for some other purpose, Aristotle would call the collecting of the donation by that particular donator a result of chance. It must be unusual that something happens by chance. In other words, if something happens all or most of the time, we cannot say that it is by chance. There is also more specific kind of chance, which Aristotle names "luck", that can only apply to human beings, since it is in the sphere of moral actions. According to Aristotle, luck must involve choice (and thus deliberation), and only humans are capable of deliberation and choice. "What is not capable of action cannot do anything by chance".[31]
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Metaphysics
Aristotle defines metaphysics as "the knowledge of immaterial being," or of "being in the highest degree of abstraction." He refers to metaphysics as "first philosophy", as well as "the theologic science." Substance, potentiality and actuality Aristotle examines the concepts of substance and essence (ousia) in his Metaphysics (Book VII), and he concludes that a particular substance is a combination of both matter and form. In book VIII, he distinguishes the matter of the substance as the substratum, or the stuff of which it is composed. For example, the matter of a house is the bricks, stones, timbers etc., or whatever constitutes the potential house, while the form of the substance is the actual house, namely 'covering for bodies and chattels' or any other differentia (see also predicables) that let us define something as a house. The formula that gives the components is the account of the matter, and the formula that gives the differentia is the account of the form.[32] With regard to the change (kinesis) and its causes now, as he defines in his Physics and On Generation and Corruption 319b320a, he distinguishes the coming to be from: 1. growth and diminution, which is change in quantity; 2. locomotion, which is change in space; and 3. alteration, which is change in quality. The coming to be is a change where nothing persists of which the resultant is a property. In that particular change he introduces the concept of potentiality (dynamis) and actuality (entelecheia) in association with the matter and the form. Referring to potentiality, this is what a thing is capable of doing, or being acted upon, if the conditions are right and it is not prevented by something else. For example, the seed of a plant in the soil is potentially (dynamei) plant, and if is not prevented by something, it will become a plant. Potentially beings can either 'act' (poiein) or 'be acted upon' (paschein), which can be either innate or learned. For example, the eyes possess the potentiality of sight (innate
Statue of Aristotle (1915) by Cipri Adolf Bermann at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau
Aristotle being acted upon), while the capability of playing the flute can be possessed by learning (exercise acting). Actuality is the fulfillment of the end of the potentiality. Because the end (telos) is the principle of every change, and for the sake of the end exists potentiality, therefore actuality is the end. Referring then to our previous example, we could say that an actuality is when a plant does one of the activities that plants do. "For that for the sake of which a thing is, is its principle, and the becoming is for the sake of the end; and the actuality is the end, and it is for the sake of this that the potentiality is acquired. For animals do not see in order that they may have sight, but they have sight that they may see."[33] In summary, the matter used to make a house has potentiality to be a house and both the activity of building and the form of the final house are actualities, which is also a final cause or end. Then Aristotle proceeds and concludes that the actuality is prior to potentiality in formula, in time and in substantiality. With this definition of the particular substance (i.e., matter and form), Aristotle tries to solve the problem of the unity of the beings, for example, "what is it that makes a man one"? Since, according to Plato there are two Ideas: animal and biped, how then is man a unity? However, according to Aristotle, the potential being (matter) and the actual one (form) are one and the same thing.[34] Universals and particulars Aristotle's predecessor, Plato, argued that all things have a universal form, which could be either a property, or a relation to other things. When we look at an apple, for example, we see an apple, and we can also analyze a form of an apple. In this distinction, there is a particular apple and a universal form of an apple. Moreover, we can place an apple next to a book, so that we can speak of both the book and apple as being next to each other. Plato argued that there are some universal forms that are not a part of particular things. For example, it is possible that there is no particular good in existence, but "good" is still a proper universal form. Bertrand Russell is a 20th-century philosopher who agreed with Plato on the existence of "uninstantiated universals". Aristotle disagreed with Plato on this point, arguing that all universals are instantiated. Aristotle argued that there are no universals that are unattached to existing things. According to Aristotle, if a universal exists, either as a particular or a relation, then there must have been, must be currently, or must be in the future, something on which the universal can be predicated. Consequently, according to Aristotle, if it is not the case that some universal can be predicated to an object that exists at some period of time, then it does not exist. In addition, Aristotle disagreed with Plato about the location of universals. As Plato spoke of the world of the forms, a location where all universal forms subsist, Aristotle maintained that universals exist within each thing on which each universal is predicated. So, according to Aristotle, the form of apple exists within each apple, rather than in the world of the forms.
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Octopus swimming
Torpedo fuscomaculata
Aristotle same time, both tusks and horns," and "a single-hooved animal with two horns I have never seen," Aristotle suggested that Nature, giving no animal both horns and tusks, was staving off vanity, and giving creatures faculties only to such a degree as they are necessary. Noting that ruminants had multiple stomachs and weak teeth, he supposed the first was to compensate for the latter, with Nature trying to preserve a type of balance.[38] In a similar fashion, Aristotle believed that creatures were arranged in a graded scale of perfection rising from plants on up to man, the scala naturae.[39] His system had eleven grades, arranged according "to the degree to which they are infected with potentiality", expressed in their form at birth. The highest animals laid warm and wet creatures alive, the lowest bore theirs cold, dry, and in thick eggs. Aristotle also held that the level of a creature's perfection was reflected in its form, but not preordained by that form. Ideas like this, and his ideas about souls, are not regarded as science at all in modern times. He placed emphasis on the type(s) of soul an organism possessed, asserting that plants possess a vegetative soul, responsible for reproduction and growth, animals a vegetative and a sensitive soul, responsible for mobility and sensation, and humans a vegetative, a sensitive, and a rational soul, capable of thought and reflection.[40] Aristotle, in contrast to earlier philosophers, but in accordance with the Egyptians, placed the rational soul in the heart, rather than the brain.[41] Notable is Aristotle's division of sensation and thought, which generally went against previous philosophers, with the exception of Alcmaeon.[42] Successor: Theophrastus Aristotle's successor at the Lyceum, Theophrastus, wrote a series of books on botanythe History of Plantswhich survived as the most important contribution of antiquity to botany, even into the Middle Ages. Many of Theophrastus' names survive into modern times, such as carpos for fruit, and pericarpion for seed vessel. Rather than focus on formal causes, as Aristotle did, Theophrastus suggested a mechanistic scheme, drawing analogies between natural and artificial processes, and relying on Aristotle's concept of the efficient cause. Theophrastus also recognized the role of sex in the reproduction of some higher plants, though this last discovery was lost in later ages.[43] Influence on Hellenistic medicine After Theophrastus, the Lyceum failed to produce any original work. Though interest in Aristotle's ideas survived, they were generally taken unquestioningly.[44] It is not until the age of Alexandria under the Ptolemies that advances in biology can be again found. The first medical teacher at Alexandria, Herophilus of Chalcedon, corrected Aristotle, placing intelligence in the brain, and connected the nervous system to motion and sensation. Herophilus also distinguished between
The frontispiece to a 1644 version of the expanded and illustrated edition of Historia Plantarum (ca. 1200), which was originally written around 200 BC.
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veins and arteries, noting that the latter pulse while the former do not.[45] Though a few ancient atomists such as Lucretius challenged the teleological viewpoint of Aristotelian ideas about life, teleology (and after the rise of
Aristotle Christianity, natural theology) would remain central to biological thought essentially until the 18th and 19th centuries. Ernst Mayr claimed that there was "nothing of any real consequence in biology after Lucretius and Galen until the Renaissance."[46] Aristotle's ideas of natural history and medicine survived, but they were generally taken unquestioningly.[47]
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Psychology
Aristotle's psychology, given in his treatise On the Soul (peri psyche, often known by its Latin title De Anima), posits three kinds of soul ("psyches"): the vegetative soul, the sensitive soul, and the rational soul. Humans have a rational soul. This kind of soul is capable of the same powers as the other kinds: Like the vegetative soul it can grow and nourish itself; like the sensitive soul it can experience sensations and move locally. The unique part of the human, rational soul is its ability to receive forms of other things and compare them. For Aristotle, the soul (psyche) was a simpler concept than it is for us today. By soul he simply meant the form of a living being. Since all beings are composites of form and matter, the form of living beings is that which endows them with what is specific to living beings, e.g. the ability to initiate movement (or in the case of plants, growth and chemical transformations, which Aristotle considers types of movement).[48]
Practical philosophy
Ethics Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical rather than theoretical study, i.e., one aimed at becoming good and doing good rather than knowing for its own sake. He wrote several treatises on ethics, including most notably, the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle taught that virtue has to do with the proper function (ergon) of a thing. An eye is only a good eye in so much as it can see, because the proper function of an eye is sight. Aristotle reasoned that humans must have a function specific to humans, and that this function must be an activity of the psuch (normally translated as soul) in accordance with reason (logos). Aristotle identified such an optimum activity of the soul as the aim of all human deliberate action, eudaimonia, generally translated as "happiness" or sometimes "well being". To have the potential of ever being happy in this way necessarily requires a good character (thik aret), often translated as moral (or ethical) virtue (or excellence).[49] Aristotle taught that to achieve a virtuous and potentially happy character requires a first stage of having the fortune to be habituated not deliberately, but by teachers, and experience, leading to a later stage in which one consciously chooses to do the best things. When the best people come to live life this way their practical wisdom (phronesis) and their intellect (nous) can develop with each other towards the highest possible human virtue, the wisdom of an accomplished theoretical or speculative thinker, or in other words, a philosopher.[50] Politics Like Aristotle, conservatives generally accept the world as it is; they distrust the politics of abstract reason that is, reason divorced from experience. Benjamin Wiker In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the city in his work titled Politics. Aristotle considered the city to be a natural community. Moreover, he considered the city to be prior in importance to the family which in turn is prior to the individual, "for the whole must of necessity be prior to the part".[51] He also famously stated that "man is by nature a political animal". Aristotle conceived of politics as being like an organism rather than like a machine, and as a collection of parts none of which can exist without the others. Aristotle's conception of the city is organic, and he is considered one of the first to conceive of the city in this manner.
Aristotle The common modern understanding of a political community as a modern state is quite different from Aristotle's understanding. Although he was aware of the existence and potential of larger empires, the natural community according to Aristotle was the city (polis) which functions as a political "community" or "partnership" (koinnia). The aim of the city is not just to avoid injustice or for economic stability, but rather to allow at least some citizens the possibility to live a good life, and to perform beautiful acts: "The political partnership must be regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of noble actions, not for the sake of living together." This is distinguished from modern approaches, beginning with social contract theory, according to which individuals leave the state of nature because of "fear of violent death" or its "inconveniences."[52] Rhetoric and poetics Aristotle considered epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry and music to be imitative, each varying in imitation by medium, object, and manner.[53] For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone, and poetry with language. The forms also differ in their object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic imitation of men worse than average; whereas tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. Lastly, the forms differ in their manner of imitation through narrative or character, through change or no change, and through drama or no drama.[54] Aristotle believed that imitation is natural to mankind and constitutes one of mankind's advantages over animals.[55] While it is believed that Aristotle's Poetics comprised two books one on comedy and one on tragedy only the portion that focuses on tragedy has survived. Aristotle taught that tragedy is composed of six elements: plot-structure, character, style, thought, spectacle, and lyric poetry.[56] The characters in a tragedy are merely a means of driving the story; and the plot, not the characters, is the chief focus of tragedy. Tragedy is the imitation of action arousing pity and fear, and is meant to effect the catharsis of those same emotions. Aristotle concludes Poetics with a discussion on which, if either, is superior: epic or tragic mimesis. He suggests that because tragedy possesses all the attributes of an epic, possibly possesses additional attributes such as spectacle and music, is more unified, and achieves the aim of its mimesis in shorter scope, it can be considered superior to epic.[57] Aristotle was a keen systematic collector of riddles, folklore, and proverbs; he and his school had a special interest in the riddles of the Delphic Oracle and studied the fables of Aesop.[58]
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Views on women
Aristotle's analysis of procreation describes an active, ensouling masculine element bringing life to an inert, passive female element. On this ground, feminists have accused Aristotle of misogyny and sexism. However, Aristotle gave equal weight to women's happiness as he did to men's, and commented in his Rhetoric that a society cannot be happy unless women are happy too.
Aristotle connections to Aristotle are purely fanciful and self-promotional.[60] According to a distinction that originates with Aristotle himself, his writings are divisible into two groups: the "exoteric" and the "esoteric".[61] Most scholars have understood this as a distinction between works Aristotle intended for the public (exoteric), and the more technical works intended for use within the school (esoteric). Modern scholars commonly assume these latter to be Aristotle's own (unpolished) lecture notes (or in some cases possible notes by his students).[62] However, one classic scholar offers an alternative interpretation. The 5th century neoplatonist Ammonius Hermiae writes that Aristotle's writing style is deliberately obscurantist so that "good people may for that reason stretch their mind even more, whereas empty minds that are lost through carelessness will be put to flight by the obscurity when they encounter sentences like these."[63] Another common assumption is that none of the exoteric works is extant that all of Aristotle's extant writings are of the esoteric kind. Current knowledge of what exactly the exoteric writings were like is scant and dubious, though many of them may have been in dialogue form. (Fragments of some of Aristotle's dialogues have survived.) Perhaps it is to these that Cicero refers when he characterized Aristotle's writing style as "a river of gold"; it is hard for many modern readers to accept that one could seriously so admire the style of those works currently available to us. However, some modern scholars have warned that we cannot know for certain that Cicero's praise was reserved specifically for the exoteric works; a few modern scholars have actually admired the concise writing style found in Aristotle's extant works.[64] One major question in the history of Aristotle's works, then, is how were the exoteric writings all lost, and how did the ones we now possess come to us?[65] The story of the original manuscripts of the esoteric treatises is described by Strabo in his Geography and Plutarch in his Parallel Lives.[66] The manuscripts were left from Aristotle to his successor Theophrastus, who in turn willed them to Neleus of Scepsis. Neleus supposedly took the writings from Athens to Scepsis, where his heirs let them languish in a cellar until the 1st century BC, when Apellicon of Teos discovered and purchased the manuscripts, bringing them back to Athens. According to the story, Apellicon tried to repair some of the damage that was done during the manuscripts' stay in the basement, introducing a number of errors into the text. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla occupied Athens in 86 BC, he carried off the library of Apellicon to Rome, where they were first published in 60 BC by the grammarian Tyrannion of Amisus and then by the philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes.[67][68] Carnes Lord attributes the popular belief in this story to the fact that it provides "the most plausible explanation for the rapid eclipse of the Peripatetic school after the middle of the third century, and for the absence of widespread knowledge of the specialized treatises of Aristotle throughout the Hellenistic period, as well as for the sudden reappearance of a flourishing Aristotelianism during the first century B.C." Lord voices a number of reservations concerning this story, however. First, the condition of the texts is far too good for them to have suffered considerable damage followed by Apellicon's inexpert attempt at repair. Second, there is "incontrovertible evidence," Lord says, that the treatises were in circulation during the time in which Strabo and Plutarch suggest they were confined within the cellar in Scepsis. Third, the definitive edition of Aristotle's texts seems to have been made in Athens some fifty years before Andronicus supposedly compiled his. And fourth, ancient library catalogues predating Andronicus' intervention list an Aristotelian corpus quite similar to the one we currently possess. Lord sees a number of post-Aristotelian interpolations in the Politics, for example, but is generally confident that the work has come down to us relatively intact. On the one hand, the surviving texts of Aristotle do not derive from finished literary texts, but rather from working drafts used within Aristotle's school, as opposed, on the other hand, to the dialogues and other "exoteric" texts which Aristotle published more widely during his lifetime. The consensus is that Andronicus of Rhodes collected the esoteric works of Aristotle's school which existed in the form of smaller, separate works, distinguished them from those of Theophrastus and other Peripatetics, edited them, and finally compiled them into the more cohesive, larger works as they are known today.[69]
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Legacy
More than 2300 years after his death, Aristotle remains one of the most influential people who ever lived. He contributed to almost every field of human knowledge then in existence, and he was the founder of many new fields. According to the philosopher Bryan Magee, "it is doubtful whether any human being has ever known as much as he did". Among countless other achievements, Aristotle was the founder of formal logic,[70] pioneered the study of zoology, and left every future scientist and philosopher in his debt through his contributions to the scientific method. Despite these achievements, the influence of Aristotle's errors is considered by some to have held back science considerably. Bertrand Russell notes that "almost every serious intellectual advance has had to Aristotle with a bust of Homer, by Rembrandt. begin with an attack on some Aristotelian doctrine". Russell also refers to Aristotle's ethics as "repulsive", and calls his logic "as definitely antiquated as Ptolemaic astronomy". Russell notes that these errors make it difficult to do historical justice to Aristotle, until one remembers how large of an advance he made upon all of his predecessors.
Aristotle Teacher".[78] The title "teacher" was first given to Aristotle by Muslim scholars, and was later used by Western philosophers (as in the famous poem of Dante) who were influenced by the tradition of Islamic philosophy. In accordance with the Greek theorists, the Muslims considered Aristotle to be a dogmatic philosopher, the author of a closed system, and believed that Aristotle shared with Plato essential tenets of thought. Some went so far as to credit Aristotle himself with neo-Platonic metaphysical ideas.
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Post-Enlightenment thinkers
The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has been said to have taken nearly all of his political philosophy from Aristotle.[81] However implausible this is, it is certainly the case that Aristotle's rigid separation of action from production, and his justification of the subservience of slaves and others to the virtue or arete of a few justified the ideal of aristocracy. It is Martin Heidegger, not Nietzsche, who elaborated a new interpretation of Aristotle, intended to warrant his deconstruction of scholastic and philosophical tradition. Ayn Rand accredited Aristotle as "the greatest philosopher in history" and cited him as a major influence on her thinking. More recently, Alasdair MacIntyre has attempted to reform what he calls the Aristotelian tradition in a way that is anti-elitist and capable of disputing the claims of both liberals and Nietzscheans.[82]
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List of works
The works of Aristotle that have survived from antiquity through medieval manuscript transmission are collected in the Corpus Aristotelicum. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school. Reference to them is made according to the organization of Immanuel Bekker's Royal Prussian Academy edition (Aristotelis Opera edidit Academia Regia Borussica, Berlin, 18311870), which in turn is based on ancient classifications of these works.
Eponym
The Aristotle Mountains along the Oscar II Coast of Graham Land, Antarctica, are named after Aristotle. He was the first person known to conjecture the existence of a landmass in the southern high-latitude region and call it "Antarctica".[83]
[3] That these undisputed dates (the first half of the Olympiad year 384/383 BCE, and in 322 shortly before the death of Demosthenes) are correct was shown already by August Boeckh (Kleine Schriften VI 195); for further discussion, see Felix Jacoby on FGrHist 244 F 38. Ingemar Dring, Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition, Gteborg, 1957, . [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Barnes 2007, p.6. Jonathan Barnes, "Life and Work" in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (1995), . Anagnostopoulos, G., "Aristotle's Life" in A Companion to Aristotle (Blackwell Publishing, 2009), . Carnes Lord, introduction to The Politics by Aristotle (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984). Cherniss, Harold (1962). Aristotle's Criticism of Plato and the Academy, Russell and Russell, Inc., . Aristoteles: Grundlegung einer Geschichte seiner Entwicklung (1923; English trans. Richard Robinson (1902-1996) as Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of His Development, 1934). [10] Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, Simon & Schuster, 1972. [11] Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, University of California Press Ltd. (Oxford, England) 1991, [12] William George Smith,Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, , (http:/ / www. ancientlibrary. com/ smith-bio/ 2421. html) [13] Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, University of California Press Ltd. (Oxford, England), 1991, and 459. [14] Vita Marciana 41, cf. Aelian Varia historica 3.36, Ingemar Dring, Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition, Gteborg, 1957, T44a-e. [15] Aristotle's Will (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ifqGuiHo6eQC& pg=PA3862& dq=Antipater+ Aristotle+ will& sig=sQzQVBdRmk-spNdZnyd1MwzAPTc), Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmischen Welt by Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase. [16] See Shields, C., "Aristotle's Philosophical Life and Writings" in The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (Oxford University Press, 2012), . Dring, I., Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition (Gteborg, 1957) is a collection of [an overview of?] ancient biographies of Aristotle. [17] Bloch 2007, p.61. [18] Bloch 2007, p.25. [19] Warren 1921, p.25. [20] Carruthers 2007, p.19. [21] Warren 1921, p.296. [22] Warren 1921, p.259. [23] MICHAEL DEGNAN, 1994. Recent Work in Aristotle's Logic. Philosophical Books 35.2 (April, 1994): 81-89. [24] Corcoran, John (2009). Aristotle's Demonstrative Logic. History and Philosophy of Logic, 30: 120. [25] Bocheski, 1951. [26] Aristotle, History of Animals, 2.3. [27] Aristotle, Meteorology 1.8, trans. E.W. Webster, rev. J. Barnes. [28] Burent, John. 1928. Platonism, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 61, 103104. [29] Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=mmIOAAAAQAAJ& ), 1832, p.17
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[30] Physics 201a1011, 201a2729, 201b45 [31] Aristotle, Physics 2.6 [32] Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1043a 1030 [33] Aristotle, Metaphysics IX 1050a 510 [34] Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1045ab [35] Singer, Charles. A short history of biology. Oxford 1931. [36] Emily Kearns, "Animals, knowledge about," in Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1996, p. 92. [37] Aristotle, of course, is not responsible for the later use made of this idea by clerics. [38] Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 4344 [39] Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 201202; see also: Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being [40] Aristotle, De Anima II 3 [41] Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 45 [42] Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy Vol. 1 pp. 348 [43] Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 9091; Mason, A History of the Sciences, p 46 [44] Annas, Classical Greek Philosophy pp 252 [45] Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 56 [46] Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 9094; quotation from p 91 [47] Annas, Classical Greek Philosophy, p 252 [48] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, article "Psychology" (http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ aristotle-psychology/ ). [49] Nicomachean Ethics Book I. See for example chapter 7 1098a (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ hopper/ text?doc=Perseus:text:1999. 01. 0054:bekker page=1098a). [50] Nicomachean Ethics Book VI. [51] Politics 1253a1924 [52] For a different reading of social and economic processes in the Nicomachean Ethics and Politics see Polanyi, K. (1957) "Aristotle Discovers the Economy" in Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi ed. G. Dalton, Boston 1971, 78115 [53] Aristotle, Poetics I 1447a [54] Aristotle, Poetics III [55] Aristotle, Poetics IV [56] Aristotle, Poetics VI [57] Aristotle, Poetics XXVI [58] Temple, Olivia, and Temple, Robert (translators), The Complete Fables By Aesop (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ZB-rVxPvtPEC& pg=PR3& source=gbs_selected_pages& cad=0_0) Penguin Classics, 1998. ISBN 0-14-044649-4 Cf. Introduction, pp. xixii. [59] Terence Irwin and Gail Fine, Cornell University, Aristotle: Introductory Readings. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. (1996), Introduction, pp. xixii. [60] Lynn Thorndike, "Chiromancy in Medieval Latin Manuscripts," Speculum 40 (1965), pp. 674706; Roger A. Pack, "Pseudo-Arisoteles: Chiromantia," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littraire du Moyen ge 39 (1972), pp. 289320; Pack, "A Pseudo-Aristotelian Chiromancy," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littraire du Moyen ge 36 (1969), pp. 189241. [61] Jonathan Barnes, "Life and Work" in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (1995), p. 12; Aristotle himself: Nicomachean Ethics 1102a2627. Aristotle himself never uses the term "esoteric" or "acroamatic". For other passages where Aristotle speaks of exterikoi logoi, see W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 2, pp. 408410. Ross defends an interpretation according to which the phrase, at least in Aristotle's own works, usually refers generally to "discussions not peculiar to the Peripatetic school", rather than to specific works of Aristotle's own. [62] Barnes, "Life and Work", p. 12. [63] p. 15 [64] Barnes, "Roman Aristotle", in Gregory Nagy, Greek Literature, Routledge 2001, vol. 8, p. 174 n. 240. [65] The definitive, English study of these questions is Barnes, "Roman Aristotle". [66] "Sulla." [67] Ancient Rome: from the early Republic to the assassination of Julius Caesar Page 513, Matthew Dillon, Lynda Garland [68] The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 22 Page 131, Grolier Incorporated Juvenile Nonfiction [69] Anagnostopoulos, G., "Aristotle's Works and Thoughts", A Companion to Aristotle (Blackwell Publishing, 2009), p. 16. See also, Barnes, J., "Life and Work", The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.1015. [70] W. K. C. Guthrie (1990). " A history of Greek philosophy: Aristotle : an encounter (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=8EG0yV0cGoEC& pg=PA156& dq& hl=en#v=onepage& q=& f=false)". Cambridge University Press. p.156. ISBN 0-521-38760-4 [71] Plutarch, Life of Alexander [72] Richard Sorabji, ed. Aristotle Transformed London, 1990, 20, 28, 3536. [73] Richard Sorabji, ed. Aristotle Transformed (London, 1990) 233274. [74] Richard Sorabji, ed. Aristotle Transformed (London, 1990) 2021; 2829, 393406; 407408. [75] Encyclopedia of Islam, Aristutalis [76] Rasa'il I, 103, 17, Abu Rida
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[77] Comm. Magnum in Aristotle, De Anima, III, 2, 43 Crawford [78] al-mua'llim al-thani, Aristutalis [79] Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Prologue, lines 295295 [80] vidi 'l maestro di color che sanno seder tra filosofica famiglia. Tutti lo miran, tutti onor li fanno: quivi vid'o Socrate e Platone che 'nnanzi a li altri pi presso li stanno; Dante, L'Inferno (Hell), Canto IV. Lines 131135 [81] Durant, p. 86 [82] Kelvin Knight, Aristotelian Philosophy, Polity Press, 2007, passim. [83] Aristotle Mountains. (https:/ / data. aad. gov. au/ aadc/ gaz/ scar/ display_name. cfm?gaz_id=137410) SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer.
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Further reading
The secondary literature on Aristotle is vast. The following references are only a small selection. Ackrill J. L. (1997). Essays on Plato and Aristotle, Oxford University Press, USA. Ackrill, J. L. (1981). Aristotle the Philosopher. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Adler, Mortimer J. (1978). Aristotle for Everybody. New York: Macmillan. A popular exposition for the general reader. Ammonius (1991). Cohen, S. Marc; Matthews, Gareth B, eds. On Aristotle's Categories. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN0-8014-2688-X. Aristotle (19081952). The Works of Aristotle Translated into English Under the Editorship of W. D. Ross, 12 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. These translations are available in several places online; see External links. Bakalis Nikolaos. (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5 Barnes J. (1995). The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, Cambridge University Press. Bocheski, I. M. (1951). Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. Bolotin, David (1998). An Approach to Aristotle's Physics: With Particular Attention to the Role of His Manner of Writing. Albany: SUNY Press. A contribution to our understanding of how to read Aristotle's scientific works. Burnyeat, M. F. et al. (1979). Notes on Book Zeta of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford: Sub-faculty of Philosophy. Cantor, Norman F.; Klein, Peter L., eds. (1969). Ancient Thought: Plato and Aristotle. Monuments of Western Thought 1. Waltham, Mass: Blaisdell Publishing Co. Chappell, V. (1973). Aristotle's Conception of Matter, Journal of Philosophy 70: 679696. Code, Alan. (1995). Potentiality in Aristotle's Science and Metaphysics, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 76. Ferguson, John (1972). Aristotle. New York: Twayne Publishers. Frede, Michael. (1987). Essays in Ancient Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Fuller, B.A.G. (1923). Aristotle. History of Greek Philosophy 3. London: Cape. Gendlin, Eugene T. (2012). Line by Line Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima, Volume 1: Books I & II; Volume 2: Book III. Spring Valley, New York: The Focusing Institute. Available online in PDF. (http://www.focusing. org/aristotle/) Gill, Mary Louise. (1989). Aristotle on Substance: The Paradox of Unity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Guthrie, W. K. C. (1981). A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. 6. Cambridge University Press. Halper, Edward C. (2007). One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 1: Books Alpha Delta, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-21-6. Halper, Edward C. (2005). One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 2: The Central Books, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-05-6. Irwin, T. H. (1988). Aristotle's First Principles (http://www.cyjack.com/cognition/Aristotle's first principles. pdf). Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-824290-5. Jaeger, Werner (1948). Robinson, Richard, ed. Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of His Development (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle Jori, Alberto. (2003). Aristotele, Milano: Bruno Mondadori Editore (Prize 2003 of the "International Academy of the History of Science") ISBN 88-424-9737-1. Kiernan, Thomas P., ed. (1962). Aristotle Dictionary. New York: Philosophical Library. Knight, Kelvin. (2007). Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity Press. Lewis, Frank A. (1991). Substance and Predication in Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lloyd, G. E. R. (1968). Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., ISBN 0-521-09456-9. Lord, Carnes. (1984). Introduction to The Politics, by Aristotle. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Loux, Michael J. (1991). Primary Ousia: An Essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics and . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. McKeon, Richard (1973). Introduction to Aristotle (2d ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Owen, G. E. L. (1965c). "The Platonism of Aristotle". Proceedings of the British Academy 50: 125150. [Reprinted in J. Barnes, M. Schofield, and R. R. K. Sorabji, eds.(1975). Articles on Aristotle Vol 1. Science. London: Duckworth 1434.] Pangle, Lorraine Smith (2003). Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aristotle's conception of the deepest human relationship viewed in the light of the history of philosophic thought on friendship. Plato (1979). Allen, Harold Joseph; Wilbur, James B, eds. The Worlds of Plato and Aristotle. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. Reeve, C. D. C. (2000). Substantial Knowledge: Aristotle's Metaphysics. Indianapolis: Hackett. Rose, Lynn E. (1968). Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher. Ross, Sir David (1995). Aristotle (6th ed.). London: Routledge. A classic overview by one of Aristotle's most prominent English translators, in print since 1923. Scaltsas, T. (1994). Substances and Universals in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Strauss, Leo (1964). "On Aristotle's Politics", in The City and Man, Chicago; Rand McNally. Swanson, Judith (1992). The Public and the Private in Aristotle's Political Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Taylor, Henry Osborn (1922). "Chapter 3: Aristotle's Biology" (https://web.archive.org/web/ 20060327222953/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/0051.html). Greek Biology and Medicine (https:/ /web.archive.org/web/20060211201625/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/index.html). Archived from the original (http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/index.html) on 11 February 2006. Veatch, Henry B. (1974). Aristotle: A Contemporary Appreciation. Bloomington: Indiana U. Press. For the general reader. Woods, M. J. (1991b). "Universals and Particular Forms in Aristotle's Metaphysics". Aristotle and the Later Tradition. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy. Suppl. pp.4156.
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External links
Aristotle (http://philpapers.org/browse/aristotle) at PhilPapers. Aristotle (https://inpho.cogs.indiana.edu/thinker/2553) at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project. At the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Aristotle (general article) (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/) Biology (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-bio/) Ethics (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-eth/) Logic (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-log/)
Aristotle Poetics (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-poe/) Politics (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-pol/) From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Aristotle (general article) (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle) Aristotle in the Renaissance (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotelianism-renaissance/) Biology (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-biology/) Causality (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/) Commentators on Aristotle (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-commentators/) Ethics (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/) Logic (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-logic/) Mathematics (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-mathematics/) Metaphysics (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-metaphysics/) Natural philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-natphil/) Non-contradiction (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-noncontradiction/) Political theory (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/) Psychology (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-psychology/) Rhetoric (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/)
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General article at The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01713a.htm) Diogenes Lartius, Life of Aristotle, translated by Robert Drew Hicks (1925). Works by Aristotle on Open Library at the Internet Archive. Timeline of Aristotle's life (http://www.concharto.org/search/eventsearch.htm?_tag=timeline of aristotle& _maptype=0) Aristotle (http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/Aristotle.html) at PlanetMath. Works by or about Aristotle (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-4182) in libraries (WorldCat catalog). Collections of works At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.html) (primarily in English). (English) Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/a#a2747). (English) (Greek) Perseus Project (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/perscoll?.submit=Change& collection=Any&type=text&lang=Any&lookup=Aristotle) at Tufts University. At the University of Adelaide (http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/) (primarily in English). (Greek) (French) P. Remacle (http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/philosophes/Aristote/table.htm) The 11-volume 1837 Bekker edition of Aristotle's Works in Greek ( PDF (http://isnature.org/Files/Aristotle/) DJVU (http://grid.ceth.rutgers.edu/ancient/greek/aristotle_greek/)) Bekker's Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the complete works of Aristotle at Archive.org: vol.1 (http://www.archive.org/details/aristotelisopera01arisrich) vol.2 (http://www.archive.org/details/aristotelisopera02arisrich) vol.3 (http://www.archive.org/details/aristotelisopera03arisrich) vol.4 (http://www.archive.org/details/aristotelisopera04arisrich) vol.5 (http://www.archive.org/details/aristotelisopera05arisrich) (English) Aristotle Collection (http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=classical:aristotle) (translation).
Aristotelianism
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Aristotelianism
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Aristotelianism
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Aristotelianism (/rsttilinzm/ ARR-i-st-TEE-li--niz-m) is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings. In the Islamic world, the works of Aristotle were translated into Arabic, and under philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, Aristotelianism became a major part of early Islamic philosophy. Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from these Islamic scholars and based his famous Guide of the Perplexed on it. That became the basis of Jewish Scholastic Philosophy. Although some knowledge of Aristotle's logical works was known to western Europe, it wasn't until the Latin translations of the 12th century that the works of Aristotle and his Arabic commentators became widely available. Scholars such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas interpreted and systematized Aristotle's works in accordance with Christian theology.
After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea of teleology was transmitted through Wolff and Kant to Hegel, who applied it to history as a totality. Although this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano as non-Aristotelian, Hegel's influence is now often said to be responsible for an important Aristotelian influence upon Marx. Postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theoretical truths. In this, they follow Heidegger's critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the entire tradition of Western philosophy. Recent Aristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy, such as that of Gadamer and McDowell, is often premissed upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy. From this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of political republicanism, which views the res publica, public sphere or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian. The most famous contemporary Aristotelian philosopher is Alasdair MacIntyre. Especially famous for helping to revive virtue ethics in his book After Virtue, MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices. He
Aristotelianism opposes Aristotelianism to the managerial institutions of capitalism and its state, and to rival traditions - including the philosophies of Hume and Nietzsche - that reject its idea of essentially human goods and virtues and instead legitimate capitalism. Therefore, on MacIntyre's account, Aristotelianism is not identical with Western philosophy as a whole; rather, it is "the best theory so far, [including] the best theory so far about what makes a particular theory the best one." Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell. Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr. in politics and Rosalind Hursthouse in ethics.
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History
Ancient Greece
The original followers of Aristotle were the members of the Peripatetic school. The most prominent members of the school after Aristotle were Theophrastus and Strato of Lampsacus, who both continued Aristotle's researches. During the Roman era the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work.[1] The most important figure in this regard was Alexander of Aphrodisias who commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of Neoplatonism in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system, and produced many commentaries on Aristotle.
Islamic world
In the Abbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated into Arabic, large libraries were constructed, and scholars were welcomed.[2] Under the caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son Al-Ma'mun, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad flourished. Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809873) was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, including works by Plato and Aristotle, into Syriac and Arabic.[3][4] Al-Kindi (801873) was the first of the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for his efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world.[5] He incorporated Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework. This was an important factor in the introduction and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Muslim intellectual world.[6] The philosopher Al-Farabi (872950) had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries, and was widely regarded to be second only to Aristotle in knowledge (alluded to by his title of "the Second Teacher") in his time. His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for the work of Avicenna (9801037). Avicenna was one of the main interpreters of Aristotle. The school of thought he founded became known as Avicennism, which was built on ingredients and conceptual building blocks which are largely Aristotelian and Neoplatonist. At the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, during the reign of Al-Hakam II (961 to 976) in Crdoba, a massive translation effort was undertaken, and many books were translated into Arabic. Averroes (11261198), who spent much of his life in Cordoba and Seville, was especially distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle. He often wrote two or three different commentaries on the same work, and some 38 commentaries by Averroes on the works of Aristotle have been identified.[7] Although his writings had only marginal impact in Islamic countries, his works would eventually have a huge impact in the Latin West, and would lead to the school of thought known as Averroism.
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Europe
Although some knowledge of Aristotle seems to have lingered on in the ecclesiastical centres of western Europe after the fall of the Roman empire, by the ninth century nearly all that was known of Aristotle consisted of Boethius's commentaries on the Organon, and a few abridgments made by Latin authors of the declining empire, Isidore of Seville and Martianus Capella.[8] From that time until the end of the eleventh century, little progress is apparent in Aristotelian knowledge. The renaissance of the 12th century saw a major search by European scholars for new learning. James of Venice, who probably spent some years in Constantinople, translated Aristotle's Posterior Analytics from Greek into Latin in the mid-twelfth century,[9] thus making the complete Aristotelian logical corpus, the Organon, available in Latin for the first time. Scholars travelled to areas of Europe that once had been under Muslim rule and still had substantial Arabic-speaking populations. From central Spain, which had come under Christian rule in the eleventh century, scholars produced many of the Latin translations of the 12th century. The most productive of these translators was Gerard of Cremona,[10] (c. 11141187), who translated 87 books,[11] which included many of the works of Aristotle such as his Posterior Analytics, Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, and Meteorology. Michael Scot (c. 11751232) translated Averroes' commentaries on the scientific works of Aristotle. Aristotle's physical writings began to be discussed openly, and at a time when Aristotle's method was permeating all theology, these treatises were sufficient to cause his prohibition for heterodoxy in the Condemnations of 12101277. In the first of these, in Paris in 1210, it was stated that "neither the books of Aristotle on natural philosophy or their commentaries are to be read at Paris in public or secret, and this we forbid under penalty of excommunication."[12] However, despite further attempts to restrict the teaching of Aristotle, by 1270 the ban on Aristotle's natural philosophy was ineffective.[13] William of Moerbeke (c. 12151286) undertook a complete translation of the works of Aristotle or, for some portions, a revision of existing translations. He was the first translator of the Politics (c. 1260) from Greek into Latin. Many copies of Aristotle in Latin then in circulation were assumed to have been influenced by Averroes, who was suspected of being a source of philosophical and theological errors found in the earlier translations of Aristotle. Such claims were without merit, however, as the Alexandrian Aristotelianism of Averroes followed "the strict study of the text of Aristotle, which was introduced by Avicenna, [because] a large amount of traditional Neoplatonism was incorporated with the body of traditional Aristotelianism". Albertus Magnus (c. 12001280) was among the first among medieval scholars to apply Aristotle's philosophy to Christian thought. He produced paraphrases of most of the works of Aristotle available to him. He digested, interpreted and systematized the whole of Aristotle's works, gleaned from the Latin translations and notes of the Arabian commentators, in accordance with Church doctrine. His efforts resulted in the formation of a Christian reception of Aristotle in the Western Europe. Thomas Aquinas (12251274), the pupil of Albertus Magnus, wrote a dozen commentaries on the works of Aristotle. Thomas was emphatically Aristotelian, he adopted Aristotle's analysis of physical objects, his view of place, time and motion, his proof of the prime mover, his cosmology, his account of sense perception and intellectual knowledge, and even parts of his moral philosophy. The philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work of Thomas Aquinas was known as Thomism, and was especially influential among the Dominicans, and later, the Jesuits.
Modern era
After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea of teleology was transmitted through Wolff and Kant to Hegel, who applied it to history as a totality.[citation needed] Although this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano as un-Aristotelian,[citation needed] Hegel's influence is now often said to be responsible for an important Aristotelian influence upon Marx.[14] Postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theoretical truths.[15] In this, they follow Heidegger's critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the entire tradition of Western philosophy.
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Contemporary Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato's theories.[16] Recent Aristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy, such as that of Gadamer and McDowell, is often premised upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy.[citation needed] From this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of political republicanism, which views the res publica, public sphere or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian.[citation needed] The contemporary Aristotelian philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre is specially famous for helping to revive virtue ethics in his book After Virtue. MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices. He opposes Aristotelianism to the managerial institutions of capitalism and its state, and to rival traditionsincluding the philosophies of Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Nietzschethat reject its idea of essentially human goods and virtues and instead legitimize capitalism. Therefore, on MacIntyre's account, Aristotelianism is not identical with Western philosophy as a whole; rather, it is "the best theory so far, [including] the best theory so far about what makes a particular theory the best one."[17] Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell.[18] Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr.[19] in politics and Rosalind Hursthouse in ethics.[20] In metaphysics, an Aristotelian realism about universals is defended by such philosophers as David Malet Armstrong and Stephen Mumford, and is applied to the philosophy of mathematics by James Franklin.
Criticism
Bertrand Russell criticizes Aristotle's logic on the following points:[21] 1. The Aristotelian system allows formal defects leading to "bad metaphysics". For example, the following syllogism is permitted: "All golden mountains are mountains, all golden mountains are golden, therefore some mountains are golden", which insinuates the existence of at least one golden mountain. Furthermore, according to Russell, a predicate of a predicate can be a predicate of the original subject, which blurs the distinction between names and predicates with disastrous consequences; for example, a class with only one member is erroneously identified with that one member, making impossible to have a correct theory of the number one. 2. The syllogism is overvalued in comparison to other forms of deduction. For example, syllogisms are not employed in mathematics since they are less convenient. In addition, Russell ends his review of the Aristotelian logic with these words: I conclude that the Aristotelian doctrines with which we have been concerned in this chapter are wholly false, with the exception of the formal theory of the syllogism, which is unimportant. Any person in the present day who wishes to learn logic will be wasting his time if he reads Aristotle or any of his disciples. None the less, Aristotle's logical writings show great ability, and would have been useful to mankind if they had appeared at a time when intellectual originality was still active. Unfortunately, they appeared at the very end of the creative period of Greek thought, and therefore came to be accepted as authoritative. By the time that logical originality revived, a reign of two thousand years had made Aristotle very difficult to dethrone. Throughout modern times, practically every advance in science, in logic, or in philosophy has had to be made in the teeth of the opposition from Aristotle's disciples.
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Notes
[1] Furley, David (2003), From Aristotle to Augustine: Routledge History of Philosophy, 2, Routledge [2] Gaston Wiet, Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate (http:/ / www. fordham. edu/ halsall/ med/ wiet. html) Retrieved 2010-04-16 [3] Opth: Azmi, Khurshid. "Hunain bin Ishaq on Ophthalmic Surgery." Bulletin of the Indian Institute of History of Medicine 26 (1996): 6974. Web. 29 Oct. 2009 [4] Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science: Islamic Science. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 2007. Print. [5] Klein-Frank, F. Al-Kindi. In Leaman, O & Nasr, H (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. p 165 [6] Felix Klein-Frank (2001) Al-Kindi, pages 166167. In Oliver Leaman & Hossein Nasr. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. [7] Edward Grant, (1996), The foundations of modern science in the Middle Ages, page 30. Cambridge University Press [8] Auguste Schmolders, History of Arabian Philosophy in The eclectic magazine of foreign literature, science, and art, Volume 46. February 1859 [9] L.D. Reynolds and Nigel G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars, Oxford, 1974, p. 106. [10] C. H. Haskins, Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, p. 287. "more of Arabic science passed into Western Europe at the hands of Gerard of Cremona than in any other way." [11] For a list of Gerard of Cremona's translations see: Edward Grant (1974) A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr.), pp. 358 or Charles Burnett, "The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century," Science in Context, 14 (2001): at 249-288, at pp. 275281. [12] Edward Grant, A Source Book in Medieval Science, page 42 (1974). Harvard University Press [13] Rubenstein, Richard E. Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages, page 215 (2004). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt [14] For example, George E. McCarthy (ed.), Marx and Aristotle: Nineteenth-Century German Social Theory and Classical Antiquity, Although many disagree Rowman & Littlefield, 1992. [15] For example, Ted Sadler, Heidegger and Aristotle: The Question of Being, Athlone, 1996. [16] For contrasting examples of this, see Hans-Georg Gadamer, The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian Philosophy (trans. P. Christopher Smith), Yale University Press, 1986, and Lloyd P. Gerson, Aristotle and Other Platonists, Cornell University Press, 2005. [17] Alasdair MacIntyre, 'An Interview with Giovanna Borradori', in Kelvin Knight (ed.), The MacIntyre Reader, Polity Press / University of Notre Dame Press, 1998, p. 264. [18] Kelvin Knight, Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity Press, 2007. [19] Fred D. Miller, Jr., Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle's Politics, Oxford University Press, 1997. [20] Rosalind Hursthouse, On Virtue Ethics, Oxford University Press, 1999. [21] , Chapter XXII Aristotle's Logic
Further reading
Russell, Bertrand (1967), A History of Western Philosophy, Simon & Schuster, ISBN0671201581 Chappell, Timothy (ed.), Values and Virtues: Aristotelianism in Contemporary Ethics, Oxford University Press, 2006. Ferrarin, Alfredo, Hegel and Aristotle, Cambridge University Press, 2001. Kenny, Anthony, Essays on the Aristotelian Tradition, Oxford University Press, 2001. Knight, Kelvin, Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7456-1976-7. Knight, Kelvin & Paul Blackledge (eds.), Revolutionary Aristotelianism: Ethics, Resistance and Utopia, Lucius & Lucius (Stuttgart, Germany), 2008. Lobkowicz, Nicholas, Theory and Practice: History of a Concept from Aristotle to Marx, University of Notre Dame Press, 1967. MacIntyre, Alasdair, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, University of Notre Dame Press, 1984 / Duckworth, 1985 (2nd edn.). MacIntyre, Alasdair, Whose Justice? Which Rationality?, University of Notre Dame Press / Duckworth, 1988. MacIntyre, Alasdair, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition, University of Notre Dame Press / Duckworth, 1990. MacIntyre, Alasdair, 'The Theses on Feuerbach: A Road Not Taken', in Kelvin Knight (ed.), The MacIntyre Reader, University of Notre Dame Press / Polity Press, 1998.
Aristotelianism MacIntyre, Alasdair, Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues, Open Court / Duckworth, 1999. MacIntyre, Alasdair, 'Natural Law as Subversive: The Case of Aquinas' and 'Rival Aristotles: 1. Aristotle Against Some Renaissance Aristotelians; 2. Aristotle Against Some Modern Aristotelians', in MacIntyre, Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Moraux, Paul, Der Aristotelismus bei den Griechen, Von Andronikos bis Alexander von Aphrodisias: Vol. I: Die Renaissance des Aristotelismus im I. Jh.v. Chr. (1973); Vol. II: Der Aristotelismus im I. und II. Jh.n. Chr. (1984); Vol. III: Alexander von Aphrodisias (2001) Edited by Jrgen Wiesner, with a chapter on Ethics by Robert W. Sharples. Riedel, Manfred (ed.), Rehabilitierung der praktischen Philosophie, Rombach, volume 1, 1972; volume 2, 1974. Ritter, Joachim, Metaphysik und Politik: Studien zu Aristoteles und Hegel, Suhrkamp, 1977. Schrenk, Lawrence P. (ed.), Aristotle in Late Antiquity, Catholic University of America Press, 1994. Sharples, R. W. (ed.), Whose Aristotle? Whose Aristotelianism?, Ashgate, 2001. Shute, Richard, On the History of the Process by Which the Aristotelian Writings Arrived at Their Present Form, Arno Press, 1976 (originally 1888). Sorabji, Richard (ed.), Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence, Duckworth, 1990. Stocks, John Leofric, Aristotelianism, Harrap, 1925. Veatch, Henry B., Rational Man: A Modern Interpretation of Aristotelian Ethics, Indiana University Press, 1962.
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External links
The Peripatos after Aristotle: Origin of the Corpus Aristotelicum (http://www.ontology.co/ corpus-aristotelicum.htm) with an annotated bibliography Clayton, Edward. (2005) Political Philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre (http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/p-macint. htm), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry (http://www.macintyreanenquiry.org)
Peripatetic school
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Peripatetic school
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The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and Peripatetic is a name given to his followers. The school originally derived its name Peripatos from the peripatoi ( "colonnades") of the Lyceum in Athens where the members met. A similar Greek word peripatetikos (Greek: ) refers to the act of walking, and as an adjective, "peripatetic" is often used to mean itinerant, wandering, meandering, or walking about. After Aristotle's death, a legend arose that he was a "peripatetic" lecturer that he walked about as he taught and the designation Peripatetikos came to replace the original Peripatos.[citation needed] The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientific inquiries. Aristotle's successors Theophrastus and Strato continued the tradition of exploring philosophical and scientific theories, but after the middle of the 3rd century BC, the school fell into a decline, and it was not until the Roman era that there was a revival. Later members of the school concentrated on preserving and commenting on Aristotle's works rather than extending them, and the school eventually died out in the 3rd century AD. Although the school died out, the study of Aristotle's works continued by scholars who were called Peripatetics through Later Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. After the fall of the Roman empire, the works of the Peripatetic school were lost to the west, but in the east they were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy, which would play a large part in the revival of Aristotle's doctrines in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
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Background
The term "Peripatetic" is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word peripattikos, which means "of walking" or "given to walking about".[1] The Peripatetic school was actually known simply as the Peripatos. Aristotle's school came to be so named because of the peripatoi ("colonnades" or "covered walkways") of the Lyceum where the members met.[2] The legend that the name came from Aristotle's alleged habit of walking while lecturing may have started with Hermippus of Smyrna.[3] Unlike Plato, Aristotle was not a citizen of Athens and so could not own property; he and his colleagues therefore used the grounds of the Lyceum as a gathering place, just as it had been used by earlier philosophers such as Socrates. Aristotle and his colleagues first began to use the Lyceum in this way in about 335 BC.,[4] after which Aristotle left Plato's Academy and Athens, and then returned to Athens from his travels about a dozen years later. Because of the school's association with the gymnasium, the school also came to be referred to simply as the Lyceum. Some modern scholars argue that the school did not become formally institutionalized until Theophrastus took it over, at which time there was private property associated with the school.[5] Originally at least, the Peripatetic gatherings were probably conducted less formally than the term "school" suggests: there was likely no set curriculum or requirements for students, or even fees for membership. Aristotle did teach and lecture there, but there was also philosophical and scientific research done in partnership with other members of the school. It seems likely that many of the writings that have come down to us in Aristotle's name were based on lectures he gave at the school, or vice versa. Among the members of the school in Aristotle's time were Theophrastus, Phanias of Eresus, Eudemus of Rhodes, Clytus of Miletus, Aristoxenus, and Dicaearchus. Much like Plato's Academy, there were in Aristotle's school junior and senior members, the junior members generally serving as pupils or assistants to the senior members who directed research and lectured. The aim of the school, at least in Aristotle's time, was not to further a specific doctrine, but rather to explore philosophical and scientific theories; those who ran the school worked rather as equal partners. Sometime shortly after Alexander's death in June 323 BC, Aristotle left Athens to avoid persecution by anti-Macedonian factions in Athens due to his ties to Macedonia. After Aristotle's death in 322 BC, his colleague Theophrastus succeeded him as head of the school. The most prominent member of the school after Theophrastus was Strato of Lampsacus, who increased the naturalistic elements of Aristotle's philosophy and embraced a form of atheism.
Doctrines
The doctrines of the Peripatetic school are the doctrines laid down by Aristotle, and henceforth maintained by his followers. Whereas Plato had sought to explain things with his theory of Forms, Aristotle preferred to start from the facts given by experience. Philosophy to him meant science, and its aim was the recognition of the "why" in all things. Hence he endeavoured to attain to the ultimate grounds of things by induction; that is to say, by a posteriori conclusions from a number of facts to a universal.[6] Logic either deals with appearances, and is then called dialectics; or of truth, and is then called analytics.[7] All change or motion takes place in regard to substance, quantity, quality and place. There are three kinds of substances those alternately in motion and at rest, as the animals; those perpetually in motion, as the sky; and those eternally stationary. The last, in themselves immovable and imperishable, are the source and origin of all motion. Among them there must be one first being, unchangeable, which acts without the intervention of any other being. All that is proceeds from it; it is the most perfect intelligence God. The immediate action of this prime mover happy in the contemplation of itself extends only to the heavens; the other inferior spheres are moved by other incorporeal and eternal substances, which the popular belief adores as gods. The heavens are of a more perfect and divine nature than other bodies. In the centre of the universe is the Earth, round and stationary. The stars, like the
Peripatetic school sky, beings of a higher nature, but of grosser matter, move by the impulse of the prime mover. For Aristotle, matter is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the potentiality of everything, but of itself is not actually anything. A determinate thing only comes into being when the potentiality in matter is converted into actuality. This is achieved by form, the idea existent not as one outside the many, but as one in the many, the completion of the potentiality latent in the matter. The soul is the principle of life in the organic body, and is inseparable from the body. As faculties of the soul, Aristotle enumerates the faculty of reproduction and nutrition; of sensation, memory and recollection; the faculty of reason, or understanding; and the faculty of desiring, which is divided into appetition and volition. By the use of reason conceptions, which are formed in the soul by external sense-impressions, and may be true or false, are converted into knowledge. For reason alone can attain to truth either in understanding or action. The best and highest goal is the happiness which originates from virtuous actions. Aristotle did not, with Plato, regard virtue as knowledge pure and simple, but as founded on nature, habit, and reason. Virtue consists in acting according to nature: that is, keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too little. Thus valor, in his view the first of virtues, is a mean between cowardice and recklessness; temperance is the mean in respect to sensual enjoyments and the total avoidance of them.
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There are some uncertainties in this list. It is not certain whether Aristo of Ceos was the head of the school, but since he was a close pupil of Lyco and the most important Peripatetic philosopher in the time when he lived, it is generally assumed that he was. It is not known if Critolaus directly succeeded Aristo, or if there were any leaders between them. Erymneus is known only from a passing reference by Athenaeus.[8] Other important Peripatetic philosophers who lived during these centuries include Eudemus of Rhodes, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus, and Clearchus of Soli. After the time of Strato, the Peripatetic school fell into a decline. Lyco was famous more for his oratory than his philosophical skills, and Aristo is perhaps best known for his biographical studies; and although Critolaus was more philosophically active, none of the Peripatetic philosophers in this period seem to have contributed anything original to philosophy. The reasons for the decline of the Peripatetic school are unclear. Undoubtably Stoicism and Epicureanism provided many answers for those people looking for dogmatic and comprehensive philosophical systems, and the scepticism of the Middle Academy may have seemed preferable to anyone who rejected dogmatism. Later tradition linked the school's decline to Neleus of Scepsis and his descendents hiding the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus in a cellar until their rediscovery in the 1st century BC, and even though this story may be doubted, it is possible that Aristotle's works were not widely read.
Peripatetic school In 86 BCE, Athens was sacked by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla, all the schools of philosophy in Athens were badly disrupted, and the Lyceum ceased to exist as a functioning institution. Ironically, this event seems to have brought new life to the Peripatetic school. Sulla brought the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus back to Rome, where they became the basis of a new collection of Aristotle's writings compiled by Andronicus of Rhodes which forms the basis of the Corpus Aristotelicum which exists today. Later Neoplatonist writers describe Andronicus, who lived around 50 BCE, as the eleventh scholarch of the Peripatetic school,[9] which would imply that he had two unnamed predecessors. There is considerable uncertainty over the issue, and Andronicus' pupil Boethus of Sidon is also described as the eleventh scholarch.[10] It is quite possible that Andronicus set up a new school where he taught Boethus. Whereas the earlier Peripatetics had sought to extend and develop Aristotle's works, from the time of Andronicus the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work. The most important figure in the Roman era is Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200 CE) who commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of Neoplatonism (and Christianity) in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system, and produced many commentaries on Aristotle's works. In the 5th century, Olympiodorus the Elder is sometimes described as a Peripatetic.
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Influence
The last philosophers in classical antiquity to comment on Aristotle were Simplicius and Boethius in the 6th century. After this, although his works were mostly lost to the west, they were maintained in the east where they were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy. Some of the greatest Peripatetic philosophers in the Islamic philosophical tradition were Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). By the 12th century, Aristotle's works began being translated into Latin during the Latin translations of the 12th century, and gradually arose Scholastic philosophy under such names as Thomas Aquinas, which took its tone and complexion from the writings of Aristotle, the commentaries of Averroes, and The Book of Healing of Avicenna.
Notes
[1] The entry peripattikos (http:/ / archimedes. fas. harvard. edu/ cgi-bin/ dict?name=lsj& lang=el& word=peripathtiko/ s& filter=GreekXlit) in Liddell, Henry and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon. [2] ; ; [3] citing Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 5.2. Some modern scholars discredit the legend altogether; see p. 229 & p. 229 n. 156, in [4] 336 BC: ; 335 BC: ; 334 BC: [5] , citing Diogenes Laertius, 5.39 & 5.52. [6] "Greek Philosophy" entry in [7] "Peripatetic philosophy" entry in [8] Athenaeus, v. 211e [9] Ammonius, In de Int. 5.24 [10] Ammonius, In An. Pr. 31.11
References
Barnes, Jonathan (2000), Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford Paperbacks, ISBN0-19-285408-9. Drozdek, Adam (2007), Greek Philosophers as Theologians: The Divine Arche, Ashgate publishing, ISBN0-7546-6189-X. Furley, David (1970), "Peripatetic School", in Hammond, N. G. L.; Scullard, H. H., The Oxford Classical Dictionary (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press. Furley, David (2003), "Peripatetic School", in Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-860641-9.
Peripatetic school Hegel, G. W. F. (2006), Brown, Robert F., ed., Lectures on the History of Philosophy 18251826: Greek Philosophy 2, Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-927906-3. Irwin, T. (2003), "Aristotle" (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A022), in Craig, Edward, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge. Lieber, Francis; Wigglesworth, Edward; Bradford, T. G. (1832), Encyclopedia Americana 10. Lynch, J. (1997), "Lyceum", in Zeyl, Donald J.; Devereux, Daniel; Mitsis, Phillip, Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, Greenwood Press, ISBN0-313-28775-9. Nussbaum, M. (2003), "Aristotle", in Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-860641-9. Ostwald, M.; Lynch, J. (1982), "The Growth of Schools & the Advance of Knowledge", in Lewis, D. M.; Boardman, John; Hornblower, Simon et al., The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC, Cambridge University Press . Ross, David; Ackrill, John L. (1995), Aristotle, Routledge, ISBN0-415-12068-3. Seyffert, Oskar (1895), A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Sharples, Robert W. (2003), "The Peripatetic school", in Furley, David, From Aristotle to Augustine: Routledge History of Philosophy, Routledge, ISBN0-415-30874-7. Fritz Wehrli (Ed.): Die Schule des Aristoteles. Texte und Kommentare. 10 volumes and 2 Supplements. Basel 19441959, 2. Edition 19671969.
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ISLAMIC ARISTOTELIANISM
Al-Farabi
Ab Nar Muammad ibn Muammad Frb
Muslim scholar
Title Born
The Second Teacher c. 872 Faryb in Khorsn c. 950 Damascus Persian or Turkic Islamic Golden Age Metaphysics, Political philosophy, Logic, Music, Science, Ethics, Mysticism, Epistemology kitb al-msq al-kabr ("The Great Book Of Music"), r ahl al-madna al-fila ("The Virtuous City"), kitb i al-ulm ("On The Introduction Of Knowledge"), kitb i al-q't ("Classification Of Rhythms")
Died
Al-Farabi (Persian: Ab Nar Muammad ibn Muammad Frb; for other recorded variants of his name see below) known in the West as Alpharabius[1] (c. 872 in Frb[] between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951 in Damascus), was a renowned scientist and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. He was also a cosmologist, logician, and musician. Through his commentaries and treatises, Al-Farabi became well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals as "The Second Teacher", that is, the successor to Aristotle, "The First Teacher".
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Biography
The existing variations in the basic accounts of al-Farabi's origins and pedigree indicate that they were not recorded during his lifetime or soon thereafter by anyone with concrete information, but were based on hearsay or guesses (as is the case with other contemporaries of al-Farabi). The sources for his life are scant which makes the reconstruction of his biography beyond a mere outline nearly impossible. The earliest and more reliable sources, i.e., those composed before the 6th/12th century, that are extant today are so few as to indicate that no one among Frbs successors and their followers, or even unrelated scholars, undertook to write his full biography, a neglect that has to be taken into consideration in assessing his immediate impact. The sources prior to the 6th/12th century consist of: (1) an autobiographical passage by Farabi, preserved by Ibn Ab Uaibia. In this passage, Farabi traces the transmission of the instruction of logic and philosophy from antiquity to his days. (2) Reports by Al-Masudi, Ibn al-Nadim and Ibn Hawqal as well as by Said Al-Andalusi (d. 1070), who devoted a biography to him. When major Arabic biographers decided to write comprehensive entries on Farabi in the 6th-7th/12th-13th centuries, there was very little specific information on hand; this allowed for their acceptance of invented stories about his life which range from benign extrapolation on the basis of some known details to tendentious reconstructions and legends. Most modern biographies of the philosopher present various combinations of elements drawn at will from this concocted material. The sources from the 6th/12th century and later consist essentially of three biographical entries, all other extant reports on Farabi being either dependent on them or even later fabrications: 1) the Syrian tradition represented by Ibn Ab Uaibia. 2) The Wafayt al-ayn wa-anb abn az-zamn (Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch; trans. by Baron de Slane, Ibn Khallikans Biographical Dictionary, 184274) compiled by Ibn Khallikn. 3) the scanty and legendary Eastern tradition, represented by ahr-al-Dn Bayhaq. From incidental accounts it is known that he spent significant time in Baghdad with Christian scholars including the cleric Yuhanna ibn Haylan, Yahya ibn Adi, and Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Baghdadi. He later spent time in Damascus, Syria and Egypt before returning to Damascus where he died in 950-1.[2]Wikipedia:Citing sources
Name
His name was Ab Nar Muammad b. Muammad Farabi, as all sources, and especially the earliest and most reliable, Al-Masudi, agree. In some manuscripts of Frbs works, which must reflect the reading of their ultimate archetypes from his time, his full name appears as Ab Nar Muammad b. Muammad al-arn, i.e., the element arn appears in a nisba (family surname or attributive title). Moreover, if the name of Farabis grandfather was not known among his contemporaries and immediately succeeding generations, it is all the more surprising to see in the later sources the appearance of yet another name from his pedigree, Awzala. This appears as the name of the grandfather in Ibn Ab Uaibia and of the great-grandfather in Ibn Khallikan. Ibn Ab Uaibia is the first source to list this name which, as Ibn Khallikn explicitly specifies later, is so to be pronounced as Awzala. In modern Turkish scholarship and some other sources, the pronunciation is given as Uzlu rather than Awzala, without any explanation.
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Birthplace
His birthplace is given in the classical sources as either Fryb in Greater Khorasan (modern day Afghanistan) or Frb on the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) in modern Kazakhstan. The older Persian Prb (in udd al-lam) or Fryb (also Pryb), is a common Persian toponym meaning lands irrigated by diversion of river water.[3][4] By the 13th century, Frb on the Jaxartes was known as Otrr.
Origin
There is a difference of opinion on the ethnic background of Farabi.[5] According to Dimitri Gutas, "[...] ultimately pointless as the quest for Farabis ethnic origins might be, the fact remains that we do not have sufficient evidence to decide the matter [...]" The Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy also states that "[...] these biographical facts are paltry in the extreme but we must resist the urge to embellish them with fanciful stories, as the medieval biographers did, or engage in idle speculation about al-Farabis ethnicity or religious affiliation on the basis of contrived interpretations of his works, as many modern scholars have done."[6] According to the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Thought "[...] because the origins of al-Farabi were not recorded during his lifetime or soon after his death in 950 C.E. by anyone with concrete information, accounts of his pedigree and place of birth have been based on hearsay [...]".[7] Iranian origin theory Medieval Arab historian Ibn Ab Uaibia (died in 1269)al-Farabi's oldest biographermentions in his Oyn that al-Farabi's father was of Persian descent.[8] Al-Shahrazr who lived around 1288 A.D. and has written an early biography also states that Farabi hailed from a Persian family.[9][10] According to Majid Fakhry, an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, Farabi's father "was an army captain of Persian extraction."[11] As noted by Dimitri Gutas, Farabi has in a number of his works references and glosses in Persian and Sogdian (and even Greek but not Turkish).[12] Sogdian has also been suggested as his native language[13] and the language of the inhabitants of Frb.[14] Muhammad Javad Mashkoor argues for an Iranian-speaking Central Asian origin.[15] A Persian origin has been discussed by other sources as well.[16]
Al-Farabi Turkish origin theory The oldest known reference to a possible Turkish origin is given by the medieval historian Ibn Khallikn (died in 1282), who in his work Wafayt (completed in 669/1271) states that Farabi was born in the small village of Wasij near Frb (in what is today Otrar, Kazakhstan) of Turkish parents. Based on this account, some modern scholars say he is of Turkish [17][18][19][20][21][22] orgin. Others, such as Dimitri Gutas, criticize this, saying that Ibn Khallikn's account is aimed at the earlier historical accounts by Ibn Ab Uaibia, and serves the sole purpose to prove a Turkic origin for al-Farabi, for instance by inventing the additional nisba (surname) "al-Turk" (arab. "the Turk")a nisba Farabi never had. However, Abu al-Fed', who copied Ibn hallekn, corrected this and changed al-Tork to the descriptive statement "wa-kna rajolan torkyan", meaning "he was a Turkish man." In this regard, Oxford professor C.E. Bosworth notes that "great figures [such] as al-Farabi, al-Biruni, and ibn Sina have been attached by over enthusiastic Turkish scholars to their race".[23]
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Contributions
Farabi made contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, music, philosophy, psychology, and education.
Alchemy
Al-Farabi wrote: The Necessity of the Art of the Elixir
Logic
Though he was mainly an Aristotelian logician, he included a number of non-Aristotelian elements in his works. He discussed the topics of future contingents, the number and relation of the categories, the relation between logic and grammar, and non-Aristotelian forms of inference.[24] He is also credited for categorizing logic into two separate
Al-Farabi groups, the first being "idea" and the second being "proof". Al-Farabi also considered the theories of conditional syllogisms and analogical inference, which were part of the Stoic tradition of logic rather than the Aristotelian. Another addition Al-Farabi made to the Aristotelian tradition was his introduction of the concept of poetic syllogism in a commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.
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Music
Farabi wrote a book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqa (The Book of Music). According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Mehdi Aminrazavi:[25] the book of Kitab al-Musiqa is in reality a study of the theory of Persian music of his day although in the West it has been introduced as a book on Arab music. He presents philosophical principles about music, its cosmic qualities and its influences. Al-Farabi's treatise Meanings of the Intellect dealt with music therapy, where he discussed the therapeutic effects of music on the soul.
Illustration from Kitb al-msq al-kabr. Drawing of a musical instrument, called shahrud
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Philosophy
As a philosopher, Al-Farabi was a founder of his own school of early Islamic philosophy known as "Farabism" or "Alfarabism", though it was later overshadowed by Avicennism. Al-Farabi's school of philosophy "breaks with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle [... and ...] moves from metaphysics to methodology, a move that anticipates modernity", and "at the level of philosophy, Alfarabi unites theory and practice [... and] in the sphere of the political he liberates practice from theory". His Neoplatonic theology is also more than just metaphysics as rhetoric. In his attempt to think through the nature of a First Cause, Alfarabi discovers the limits of human knowledge". Al-Farabi had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries [citation needed], and was widely considered second only to Aristotle in knowledge (alluded to by his title of "the Second Teacher") in his time. His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for the work of Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
Latin translation of Kitab ihsa' al-'ulum (In Al-Farabi also wrote a commentary on Aristotle's work, and one of his English, "An Encyclopedia of the Sciences") by most notable works is Al-Madina al-Fadila where he theorized an ideal Gerard of Cremona state as in Plato's The Republic.[26] Al-Farabi represented religion as a symbolic rendering of truth, and, like Plato, saw it as the duty of the philosopher to provide guidance to the state. Al-Farabi incorporated the Platonic view, drawing a parallel from within the Islamic context, in that he regarded the ideal state to be ruled by the prophet-imam, instead of the philosopher-king envisaged by Plato. Al-Farabi argued that the ideal state was the city-state of Medina when it was governed by the prophet Muhammad as its head of state, as he was in direct communion with Allah whose law was revealed to him.
Physics
Al-Farabi thought about the nature of the existence of void. He may have carried out the first experiments concerning the existence of vacuum, in which he investigated handheld plungers in water. He concluded that air's volume can expand to fill available space, and he suggested that the concept of perfect vacuum was incoherent.
Psychology
In psychology, al-Farabi's Social Psychology and Model City were the first treatises to deal with social psychology. He stated that "an isolated individual could not achieve all the perfections by himself, without the aid of other individuals." He wrote that it is the "innate disposition of every man to join another human being or other men in the labor he ought to perform." He concluded that to "achieve what he can of that perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood of others and associate with them."[] His On the Cause of Dreams, which appeared as chapter 24 of his Book of Opinions of the people of the Ideal City, was a treatise on dreams, in which he distinguished between dream interpretation and the nature and causes of dreams.
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Philosophical thought
The main influence on al-Farabi's philosophy was the neo-Aristotelian tradition of Alexandria. A prolific writer, he is credited with over one hundred works.[27] Amongst these are a number of prolegomena to philosophy, commentaries on important Aristotelian works (such as the Nicomachean Ethics) as well as his own works. His ideas are marked by their coherency, despite drawing together of many different philosophical disciplines and traditions. Some other significant influences on his work were the planetary model of Ptolemy and elements of Neo-Platonism,[28] particularly metaphysics and practical (or political) philosophy (which bears more resemblance to Plato's Republic than Aristotle's Politics).[29] Al-Farabi as well as Ibn Sina and Averroes have been recognized as Peripatetics (al-Mashshaiyun) or rationalists (Estedlaliun) among Muslims.[30] However, he tried to gather the ideas of Plato and Aristotle in his book "The gathering of the ideas of the two philosophers".[31] According to Adamson, his work was singularly directed towards the goal of simultaneously reviving and reinventing the Alexandrian philosophical tradition, to which his Christian teacher, Yuhanna bin Haylan belonged. His success should be measured by the honorific title of "the second master" of philosophy (Aristotle being the first), by which he was known [citation needed]. Interestingly, Adamson also says that he does not make any reference to the ideas of either al-Kindi or his contemporary, Abu Bakr al-Razi, which clearly indicates that he did not consider their approach to Philosophy as a correct or viable one.[32]
Works
Metaphysics and cosmology
In contrast to al-Kindi, who considered the subject of metaphysics to be God, al-Farabi believed that it was concerned primarily with being qua being (that is, being in and of itself), and this is related to God only to the extent that God is a principle of absolute being. Al-Kindi's view was, however, a common misconception regarding Greek philosophy amongst Muslim intellectuals at the time, and it was for this reason that Avicenna remarked that he did not understand Aristotle's Metaphysics properly until he had read a prolegomenon written by al-Farabi.[33] Al-Farabi's cosmology is essentially based upon three pillars: Aristotelian metaphysics of causation, highly developed Plotinian emanational cosmology and the Ptolemaic astronomy.[34] In his model, the universe is viewed as a number of concentric circles; the outermost sphere or "first heaven", the sphere of fixed stars, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and finally, the Moon. At the centre of these concentric circles is the sub-lunar realm which contains the material world.[35] Each of these circles represent the domain of the secondary intelligences (symbolized by the celestial bodies themselves), which act as causal intermediaries between the First Cause (in this case, God) and the material world. Furthermore these are said to have emanated from God, who is both their formal and efficient cause. The process of emanation begins (metaphysically, not temporally) with the First Cause, whose principal activity is self-contemplation. And it is this intellectual activity that underlies its role in the creation of the universe. The First Cause, by thinking of itself, "overflows" and the incorporeal entity of the second intellect "emanates" from it. Like its predecessor, the second intellect also thinks about itself, and thereby brings its celestial sphere (in this case, the sphere of fixed stars) into being, but in addition to this it must also contemplate upon the First Cause, and this causes the "emanation" of the next intellect. The cascade of emanation continues until it reaches the tenth intellect, beneath which is the material world. And as each intellect must contemplate both itself and an increasing number of predecessors, each succeeding level of existence becomes more and more complex. It should be noted that this process is based upon necessity as opposed to will. In other words, God does not have a choice whether or not to create the universe, but by virtue of His own existence, He causes it to be. This view also suggests that the universe is eternal, and both of these points were criticized by al-Ghazzali in his attack on the philosophers[36][37]
Al-Farabi In his discussion of the First Cause (or God), al-Farabi relies heavily on negative theology. He says that it cannot be known by intellectual means, such as dialectical division or definition, because the terms used in these processes to define a thing constitute its substance. Therefore if one was to define the First Cause, each of the terms used would actually constitute a part of its substance and therefore behave as a cause for its existence, which is impossible as the First Cause is uncaused; it exists without being caused. Equally, he says it cannot be known according to genus and differentia, as its substance and existence are different from all others, and therefore it has no category to which it belongs. If this were the case, then it would not be the First Cause, because something would be prior in existence to it, which is also impossible. This would suggest that the more philosophically simple a thing is, the more perfect it is. And based on this observation, Adamson says it is possible to see the entire hierarchy of al-Farabi's cosmology according to classification into genus and species. Each succeeding level in this structure has as its principal qualities multiplicity and deficiency, and it is this ever-increasing complexity that typifies the material world.[38]
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Al-Farabi Whether or not al-Farabi actually intended to outline a political programme in his writings remains a matter of dispute amongst academics. Henry Corbin, who considers al-Farabi to be a crypto-Shi'ite, says that his ideas should be understood as a "prophetic philosophy" instead of being interpreted politically.[57] On the other hand, Charles Butterworth contends that nowhere in his work does al-Farabi speak of a prophet-legislator or revelation (even the word philosophy is scarcely mentioned), and the main discussion that takes place concerns the positions of "king" and "statesmen".[58] Occupying a middle position is David Reisman, who like Corbin believes that al-Farabi did not want to expound a political doctrine (although he does not go so far to attribute it to Islamic Gnosticism either). He argues that al-Farabi was using different types of society as examples, in the context of an ethical discussion, to show what effect correct or incorrect thinking could have.[59] Lastly, Joshua Parens argues that al-Farabi was slyly asserting that a pan-Islamic society could not be made, by using reason to show how many conditions (such as moral and deliberative virtue) would have to be met, thus leading the reader to conclude that humans are not fit for such a society.[60] Some other authors like Mykhaylo Yakubovych attest that for al-Farabi religion (milla) and philosophy (falsafa) constituted the same praxeological value (i.e. basis for amal al-fadhil"virtuous deed"), while its epistemological level (ilm"knowledge") was different.[61]
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Notes
[1] Alternative names and translations from Arabic include: Alfarabi, Farabi, and Abunaser [2] Reisman, D.(ed.)Before and After Avicenna. Princeton, NJ. 2001 [3] DANIEL BALLAND, "FRYB" in Encyclopedia Iranica (http:/ / www. iranica. com/ newsite/ index. isc?Article=http:/ / www. iranica. com/ newsite/ articles/ unicode/ v9f4/ v9f410. html). excerpt: "Fryb (also Pryb), common Persian toponym meaning lands irrigated by diversion of river water" [4] Dehkhoda Dictionary under "Parab" (http:/ / www. loghatnaameh. com/ dehkhodaworddetail-f1f713a319da41dc97d398057889ff2f-fa. html) excerpt: " . ( ) . . " (translation: "Lands irrigated by diversion of river water, springs and qanats.") [5] al-Frb. (2010). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved February 20, 2010, from Encyclopdia Britannica Online: http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 201680/ al-Farabi [6] David C. Reisman, "Al-Farabi and the philosophical curriculum", in Peter Adamson and Richard C. Taylor, The Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 53. [7] F. Abiola Irele/Biodun Jeyifo, "Farabi", in The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought, Vol. 1, p. 379. [8] Ebn Abi Osaybea, Oyun al-anba fi tabaqat at-atebba, ed. A. Mller, Cairo, 1299/1882. - [9] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mehdi Amin Razavi. "An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 1: From Zoroaster to Umar Khayyam", I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007. Pg 134: "Ibn Nadim in his al-Fihrist, which is the first work to mention Farabi considers him to be of Persian origin, as does Muhammad Shahrazuri in his Tarikh al-hukama and Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah in his Tabaqat al-atibba. In contrast, Ibn Khallikan in his '"Wafayat al-'ayan considers him to be of Turkish descent. In any case, he was born in Farab in Khurasan of that day around 257/870 in a climate of Persianate culture" [10] Arabic: in J. Mashkur, Farab and Farabi,Tehran,1972. See also Dehkhoda Dictionary under the entry Farabi for the same exact Arabic quote. [11] Majid Fakhry, Al-Farabi, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works and Influence, Great Islamic Thinkers (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2002), 157. ISBN 9781851683024. George Fadlo Hourani, Essays on Islamic Philosophy and Science, Suny press, 1975. Kiki Kennedy-Day, Books of Definition in Islamic Philosophy: The Limits of Words, Routledge, 2002, page 32. [13] Joshua Parens (2006). An Islamic philosophy of virtuous religions : introducing Alfarabi. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press. pp. 3. ISBN 0-7914-6689-2 excerpt: "He was a native speaker of Turkic dialect, Soghdian." [Note: Sogdian was an East Iranian language and not a Turkic dialect] [14] Joep Lameer, "Al-Frb and Aristotelian syllogistics: Greek theory and Islamic practice", E.J. Brill, 1994. ISBN 90-04-09884-4 pg 22: "..Islamic world of that time, an area whose inhabitants must have spoken Soghdian or maybe a Turkish dialect..." [15] . - . 14 161 ( 54): 15-20- . J. Mashkur, "Farabi and Farabi" in volume 14, No. 161, pp 15-12 ,Tehran,1972. (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071021043054/ http:/ / ichodoc. ir/ p-a/ CHANGED/ 161/ html/ 161_15. htm) English translations of the arguments used by J. Mashkur can be found in: G. Lohraspi, "Some remarks on Farabi's background"; a scholarly approach citing C.E. Bosworth, B. Lewis, R. Frye, D. Gutas, J. Mashkur and partial translation of J.Mashkur's arguments: PDF (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ SomeRemarksOnFarabisBackgroundIranicsoghdianpersianOraltaic). - - . - - - - - .
Al-Farabi
P.J. King, "One Hundred Philosophers: the life and work of the world's greatest thinkers", chapter al-Frbi, Zebra, 2006. pp 50: "Of Persian stock, al-Farabi (Alfarabius, AbuNaser) was born in Turkestan" Henry Thomas, Understanding the Great Philosophers, Doubleday,Published 1962 T. J. De Boer, "The History of Philosophy in Islam", Forgotten Books, 2008. Excerpt page 98: "His father is said to have been a Persian General". ISBN 1-60506-697-4 Sterling M. McMurrin, Religion, Reason, and Truth: Historical Essays in the Philosophy of Religion, University of Utah Press, 1982, ISBN 0-87480-203-2. page 40. edited by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins. (2003). From Africa to Zen : an invitation to world philosophy. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 163. ISBN 0-7425-1350-5 "al-Farabi (870-950), a Persian," Thomas F. Glick. (1995). From Muslim fortress to Christian castle : social and cultural change in medieval Spain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 170. ISBN 0-7190-3349-7 "It was thus that al-Farabi (c. 870-950), a Persian philosopher" The World's Greatest Seers and Philosophers.. Gardners Books. 2005. pp. 41. ISBN 81-223-0824-4 "al-Farabi (also known as Abu al-Nasr al-Farabi) was born of Turkish parents in the small village of Wasij near Farab, Turkistan (now in Uzbekistan) in 870 AD. His parents were of Persian descent, but their ancestors had migrated to Turkistan." Bryan Bunch with Alexander Hellemans. (2004). The history of science and technology : a browser's guide to the great discoveries, inventions, and the people who made them, from the dawn of time to today. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 108. ISBN 0-618-22123-9 "Persian scholar al-Farabi" Olivier Roy, "The new Central Asia: the creation of nations ", I.B.Tauris, 2000. 1860642799. pg 167: "Kazakhistan also annexes for the purpose of bank notes Al Farabi (870-950), the Muslim philosopher who was born in the south of present-day Kazakhistan but who persumably spoke Persian, particularly because in that era there were no Kazakhs in the region"
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Majid Khadduri; [foreword by R. K. Ramazani]. The Islamic conception of justice. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, c1984.. pp. 84. ISBN 0-8018-6974-9 "Nasr al-Farabi was born in Farab (a small town in Transoxiana) in 259/870 to a family of mixed parentage the father, who married a Turkish woman, is said to have been of Persian and Turkish descent but both professed the Shi'l heterodox faith. He spoke Persian and Turkish fluently and learned the Arabic language before he went to Baghdad. ann Fkhr, Trkh al-fikr al-falsaf inda al-Arab, al-Duqq, al-Jzah : al-Sharikah al-Miryah al-lamyah lil-Nashr, Lnjmn, 2002. Ammar al-Talbi, al-Farabi (http:/ / www. ibe. unesco. org/ publications/ ThinkersPdf/ farabie. pdf), UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, vol. XXIII, no. 1/2, Paris, 1993, p. 353-372 David Deming,"Science and Technology in World History: The Ancient World and Classical Civilization", McFarland, 2010. pg 94: "Al-Farabi, known in Medieval Europe as Abunaser, was a Persian philosopher who sought to harmonize.." Philosophers: Abu Al-Nasr Al-Farabi (http:/ / www. trincoll. edu/ depts/ phil/ philo/ phils/ muslim/ farabi. html), Trinity College, 1995-2000 [17] B.G. Gafurov, Central Asia:Pre-Historic to Pre-Modern Times, (Shipra Publications, 2005), 124; "Abu Nasr Farabi hailed from around ancient Farabi which was situated on the bank of Syr Daria and was the son of a Turk military commander". [18] Will Durant, The Age of Faith, (Simon and Schuster, 1950), 253. [19] Nicholas Rescher, Al-Farabi's Short Commentary on Aristotle's Prior Analytics, University of Pittsburgh Pre, 1963, p.11, Online Edition (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=lLV1ssgsNRIC& printsec=frontcover& hl=en#v=onepage& q). [20] Antony Black, The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present, Routledge, p. 61, Online Edition (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=nspmqLKPU-wC& printsec=frontcover& hl=en#v=onepage& q& f=false) [21] James Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Kessinger Publishing, Vol. 10, p.757, Online Edition (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=dA9h8XGtRPQC& printsec=frontcover& hl=en#v=onepage& q) [22] * edited by Ted Honderich. (1995). The Oxford companion to philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 269. ISBN 0-19-866132-0 "Of Turki origin, al-Farabi studied under Christian thinkers" edited and translated by Norman Calder, Jawid Mojaddedi and Andrew Rippin. (2003). Classical Islam : a sourcebook of religious literature. New York: Routledge. pp. 170. ISBN 0-415-24032-8 "He was of Turkish origin, was born in Turkestan" Ian Richard Netton. (1999). Al-Frb and his school. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-1064-7 "He appears to have been born into a military family of Turkish origin in the village of Wasil, Farab, in Turkestan" edited by Henrietta Moore. (1996). The future of anthropological knowledge. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10786-5 "al-Farabi (873-950), a scholar of Turkish origin." Dian Collinson and Robert Wilkinson. (1994). Thirty-Five Oriental Philosophers.. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-02935-6 "Al-Farabi is thought to be of Turkish origin. His family name suggests that he came from the vicinity of Farab in Transoxiana." Fernand Braudel ; translated by Richard Mayne. (1995). A history of civilizations. New York, N.Y.: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-012489-6 "Al-Farabi, born in 870, was of Turkish origin. He lived in Aleppo and died in 950 in Damascus" Jaroslav Krej ; assisted by Anna Krejov. (1990). Before the European challenge : the great civilizations of Asia and the Middle East. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 140. ISBN 0-7914-0168-5 "the Transoxanian Turk al-Farabi (d. circa 950)" Hamid Naseem. (2001). Muslim philosophy science and mysticism. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. pp. 78. ISBN 81-7625-230-1 "Al-Farabi, the first Turkish philosopher" Clifford Sawhney. The World's Greatest Seers and Philosophers, 2005, p. 41 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?vid=ISBN8122308244& id=XwOwsOstm4gC& pg=PA41& lpg=PA41& ots=5GH4dCEVWu& dq=farabi+ wasij& sig=j3r8fnxWtKkZe4XY1gfwUt9TSqQ)
Al-Farabi
Zainal Abidin Ahmad. Negara utama (Madinatul fadilah) Teori kenegaraan dari sardjana Islam al Farabi. 1964, p. 19 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?vid=08PpetGEpeumMUZ4um& id=Q51plsbFmNcC& q=farabi+ wasij& dq=farabi+ wasij) Haroon Khan Sherwani. Studies in Muslim Political Thought and Administration. 1945, p. 63 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?vid=0f0ixUPRKcb965o-1v& id=EQEeAAAAMAAJ& q=farabi+ wasij& dq=farabi+ wasij) Ian Richard Netton. Al-Farabi and His School, 1999, p. 5 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?vid=ISBN0700710647& id=Fuk7fN3Jp6sC& pg=RA2-PA5& lpg=RA2-PA5& ots=fuaSpSpijK& dq=& sig=k_B6TBVx0TC1E2_sL5N2ljioH4A) [23] Clifford Edmund Bosworth, "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World." In Islamic Civilization, ed. by D.S. Richards. Oxford, 1973. [24] History of logic: Arabic logic (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ ebc/ article-65928), Encyclopdia Britannica. [25] Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Professor Mehdi Aminrazavi. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 1: From Zoroaster to Umar Khayyam, I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007. Pg 135: Morever, he was a master of music theory; his Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir (The Great book on Music), known in the West as a book on Arabic music, is in reality a study of the theory of Persian music of his day as well as presenting certain great philosophical principle about music, its cosmic qualities, and its influence on the soul [26] Arabic and Islamic Natural Philosophy and Natural Science (http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ arabic-islamic-natural), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [27] Black, D. Al-Farabi in Leaman, O & Nasr, H (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. p178. [28] Motahhari, Mortaza, Becoming familiar with Islamic knowledge, V1, p:162 [29] Reisman, D. Al-Farabi and the Philosophical Curriculum In Adamson, P & Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p52 [30] Motahhari, Morteza, Becoming familiar with Islamic knowledge, V1, p.166 ( ) . [31] Motahhari, Mortaza, Becoming familiar with Islamic knowledge, V1, p.167 ( ) . [32] Reisman, p55 [33] Black, p188 [34] Reisman, p56 [35] Black, p189 [36] Reisman, p57 [37] Corbin, H. (1993). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Keagan Paul International. p161 [38] Reisman, p58-59 [39] Reisman, p61 [40] page 461 (http:/ / umcc. ais. org/ ~maftab/ ip/ hmp/ XXIII-TwentyThree. pdf) [41] Reisman, p64 [42] Reisman, p63 [43] Black, p186 [44] Corbin, p158 [45] Corbin, p165 [46] Black, p184 [47] Reisman, p60-61 [48] Black (2), D. Psychology: Soul and Intellect in Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p313 [49] Black (b), p313 [50] Black, p185 [51] Corbin, p164 [52] Black, p187 [53] Corbin, p162 [54] Black, p190 [55] Butterworth, p278 [56] Black, p191 [57] Corbin, p162-163 [58] Butterworth, C. Ethical and Political Philosophy in Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p276 [59] Reisman, p68 [60] Joshua Parens, An Islamic Philosophy of Virtuous Religions: Introducing Alfarabi (New York: State University of New York Press, 2006), 2. [61] Mykhaylo Yakubovych. Al-Farabi's Book of Religion. Ukrainian translation, introduction and comments / Ukrainian Religious Studies Bulletin, 2008, Vol. 47, P. 237.
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References
Al-Farabi, Le Livre du r gime politique, introduction, traduction et commentaire de Philippe Vallat,Belles Lettres, 2012 Corbin, Henry; Hossein Nasr; Utman Yahya (1993). History of Islamic Philosophy. Keagan Paul International. ISBN978-0-7103-0416-2. Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 978-0-931340-88-8 Majid Fakhry, Al-Farabi, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works, and Influence, Oxford: Oneworld Publications, (2002), ISBN 1-85168-302-X. Trad. esp.: "Alfarabi y la fundacin de la filosofa poltica islmica", trad R. Ramn Guerrero, Barcelona, Herder, 2003. Christoph Marcinkowski, "A Biographical Note on Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) and an English Translation of his Annotations to Al-Farabi's Isagoge". Iqbal Review (Lahore, Pakistan), vol. 43, no 2 (April 2002), pp 8399. Deborah Black. Al-Farabi in Leaman, O & Nasr, H (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. David Reisman. Al-Farabi and the Philosophical Curriculum In Adamson, P & Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Deborah Black. Psychology: Soul and Intellect in Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Charles Butterworth. Ethical and Political Philosophy in Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rafael Ramn Guerrero. Apuntes biogrficos de al-Frb segn sus vidas rabes, in Anaquel de Estudios rabes, 14 (2003) 231-238. R mi Brague Trait de logique, trad. de R mi Brague, Paris, Descl e De Brouwer, 1996 F.W Zimmermann, Al-Farabi 's Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle 's De Interpretatione, Oxford, 1981. Monteil Jean-Franois, La transmission dAristote par les Arabes la chr tient occidentale: une trouvaille relative au De Interpretatione, Revista Espaola de Filosofia Medieval 11: 181-195 (2004).
External links
Dhanani, Alnoor (2007). "Frb: Ab Nar Muammad ibn Muammad ibn Tarkhn alFrb" (http://islamsci. mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Farabi_BEA.htm). In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp.3567. ISBN978-0-387-31022-0. ( PDF version (http://islamsci.mcgill. ca/RASI/BEA/Farabi_BEA.pdf)) Mahdi, Muhsin (2008) [1970-80]. " Al-Frb, Ab Nar Muammad Ibn Muammad Ibn arkhn Ibn Awzalagh (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830901380.html)". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com. al-Farabi at Britannica (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033714/al-Farabi) Abu Nasr al-Farabi at muslimphilosophy.com (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H021.htm) al-Frbi (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc0337/authors/al-farabi.html)brief introduction by Peter J. King The Philosophy of Alfarabi and Its Influence on Medieval Thought (1947) (http://sacred-texts.com/isl/palf/ index.htm) al-madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City) (http://www.wilbourhall.org/index.html#farabi). German introduction with Arabic text. Article discussing Soghdian origin for Farabi (http://sites.google.com/site/ancientpersonalitiesofkhorasan/ soghdian-farabi/farabi-soghdian-origin) PDF version (http://sites.google.com/site/ ancientpersonalitiesofkhorasan/soghdian-farabi/Farabiremarksonbackground.pdf?attredirects=0) (http://www. archive.org/details/SomeRemarksOnFarabisBackgroundIranicsoghdianpersianOraltaic) ALFARABI-Trinity College (http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/phil/philo/phils/muslim/farabi.html)
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Avicenna
Pr Sn ( )
Sharaf al-Mulk, Hujjat al-Haq, Sheikh al-Rayees,Ibn Sn( ),Avicenna August c. 980 Bukhara (capital of the Samanid Persian Empire) June 1037 (aged5657) Hamadan, Iran Medieval era (Islamic Golden Age) Greater Khorsn under the Samanid Persian Empire (19 years in Bukhara); Khwrazm under the Samanids (13 years in Gurgnj); Gorgn under the Ziyarids: 101214 AD; Persia under the Buyids (Ray: for 1 year; Hamadn: for 9 years; Isfahn: for 13 years; died in 1037 AD in Hamadn.)
Died
Era Region
Main interests Medicine, philosophy, logic, Islamic theology (kalam), physics, poetry, science Notable ideas Major works Father of modern medicine; pioneer of aromatherapy The Book of Healing, The Canon of Medicine
Avicenna Avicennism The Canon of Medicine The Book of Healing Hayy ibn Yaqdhan Criticism of Avicennian philosophy Unani medicine
Pr Sin (Persian or or Pur-e Sina; [pur sin] "son of Sina";Wikipedia:Citing sources#What information to include August c. 980 June 1037), commonly known as Ibn Sn, or in Arabic
Avicenna writing Ab Al al-usayn ibn Abd Allh ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sn (Arabic - ) or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian[1] polymath, who wrote almost 450 works on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving works concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine. His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sn's Canon of Medicine provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).[2][3] His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
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Circumstances
Avicenna created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as Islam's Golden Age, in which the translations of Greco-Roman, Persian, and Indian texts were studied extensively. Greco-Roman (Mid- and Neo-Platonic, and Aristotelian) texts by the Kindi school were commented, redacted and developed substantially by Islamic intellectuals, who also built upon Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, algebra, trigonometry and medicine. The Samanid dynasty in the eastern part of Persia, Greater Khorasan and Central Asia as well as the Buyid dynasty in the western part of Persia and Iraq provided a thriving atmosphere for scholarly and cultural development. Under the Samanids, Bukhara rivaled Baghdad as a cultural capital of the Islamic world. The study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived in such a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy, Fiqh and theology (kalaam) were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents. Al-Razi and Al-Farabi had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine and philosophy. Avicenna had access to the great libraries of Balkh, Khwarezm, Gorgan, Rey, Isfahan and Hamadan. Various texts (such as the 'Ahd with Bahmanyar) show that he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time. Aruzi Samarqandi describes how before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met Rayhan Biruni (a famous scientist and astronomer), Abu Nasr Iraqi (a renowned mathematician), Abu Sahl Masihi (a respected philosopher) and Abu al-Khayr Khammar (a great physician).
Biography
Early life
The only source of information for the first part of Avicenna's life is his autobiography, as written down by his student Jzjn. In the absence of any other sources it is impossible to be certain how much of the autobiography is accurate. It has been noted that he uses his autobiography to advance his theory of knowledge (that it was possible for an individual to acquire knowledge and understand the Aristotelian philosophical sciences without a teacher), and it has been questioned whether the order of events described was adjusted to fit more closely with the Aristotelian model; in other words, whether Avicenna described himself as studying things in the 'correct' order. However given the absence of any other evidence, Avicenna's account essentially has to be taken at face value.[4] Avicenna was born c. 980 in Afana, a village near Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan), the capital of the Samanids, a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan. His mother, named Setareh, was from Bukhara;[5] his father, Abdullah, was a respected Ismaili scholar from Balkh, an important town of the Samanid Empire, in what is today Balkh Province, Afghanistan. His father was at the time of his son's birth the governor in one of the Samanid Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He had his son very carefully educated at Bukhara. Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said in his autobiography, there was nothing that he had not learned when he
Avicenna reached eighteen. A number of different theories have been proposed regarding Avicenna's madhab. Medieval historian ahr al-dn al-Bayhaq (d. 1169) considered Avicenna to be a follower of the Brethren of Purity.[6] On the other hand, Dimitri Gutas along with Aisha Khan and Jules J. Janssens demonstrated that Avicenna was a Sunni Hanafi.[6] However, Shia faqih Nurullah Shushtari and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in addition to Henry Corbin, have maintained that he was most likely a Twelver Shia.[7] Similar disagreements exist on the background of Avicenna's family, whereas some writers considered them Sunni, more recent writers thought they were Shia. According to his autobiography, Avicenna had memorised the entire Qur'an by the age of 10. He learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under the Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid.[8] As a teenager, he was greatly troubled by the Metaphysics of Aristotle, which he could not understand until he read al-Farabi's commentary on the work. For the next year and a half, he studied philosophy, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions (wudu), then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer (salat) till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night, he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi, which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, made with the help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor. He turned to medicine at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a qualified physician at age 18, and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.
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Adulthood
Ibn Sina's first appointment was that of physician to the emir, who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997). Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal library of the Samanids, well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by fire not long after, the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge. Meanwhile, he assisted his father in his financial labors, but still found time to write some of his earliest works. When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004. Ibn Sina seems to have declined the offers of Mahmud of Ghazni, and proceeded westwards to Urgench in modern Turkmenistan, where the vizier, regarded as a friend of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of Nishapur and Merv to the borders of Khorasan, seeking an opening for his talents. Qabus, the generous ruler of Tabaristan, himself a poet and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find A drawing of Avicenna from 1271 asylum, was on about that date (1012) starved to death by his troops who had revolted. Ibn Sina himself was at this time stricken by a severe illness. Finally, at Gorgan, near the Caspian Sea, Ibn Sina met with a friend, who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy. Several of Ibn Sina's treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his Canon of Medicine also dates from his stay in Hyrcania. Ibn Sina subsequently settled at Rai, in the vicinity of modern Tehran, (present day capital of Iran), the home town of Rhazes; where Majd Addaula, a son of the last Buwayhid emir, was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother (Seyyedeh Khatun). About thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said to have been composed in Rai. Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son, Shams al-Daula, however, compelled the scholar to quit the place. After a brief sojourn at Qazvin he passed southwards to Hamadn where Shams al-Daula, another Buwayhid emir, had established himself. At first, Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent him back with presents to his dwelling. Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of vizier. The emir decreed that he should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however, remained hidden for forty days in sheikh Ahmed Fadhel's house, until a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time, Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching. Every evening, extracts from his great works, the Canon and the Sanatio, were dictated and explained to his pupils. On the death of the emir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an apothecary, where, with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of his works. Meanwhile, he had written to Abu Ya'far, the prefect of the dynamic city of Isfahan, offering his services. The new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina was hiding, incarcerated him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadn; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Tajik mercenaries. When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary labors. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a favorite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped from the city in the dress of a Sufi ascetic. After a perilous journey, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honorable welcome from the prince.
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Avicenna's philosophy
Ibn Sn wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophy, especially the subjects logic, ethics, and metaphysics, including treatises named Logic and Metaphysics. Most of his works were written in Arabic - which was the de facto scientific language of the time in the Middle East, and some were written in the Persian language. Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language (particularly the Danishnamah-yi 'Ala', Philosophy for Ala' ad-Dawla'). Ibn Sn's commentaries on Aristotle often corrected the philosopher,[citation needed] encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad.
In the medieval Islamic world, due to Avicenna's successful[citation needed] reconciliation between Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism along with Kalam, Avicennism eventually became the leading school of Islamic philosophy by the 12th century, with Avicenna becoming a central authority on philosophy.[9] Avicennism was also influential in medieval Europe, particular his doctrines on the nature of the soul and his existence-essence distinction, along with the debates and censure that they raised in scholastic Europe. This was particularly the case in Paris, where Avicennism was later proscribed in 1210. Nevertheless, his
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psychology and theory of knowledge influenced William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris and Albertus Magnus, while his metaphysics had an impact on the thought of Thomas Aquinas.
Metaphysical doctrine
Early Islamic philosophy and Islamic metaphysics, imbued as it is with Islamic theology, distinguishes more clearly than Aristotelianism the difference between essence and existence. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being beyond the accidental. The philosophy of Ibn Sn, particularly that part relating to metaphysics, owes much to al-Farabi. The search for a definitive Islamic philosophy separate from Occasionalism can be seen in what is left of his work. Following al-Farabi's lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence (Mahiat) and existence (Wujud). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things, and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the The first page of a manuscript, authored by Ibn Sina. universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect. Avicenna's consideration of the essence-attributes question may be elucidated in terms of his ontological analysis of the modalities of being; namely impossibility, contingency, and necessity. Avicenna argued that the impossible being is that which cannot exist, while the contingent in itself (mumkin bi-dhatihi) has the potentiality to be or not to be without entailing a contradiction. When actualized, the contingent becomes a 'necessary existent due to what is other than itself' (wajib al-wujud bi-ghayrihi). Thus, contingency-in-itself is potential beingness that could eventually be actualized by an external cause other than itself. The metaphysical structures of necessity and contingency are different. Necessary being due to itself (wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi) is true in itself, while the contingent being is 'false in itself' and 'true due to something else other than itself'. The necessary is the source of its own being without borrowed existence. It is what always exists.[10][11] The Necessary exists 'due-to-Its-Self', and has no quiddity/essence (mahiyya) other than existence (wujud). Furthermore, It is 'One' (wahid ahad)[12] since there cannot be more than one 'Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself' without differentia (fasl) to distinguish them from each other. Yet, to require differentia entails that they exist 'due-to-themselves' as well as 'due to what is other than themselves'; and this is contradictory. However, if no differentia distinguishes them from each other, then there is no sense in which these 'Existents' are not one and the same.[13] Avicenna adds that the 'Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself' has no genus (jins), nor a definition (hadd), nor a counterpart (nadd), nor an opposite (did), and is detached (bari) from matter (madda), quality (kayf), quantity (kam), place (ayn), situation (wad), and time (waqt).[14][15][16]
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Al-Biruni correspondence
Correspondence between Ibn Sina (with his student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi) and Ab Rayhn al-Brn has survived in which they debated Aristotelian natural philosophy and the Peripatetic school. Abu Rayhan began by asking Avicenna eighteen questions, ten of which were criticisms of Aristotle's On the Heavens.[17]
Theology
Ibn Sn was a devout Muslim and sought to reconcile rational philosophy with Islamic theology. His aim was to prove the existence of God and His creation of the world scientifically and through reason and logic.[18] Avicenna wrote a number of treatises dealing with Islamic theology. These included treatises on the Islamic prophets, whom he viewed as "inspired philosophers", and on various scientific and philosophical interpretations of the Qur'an, such as how Quranic cosmology corresponds to his own philosophical system.[19] Ibn Sn memorized the Qur'an by the age of ten, and as an adult, he wrote five treatises commenting on suras from the Qur'an. One of these texts included the Proof of Prophecies, in which he comments on several Quranic verses and holds the Qur'an in high esteem. Avicenna argued that the Islamic prophets should be considered higher than philosophers.[20]
Thought experiments
While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near Hamadhan, Avicenna wrote his famous "Floating Man" -literally falling man- thought experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality and immateriality of the soul. Avicenna believed his "Floating Man" thought experiment demonstrated that the soul is a substance, and claimed humans cannot doubt their own consciousness, even in a situation that prevents all sensory data input. The thought experiment told its readers to imagine themselves created all at once while suspended in the air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies. He argued that, in this scenario, one would still have self-consciousness. Because it is conceivable that a person, suspended in air while cut off from sense experience, would still be capable of determining his own existence, the thought experiment points to the conclusions that the soul is a perfection, independent of the body, and an immaterial substance. The conceivability of this "Floating Man" indicates that the soul is perceived intellectually, which entails the soul's separateness from the body. Avicenna referred to the living human intelligence, particularly the active intellect, which he believed to be the hypostasis by which God communicates truth to the human mind and imparts order and intelligibility to nature. Following is an English translation of the argument: One of us has to consider (yatawaham) that one has been just created in a stroke, and that one has been thus created fully developed and perfectly complete (kmilan), yet [created] with one's vision shrouded [or veiled] (hujiba baarahu) from watching [perceiving] (mushhadt) external entities created falling [floating] (yahwa) in the air on in empty space (al-khal) in a fall not buffeted by any felt air that buffets it [i.e. the Person in question]; its limbs separated and not in contact nor touching on another. Then let it contemplate (yataamal) whether it would affirm the existence of its own self. It would not then doubt the affirmation that its self is existent (mawjda), yet not affirming the existence of any other limbs nor inner bowels, nor heart, nor brain, nor anything of the external things. Rather it was affirming the existence of its-self without affirming that it had length, breadth, or depth. And if it were possible for it, in such a state, to imagine (yatakhayal) a hand or any other limb, it would not then imagine it to be part of its-self nor to be condition of it [i.e. its-self existence]. And you know that what is affirmed is distinct from what is not affirmed, and what is implied is distinct from what is not implied. Therefore the nafs [self, soul], whose existence the person has affirmed, is its [the person's] characteristic identity that is not identical to its body nor its limbs [whose existence] it did not affirm. Therefore, the attentive (al-mutanabih) [to this situation] has a means of realizing (yatanabah) that the affirmation of the existence of its-self (soul, al-nafs) is distinct from the body and something that is quite non-body [i.e. that the mind/soul (al-nafs) is distinct from the body (jism)]; this is known though
Avicenna self-consciousness and if one was distracted from it, one needs to knock one's baton [as to be alerted to it]. Ibn Sina,Kitab Al-Shifa, On the Soul The original Arabic text reads as follows: - - - - - - . Ibn Sina,Kitab Al-Shifa, On the Soul[21] However, Avicenna posited the brain as the place where reason interacts with sensation. Sensation prepares the soul to receive rational concepts from the universal Agent Intellect. The first knowledge of the flying person would be "I am," affirming his or her essence. That essence could not be the body, obviously, as the flying person has no sensation. Thus, the knowledge that "I am" is the core of a human being: the soul exists and is self-aware. Avicenna thus concluded that the idea of the self is not logically dependent on any physical thing, and that the soul should not be seen in relative terms, but as a primary given, a substance. The body is unnecessary; in relation to it, the soul is its perfection. In itself, the soul is an immaterial substance.
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Avicenna The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them. The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused. The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect. The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man. An Arabic edition of the Canon appeared at Rome in 1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded on the original translation by Gerard de Sabloneta. In the 15th century a commentary on the text of the Canon was composed. Other medical works translated into Latin are the Medicamenta Cordialia, Canticum de Medicina, and the Tractatus de Syrupo Acetoso.
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It was mainly accident which determined that from the 12th to the 18th century, Ibn Sn should be the guide of medical study in European universities, and eclipse the names of Rhazes, Ali ibn al-Abbas and Averroes. His work is not essentially different from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of Galen, and through Galen the doctrine of Hippocrates, modified by the system of Aristotle. But the Canon of Ibn Sn is distinguished from the Al-Hawi (Continence) or Summary of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the logical studies of the former. The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like Averroes, holding it useful only as waste paper. In modern times it has been mainly of historic interest as most of its tenets have been disproved or expanded upon by scientific medicine. The vice of the book is excessive classification of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in the discrimination of diseases. It includes five books; of which the first and second discuss physiology, pathology and hygiene, the third and fourth deal with the methods of treating disease, and the fifth describes the composition and preparation of remedies. This last part contains some personal observations. He is ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is said to be inferior in practical medicine and surgery. He introduced into medical theory the four causes of the Peripatetic system. Of natural history and botany he pretended to no special knowledge. Up to the year 1650, or thereabouts, the Canon was still used as a textbook in the universities of Leuven and Montpellier. In the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. Ibn Sn was interested in the effect of the mind on the body, and wrote a great deal on psychology, likely influencing Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Bajjah. He also introduced medical herbs. Avicenna extended the theory of temperaments in The Canon of Medicine to encompass "emotional aspects, mental capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness, movements and dreams." He summarized his version of the four humours and temperaments in a table as follows:
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deficient energy
difficult digestion
bitter taste, excessive thirst, burning at cardia high pulse rate, lassitude
insomnia, wakefulness
flaccid joints
diarrhea, swollen eyelids, rough skin, acquired habit moist articles harmful
Avicenna was the first to use a cannula inserted into the throat to aid a choking patient. Cutting the windpipe was suggested only as a last resort.
Avicenna Giving one of the greatest benefits of the regimen of exercise, and then explaining the extremely important and necessary need for physical exercise; Ibn Sina states: "Once we direct the attention towards regulating exercise as to amount and time, we shall find there is no need for such medicines as are ordinarily required for remedying diseases dependent on [abnormal] matters, or diseases of temperament consequent upon such. This is true provided the rest of the regimen is appropriate and proper." (Avicenna 1999, p.377) The value of exercise includes the following (1) it hardens the organs and renders them fit for their functions (2) it results in a better absorption of food, aids assimilation, and, by increasing the innate heat, improves nutrition (3) it clears the pores of the skin (4) it removes effete substances through the lungs (5) it strengthens the physique. Vigorous exercise invigorates the muscular and nervous system." (Avicenna 1999, p.379) In what manner does Ibn Sina uses the word temperament? In saying that exercise cures diseases of temperamant Ibn Sina divides temperament into that which is harmonious and that which is non-uniform. Ibn Sina says on pg276277 "In addition to the signs of the normal temperament already given, there are: Mental faculties including: vigor of imagination, intellectual power, and memory." (Avicenna 1999, p.276) "In brief, there is non-uniformity of temperament among the members; or, perchance, the principal members depart from equability and come to be of contrary temperament, one deviating towards one, another to its contrary. If the components of the body are out of proportion, it is unfortunate both for talent and reasoning power." (Avicenna 1999, p.277) The Purpose of Exercise and the Dangers of its negligence Continuing on the proof to why exercise should be so beneficial Ibn Sina says "We know that this must be so when we reflect how in regard to nutriment, our health depends on the nutriment being appropriate for us and regulated in quantity and quality. For not one of the aliments which are capable of nourishing the body is converted into actual nutriment in its entirety. In every case digestion leaves something untouched, and nature takes care to have that evacuated. Nevertheless, the evacuation which nature accomplishes is not a complete one. Hence at the end of each digestion there is some superfluity left over. Should this be a frequent occurrence, repetition would lead to further aggregation until something measurable has accumulated. As a result, harmful effete substances would form and injure various parts of the body. When they undergo decomposition, putrefactive diseases arise [bacterial infections]. Should they be strong in quality, they will give rise to intemperament; and if they should increase in quantity, they would set up the symptoms of plethora which have already been described. Flowing to some member, they will result in an inflammatory mass, and their vapors will destroy the temperament of the substantial basis of the breath. That is the reason why we must be careful to evacuate these substances. Their evacuation is usually not completely accomplished without the aid of toxic medicines, for these break up the nature of the effate substances. This can be achieved only by toxic agents, although the drinking of them is to a certain extent deleterious to our nature. As Hippocrates says: "Medicine purges and ages." More than this the discharge of superfluous humor entails the loss of a large part of the natural humidities and of the breath, which is the substance of life. All this is at the expense of the strength of the principal and the auxiliary members, and therefore they are weakened thereby. These and other things account for the difficulties incident to plethora, whether they remain behind in the body or are evacuated by it." (Avicenna 1999, pp.3778) Just before this Ibn Sina explained how accumulation of food in our body, can cause diseases, and one way to rid us of this is strong medicines. However, as he explains; this is not the ideal way, and certainly not the long-term. Thus, to make his point very clear, and show the extreme necessity of daily exercise for health, Ibn Sina states:
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Avicenna "Now exercise is that agent which most surely prevents the accumulation of these matters, and prevents plethora. The other forms of regiment assist it. It is this exercise which renews and revives the innate heat, and imparts the necessary lightness to the body, for it causes the subtle heat to be increased and daily disperses whatever effete substances have accumulated; the movements of the body help them to expel them conveying them to those parts of the body whence they can readily leave it. Hence the effete matters are not allowed to collect day after day and besides this, as we have just said, exercise causes the innate heat to flourish and keeps the joints and ligaments firm, so as to be always ready for service, and also free from injury. It renders the members able to receive nutriment, in being free from accumulated effate matters. Hence it renders the members light and the humidities attenuated, and it dilates the pores of the skin. To forsake exercise would often incur the risk of "hectic", because the instinctive drives of the members are impaired, inasmuch as the deprivation of movement prevents the access to them of the innate breath. And this last is the real instrument of life for every one of the members." (Avicenna 1999, pp.3789) Massage Before you begin to exercise it is important that you massage your muscles; as Ibn Sina says on page 385: "Massage as a preparatory to athletics. The massage begins gently, and then becomes more vigorous as the time approaches for the exercise." (Avicenna 1999, p.385) Exercises The exercises themselves are divided into 'strenuous, mild, vigorous and brisk'. On pages379381; Ibn Sina states the types of exercises under each type: "Strenuous exercises include: wrestling contests, boxing, quick marching, running, jumping over an object higher than one foot, throwing the javelin, fencing, horsemanship, swimming. Mild exercises include: fishing, sailing, being carried on camels, swinging to and fro. Vigorous exercises include: those performed by soldiers in camp, in military sports; field running, long jumping, high jumping, polo, stone throwing, lifting heavy stones or weights, various forms of wrestling. Brisk exercises include: involves interchanging places with a partner as swiftly as possible, each jumping to and fro, either in time [to music] or irregularly." (Avicenna 1999, pp.37981) There are certain important things to note once you start exercising, one is the amount, the other consistency; Ibn Sina states about the amount: "(1) the color - as long as the skin goes on becoming florid, the exercise may be continued. After it ceases to do so, the exercise must be discontinued." (Avicenna 1999, p.384) On being consistent with exercise Ibn Sina states (on the importance of having a regimen): "At the conclusion of the first day's exercise, you will know the degree of exercise allowable and when you know the amount of nourishment the person can bear, do not make any change in either on the second day. Arrange that the measure of aliment, and the amount of exercise shall not exceed that limit ascertained on the first day." (Avicenna 1999, p.385) On the side note those who think themselves to be elderly, and thus think of shunning exercise, Ibn Sina write a complete chapter titled "Concerning the Elderly" in the Qanun, and states the same regimen for them, as he does for others. He states on page 433 "For if, towards the end of life, the body is still equable, it will be right to allow attempered exercises. If one part of the body should not be in a first-rate condition, then that part should not be exercised until the others have been exercised.... On the other hand, if the ailment were in the feet, then the exercise should employ the upper limbs: for instance, rowing, throwing weights, lifting weights." (Avicenna 1999, p.433) Bathing in Cold Water
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Avicenna Once you have finished exercising; it is often that the person will feel tired and fatigued; to combat this problem Ibn Sina says on page 388: "The beneficial Effects of Baths: The benefits are (1) induction of sleep (2) dilation of pores (3) cleansing of skin (4) dispersal of the undesirable waste matters (5) maturation of abscesses (6) drawing of nutriment towards the surface of the body (7) assistance to the physiological dispersion and excretion of poisonous matters (8) prevention of diarrhea and (9) removal of fatigue effects." (Avicenna 1999, p.388) Most importantly you should remember: "A person should not go into the bath immediately after exercise. He should rest properly first." (Avicenna 1999, p.387) There are two more things that are important to mention on this subject: "Injurious effects include the fact that the heart is weakened if the person stays too long in the bath" (Avicenna 1999, p.388) "Cold Bathing should not be done after exercise except in the case of the very robust. Even then the rules which we have given should be followed. To use cold baths in the ways we have named drives the natural heat suddenly into the interior parts, and then invigorates the strength so that the person should leave the bath twice as strong as when he entered." (Avicenna 1999, p.390) Diet Once Ibn Sina has laid the foundation of exercise being central to health, he names many exercises as running, swimming, weight lifting, polo, fencing, boxing, wrestling, long jumping, high jumping, etc. He also gives a diet to go along with the exercise: "The meal should include: (1) meat especially kid of goats; veal, and year-old lambs [this means white meat in today's terms][citation needed] (2) wheat, which is cleaned of extraneous matter and gathered during a healthy harvest without ever being exposed to injurious influences (3) sweets (fruits) of appropriate temperament." (Avicenna 1999, p.390) Lastly, the third thing mentioned is sleep; to make sure that you do not sleep during the days, and do not stay awake during the nights. From the above reading, it is clear that Ibn Sina gave advice in his book which is still the same advice medical doctors give to their patients.[citation needed] Daily Physical Exercise; and to defeat diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, the prescription of a diet which contains high amounts of Whole Grains and little to no amounts of Refined Carbohydrates.[citation needed]
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Psychology
In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna described a number of conditions, including melancholia.[27] He described melancholia as a depressive type of mood disorder in which the person may become suspicious and develop certain types of phobias.[28]
Unani medicine
Though the threads which comprise Unani healing can be traced all the way back to Galen of Pergamon, who lived in the 2nd century AD, the basic knowledge of Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by Hakim Ibn Sina in his medical encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine. The time of origin is thus dated at circa 1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote The Canon of Medicine in Persia, which remains a text book in the syllabus of Unani medicine in the colleges of India[29] and Pakistan.
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Philosophy of science
In the Al-Burhan (On Demonstration) section of The Book of Healing, Avicenna discussed the philosophy of science and described an early The oldest copies of Ibn Sina's second volume of scientific method of inquiry. He discusses Aristotle's Posterior "Canon Of Medicine" from the year 1030. Analytics and significantly diverged from it on several points. Avicenna discussed the issue of a proper methodology for scientific inquiry and the question of "How does one acquire the first principles of a science?" He asked how a scientist would arrive at "the initial axioms or hypotheses of a deductive science without inferring them from some more basic premises?" He explains that the ideal situation is when one grasps that a "relation holds between the terms, which would allow for absolute, universal certainty." Avicenna then adds two further methods for arriving at the first principles: the ancient Aristotelian method of induction (istiqra), and the method of examination and experimentation (tajriba). Avicenna criticized Aristotelian induction, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide." In its place, he develops a "method of experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry."
Logic
An early formal system of temporal logic was studied by Avicenna.[] Although he did not develop a real theory of temporal propositions, he did study the relationship between temporalis and the implication. Avicenna's work was further developed by Najm al-Dn al-Qazwn al-Ktib and became the dominant system of Islamic logic until modern times. Avicennian logic also influenced several early European logicians such as Albertus Magnus[31] and William of Ockham.[32][33]
Physics
In mechanics, Ibn Sn, in The Book of Healing, developed an elaborate theory of motion, in which he made a distinction between the inclination (tendency to motion) and force of a projectile, and concluded that motion was a result of an inclination (mayl) transferred to the projectile by the thrower, and that projectile motion in a vacuum would not cease.[34] He viewed inclination as a permanent force whose effect is dissipated by external forces such as air resistance.[35] The theory of motion developed by Avicenna may have influenced Jean Buridan's theory of impetus (the ancestor of the inertia and momentum concepts).
Avicenna In optics, Ibn Sina was among those who argued that light had a speed, observing that "if the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite.".[36] He also provided a wrong explanation of the rainbow phenomenon. Carl Benjamin Boyer described Avicenna's ("Ibn Sn") theory on the rainbow as follows: Independent observation had demonstrated to him that the bow is not formed in the dark cloud but rather in the very thin mist lying between the cloud and the sun or observer. The cloud, he thought, serves simply as the background of this thin substance, much as a quicksilver lining is placed upon the rear surface of the glass in a mirror. Ibn Sn would change the place not only of the bow, but also of the color formation, holding the iridescence to be merely a subjective sensation in the eye.[37] In 1253, a Latin text entitled Speculum Tripartitum stated the following regarding Avicenna's theory on heat: Avicenna says in his book of heaven and earth, that heat is generated from motion in external things.
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Psychology
Avicenna's legacy in classical psychology is primarily embodied in the Kitab al-nafs parts of his Kitab al-shifa' (The Book of Healing) and Kitab al-najat (The Book of Deliverance). These were known in Latin under the title De Anima (treatises "on the soul").Wikipedia:Disputed statement The main thesis of these tracts is represented in his so-called "flying man" argument, which resonates with what was centuries later entailed by Descartes's cogito argument (or what phenomenology designates as a form of an "epoche").[][] Avicenna's psychology requires that connection between the body and soul be strong enough to ensure the soul's individuation, but weak enough to allow for its immortality. Avicenna grounds his psychology on physiology, which means his account of the soul is one that deals almost entirely with the natural science of the body and its abilities of perception. Thus, the philosopher's connection between the soul and body is explained almost entirely by his understanding of perception; in this way, bodily perception interrelates with the immaterial human intellect. In sense perception, the perceiver senses the form of the object; first, by perceiving features of the object by our external senses. This sensory information is supplied to the internal senses, which merge all the pieces into a whole, unified conscious experience. This process of perception and abstraction is the nexus of the soul and body, for the material body may only perceive material objects, while the immaterial soul may only receive the immaterial, universal forms. The way the soul and body interact in the final abstraction of the universal from the concrete particular is the key to their relationship and interaction, which takes place in the physical body. The soul completes the action of intellection by accepting forms that have been abstracted from matter. This process requires a concrete particular (material) to be abstracted into the universal intelligible (immaterial). The material and immaterial interact through the Active Intellect, which is a "divine light" containing the intelligible forms. The Active Intellect reveals the universals concealed in material objects much like the sun makes color available to our eyes.
Other contributions
Astronomy and astrology
Avicenna wrote an attack on astrology titled Resla f ebl akm al-nojm, in which he cited passages from the Qur'an to dispute the power of astrology to foretell the future.[38] He believed that each planet had some influence on the earth, but argued against astrologers being able to determine the exact effects.[39] Avicenna's astronomical writings had some influence on later writers, although in general his work could be considered less developed than Alhazen or Al-Brn. One important feature of his writing is that he considers mathematical astronomy as a separate discipline to astrology. He criticized Aristotle's view of the stars receiving their light from the Sun, stating that the stars are self-luminous, and believed that the planets are also self-luminous.
Avicenna He claimed to have observed Venus as a spot on the Sun. This is possible, as there was a transit on May 24, 1032, but Avicenna did not give the date of his observation, and modern scholars have questioned whether he could have observed the transit from his location at that time; he may have mistaken a sunspot for Venus. He used his transit observation to help establish that Venus was, at least sometimes, below the Sun in Ptolemaic cosmology, i.e. the sphere of Venus comes before the sphere of the Sun when moving out from the Earth in the prevailing geocentric model. He also wrote the Summary of the Almagest, (based on Ptolemy's Almagest), with an appended treatise "to bring that which is stated in the Almagest and what is understood from Natural Science into conformity". For example, Avicenna considers the motion of the solar apogee, which Ptolemy had taken to be fixed.
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Chemistry
Ibn Sn used distillation to produce essential oils such as rose essence, forming the foundation of what later became aromatherapy.[40] Unlike, for example, al-Razi, Ibn Sn explicitly disputed the theory of the transmutation of substances commonly believed by alchemists: Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.[41] Four works on alchemy attributed to Avicenna were translated into Latin as:[42] Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta
Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae was the most influential, having influenced later medieval chemists and alchemists such as Vincent of Beauvais. However Anawati argues (following Ruska) that the de Anima is a fake by a Spanish author. Similarly the Declaratio is believed not to be actually by Avicenna. The third work (The Book of Minerals) is agreed to be Avicenna's writing, adapted from the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of the Remedy). Ibn Sina classified minerals into stones, fusible substances, sulfurs, and salts, building on the ideas of Aristotle and Jabir. The epistola de Re recta is somewhat less sceptical of alchemy; Anawati argues that it is by Avicenna, but written earlier in his career when he had not yet firmly decided that transmutation was impossible.
Poetry
Almost half of Ibn Sn's works are versified.[43] His poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example, Edward Granville Browne claims that the following Persian verses are incorrectly attributed to Omar Khayym, and were originally written by Ibn Sn:[44] Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate, I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many Knots unravel'd by the Road, But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate.
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Legacy
As early as the 14th century when Dante Alighieri depicted him in Limbo alongside the virtuous non-Christian thinkers in his Divine Comedy such as Virgil, Averroes, Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, Socrates, Plato, and Saladin, Avicenna has been recognized by both East and West, as one of the great figures in intellectual history. George Sarton, the author of The History of Science, described Ibn Sn as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history" and called him "the most famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous of all races, places, and times." He was one of the Islamic world's leading writers in the field of medicine. Along with Rhazes, Abulcasis, Ibn al-Nafis, and al-Ibadi, Ibn Sn is considered an important compiler of early Muslim medicine. He is remembered in the Western history of medicine as a major historical figure who made important contributions to medicine and the European Renaissance. His medical texts were unusual in that where controversy existed between Galen and Aristotle's views on medical matters (such as anatomy), he preferred to side with Aristotle, where necessary updating Aristotle's position to take into account post-Aristotilian advances in anatomical knowledge. Aristotle's dominant intellectual influence among medieval European scholars meant that Avicenna's linking of Galen's medical writings with Aristotle's philosophical writings in the Canon of Medicine (along with its comprehensive and logical organisation of knowledge) significantly increased Avicenna's importance in medieval Europe in comparison to other Islamic writers on medicine. His influence following translation of the Canon was such that from the early fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries he was ranked with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the acknowledged authorities, princeps medicorum (prince of physicians). In Iran, he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived. Many portraits and statues remain in Iran today. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who is known as the "doctor of doctors" still stands outside the Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Avicenna Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris. There is also a crater on the Moon named Avicenna and a plant genus Avicennia. Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamadan (Iran), the ibn Sn Tajik State Medical University in Dushanbe (The capital of the Republic of Tajikistan), Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences at Aligarh, India, Avicenna School in Karachi and Avicenna Medical College in Lahore[45] Pakistan, Ibne Sina Balkh Medical School in his native province of Balkh in Afghanistan, Ibni Sina Faculty Of Medicine of Ankara University Ankara, Turkey and Ibn Sina Integrated School in Marawi City (Philippines) are all named in his honour. In 1980, the former Soviet Union, which then ruled his birthplace Bukhara, celebrated the thousandth anniversary of Avicenna's birth by circulating various commemorative stamps with artistic illustrations, and by erecting a bust of Avicenna based on anthropological research by Soviet scholars. Near his birthplace in Qishlak Afshona, some 25km (16mi) north of Bukhara, a training college for medical staff has been named for him. On the grounds is a museum dedicated to his life, times and work. GoogleEarth: SEE [46]. The Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science is awarded every two years by UNESCO and rewards individuals and groups in the field of ethics in science.The prize was named after Avicenna.The aim of the award is to promote ethical reflection on issues raised by advances in science and technology, and to raise global awareness of the importance of ethics in science. In March 2008, it was announced that Avicenna's name would be used for new Directories of education institutions for health care professionals, worldwide. The Avicenna Directories will list universities and schools where doctors, public health practitioners, pharmacists and others, are educated. The project team stated "Why Avicenna? Avicenna... was... noted for his synthesis of knowledge from both east and west. He has had a lasting influence on
Image of Avicenna on the Tajikistani somoni
Avicenna the development of medicine and health sciences. The use of Avicenna's name symbolises the worldwide partnership that is needed for the promotion of health services of high quality."[47]
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Arabic Works
The treatises of Ibn Sn influenced later Muslim thinkers in many areas including theology, philology, mathematics, astronomy, physics, and music. Ibn Sn's works numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine. His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine. Ibn Sn wrote at least one treatise on alchemy, but several others have been falsely attributed to him. His book on animals was translated by Michael Scot. His Logic, Metaphysics, Physics, and De Caelo, are treatises giving a synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine, though the Metaphysics demonstrates a significant departure from the brand of Neoplatonism known as Aristotelianism in Ibn Sn's world; Arabic philosophers have hinted at the idea that Ibn Sn was attempting to "re-Aristotelianise" Muslim philosophy in its entirety, unlike his predecessors, who accepted the conflation of Platonic, Aristotelian, Neo- and Middle-Platonic works transmitted into the Muslim world. The Logic and Metaphysics have been extensively reprinted, the latter, e.g., at Venice in 1493, 1495, and 1546. Some of his shorter essays on medicine, logic, etc., take a poetical form (the poem on logic was published by Schmoelders in 1836).[citation needed] Two encyclopaedic treatises, dealing with philosophy, are often mentioned. The larger, Al-Shifa' (Sanatio), exists nearly complete in manuscript in the Bodleian Library and elsewhere; part of it on the De Anima appeared at Pavia (1490) as the Liber Sextus Naturalium, and the long account of Ibn Sina's philosophy given by Muhammad al-Shahrastani seems to be mainly an analysis, and in many places a reproduction, of the Al-Shifa'. A shorter form of the work is known as the An-najat (Liberatio). The Latin editions of part of these works have been modified by the corrections which the monastic editors confess that they applied. There is also a (hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya, in Latin Philosophia Orientalis), mentioned by Roger Bacon, the majority of which is lost in antiquity, which according to Averroes was pantheistic in tone.
List of works
This is the list of some of Avicenna's well-known works:[48] Sirat al-shaykh al-ra'is (The Life of Ibn Sina), ed. and trans. WE. Gohlman, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1974. (The only critical edition of Ibn Sina's autobiography, supplemented with material from a biography by his student Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani. A more recent translation of the Autobiography appears in D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works, Leiden: Brill, 1988.) Al-Isharat wa-'l-tanbihat (Remarks and Admonitions), ed. S. Dunya, Cairo, 1960; parts translated by S.C. Inati, Remarks and Admonitions, Part One: Logic, Toronto, Ont.: Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, 1984, and Ibn Sina and Mysticism, Remarks and Admonitions: Part 4, London: Kegan Paul International, 1996. Al-Qanun fi'l-tibb (The Canon of Medicine), ed. I. a-Qashsh, Cairo, 1987. (Encyclopedia of medicine.) 1597 manuscript [49], Latin translation, Flores Avicenne [50], Michael de Capella, 1508, Modern text [51]. Ahmed Shawkat Al-Shatti, Jibran Jabbur. Risalah fi sirr al-qadar (Essay on the Secret of Destiny), trans. G. Hourani in Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Danishnama-i 'ala'i (The Book of Scientific Knowledge), ed. and trans. P Morewedge, The Metaphysics of Avicenna, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing). (Ibn Sina's major work on philosophy. He probably began to compose al-Shifa' in 1014, and completed it in 1020.) Critical editions of the Arabic text have been published in Cairo, 195283, originally under the supervision of I. Madkour.
Avicenna Kitab al-Najat (The Book of Salvation), trans. F. Rahman, Avicenna's Psychology: An English Translation of Kitab al-Najat, Book II, Chapter VI with Historical-philosophical Notes and Textual Improvements on the Cairo Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952. (The psychology of al-Shifa'.) Hayy ibn Yaqdhan a Persian myth. A novel called Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, based on Avicenna's story, was later written by Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) in the 12th century and translated into Latin and English as Philosophus Autodidactus in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. In the 13th century, Ibn al-Nafis wrote his own novel Fadil ibn Natiq, known as Theologus Autodidactus in the West, as a critical response to Hayy ibn Yaqdhan.[52]
155
Persian works
New Persian, the native language of Avicenna,[53] was not a scientific language until the 10th century, however Avicenna became one of the pioneers in writing new Persian scientific language.
Danishnama-i 'Alai
Danishnama-i 'Alai is called "the Book of Knowledge for [Prince] 'Ala ad-Daulah". One of Avicenna's important Persian work is the Daaneshnaame (literally: the book of knowledge) for Prince 'Ala ad-Daulah (the local Buyid ruler). The linguist aspects of the Dne-nma and the originality of their Persian vocabulary are of great interest to Iranian philologists. Avicenna created new scientific vocabulary that had not existed before in the modern Persian language. The Dne-nma covers such topics as logic, metaphysics, music theory and other sciences of his time. This book has been translated into English by Parwiz Mowewedge.[54] The book is also important in respect to Persian scientific works.
Andar Danesh-e-Rag
Andar Danesh-e-Rag is called "On the science of the pulse". This book contains nine chapters on the science of the pulse and is a condensed synopsis.
Persian poetry
Persian poetry from Ibn Sina is recorded in various manuscripts and later anthologies such as Nozhat al-Majales.
In popular culture
The Walking Drum
In Louis L'Amour's 1985 historical novel The Walking Drum, Kerbouchard studies and discusses Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine.
The Physician
In his book The Physician (1988) Noah Gordon tells the story of a young English medical apprentice who disguises himself as a Jew to travel from England to Persia and learn from Avicenna, the great master of his time. The novel was adapted into a feature film in 2013. Avicenna was played by Ben Kingsley in the movie The Physician.
References
Ibn Sina ("Avicenna") Encyclopedia of Islam. 2nd edition. Edited by P. Berman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Henrichs. Brill 2009. Accessed through Brill online: www.encislam.brill.nl (2009) Quote: "He was born in 370/980 in Afshana, his mother's home, near Bukhara. His native language was Persian." A.J. Arberry, "Avicenna on Theology", KAZI PUBN INC, 1995. excerpt: "Avicenna was the greatest of all Persian thinkers; as physician and metaphysician" (http:/ / www. google. com/ search?tbm=bks& tbo=1& q=greatest+ of+ all+ Persian+ thinkers;+ as+ physician+ and+ metaphysician#sclient=psy& hl=en& tbo=1& tbm=bks& source=hp& q=Avicenna+ was+ the+ greatest+ of+ all+ Persian+ thinkers;+ as+
Avicenna
physician+ and+ metaphysician& aq=& aqi=& aql=& oq=& pbx=1& bav=on. 2,or. r_gc. r_pw. & fp=dcce4d829681fc6c& biw=1824& bih=966) Henry Corbin, "The Voyage and the messenger: Iran and Philosophy", North Atlantic Books, 1998. pg 74:"Whereas the name of Avicenna (Ibn Sina, died 1037) is generally listed as chronologically first among noteworthy Iranian philosophers, recent evidence has revealed previous existence of Ismaili philosophical systems with a structure no less complete than of Avicenna". (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=A8PzaQZwzZQC& pg=PA74& dq=is+ generally+ listed+ as+ chronologically+ first+ among+ noteworthy+ Iranian+ philosophers& hl=en& ei=lIT3TeS6L6bt0gGJm92iCw& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q=is generally listed as chronologically first among noteworthy Iranian philosophers& f=false) Edwin Clarke, Charles Donald O'Malley (1996). The human brain and spinal cord: a historical study illustrated by writings from antiquity to the twentieth century (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=Q_rO4ZFpUcgC& pg=PA20& dq& hl=en#v=onepage& q& f=false). Norman Publishing. p.20. ISBN 0-930405-25-0 Iris Bruijn (2009). " Ship's Surgeons of the Dutch East India Company: Commerce and the Progress of Medicine in the Eighteenth Century (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=2UT89SgQHGgC& pg=PA26& dq& hl=en#v=onepage& q& f=false)". Amsterdam University Press. p.26. ISBN 90-8728-051-3 Encyclopdia Iranica, Avicenna biography (http:/ / www. iranicaonline. org/ articles/ avicenna-ii) "Avicenna"Encyclopdia Britannica, Concise Online Version, 2006 ( (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ eb/ article-9011433/ Avicenna)); D. Gutas, "Avicenna", in Encyclopdia Iranica, Online Version 2006, ( LINK (http:/ / www. iranica. com/ newsite/ articles/ v3f1/ v3f1a046. html)); Avicenna in (Encyclopedia of Islam: 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands) excerpt: "<expand>...[Dimitri Gutas's Avicenna's mahab] convincingly demonstrates that I.S. was a sunn-anaf." (http:/ / books. google. ca/ books?id=3KizrKA5YJ8C& pg=PA90& lpg=PA89& dq=ibn+ sina+ hanafi& source=bl& ots=RWb5VAGHA4& sig=ZRBh96ucZNIraZlNQotllhxCF_k& hl=en& ei=F8WuTLm6MJDEsAPjn9GnDA& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=2& ved=0CBoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage& q=ibn sina hanafi& f=false)
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[7] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An introduction to Islamic cosmological doctrines",Published by State University of New York press, ISBN 0-7914-1515-5 Page 183 [8] Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone (2003), A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, p. 196, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0-631-21673-1. [9] Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), p.8081, "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafs (d. 1288)", Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of Notre Dame. (http:/ / etd. nd. edu/ ETD-db/ theses/ available/ etd-11292006-152615) [10] Avicenna, Kitab al-shifa', Metaphysics II, (eds.) G. C. Anawati, Ibrahim Madkour, Sa'id Zayed (Cairo, 1975), p. 36 [11] Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna and Essentialism," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 54 (2001), pp.753778 [12] Avicenna, Metaphysica of Avicenna, trans. Parviz Morewedge (New York, 1973), p. 43. [13] Nader El-Bizri, The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000) [14] Avicenna, Kitab al-Hidaya, ed. Muhammad 'Abdu (Cairo, 1874), pp.2623 [15] Salem Mashran, al-Janib al-ilahi 'ind Ibn Sina (Damascus, 1992), p. 99 [16] Nader El-Bizri, "Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna's Metaphysics and Cosmology," in Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006), pp.243261 [17] Rafik Berjak and Muzaffar Iqbal, "Ibn SinaAl-Biruni correspondence", Islam & Science, June 2003. [18] Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), Islamic Humanism, p.89, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-513580-6. [19] James W. Morris (1992), "The Philosopher-Prophet in Avicenna's Political Philosophy", in C. Butterworth (ed.), The Political Aspects of Islamic PhIlosophy, Chapter 4, Cambridge Harvard University Press, p.142188 [159-161]. [20] Jules Janssens (2004), "Avicenna and the Qur'an: A Survey of his Qur'anic commentaries", MIDEO 25, p.177192. [21] Ibn Sina, (Beirut, Lebanon.: M.A.J.D Enterprise Universitaire d'Etude et de Publication S.A.R.L) [22] Ziauddin Sardar, Science in Islamic philosophy (http:/ / www. cgcu. net/ imase/ islam_science_philosophy. htm) [23] George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science. (cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997). Quotations From Famous Historians of Science (http:/ / www. cyberistan. org/ islamic/ Introl1. html), Cyberistan.) [24] Joseph Patrick Byrne (2008). " Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues: A-M (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=5Pvi-ksuKFIC& pg=PA33& dq& hl=en#v=onepage& q& f=false)". ABC-CLIO. p.33. ISBN 0-313-34102-8. [25] http:/ / www. thefreedictionary. com/ calefacient [26] http:/ / www. thefreedictionary. com/ Infrigidate [27] S Safavi-Abbasi, LBC Brasiliense, RK Workman (2007), "The fate of medical knowledge and the neurosciences during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire", Neurosurgical Focus 23 (1), E13, p. 3. [28] Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", Journal of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357-377 [366]. [29] Indian Studies on Ibn Sina's Works by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Avicenna (Scientific and Practical International Journal of Ibn Sino International Foundation, Tashkent/Uzbekistan. 1-2; 2003: 40-42
Avicenna
[30] Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield (1965), The Ancestry of Science: The Discovery of Time, p. 64, University of Chicago Press (cf. The Contribution of Ibn Sina to the development of Earth sciences (http:/ / muslimheritage. com/ topics/ default. cfm?ArticleID=319)) [31] Richard F. Washell (1973), "Logic, Language, and Albert the Great", Journal of the History of Ideas 34 (3), p.445450 [445]. [32] Kneale p. 229 [33] Kneale: p. 266; Ockham: Summa Logicae i. 14; Avicenna: Avicennae Opera Venice 1508 f87rb [34] Fernando Espinoza (2005). "An analysis of the historical development of ideas about motion and its implications for teaching", Physics Education 40 (2), p. 141. [35] A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sn and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 500 (1), p. 477 482: [36] George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, Vol. 1, p. 710. [37] Carl Benjamin Boyer (1954)."Robert Grosseteste on the Rainbow", Osiris 11, p.247258 [248]. [38] George Saliba (1994), A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, p. 60, 67-69. New York University Press, ISBN 0-8147-8023-7. [39] George Saliba, Avicenna: 'viii. Mathematics and Physical Sciences'. Encyclopdia Iranica, Online Edition, 2011, available at http:/ / www. iranicaonline. org/ articles/ avicenna-viii [40] Marlene Ericksen (2000). Healing with Aromatherapy, p. 9. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0-658-00382-8. [41] Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p.196197. [42] Georges C. Anawati (1996), "Arabic alchemy", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3, p.853885 [875]. Routledge, London and New York. [43] E.G. Browne, Islamic Medicine (sometimes also printed under the title Arabian medicine), 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p61 [44] E.G. Browne, Islamic Medicine (sometimes also printed under the title Arabian medicine), 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p6061) [45] http:/ / www. amch. edu. pk [46] http:/ / maps. google. com/ maps?& q=39. 994359N64. 382253E& output=kml [47] "Educating health professionals: the Avicenna project" The Lancet, March 2008. Volume 371 pp 966967. [48] Tasaneef lbn Sina by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Tabeeb Haziq, Gujarat, Pakistan, 1986, p.176198 [49] http:/ / www. wdl. org/ en/ item/ 9718 [50] http:/ / www. wdl. org/ en/ item/ 3035 [51] http:/ / www. wdl. org/ en/ item/ 7429 [52] Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafs (d. 1288)", pp.95102, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of Notre Dame. (http:/ / etd. nd. edu/ ETD-db/ theses/ available/ etd-11292006-152615) [53] Ibn Sina ("Avicenna") Encyclopedia of Islam. 2nd edition. Edited by P. Berman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Henrichs. Brill 2009. Accessed through Brill online: www.encislam.brill.nl (2009) Quote: "He was born in 370/980 in Afshana, his mother's home, near Bukhara. His native language was Persian." [54] Avicenna, Danish Nama-i 'Alai. trans. Parviz Morewedge as The Metaphysics of Avicenna (New York: Columbia University Pres), 1977.
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Attribution Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Avicenna". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press
Further reading
Encyclopedic articles
Flannery, Michael. "Avicenna" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45755/Avicenna). Encyclopdia Britannica. Goichon, A.-M. (1999). "IBN SINA, Abu 'Ali al-Husayn b. 'Abd Allah b. Sina, known in the West as Avicenna" (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/art/ei-is.htm). Encyclopedia of Islam. Brill Publishers. Mahdi, M.; D. Gutas, Sh. B. Abed, M. E. Marmura, F. Rahman, G. Saliba, O. Wright, B. Musallam, M. Achena, S. Van Riet, U. Weisser (1987). "Avicenna" (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avicenna-index). Encyclopdia Iranica. "Avicenna". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (Avicenna)" (http:// www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Avicenna.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
Avicenna Ragep, Sally P. (2007). "Ibn Sn: Ab Al alusayn ibn Abdallh ibn Sn" (http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/ RASI/BEA/Ibn_Sina_BEA.htm). In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp.5702. ISBN978-0-387-31022-0. ( PDF version (http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/ BEA/Ibn_Sina_BEA.pdf)) Avicenna (http://www.iep.utm.edu/avicenna/) entry by Sajjad H. Rizvi in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Primary literature
Avicenna (2005). The Metaphysics of The Healing. A parallel English-Arabic text translation. Michael E. Marmura (trans.) (1 ed.). Brigham Young University. ISBN0-934893-77-2. Avicenna (1999). The Canon of Medicine (al-Qnn f'l-ibb), vol. 1. Laleh Bakhtiar (ed.), Oskar Cameron Gruner (trans.), Mazhar H. Shah (trans.). Great Books of the Islamic World. ISBN978-1-871031-67-6. Avicenne: Rfutation de l'astrologie. Edition et traduction du texte arabe, introduction, notes et lexique par Yahya Michot. Pr face d'Elizabeth Teissier (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2006) ISBN 2-84161-304-6. For a list of other extant works, C. Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp.452458. (XV. W.; G. W. T.) For Ibn Sina's life, see Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated by de Slane (1842); F. Wstenfeld's Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher (Gttingen, 1840). Madelung, Wilferd and Toby Mayer (ed. and tr.), Struggling with the Philosopher: A Refutation of Avicenna's Metaphysics. A New Arabic Edition and English Translation of Shahrastani's Kitab al-Musara'a.
Secondary literature
Afnan, Soheil M. (1958). Avicenna: His Life and Works. London: G. Allen & Unwin. OCLC 31478971 (http:// www.worldcat.org/oclc/31478971). This is, on the whole, an informed and good account of the life and accomplishments of one of the greatest influences on the development of thought both Eastern and Western.... It is not as philosophically thorough as the works of D. Saliba, A. M. Goichon, or L. Gardet, but it is probably the best essay in English on this important thinker of the Middle Ages. (Julius R. Weinberg, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 69, No. 2, Apr. 1960, pp.255259) Goodman, Lenn E. (2006). Avicenna (Updated ed.). Cornell University Press. ISBN0-415-01929-X. This is a distinguished work which stands out from, and above, many of the books and articles which have ben written in this century on Avicenna (Ibn Sn) (A.D. 9801037). It has two main features on which its distinction as a major contribution to Avicennan studies may be said to rest: the first is its clarity and readability; the second is the comparative approach adopted by the author.... (Ian Richard Netton, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 4, No. 2, July 1994, pp.263264) Gutas, Dimitri (1987). "Avicenna's mahab, with an Appendix on the question of his date of birth". Quaderni di Studi Arabi 56: pp. 32336. Y. T. Langermann (ed.), Avicenna and his Legacy. A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy, Brepols Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-52753-6 For a new understanding of his early career, based on a newly discovered text, see also: Michot, Yahya, Ibn Sn: Lettre au vizir Ab Sa'd. Editio princeps d'aprs le manuscrit de Bursa, traduction de l'arabe, introduction, notes et lexique (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2000) ISBN 2-84161-150-7. Strohmaier, Gotthard (2006). Avicenna (in German). Beck C. H. ISBN3-406-54134-8. This German publication is both one of the most comprehensive general introductions to the life and works of the philosopher and physician Avicenna (Ibn Sn, d. 1037) and an extensive and careful survey of his contribution to the history of science. Its author is a renowned expert in Greek and Arabic medicine who has
Avicenna paid considerable attention to Avicenna in his recent studies.... (Amos Bertolacci, Isis, Vol. 96, No. 4, December 2005, p.649) Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman. Resalah Judiya of Ibn Sina (First edition 1971), Literary Research Unit, CCRIH, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; (Second edition 1981) Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, Govt. of India, New Delhi; (Fourth edition 1999), Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1996). AI-Advia al-Qalbia of Ibn Sina. Publication Division, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman. Ilmul Amraz of Ibn Sina (First edition 1969), Tibbi Academy, Delhi (Second edition 1990), (Third edition 1994), Tibbi Academy, Aligarh. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1986). Qanoon lbn Sina Aur Uskey Shareheen wa Mutarjemeen. Publication Division, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1986), Qnn-i ibn-i Sn aur us ke shrn va mutarajimn (http://openlibrary. org/books/OL1374509M/Qnn-i_ibn-i_Sn_aur_us_ke_shrn_va_mutarajimn), Algah: Pablkeshan Dvzan, Muslim Ynvarsi Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (2004). Qanun Ibn Sina and its Translation and Commentators (Persian Translation; 203pp). Society for the Appreciation of Cultural Works and Dignitaries, Tehran, Iran. Shaikh al Rais Ibn Sina (Special number) 195859, Ed. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Tibbia College Magazine, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
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Medicine
Browne, Edward G.. Islamic Medicine. Fitzpatrick Lectures Delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in 1919-1920, reprint: New Delhi: Goodword Books, 2001. ISBN 81-87570-19-9 Pormann, Peter & Savage-Smith, Emilie. Medieval Islamic Medicine, Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2007. Prioreschi, Plinio. Byzantine and Islamic Medicine, A History of Medicine, Vol. 4, Omaha: Horatius Press, 2001.
Philosophy
Amos Bertolacci, The Reception of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Avicenna's Kitab al-Sifa'. A Milestone of Western Metaphysical Thought (Leiden: Brill 2006) Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works (Leiden: Brill 1988; second revised and expanded edition 2014) Michot, Jean R., La destine de l'homme selon Avicenne (Louvain: Aedibus Peeters, 1986) ISBN 978-90-6831-071-9. (French) Nader El-Bizri, The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000) Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna and Essentialism," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 54 (June 2001), pp.753778 Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna's De Anima between Aristotle and Husserl," in The Passions of the Soul in the Metamorphosis of Becoming, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), pp.6789 Nader El-Bizri, "Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna's Metaphysics and Cosmology," in Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006), pp.243261 Reisman, David C. (ed.), "Before and After Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group" (Leiden: Brill 2003)
Avicenna
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External links
Avicenna (Ibn-Sina) on the Subject and the Object of Metaphysics (http://www.ontology.co/avicenna.htm) with a list of translations of the logical and philosophical works and an annotated bibliography Avicenna (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00855lt) on In Our Time at the BBC. ( listen now (http:// www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00855lt/In_Our_Time_Avicenna)) Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries (http://hos.ou.edu/ galleries//03Medieval/IbnSina/) High resolution images of works by Avicenna in .jpg and .tiff format. Digitized works by Avicena (http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/Search.do?field=autor&text=Avicena& showYearItems=&exact=on&textH=&advanced=false&completeText=&language=enEn) at Biblioteca Digital Hispnica, Biblioteca Nacional de Espaa
Averroes
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Averroes
Ibn Rud ( )
Averroes
Statue of Averroes in Crdoba, Spain Born April 14, 1126 [1] Crdoba, Al-Andalus, Almoravid Caliphate (present-day Spain) December 10, 1198 (aged72) Marrakesh, Morocco, Almohad Caliphate Medieval philosophy (Islamic Golden Age) Islamic philosophy Sunni Islam (Maliki madhab) Averroism
Died
Maininterests Islamic theology, Philosophy, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Astronomy Notableideas Reconciliation of Aristotelianism with Islam
Ab l-Wald Muammad bin Amad bin Rud (Arabic: ), commonly known as Ibn Rushd (Arabic: ) or by his Latinized name Averros (/vro.iz/; April 14, 1126 December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian Muslim polymath, a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics and Andalusian classical music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics and celestial mechanics. Averroes was born in Crdoba, Al Andalus, present-day Spain, and died in Marrakesh, present-day Morocco. He was interred in his family tomb at Crdoba. The 13th-century philosophical movement based on Averroes' work is called Averroism. Averroes was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against Ash'ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali. Averroes' philosophy was considered controversial in Muslim circles. Averroes had a greater impact on Western European circles and he has been described as the "founding father of secular thought in Western Europe". The detailed commentaries on Aristotle earned Averroes the title "The Commentator" in Europe. Latin translations of Averroes' work led the way to the popularization of Aristotle and were responsible for the development of scholasticism in medieval Europe.
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Name
Averroes' name is also seen as "Averros", "Averros" or "Averrhos", indicating that the "o" and the "e" form separate syllables. "Averros" is a Latinisation of the Arabic name Ibn Rushd.[2] According to Ernest Renan, Averroes was also known as Ibin-Ros-din, Filius Rosadis, Ibn-Rusid, Ben-Raxid, Ibn-Ruschod, Den-Resched, Aben-Rassad, Aben-Rois, Aben-Rasd, Aben-Rust, Avenrosdy Avenryz, Adveroys, Benroist, Avenroyth and Averroysta.[3]
Biography
Averroes was born in Crdoba to a family with a long and well-respected tradition of legal and public service. His grandfather Abu Al-Walid Muhammad (d. 1126) was chief judge of Crdoba under the Almoravids. His father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position until the Almoravids were replaced by the Almohads in 1146. Averroes' education followed a traditional path, beginning with studies in Hadith, linguistics, jurisprudence and scholastic theology. Throughout his life he wrote extensively on Philosophy and Religion, attributes of God, origin of the universe, Metaphysics Averroes was the preeminent philosopher in the history of and Psychology. It is generally believed that he was Al-Andalus. perhaps once tutored by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace). His medical education was directed under Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo in Seville.[4] Averroes began his career with the help of Ibn Tufail ("Aben Tofail" to the West), the author of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and philosophic vizier of Almohad king Abu Yaqub Yusuf who was an amateur of philosophy and science. It was Ibn Tufail who introduced him to the court and to Ibn Zuhr ("Avenzoar" to the West), the great Muslim physician, who became Averroes's teacher and friend. Averroes's aptitude for medicine was noted by his contemporaries and can be seen in his major enduring work Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb (Generalities) the work was influenced by the Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir (Particularities) of Ibn Zuhr.[5] Averroes later reported how it was also Ibn Tufail that inspired him to write his famous commentaries on Aristotle: Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl summoned me one day and told me that he had heard the Commander of the Faithful complaining about the disjointedness of Aristotle's mode of expression or that of the translators and the resultant obscurity of his intentions. He said that if someone took on these books who could summarize them and clarify their aims after first thoroughly understanding them himself, people would have an easier time comprehending them. "If you have the energy, " Ibn Tufayl told me, "you do it. I'm confident you can, because I know what a good mind and devoted character you have, and how dedicated you are to the art. You understand that only my great age, the cares of my office and my commitment to another task that I think even more vital keep me from doing it myself. " [6] Averroes also studied the works and philosophy of Ibn Bajjah ("Avempace" to the West), another famous Islamic philosopher who greatly influenced his own Averroist thought. However, while the thought of his mentors Ibn Tufail and Ibn Bajjah were mystic to an extent, the thought of Averroes was purely rationalist. Together, the three men are considered the greatest Andalusian philosophers. Averroes devoted the next 30 years to his philosophical writings.
Averroes In 1160, Averroes was made Qadi (judge) of Seville and he served in many court appointments in Seville, Cordoba, and Morocco during his career. Sometimes during the reign of Yaqub al-Mansur, Averroes' political career was abruptly ended and he faced severe criticism from the Fuqaha (Islamic jurists) of the time.[7] A contemporary of Averroes, Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi writing in 1224, reported that there were secret and public reasons for his falling out of favor with Yaqub al-Mansour: And in his days [Yaqub al-Mansur], Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd faced his severe ordeal and there were two causes for this; one is known and the other is secret. The secret cause, which was the major reason, is that Abu al-Walid [Averroes] may God have mercy on his soul when summarizing, commenting and expending upon Aristotle's book "History of Animals" wrote: "And I saw the Giraffe at the garden of the king of the Berbers". And that is the same way he would mention another king of some other people or land, as it is frequently done by writers, but he omitted that those working for the service of the king should glorify him and observe the usual protocol. This was why they held a grudge against him [Averroes] but initially, they did not show it and in reality, Abu al-Walid wrote that inadvertently...Then a number of his enemies in Cordoba, who were jealous of him and were competing with him both in knowledge and nobility, went to Yaqub al-Mansur with excerpts of Abu Walid's work on some old philosophers which were in his own handwriting. They took one phrase out of context that said: "and it was shown that Venus is one of the Gods" and presented it to the king who then summoned the chiefs and noblemen of Crdoba and said to Abu al-Walid in front of them "Is this your handwriting?". Abu al-Walid then denied and the king said "May God curse the one who wrote this" and ordered that Abu al-Walid be exiled and all the philosophy books to be gathered and burned...And I saw, when I was in Fes, these books being carried on horses in great quantities and burned Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi,"The Pleasant Book in Summarizing the History of the Maghreb", (1224) Averroes's strictly rationalist views collided with the more orthodox views of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur, who therefore eventually banished Averroes, though he had previously appointed him as his personal physician. Averroes was not reinstated until shortly before his death in the year 1198 AD.
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Works
Averroes's works were spread over 20,000 pages covering a variety of different subjects, including early Islamic philosophy, logic in Islamic philosophy, Islamic medicine, mathematics, astronomy, Arabic grammar, Islamic theology, Sharia (Islamic law), and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). In particular, his most important works dealt with Islamic philosophy, medicine and Fiqh. He wrote at least 80 original works, which included 28 works on philosophy, 20 on medicine, 8 on law, 5 on theology, and 4 on grammar, in addition to his commentaries on most of Aristotle's works and his commentary on Plato's The Republic.
Imaginary debate between Averroes and Porphyry. Monfredo de [8] Monte Imperiali Liber de herbis, 14th century.
Averroes commentaries on Aristotle were the foundation for the Aristotelian revival in the 12th and 13th centuries. Averroes wrote short commentaries on Aristotles work in logic, physics, and psychology. Averroes long commentaries provided an in depth line by line analysis of Aristotles Posterior Analytics, De Anima, Physics, De Caelo, and the Metaphysics. His most important original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against al-Ghazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers
Averroes (Tahafut al-falasifa). Other works were the Fasl al-Maqal and the Kitab al-Kashf. Averroes is also a highly regarded legal scholar of the Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this field is Bidyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihyat al-Muqtaid ( ), a textbook of Maliki doctrine in a comparative framework. Jacob Anatoli translated several of the works of Averroes from Arabic into Hebrew in the 13th century. Many of them were later translated from Hebrew into Latin by Jacob Mantino and Abraham de Balmes. Other works were translated directly from Arabic into Latin by Michael Scot. Many of his works in logic and metaphysics have been permanently lost, while others, including some of the longer Aristotelian commentaries, have only survived in Latin or Hebrew translation, not in the original Arabic. The fullest version of his works is in Latin, and forms part of the multi-volume Juntine edition of Aristotle published in Venice 1562-1574.
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Science
Medicine
Averroes wrote a medical encyclopedia called Kulliyat ("Generalities", i. e. general medicine), known in its Latin translation as Colliget. He also made a compilation of the works of Galen, and wrote a commentary on the Canon of Medicine (Qanun fi 't-tibb) of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980-1037).
Physics
Averroes also authored three books on physics namely: Short Commentary on the Physics, Middle Commentary on the Physics and Long Commentary on the Physics. Averroes defined and measured force as "the rate at which work is done in changing the kinetic condition of a material body" and correctly argued "that the effect and measure of force is change in the kinetic condition of a materially resistant mass". He took a particular and keen interest in the understanding of "motor force".[9] Averroes also developed the notion that bodies have a (non-gravitational) inherent resistance to motion into physics. This idea in particular was adopted by Thomas Aquinas and subsequently by Johannes Kepler, who referred to this fact as "Inertia". In Optics Averroes followed Alhazen's incorrect explanation that a Rainbow is due to reflection, not refraction.[10]
Astronomy
Regarding his studies in astronomy, Averroes argued for a strictly concentric model of the universe, and explained sunspots and scientific reasoning regarding the occasional opaque colors of the moon. He also worked on the description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres.
Psychology
Averroes also made some studies regarding Active intellect and Passive intellect, both of the following were formerly regarded subjects of Psychology.
Philosophy
The Tradition of Islamic Philosophy
Averroes furthered the tradition of Greek philosophy in the Islamic world (falsafa). His commentaries removed the neo-Platonic bias of his predecessors. Criticizing al-Farabi's attempt to merge Plato and Aristotle's ideas, Averroes argued that Aristotle's philosophy diverged in significant ways from Plato's. Averroes rejected Avicenna's Neoplatonism which was partly based on the works of neo-Platonic philosophers, Plotinus and Proclus, that were
Averroes mistakenly attributed to Aristotle.[11] In metaphysics, or more exactly ontology, Averroes rejects the view advanced by Avicenna that existence is merely accidental. Avicenna holds that "essence is ontologically prior to existence". The accidental, i. e. attributes that are not essential, are additional contingent characteristics. Averroes, following Aristotle, holds that individual existing substances are primary. One may separate them mentally; however, ontologically speaking, existence and essence are one. According to Fakhry, this represents a change from Plato's theory of Ideas, where ideas precede particulars, to Aristotle's theory where particulars come first and the essence is "arrived at by a process of abstraction. "
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Averroes, following Plato, accepts the principle of women's equality. They should be educated and allowed to serve in the military; the best among them might be tomorrow's philosophers or rulers. He also accepts Plato's illiberal measures such as the censorship of literature. He uses examples from Arab history to illustrate just and degenerate political orders.
Commentarium magnum Averrois in Aristotelis De Anima libros. French Manuscript, third quarter of the 13th century.
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System of philosophy
Averroes tried to reconcile Aristotle's system of thought with Islam. According to him, there is no conflict between religion and philosophy, rather that they are different ways of reaching the same truth. He believed in the eternity of the universe. He also held that the soul is divided into two parts, one individual and one divine; while the individual soul is not eternal, all humans at the basic level share one and the same divine soul. Averroes has two kinds of Knowledge of Truth. The first being his knowledge of truth of religion being based in faith and thus could not be tested, nor did it require training to understand. The second knowledge of truth is philosophy, which was reserved for an elite few who had the intellectual capacity to undertake its study.
Significance
Averroes is most famous for his commentaries of Aristotle's works, which had been mostly forgotten in the West. Before 1150, only a few of Aristotle's works existed in translation in Latin Europe (i. e. excluding Greek Byzantium). It was in large part through the Latin translations of Averroes's work beginning in the 12th century that the legacy of Aristotle was recovered in the Latin West. Averroes's work on Aristotle spans almost three decades, and he wrote commentaries on almost all of Aristotle's work except for Aristotle's Politics, to which he did not have access. Hebrew translations of his work also had a lasting impact on Jewish philosophy. Moses Maimonides, Samuel Ben Tibbon, Juda Ben Solomon Choen, and Shem Tob Ben Joseph Falaquera were Jewish philosophers influenced by Averroes. His ideas were Averroes, detail of the fresco The School of Athens by assimilated by Siger of Brabant and Thomas Aquinas and others Raphael. (especially in the University of Paris) within the Christian scholastic tradition which valued Aristotelian logic. Famous scholastics such as Aquinas believed him to be so important they did not refer to him by name, simply calling him "The Commentator" and calling Aristotle "The Philosopher. " Averroes had no discernible influence on Islamic philosophic thought until modern times. His death coincides with a change in the culture of Al-Andalus. In his work Fasl al-Maql (translated a. o. as The Decisive Treatise), he stresses the importance of analytical thinking as a prerequisite to interpret the Qur'an.
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Cultural influence
Reflecting the deference that some medieval European scholars paid to him, Averroes is named by Dante in The Divine Comedy along with the thinkers and creative minds of ancient Greece and Rome whose spirits dwell in "the place that favor owes to fame" in Limbo. Averroes appears in a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, entitled "Averroes's Search", in which he is portrayed trying to find the meanings of the words tragedy and comedy. He is briefly mentioned in the novel Ulysses by James Joyce alongside Maimonides. He appears to be waiting outside the walls of the ancient city of Cordoba in Alamgir Hashmi's poem In Cordoba. He is also the main character in Destiny, a Youssef Chahine film. The claim that Averroes deserves equal respect with Maimonides got the fictional Balthazar Abrabanel banished from Amsterdam by the Amsterdam rabbinate in Eric Flint's novel 1634. Averroes is also the title of a play called "The Gladius and The Rose", written by Tunisian writer Mohamed Ghozzi, and which took first prize in the theater festival in Charjah in 1999. The asteroid 8318 Averroes was named in his honor. Plant genus Averrhoa was named after him. The Muslim pop musician Kareem Salama composed and performed a song in 2007 titled Aristotle and Averroes. Averroes is the subject of the film Al Massir by Youssef Chahine. Anis Ahmed Rushdie, the father of Salman Rushdie, was influenced by Averroes and adopted Rushdie as his family name. As recounted by his son, he wanted "a modern sounding surname as opposed to the old-fashioned way of naming children of Muslim families in India."
References
[1] Liz Sonneborn: Averroes (Ibn Rushd): Muslim scholar, philosopher, and physician of the twelfth century, The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005 (ISBN 1404205144, ISBN 978-1-4042-0514-7) p.31 (http:/ / books. google. fr/ books?hl=en& lr=& id=iIjayOIulPcC& oi=fnd& pg=PA6& dq=almoravid+ empire& ots=VcSooWeLJk& sig=ZGoSsYzemRX4QOGriYn3xNzUKmI& redir_esc=y#v=onepage& q=almoravid empire& f=false) [2] Robert Irwin (2006). Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents. The Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1-58567-835-8. [3] Ernest Renan, Averro-s et l'Averrosme: essai historique (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ averrosetlaver00rena), 1882. [4] H. Chad Hillier (2006). Averroes (Averroes) (1126 - 1198 CE) (http:/ / www. iep. utm. edu/ i/ ibnrushd. htm), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [5] Bynum, WF & Bynum, Helen (2006), Dictionary of Medical Biography, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-32877-3 [6] Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (1996), History of Islamic Philosophy, p. 314, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-13159-6. [7] Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, al-Mojib fi Talkhis Akhbar al-Maghrib [The Pleasant Book in Summarizing the History of the Maghreb], pp.150-151 (1224), King Saud University [8] "Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age", Samuel Sadaune, p.112 [9] http:/ / www. oxfordscholarship. com/ view/ 10. 1093/ acprof: oso/9780199567737.001.0001/acprof-9780199567737 [10] Hseyin Gazi Topdemir, Kamal Al-Din Al-Farisi's Explanation of the Rainbow, (http:/ / www. idosi. org/ hssj/ hssj2(1)07/ 10. pdf), Humanity & Social Sciences Journal 2 (1): 75-85, 2007,p77 [11] . The works in question were the Liber de Causis and The Theology of Aristotle. [12] Nyazee, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, 2 vols. (Reading: Garnet Publishing 1994 & 1996)
Further reading
Averroes, Translated by Ralph Lerner (2005), Averroes On Plato's Republic, Cornell University Press, ISBN0-8014-8975-X Fakhry, Majid (2001), Averroes (Ibn Rushd) His Life, Works and Influence, Oneworld Publications, ISBN1-85168-269-4 Glasner, Ruth. Averroes' Physics: A Turning Point in Medieval Natural Philosophy (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009). Kogan, Barry S. (1985), Averroes and the Metaphysics of Causation, SUNY Press, ISBN0-88706-063-3 Kupka, Thomas, "Averroes als Rechtsgelehrter (Averroes as a Legal Scholar)," in: Rechtsgeschichte 18 (2011), 214-216 (in German; pdf at ssrn) (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2346808)
Averroes Leaman, Olivier (1998), Averroes and his philosophy, Routledge, ISBN0-7007-0675-5 Leaman, Olivier (2002), An Introduction to Classical Islamic Philosophy (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-79757-3 Baffioni, Carmela (2004), Averroes and the Aristotelian Heritage, Guida Editori, ISBN88-7188-862-6 Sorabji, Richard Matter, Space and Motion Duckworth 1988 Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Sketch of a Cosmic Theory of the Soul from Aristotle to Averroes (http://www. buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de/cat/kwb_45_variantology_4/pid_170000000000790428.aspx), in: Variantology 4. On Deep Time Relations of Arts, Sciences and Technologies In the Arabic-Islamic World and Beyond, ed. by Siegfried Zielinski and Eckhard Frlus in cooperation with Daniel Irrgang and Franziska Latell (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Knig, 2010), pp.1942.
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External links
Works of Averroes DARE (http://dare.uni-koeln.de), the Digital Averroes Research Environment, an ongoing effort to collect digital images of all Averroes manuscripts and full texts of all three language traditions. Averroes (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/index.html), Islamic Philosophy Online (links to works by and about Averroes in several languages) php%3Ftitle=77&Itemid=28 The Philosophy and Theology of Averroes: Tractata translated from the Arabic (http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.), trans. Mohammad Jamil-ur-Rehman, 1921 The Incoherence of the Incoherence (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/tt/index.html) translation by Simon van den Bergh. [N. B. : This also contains a translation of most of the tahafut as the refutations are mostly commentary of al-Ghazali statements that were quoted verbatim.] SIEPM Virtual Library (http://capricorn.bc.edu/siepm/books.html#12), including scanned copies (PDF) of the Editio Juntina of Averroes' works in Latin (Venice 1550-1562) Information about Averroes Forcada, Miquel (2007). "Ibn Rushd: Ab alWald Muammad ibn Amad ibn Muammad ibn Rushd alafd" (http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ibn_Rushd_BEA.htm). In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp.5645. ISBN978-0-387-31022-0. ( PDF version (http:// islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ibn_Rushd_BEA.pdf)) Iskandar, Albert Z. (2008) [1970-80]. " Ibn Rushd, AbL-Wald Muammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muammad (http:// www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830903792.html)". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com. Fouad Ben Ahmed. "Ibn Rud: Knowledge, pleasures and analogy" (http://philosophy-e.com/ ibn-rusd-knowledge-pleasures-and-analogy/), in: Philosophia: E-Journal of Philosophy and Culture, 4/2013. ISSN: 1314-5606 Averroes (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0038x79) on In Our Time at the BBC. ( listen now (http:// www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p0038x79/In_Our_Time_Averroes)) Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Averroes". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press "Averroes". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. DARE Bibliography (http://dare.uni-koeln.de/?q=node/129), a comprehensive overview of the extant bibliography Averroes Database (http://www.thomasinst.uni-koeln.de/averroes/), including full bibliography of his works "Averroes" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20061005.shtml), BBC Radio 4 discussion, 5 October 2006, "In Our Time" programme.
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THOMISM
Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas OP
An altarpiece in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, by Carlo Crivelli (15th century) Religious, priest and Doctor of the Church Born 28 January 1225 Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily 7 March 1274 Fossanova, Papal States Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Lutheranism July 18, 1323, Avignon, Papal States, by Pope John XXII Church of the Jacobins, Toulouse, France 28 January (7 March, until 1969) The Summa theologiae, a model church, the sun on the chest of a Dominican friar Academics; against storms; against lightning; apologists; Aquino, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; book sellers; Catholic academies, schools, and universities; chastity; Falerna, Italy; learning; pencil makers; philosophers; publishers; scholars; students; [1] University of Sto. Tomas; Sto. Tomas, Batangas; theologians.
Died
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Detail from Valle Romita Polyptych by Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1400) Occupation Education Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian Abbey of Monte Cassino University of Naples Federico II Scholasticism, Thomism Metaphysics, Logic, Theology, Mind, Epistemology, Ethics, Politics Summa Theologica Summa contra Gentiles
Genres Subjects
Thomas Aquinas, OP (/Help:IPA for English#Keykwans/; 1225 7 March 1274), also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican friar and priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the "Doctor Angelicus", "Doctor Communis", and "Doctor Universalis".[2] "Aquinas" is from the county of Aquino, an area his family held land in until 1137. He was born in Roccasecca, Italy. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of Thomism. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived in development or refutation of his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory. Unlike many currents in the Church of the time,[3] Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle whom he referred to as "the Philosopher" and attempted to synthethise Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.[4] The works for which he is best known are the Summa Theologica and the Summa contra Gentiles. His commentaries on Sacred Scripture and on Aristotle are an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns which form a part of the Church's liturgy.[5] Thomas is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church and is held to be the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of both natural reason and speculative theology. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works was long used as a core of the required program of study for those seeking ordination as priests or deacons, as well as for those in religious formation and for other students of the sacred disciplines (Catholic philosophy, theology, history, liturgy, and canon law).[6]
Thomas Aquinas Also honored as a Doctor of the Church, Thomas is considered the Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. Pope Benedict XV declared: "This (Dominican) Order ... acquired new luster when the Church declared the teaching of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honored with the special praises of the Pontiffs, the master and patron of Catholic schools."[7]
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Biography
Dominican (12251274)
Thomas was born in Roccasecca, in the Aquino county of the Kingdom of Sicily (present-day Lazio region, Italy), c.1225. According to some authors, he was born in the castle of his father, Landulf of Aquino. Thomas's father did not belong to the most powerful branch of the family and simply held the title miles, while Thomas's mother, Theodora, belonged to the Rossi branch of the Neapolitan Caracciolo family.[8] Landulf's brother Sinibald was abbot of the first Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. While the rest of the family's sons pursued military careers,[9] the family intended for Thomas to follow his uncle into the abbacy;[10] this would have been a normal career path for a younger son of southern Italian nobility.[11] At the age of five Thomas began his early education at Monte Cassino but after the military conflict between the Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX spilled into the abbey in early 1239, Landulf and Theodora had Thomas enrolled at the studium generale (university) recently established by Frederick in Naples.[12] It was here that Thomas was probably introduced to Aristotle, Averroes and Maimonides, all of whom would influence his theological philosophy.[13] It was also during his study at Naples that Thomas came under the influence of John of St. Julian, a Dominican preacher in Naples, who was part of the active effort by the Dominican order to recruit devout followers.[14] There his teacher in arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music was Petrus de Ibernia.[15] At the age of nineteen Thomas resolved to join the recently founded Dominican Order. Thomas's change of heart did not please his family.[16] In an attempt to prevent Theodora's interference in Thomas's choice, the Dominicans arranged for Thomas to be removed to Rome, and from Rome, sent to Paris.[17] However, while on his journey to Rome, per Theodora's instructions, his brothers seized him as he was drinking from a spring and took him back to his parents at the castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano. Thomas was held prisoner for about one year in the family castles at Monte San Giovanni and Roccasecca in an attempt to prevent him from assuming the Dominican habit and to push him into renouncing his new aspiration. Political concerns prevented the Pope from ordering Thomas's release, which had the effect of extending Thomas's detention.[18] Thomas passed this time of trial tutoring his sisters and communicating with members of the Dominican Order. Family members became desperate to dissuade Thomas, who remained determined to join the Dominicans. At one point, two of his brothers resorted to the measure of hiring a prostitute to seduce him. According to legend Thomas drove her away wielding a fire iron. That night two angels appeared to him as he slept and strengthened his determination to remain celibate.[19]
The Castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano
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By 1244, seeing that all of her attempts to dissuade Thomas had failed, Theodora sought to save the family's dignity, arranging for Thomas to escape at night through his window. In her mind, a secret escape from detention was less damaging than an open surrender to the Dominicans. Thomas was sent first to Naples and then to Rome to meet Johannes von Wildeshausen, the Master General of the Dominican Order.[20]
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Condemnation of 1277
In 1277 tienne Tempier, the same bishop of Paris who had issued the condemnation of 1270, issued another more extensive condemnation. One aim of this condemnation was to clarify that God's absolute power transcended any principles of logic that Aristotle or Averroes might place on it. More specifically, it contained a list of 219 propositions that the bishop had determined to violate the omnipotence of God, and included in this list were twenty Thomistic propositions. Their inclusion badly damaged Thomas's reputation for many years.[54] In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees the glorified soul of Thomas in the Heaven of the Sun with the other great exemplars of religious wisdom. Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas, by Andrea di Dante asserts that Thomas died by poisoning, on the order of Charles Bonaiuto. of Anjou; Villani (ix. 218) cites this belief, and the Anonimo Fiorentino describes the crime and its motive. But the historian Ludovico Antonio Muratori reproduces the account made by one of Thomas's friends, and this version of the story gives no hint of foul play.[55] Thomas's theology had begun its rise to prestige. Two centuries later, in 1567, Pope Pius V proclaimed St. Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church and ranked his feast with those of the four great Latin fathers: Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome and Gregory. However, in the same period the Council of Trent still turned to Duns Scotus before Thomas as a source of arguments in defence of the Church. Even though Duns Scotus was more consulted at the Council of Trent, Thomas had the honor of having his Summa theologiae placed on the altar alongside the Bible and the Decretals. In his encyclical of 4 August 1879, Pope Leo XIII stated that Thomas's theology was a definitive exposition of Catholic doctrine. Thus, he directed the clergy to take the teachings of Thomas as the basis of their theological positions. Leo XIII also decreed that all Catholic seminaries and universities must teach Thomas's doctrines, and where Thomas did not speak on a topic, the teachers were "urged to teach conclusions that were reconcilable with his thinking." In 1880, Saint Thomas Aquinas was declared patron of all Catholic educational establishments.
Canonization
When the devil's advocate at his canonization process objected that there were no miracles, one of the cardinals answered, "Tot miraculis, quot articulis""there are as many miracles (in his life) as articles (in his Summa)," viz., thousands. Fifty years after the death of Thomas, on 18 July 1323, Pope John XXII, seated in Avignon, pronounced Thomas a saint.[56] In a monastery at Naples, near the cathedral of St. Januarius, a cell in which he supposedly lived is still shown to visitors. His remains were placed in the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse in 1369. Between 1789 and 1974, they were held in Basilique de Saint-Sernin, Toulouse. In 1974, they were returned to the Church of the Jacobins, where they have remained ever since. In the General Roman Calendar of 1962, in the Roman Catholic Church, Thomas was commemorated on 7 March, the day of death. However, in the General Roman Calendar of 1969, Thomas's memorial was transferred to 28 January, the date of the translation of his relics to Toulouse.[57] Thomas is honored with a feast day in the liturgical year of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on 28 January.
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Thomas was a theologian and a Scholastic philosopher.[59] However, he never considered himself a philosopher, and criticized philosophers, whom he saw as pagans, for always "falling short of the true and proper wisdom to be found in Christian revelation." With this in mind, Thomas did have respect for Aristotle, so much so that in the Summa, he often cites Aristotle simply as "the Philosopher." Much of his work bears upon philosophical topics, and in this sense may be characterized as philosophical. Thomas's philosophical thought has exerted enormous influence on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of the Catholic Church, extending to Western philosophy in general. Thomas stands as a vehicle and modifier of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism.
Commentaries on Aristotle
Thomas wrote several important commentaries on Aristotle's works, including On the Soul, Nicomachean Ethics and Metaphysics. His work is associated with William of Moerbeke's translations of Aristotle from Greek into Latin.
Epistemology
Thomas believed "that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act." However, he believed that human beings have the natural capacity to know many things without special divine revelation, even though such revelation occurs from time to time, "especially in regard to such (truths) as pertain to faith." But this is the light that is given to man by God according to man's nature: "Now every form bestowed on created things by God has power for a determined act[uality], which it can bring about in proportion to its own proper endowment; and beyond which it is powerless, except by a superadded form, as water can only heat when heated by the fire. And thus the human understanding has a form, viz. intelligible light, which of itself is sufficient for knowing certain intelligible things, viz. those we can come to know through the senses."
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Ethics
Thomas's ethics are based on the concept of "first principles of action."[60] In his Summa theologiae, he wrote: Virtue denotes a certain perfection of a power. Now a thing's perfection is considered chiefly in regard to its end. But the end of power is act. Wherefore power is said to be perfect, according as it is determinate to its act. Thomas defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. These are somewhat supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object, namely, God: Now the object of the theological virtues is God Himself, Who is the last end of all, as surpassing the knowledge of our reason. On the other hand, the object of the intellectual and moral virtues is something comprehensible to human reason. Wherefore the theological virtues are specifically distinct from the moral and intellectual virtues. Furthermore, Thomas distinguished four kinds of law: eternal, natural, human, and divine. Eternal law is the decree of God that governs all creation. Natural law is the human "participation" in the eternal law and is discovered by reason. Natural law is based on "first principles": . . . this is the first precept of the law, that good is to be done and promoted, and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based on this . . . The desires to live and to procreate are counted by Thomas among those basic (natural) human values on which all human values are based. According to Thomas, all human tendencies are geared towards real human goods. In this case, the human nature in question is marriage, the total gift of oneself to another that ensures a family for children and a future for mankind. To clarify for Christian believers, Thomas defined love as "to will the good of another." Human law is positive law: the natural law applied by governments to societies. Divine law is the specially revealed law in the scriptures. Thomas also greatly influenced Catholic understandings of mortal and venial sins. Thomas denied that human beings have any duty of charity to animals because they are not persons. Otherwise, it would be unlawful to use them for food. But this does not give humans the license to be cruel to them, for "cruel habits might carry over into our treatment of human beings." Thomas contributed to economic thought as an aspect of ethics and justice. He dealt with the concept of a just price, normally its market price or a regulated price sufficient to cover seller costs of production. He argued it was immoral for sellers to raise their prices simply because buyers were in pressing need for a product.[61][62]
Psychology
Aquinas maintains that a human is a single material substance. He understands the soul as the form of the body, which makes a human being the composite of the two. Thus, only living, form-matter composites can truly be called human; dead bodies are human only analogously. One actually existing substance comes from body and soul. A human is a single material substance, but still should be understood as having an immaterial soul, which continues after bodily death. Ultimately, humans are animals; the animal genus is body; body is material substance. When embodied, a human person is an individual substance in the category rational animal. The body belongs to the essence of a human being. In his Summa theologiae Aquinas clearly states his position on the nature of the soul; defining it as the first principle of life. The soul is not corporeal, or a body; it is the act of a body. Because the intellect is incorporeal, it does not use the bodily organs, as the operation of anything follows the mode of its being. The human soul is perfected in the body, but does not depend on the body, because part of its nature is spiritual. In this way, the soul differs from other forms, which are only found in matter, and thus depend on matter. The soul, as
Thomas Aquinas form of the body, does not depend on matter in this way. The soul is not matter, not even incorporeal or spiritual matter. If it were, it would not be able to understand universals, which are immaterial. A receiver receives things according to the receivers own nature, so in order for soul (receiver) to understand (receive) universals, it must have the same nature as universals. Yet, any substance that understands universals may not be a matter-form composite. So, humans have rational souls which are abstract forms independent of the body. But a human being is one existing, single material substance which comes from body and soul: that is what Thomas means when he writes that something one in nature can be formed from an intellectual substance and a body, and a thing one in nature does not result from two permanent entities unless one has the character of substantial form and the other of matter. The soul is a "substantial form"; it is a part of a substance, but it is not a substance by itself. Nevertheless, the soul exists separately from the body, and continues, after death, in many of the capacities we think of as human. Substantial form is what makes a thing a member of the species to which it belongs, and substantial form is also the structure or configuration that provides the object with the abilities that make the object what it is. For humans, those abilities are those of the rational animal. These distinctions can be better understood in the light of Aquinass understanding of matter and form, a hylomorphic ("matter/form") theory derived from Aristotle. In any given substance, matter and form are necessarily united, and each is a necessary aspect of that substance. However, they are conceptually separable. Matter represents what is changeable about the substance what is potentially something else. For example, bronze matter is potentially a statue, or also potentially a cymbal. Matter must be understood as the matter of something. In contrast, form is what determines some particular chunk of matter to be a specific substance and no other. When Aquinas says that the human body is only partly composed of matter, he means the material body is only potentially a human being. The soul is what actualizes that potential into an existing human being. Consequently, the fact that a human body is live human tissue entails that a human soul is wholly present in each part of the human.
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Theology
Thomas viewed theology, or the sacred doctrine, as a science, the raw material data of which consists of written scripture and the tradition of the Catholic Church. These sources of data were produced by the self-revelation of God to individuals and groups of people throughout history. Faith and reason, while distinct but related, are the two primary tools for processing the data of theology. Thomas believed both were necessary or, rather, that the confluence of both was necessary for one to obtain true knowledge of God. Thomas blended Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine by suggesting that rational thinking and the study of nature, like revelation, were valid ways to understand truths pertaining to God. According to Thomas, God reveals himself through nature, so to study nature is to study God. The ultimate goals of theology, in Thomas's mind, are to use reason to grasp the truth about God and to experience salvation through that truth.
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Revelation
Thomas believed that truth is known through reason (natural revelation) and faith (supernatural revelation). Supernatural revelation has its origin in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is made available through the teaching of the prophets, summed up in Holy Scripture, and transmitted by the Magisterium, the sum of which is called "Tradition". Natural revelation is the truth available to all people through their human nature and powers of reason. For example, he felt this applied to rational ways to know the existence of God. Though one may deduce the existence of God and his Attributes (Unity, Truth, Goodness, Power, Knowledge) through reason, certain specifics may be known only through the special revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The major theological components of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are revealed in the teachings of the Church and the Scriptures and may not otherwise be deduced. Faith and reason complement rather than contradict each other, each giving different views of the same Truth.
Creation
As a Catholic Thomas believed that God is the "maker of heaven and earth, of all that is visible and invisible." Like Aristotle, Thomas posited that life could form from non-living material or plant life, a theory of ongoing abiogenesis known as spontaneous generation: Since the generation of one thing is the corruption of another, it was not incompatible with the first formation of things, that from the corruption of the less perfect the more perfect should be generated. Hence animals generated from the corruption of inanimate things, or of plants, may have been generated then.[63] Additionally Thomas considered Empedocles's theory that various mutated species emerged at the dawn of Creation. Thomas reasoned that these species were generated through mutations in animal sperm, and argued that they were not unintended by nature; rather, such species were simply not intended for perpetual existence. That discussion is found in his commentary on Aristotle's Physics: The same thing is true of those substances which Empedocles said were produced at the beginning of the world, such as the ox-progeny, i.e., half ox and half man. For if such things were not able to arrive at some end and final state of nature so that they would be preserved in existence, this was not because nature did not intend this [a final state], but because they were not capable of being preserved. For they were not generated according to nature, but by the corruption of some natural principle, as it now also happens that some monstrous offspring are generated because of the corruption of seed.[64]
Just war
Augustine of Hippo agreed strongly with the conventional wisdom of his time, that Christians should be pacifists philosophically, but that they should use defense as a means of preserving peace in the long run. For example, he routinely argued that pacifism did not prevent the defence of innocents. In essence, the pursuit of peace might require fighting to preserve it in the long-term.[65] Such a war must not be preemptive, but defensive, to restore peace.[66] Thomas Aquinas, centuries later, used the authority of Augustine's arguments in an attempt to define the conditions under which a war could be just.[67] He laid these out in his historic work, Summa Theologica: First, war must occur for a good and just purpose rather than the pursuit of wealth or power. Second, just war must be waged by a properly instituted authority such as the state. Third, peace must be a central motive even in the midst of violence.
Thomas Aquinas The School of Salamanca The School of Salamanca expanded Aquinas's understanding of natural law and just war. Given that war is one of the worst evils suffered by mankind, the adherents of the School reasoned that it ought to be resorted to only when it was necessary to prevent an even greater evil. A diplomatic agreement is preferable, even for the more powerful party, before a war is started. Examples of "just war" are:[citation needed] In self-defense, as long as there is a reasonable possibility of success. If failure is a foregone conclusion, then it is just a wasteful spilling of blood. Preventive war against a tyrant who is about to attack. War to punish a guilty enemy. A war is not legitimate or illegitimate simply based on its original motivation: it must comply with a series of additional requirements:[citation needed] The response must be commensurate to the evil; more violence than is strictly necessary would be unjust. Governing authorities declare war, but their decision is not sufficient cause to begin a war. If the people oppose a war, then it is illegitimate. The people have a right to depose a government that is waging, or is about to wage, an unjust war. Once war has begun, there remain moral limits to action. For example, one may not attack innocents or kill hostages. The belligerents must exhaust all options for dialogue and negotiation before undertaking a war; war is only legitimate as a last resort. Under this doctrine, expansionist wars, wars of pillage, wars to convert infidels or pagans, and wars for glory are all inherently unjust.
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Nature of God
Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident in itself, but not to us. "Therefore I say that this proposition, "God exists," of itself is self-evident, for the predicate is the same as the subject.... Now because we do not know the essence of God, the proposition is not self-evident to us; but needs to be demonstrated by things that are more known to us, though less known in their nature namely, by effects."[68] Thomas believed that the existence of God can be demonstrated. Briefly in the Summa theologiae and more extensively in the Summa contra Gentiles, he considered in great detail five arguments for the existence of God, widely known as the quinque viae (Five Ways). 1. Motion: Some things undoubtedly move, though cannot cause their own motion. Since, as Thomas believed, there can be no infinite chain of causes of motion, there must be a First Mover not moved by anything else, and this is what everyone understands by God. 2. Causation: As in the case of motion, nothing can cause itself, and an infinite chain of causation is impossible, so there must be a First Cause, called God. 3. Existence of necessary and the unnecessary: Our experience includes things certainly existing but apparently unnecessary. Not everything can be unnecessary, for then once there was nothing and there would still be nothing. Therefore, we are compelled to suppose something that exists necessarily, having this necessity only from itself; in fact itself the cause for other things to exist. 4. Gradation: If we can notice a gradation in things in the sense that some things are more hot, good, etc., there must be a superlative which is the truest and noblest thing, and so most fully existing. This then, we call God -->note Thomas does not ascribe actual qualities to God Himself. 5. Ordered tendencies of nature: A direction of actions to an end is noticed in all bodies following natural laws. Anything without awareness tends to a goal under the guidance of one who is aware. This we call God --> Note that even when we guide objects, in Thomas's view the source of all our knowledge comes from God as well.[69]
Thomas Aquinas Concerning the nature of God, Thomas felt the best approach, commonly called the via negativa, is to consider what God is not. This led him to propose five statements about the divine qualities: 1. God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form.[70] 2. God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is distinguished from other beings on account of God's complete actuality.[71] Thomas defined God as the Ipse Actus Essendi [72] subsistens, subsisting act of being.[73] 3. God is infinite. That is, God is not finite in the ways that created beings are physically, intellectually, and emotionally limited. This infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size and infinity of number.[74] 4. God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God's essence and character.[75] 5. God is one, without diversification within God's self. The unity of God is such that God's essence is the same as God's existence. In Thomas's words, "in itself the proposition 'God exists' is necessarily true, for in it subject and predicate are the same."[76] Following St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas defines sin as "a word, deed, or desire, contrary to the eternal law." It is important to note the analogous nature of law in Thomas's legal philosophy. Natural law is an instance or instantiation of eternal law. Because natural law is that which human beings determine according to their own nature (as rational beings), disobeying reason is disobeying natural law and eternal law. Thus eternal law is logically prior to reception of either "natural law" (that determined by reason) or "divine law" (that found in the Old and New Testaments). In other words, God's will extends to both reason and revelation. Sin is abrogating either one's own reason, on the one hand, or revelation on the other, and is synonymous with "evil" (privation of good, or privatio boni[77]). Thomas, like all Scholastics, generally argued that the findings of reason and data of revelation cannot conflict, so both are a guide to God's will for human beings.
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Thomas Aquinas Thomas argued against several specific contemporary and historical theologians who held differing views about Christ. In response to Photinus, Thomas stated that Jesus was truly divine and not simply a human being. Against Nestorius, who suggested that Son of God was merely conjoined to the man Christ, Thomas argued that the fullness of God was an integral part of Christ's existence. However, countering Apollinaris' views, Thomas held that Christ had a truly human (rational) soul, as well. This produced a duality of natures in Christ. Thomas argued against Eutyches that this duality persisted after the Incarnation. Thomas stated that these two natures existed simultaneously yet distinguishably in one real human body, unlike the teachings of Manichaeus and Valentinus.[80] In short "Christ had a real body of the same nature of ours, a true rational soul, and, together with these, perfect Deity." Thus, there is both unity (in his one hypostasis) and composition (in his two natures, human and Divine) in Christ.[81] I answer that, The Person or hypostasis of Christ may be viewed in two ways. First as it is in itself, and thus it is altogether simple, even as the Nature of the Word. Secondly, in the aspect of person or hypostasis to which it belongs to subsist in a nature; and thus the Person of Christ subsists in two natures. Hence though there is one subsisting being in Him, yet there are different aspects of subsistence, and hence He is said to be a composite person, insomuch as one being subsists in two.[82] Echoing Athanasius of Alexandria, he said that "The only begotten Son of God...assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."
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Treatment of heretics
Thomas Aquinas belonged to the Dominican Order (formally Ordo Praedicatorum, the Order of Preachers) who began as an order dedicated to the conversion of the Albigensians and other heterodox factions, at first by peaceful means; later the Albigensians were dealt with by means of the Albigensian Crusade. In the Summa theologiae, he wrote: With regard to heretics two points must be observed: one, on their own side; the other, on the side of the Church. On their own side there is the sin, whereby they deserve not only to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith which quickens the soul, than to forge money, which supports temporal life. Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are forthwith condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death. On the part of the Church, however, there is mercy which looks to the conversion of the wanderer, wherefore she condemns not at once, but "after the first and second admonition," as the Apostle directs: after that, if he is yet stubborn, the Church no longer hoping for his conversion, looks to the salvation of others, by excommunicating him and separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the secular
Thomas Aquinas tribunal to be exterminated thereby from the world by death.(Summa, IIII, Q.11, art.3. [84]) Heresy was a capital offense against the secular law of most European countries of the 13th century, which had a limited prison capacity. Kings and emperors, even those at war with the papacy, listed heresy first among the crimes against the state. Kings claimed power from God according to the Christian faith. Often enough, especially in that age of papal claims to universal worldly power, the rulers power was tangibly and visibly legitimated directly through coronation by the pope. Heresy directly undercut kingly power.[citation needed] Simple theft, forgery, fraud, and other such crimes were also capital offenses; Thomas's point seems to be that the gravity of this offense, which touches not only the material goods but also the spiritual goods of others, is at least the same as forgery. Thomas's suggestion specifically demands that heretics be handed to a "secular tribunal" rather than magisterial authority. That Thomas specifically says that heretics "deserve... death" is related to his theology, according to which all sinners have no intrinsic right to life ("For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"). Nevertheless, his point is clear: heretics should be executed by the state. He elaborates on his opinion regarding heresy in the next article, when he says: In God's tribunal, those who return are always received, because God is a searcher of hearts, and knows those who return in sincerity. But the Church cannot imitate God in this, for she presumes that those who relapse after being once received, are not sincere in their return; hence she does not debar them from the way of salvation, but neither does she protect them from the sentence of death. (Summa, op. cit., art.4. [85])
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Thomas Aquinas Aquinas states clearly his stance on resurrection, and uses it to back up his philosophy of justice; that is, the promise of resurrection compensates Christians who suffered in this world through a heavenly union with the divine. He says, If there is no resurrection of the dead, it follows that there is no good for human beings other than in this life. Resurrection provides the impetus for people on earth to give up pleasures in this life. Thomas believes the human who has prepared for the afterlife both morally and intellectually will be rewarded more greatly; however, all reward is through the grace of God. Aquinas insists beatitude will be conferred according to merit, and will render the person better able to conceive the divine. Aquinas accordingly believes punishment is directly related to earthly, living preparation and activity as well. Aquinass account of the soul focuses on epistemology and metaphysics, and because of this he believes it gives a clear account of the immaterial nature of the soul. Aquinas conservatively guards Christian doctrine, and thus maintains physical and spiritual reward and punishment after death. By accepting the essentiality of both body and soul, he allows for a heaven and hell described in scripture and church dogma.
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Modern influence
Many modern ethicists both within and outside the Catholic Church (notably Philippa Foot and Alasdair MacIntyre) have recently commented on the possible use of Thomas's virtue ethics as a way of avoiding utilitarianism or Kantian "sense of duty" (called deontology). Through the work of twentieth-century philosophers such as Elizabeth Anscombe (especially in her book Intention), Thomas's principle of double effect specifically and his theory of intentional activity generally have been influential. In recent years the cognitive neuroscientist Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible with neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the journal Mind and Matter entitled "Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention According to Aquinas." Thomas's aesthetic theories, especially the concept of claritas, deeply influenced the literary practice of modernist writer James Joyce, who used to extol Thomas as being second only to Aristotle among Western philosophers. Joyce refers to Aquinas's doctrines in Elementa philosophiae ad mentem D. Thomae Aquinatis doctoris angelici (1898) of Girolamo Maria Mancini, professor of theology at the Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe.[86] For example, Mancini's Elementa is referred to in Joyce's early masterpiece Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.[87] The influence of Thomas's aesthetics also can be found in the works of the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, who wrote an essay on aesthetic ideas in Thomas (published in 1956 and republished in 1988 in a revised edition).
Criticism
Bertrand Russell criticized Aquinas's philosophy on the ground that He does not, like the Platonic Socrates, set out to follow wherever the argument may lead. He is not engaged in an inquiry, the result of which it is impossible to know in advance. Before he begins to philosophize, he already knows the truth; it is declared in the Catholic faith. If he can find apparently rational arguments for some parts of the faith, so much the better; if he cannot, he need only fall back on revelation. The finding of arguments for a conclusion given in advance is not philosophy, but special pleading. I cannot, therefore, feel that he deserves to be put on a level with the best philosophers either of Greece or of modern times.[88] This critique is illustrated on the following examples: According to Russell, Aquinas advocates the indissolubility of marriage "on the ground that the father is useful in the education of the children, (a) because he is more rational than the mother, (b) because, being stronger, he is better able to inflict physical punishment." Even though modern approaches to education do not support these views, "no follower of Saint Thomas would, on that account, cease to believe in lifelong monogamy, because the real grounds of belief are not those which are alleged." It may be countered that the treatment of matrimony in the Summa Theologica is in the Supplements volume, which was not written by Aquinas.[89] Moreover, as noted above,[90] Aquinas's introduction of arguments and concepts from the
Thomas Aquinas pagan Aristotle and Muslim Averroes was not uncontroversial within the Catholic church. Aquinas's views of God as first cause, cf. quinque viae, "depend upon the supposed impossibility of a series having no first term. Every mathematician knows that there is no such impossibility; the series of negative integers ending with minus one is an instance to the contrary." Moreover, according to Russell, statements regarding God's essence and existence that are reached within the Aristotelian logic are based on "some kind of syntactical confusion, without which much of the argumentation about God would lose its plausibility."
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Claims of levitation
For centuries, there have been recurring claims that Thomas had the ability to levitate. For example, G. K. Chesterton wrote that, "His experiences included well-attested cases of levitation in ecstasy; and the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, comforting him with the welcome news that he would never be a Bishop."[91]
Notes
[1] http:/ / saints. sqpn. com/ saint-thomas-aquinas/ [2] See Pius XI, Studiorum Ducem 11 (29 June 1923), AAS, XV ("non modo Angelicum, sed etiam Communem seu Universalem Ecclesiae Doctorem"). The title Doctor Communis dates to the fourteenth century; the title Doctor Angelicus dates to the fifteenth century, see Walz, Xenia Thomistica, III, p. 164 n. 4. Tolomeo da Lucca writes in Historia Ecclesiastica (1317): This man is supreme among modern teachers of philosophy and theology, and indeed in every subject. And such is the common view and opinion, so that nowadays in the University of Paris they call him the Doctor Communis because of the outstanding clarity of his teaching. Historia Eccles. xxiii, c. 9. [3] http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ aquinas/ [4] http:/ / www. dartmouthapologia. org/ articles/ show/ 125 [5] http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 31211/ Saint-Thomas-Aquinas [6] Code of Canon Law, Can. 252, 3 (http:/ / www. vatican. va/ archive/ ENG1104/ __PW. HTM) [7] Benedict XV Encyclical Fausto appetente die (http:/ / www. vatican. va/ holy_father/ benedict_xv/ encyclicals/ documents/ hf_ben-xv_enc_29061921_fausto-appetente-die_en. html) 29 June 1921, AAS 13 (1921), 332; Pius XI Encyclical Studiorum Ducem 11, 29 June 1923, AAS 15 (1923), cf. AAS 17 (1925) 574; Paul VI, 7 March 1964 AAS 56 (1964), 302 (Bouscaren, vol. VI, pp. 78688). [8] Jean-Pierre Torrell, Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person And His Work, CUA press, 2005, p. 3. Google Book (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=1KUS-cBJmqoC& pg=PA3& lpg=PA3& dq=thomas+ aquinas+ neapolitan+ rossi& source=bl& ots=rjnI8obBC_& sig=pein7EBD6Mjb6jYxSLcKscX8ARY& sa=X& ei=Ke8uUPezE8vV4QSztYCIBw& ved=0CA4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage& q=thomas aquinas neapolitan rossi& f=false) [9] Hampden, The Life, p. 14. [10] Stump, Aquinas, p. 3. [11] Schaff, Philip (1953). Thomas Aquinas, pp. 422423. [12] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, pp. 12 [13] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, p. 2 [14] Hampden, The Life, pp. 2122. [15] Grabmann, Martin. Virgil Michel, trans. Thomas Aquinas: His Personality and Thought. (Kessinger Publishing, 2006), pp. 2. [16] Collison, Diane, and Kathryn Plant. Fifty Major Philosophers. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. [17] Hampden, The Life, p. 23. [18] Hampden, The Life, p. 24. [19] Hampden, The Life, p. 25. [20] Hampden, The Life, pp. 2728. [21] Healy, Theologian, p. 2. [22] Hampden, The Life, p. 33. [23] Stump, Aquinas, p. xvi. [24] Davies, The Thought, p. 5. [25] Stump, Aquinas, p. 4. [26] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, pp. 34. [27] Stump, Aquinas, p. xvii. [28] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, p. 4. [29] Healy, Theologian, p. 4. [30] Fr. Thome de Aquino iniungimus in remissionem peccatorum quod teneat studium Rome, et volumus quod fratribus qui stant secum ad studendum provideatur in necessariis vestimentis a conventibus de quorum predicatione traxerunt originem. Si autem illi studentes inventi fuerint negligentes in studio, damus potestatem fr. Thome quod ad conventus suos possit eos remittere (Acta Capitulorum Provincialium,
Thomas Aquinas
Provinciae Romanae Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1265, n. 12)http:/ / www. corpusthomisticum. org/ a65. html [31] Compendium Historiae Ordinis Praedicatorum, A.M. Walz, Herder 1930, 214: "Conventus S. Sabinae de Urbe prae ceteris gloriam singularem ex praesentia fundatoris ordinis et primitivorum fratrum necnon ex residentia Romana magistrorum generalium, si de ea sermo esse potest, habet. In documentis quidem eius nonnisi anno 1222 nomen fit, ait certe iam antea nostris concreditus est. Florebant ibi etiam studia sacra." http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ MN5081ucmf_3/ MN5081ucmf_3_djvu. txt Accessed 4-9-2011." [32] Marian Michle Mulchahey, "First the bow is bent in study": Dominican education before 1350, 1998, p. 278-279. http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=bK9axCYcbFIC& pg=PA279#v=onepage& q& f=false Accessed 6-30-2011 [33] "Tenuit studium Rome, quasi totam Philosophiam, sive Moralem, sive Naturalem exposuit." Ptolomaei Lucensis historia ecclesiastica nova, xxii, c. 24, in In Gregorovius's History of the City of Rome In the Middle Ages, Vol V, part II, 617, note 2. http:/ / www. third-millennium-library. com/ PDF/ Authors/ Gregorovius/ history-of-rome-city_5_2. pdf Accessed 6-5-2011. [34] Summa theologiae, I, 1, prooemium:"Quia Catholicae veritatis doctor non solum provectos debet instruere, sed ad eum pertinet etiam incipientes erudire, secundum illud apostoli I ad Corinth. III, tanquam parvulis in Christo, lac vobis potum dedi, non escam; propositum nostrae intentionis in hoc opere est, ea quae ad Christianam religionem pertinent, eo modo tradere, secundum quod congruit ad eruditionem incipientium." [35] http:/ / aquinatis. blogspot. com/ 2008/ 05/ vida-de-santo-toms-de-aquino. html Accessed June 22, 2011: "A mediados de noviembre abandon Santo Toms la ciudad de Viterbo en compaa de fray Reginaldo de Piperno y su discpulo fray Nicols Brunacci." http:/ / www. brunacci. it/ s--tommaso. html Accessed June 22, 2011. Accessed June 22, 2011: "Per l'acutezza del suo ingegno, dopo aver studiato nella sua provincia, ebbe l'alto onore di accompagnare S. Tommaso a Parigi nel novembre del 1268. Rimase in quello studio fino al 1272 e di l pass a Colonia sotto la disciplina di Alberto Magno." [36] http:/ / www. santiebeati. it/ dettaglio/ 92060 Accessed June 29, 2011 [37] Compendium Historiae Ordinis Praedicatorum, A.M. Walz, Herder 1930, 214: Romanus conventus S. Mariae supra Minervam anno 1255 ex conditionibus parvis crevit. Tunc enim paenitentibus feminis in communi regulariter ibi 1252/53 viventibus ad S. Pancratium migratis fratres Praedicatores domum illam relictam a Summo Pontifice habendam petierunt et impetranint. Qua demum feliciter obtenda capellam hospitio circa annum 1255 adiecerunt. Huc evangelizandi causa fratres e conventu S. Sabinae descendebant. http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ MN5081ucmf_3/ MN5081ucmf_3_djvu. txt Accessed 5-17-2011 [38] Marian Michle Mulchahey, "First the bow is bent in study": Dominican education before 1350, 1998, p. 323. http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=bK9axCYcbFIC& pg=PA323 Accessed 5-26-2011 [39] Stump, Aquinas, pp. 1011. [40] Stump, Aquinas, p. 11. [41] Aquinas, Reader, pp. 911. [42] McInerney, Against the Averroists, p. 10. [43] Aquinas, Reader, p. 11. [44] Guilelmus de Tocco, Ystoria sancti Thome de Aquino de Guillaume de Tocco (1323) (http:/ / books. google. gr/ books?id=iuDhWSLoah8C& ), Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996, p. 162. [45] Catholic Encyclopedia (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 14663b. htm) [46] Davies, The Thought, p. 9. [47] McInerny, Ralph and John O'Callaghan, " Saint Thomas Aquinas (http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ aquinas/ )", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) [48] Healy, Theologian, p. 7. [49] Nichols, Discovering Aquinas, p. 18. [50] Hampden, The Life, p. 46. [51] Healy, Theologian, p. 8. [52] Aquinas, Reader, p. 12. [53] Hampden, The Life, p. 47. [54] Kung, Christian Thinkers (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=DoelY_m7Ry4C& pg=PA112& dq=Hans+ Kung+ + Great+ Christian+ Thinkers+ + "at+ first+ regarded+ as+ heresy"& hl=en& ei=isH_TZT8AtO10AH845XgCA& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q& f=false), pp. 112114. [55] "Aquinas, Thomas", Encyclopdia Britannica (1911), pg. 250 (http:/ / en. wikisource. org/ w/ index. php?title=User:Tim_Starling/ ScanSet_TIFF_demo& vol=02& page=EB2A264). [56] Hampden, The Life, p. 54. [57] Liturgy of the Hours Volume III, Proper of Saints, 28 January. [58] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:Thomism& action=edit [59] Some would not describe Thomas as a philosopher. See, e.g., Mark D. Jordan, "Philosophy in a Summa of Theology", in Rewritten Theology: Aquinas after his Readers (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) pp. 154170. (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=TS3XmU5mTrgC& pg=PA154& dq=Mark+ D. + Jordan,+ "Philosophy+ in+ a+ Summa+ of+ Theology",+ in+ Rewritten+ Theology:+ Aquinas+ after+ his+ Readers& cd=1#v=onepage& q& f=false) [60] Geisler, p. 727. [61] Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. Of Cheating, Which Is Committed in Buying and Selling. Translated by The Fathers of the English Dominican Province (http:/ / www. saylor. org/ site/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2012/ 06/ ECON301-2. 1. 2-1st. pdf) Retrieved June 19, 2012
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[62] Barry Gordon (1987). "Aquinas, St Thomas (12251274)," v. 1, p. 100 [63] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ summa/ FP/ FP072. html#FPQ72OUTP1), On the Work of the Sixth Day, Reply to Objection 5, Fathers of the English Dominican Province [64] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Physica (http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ Physics2. htm#14), Book 2, Lecture 14, Fathers of the English Dominican Province [65] St. Augustine of Hippo (http:/ / www. crusades-encyclopedia. com/ augustineofhippo. html), Crusades-Encyclopedia [66] Saint Augustine and the Theory of Just War (http:/ / www. jknirp. com/ mattox. htm) [67] The Just War (http:/ / www. catholiceducation. org/ articles/ politics/ pg0029. html) [68] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1002. htm#article1 [69] Summa of Theology I, q.2, The Five Ways Philosophers Have Proven God's Existence [70] Kreeft, pp. 7477. [71] Kreeft, pp. 8687. [72] http:/ / aquinasactusessendi. blogspot. com [73] See Actus Essendi. See also Online Resources: Actus Essendi Electronic Journal (http:/ / aquinasactusessendi. blogspot. com). [74] Kreeft, pp. 9799. [75] Kreeft, p. 105. [76] Kreeft, pp. 111112. [77] Summa, III, Q.75, art.1. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2075. htm#article1) "For evil is the absence of the good, which is natural and due to a thing." [78] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1031. htm#article3 [79] Aquinas, pp. 228229. [80] Aquinas, pp. 231239. [81] Aquinas, pp. 241, 245249. Emphasis is the author's. [82] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 4002. htm#article4 [83] Kreeft, p. 383. [84] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3011. htm#article3 [85] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3011. htm#article4 [86] The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol V, Year 32, No. 378, June, 1899, p. 570, http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=fpYvAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA570#v=onepage& q& f=false Accessed 3-7-2013 [87] A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, Wordsworth 1992 edition, Introduction and Notes by Jacqueline Belanger, 2001, p. 136, note 309: "Synopsis Philosophiae ad mentem D. Thomae This appears to be a reference to Elementa Philosophiae ad mentem D. Thomae Aquinatis, a selection of Thomas Aquinas's writings edited and published by G. M. Mancini in 1898. (G)" http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=C_rPXanc_HAC& pg=PA221#v=onepage& q& f=false Accessed 3-6-2013 [88] A History of Western Philosophy, Ch. 34, St. Thomas Aquinas, Allen & Unwin, London; Simon & Schuster, New York 1946, 484-. [89] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 5. htm [90] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Thomas_Aquinas#Condemnation_of_1277 [91] G. K. Chesterton wrote an Essay on St. Thomas Aquinas (http:/ / chesterton. org/ gkc/ theologian/ aquinas. htm) which appeared in The Spectator 27 Feb. 1932.
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References
Aquinas, Thomas; Mary T. Clark (2000). An Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas. Fordham University Press. ISBN0-8232-2029-X. Aquinas, Thomas (2002). Aquinas's Shorter Summa. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press. ISBN1-928832-43-1. Davies, Brian (2004). Aquinas: An Introduction. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN0-8264-7095-5. Davies, Brian (1993). The Thought of Thomas Aquinas. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-826753-3. Russell, Bertrand (1967), A History of Western Philosophy, Simon & Schuster, ISBN0671201581 Geisler, Norman, ed. (1999). Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic Gordon, Barry (1987 [2009]). "Aquinas, St Thomas," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 1. Hampden, Renn Dickson (1848). "The Life of Thomas Aquinas: A Dissertation of the Scholastic Philosophy of the Middle Ages". Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. London: John J. Griffin & Co. Healy, Nicholas M. (2003). Thomas Aquinas: Theologian of the Christian Life. Ashgate Publishing Ltd. ISBN0-7546-1472-7.
Thomas Aquinas Kreeft, Peter (1990). Summa of the Summa. Ignatius Press. ISBN0-89870-300-X. Kung, Hans (1994). Great Christian Thinkers. New York: Continuum Books. ISBN0-8264-0848-6. McInerny, Ralph M. (1993). Aquinas Against the Averroists: On There Being Only One Intellect. Purdue University Press. ISBN1-55753-029-7. Nichols, Aidan (2003). Discovering Aquinas: An Introduction to His Life, Work, and Influence. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN0-8028-0514-0. Schaff, Philip (1953). "Thomas Aquinas". The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge 126 (3190). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. pp.422423. Bibcode: 1930Natur.126..951G (http://adsabs. harvard.edu/abs/1930Natur.126..951G). doi: 10.1038/126951c0 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/126951c0). Stump, Eleonore (2003). Aquinas. Routledge. ISBN0-415-02960-0. Attribution This articleincorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Seeburg, Reinhold (1914). "Thomas Aquinas" (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc11.t.vii.html). In Jackson, Samuel Macauley. New SchaffHerzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge XI (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. pp.422427. This articleincorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Thomas Aquinas". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press
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Further reading
Copleston, Frederick (1991). Aquinas: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Great Medieval Thinker. Penguin Books. ISBN0-14-013674-6. Faitanin, Paulo (2008). A Sabedoria do Amor: iniciao filosofia de Santo Toms de Aquino. Instituto Aquinate. ISSN 1982-8845 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/1982-8845). Faitanin, Paulo (2008). O Ofcio do Sbio: o modo de estudar e ensinar segundo Santo Toms de Aquino. Instituto Aquinate. ISSN 1982-8845 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/1982-8845). Paterson, Craig & Matthew S. Pugh (eds.), Analytical Thomism: Traditions in Dialogue. Ashgate, 2006. Introduction to Thomism (http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=4762& edition_id=6976) Schmitz, Kenneth (2007). St. Thomas Aquinas (http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/audiobook.cfm?id=3813) (audiobook). Narrated by Charlton Heston. Ashland, OR; Boulder, CO: Knowledge Products; Blackstone Audiobooks; NetLibrary. ISBN0-7861-6932-X. OCLC 78235338 (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/78235338). Strathern, Paul (1998). Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes. Chicago: I.R. Dee. 90 p. ISBN 1-56663-194-7 Torrell, Jean-Pierre (2005). Saint Thomas Aquinas. (Rev. ed. ed.). Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN978-0-8132-1423-8. OCLC 456104266 (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/456104266). Wallace, William A. (1970). "Thomas Aquinas, Saint" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/ Saint_Thomas_Aquinas.aspx#1). In Gillispie, Charles. Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Scribner & American Council of Learned Societies. pp.196200. ISBN978-0-684-10114-9. Weisheipl, James (1974). Friar Thomas D'Aquino: his life, thought, and work ([1st ed.] ed.). Garden City N.Y.: Doubleday. ISBN978-0-385-01299-7.
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External links
Biographies
St. Thomas Aquinas (http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/071.html) ( pdf (http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/ aquinas.pdf)) biography from Fr. Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints (http://www.bartleby.com/210/) "St. Thomas Aquinas". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913. St. Thomas Aquinas (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm) article by Daniel Kennedy in Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), at NewAdvent.org St. Thomas Aquinas (http://www2.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/thomas.htm) biography by Jacques Maritain St. Thomas Aquinas (http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100331.txt) biography by G. K. Chesterton protected by copyright outside Australia Vita D. Thomae Aquinatis (http://www.dspt.edu/Page/14) a pictorial life of Aquinas from a manuscript by Otto van Veen (1610)
On his thought
Actus Essendi: An Electronic Journal on Aquinas's Doctrine of the Act of Being (http://aquinasactusessendi. blogspot.com). Brown, Paterson. "Infinite Causal Regression" (http://www.metalog.org/files/tpb/inf.r.html), Philosophical Review, 1966. Brown, Paterson. "St. Thomas's Doctrine of Necessary Being" (http://www.metalog.org/files/tpb/nec.b. html), Philosophical Review, 1964. Instituto Teolgico So Toms de Aquino (http://ittanoticias.arautos.org/) (Portuguese) On the legend of St. Albert's automaton (http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/staamp3.htm) Aquinas on Intelligent Extra-Terrestrial Life (http://www.unav.es/cryf/extraterrestriallife.html) Poetry of St. Thomas Aquinas (http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/christian/st_thomas/ ) Biography and ideas (http://lgxserver.uniba.it/lei/filosofi/autori/tommaso-scheda.htm) at SWIF/University of Bari/Italy (Italian) Aquinas's Moral, Political and Legal Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas-moral-political/) Thomas Aquinas (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aquinas) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aquinas: Metaphysics (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aq-meta) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aquinas: Moral Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aq-moral) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aquinas: Political Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aqui-pol) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aquinas: Theology (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aq-ph-th) entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Thomas Aquinas (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11187897) at Find A Grave Thomistic Philosophy (http://www.aquinasonline.com/index.html) Inspired by the enduring thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas Article on Thomism (http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/thomism.htm) by the Jacques Maritain Center of Notre Dame University Thomistica.net (http://thomistica.net/) news and newsletter devoted to the academic study of Aquinas Aquinas the Scholar (http://www2.nd.edu/Departments//Maritain/etext/walsh-q.htm) from The Thirteenth, the Greatest of Centuries, ch. XVII. by James Joseph Walsh A discussion of Aquinas on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time series (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/ inourtime/inourtime_20090917.shtml) 2009
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By Thomas
Works by or about Thomas Aquinas (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n78-95790) in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Corpus Thomisticum (http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/) his complete works in (Latin) De Rationibus Fidei/Reasons for the Faith against Muslim Objections... (http://www.stfrancismagazine.info/ ja/images/stories/7_SFM August 2010.pdf) Documenta Catholica Omnia (http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/ 20_50_1225-1274-_Thomas_Aquinas,_Sanctus.html) his complete works in PDF files, in (Latin), (Italian), (English), (German), (Spanish), (French), (Portuguese) Summa contra Gentiles (http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/gc.htm) Summa Theologica (http://www.newadvent.org/summa) The Principles of Nature (http://www4.desales.edu/~philtheo/aquinas/Nature.html) On Being and Essence (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/aquinas-esse.html) (De Ente et Essentia) Catena Aurea (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.titlepage.html) (partial) Works by Thomas Aquinas (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Aquinas+Thomas+Saint) at Project Gutenberg Bibliotheca Thomistica IntraText (http://www.intratext.com/bti/): texts, concordances and frequency lists An Aquinas Bibliography (http://www.domcentral.org/library/thombibl.htm) Thomas Aquinas in English (http://www.home.duq.edu/~bonin/thomasbibliography.html) De Magistro (http://www4.desales.edu/~philtheo/loughlin/ATP/De_Magistro/De_Magistro_11_1.html) (On the teacher q. 11, a.1 of de Veritate) Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries (http://hos.ou.edu/ galleries//03Medieval/Aquinas/) High resolution images of works by Thomas Aquinas in .jpg and .tiff format.
Summa Theologica
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Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica
Summa theologica, Pars secunda, prima pars. (copy by Peter Schffer, 1471) Author Translator Subject Publisher Publication date Mediatype Thomas Aquinas Fathers of the English Dominican Province Christian Theology Benzinger Brothers Printers to the Holy Apostolic See 1917 Print / online
Part of a series on
e [58]
v t
The Summa Theologi (written 12651274 and also known as the Summa Theologica or simply the Summa) is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (c. 12251274). Although unfinished, the Summa is "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature."[1] It was intended as an instructional guide for moderate theologians and a compendium of all of the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church. It presents the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology in the West. The Summa's
Summa Theologica topics follow a cycle: the existence of God; Creation, Man; Man's purpose; Christ; the Sacraments; and back to God. Among non-scholars the Summa, is perhaps most famous for its five arguments for the existence of God known as the "five ways" (Latin: quinque viae). The five ways occupy one-and-a-half pages of the Summa's approximately three thousand, five hundred pages. Throughout the Summa, Aquinas cites Christian, Muslim, Hebrew, and Pagan sources including but not limited to Christian Sacred Scripture, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Avicenna, Averroes, Al-Ghazali, Boethius, John of Damascus, Paul the Apostle, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maimonides, Anselm, Plato, Cicero, and Eriugena. The Summa is a more structured and expanded version of Aquinas's earlier Summa contra Gentiles, though these works were written for different purposes, the Summa Theologi to explain the Christian faith to beginning theology students, and the Summa contra Gentiles to explain the Christian faith and defend it in hostile situations, with arguments adapted to the intended circumstances of its use, each article refuting a certain belief of a specific heresy. Aquinas conceived the Summa specifically as a work suited to beginning students: "Because a doctor of catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but to him pertains also to instruct beginners. as the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 3: 12, as to infants in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat, our proposed intention in this work is to convey those things that pertain to the Christian religion, in a way that is fitting to the instruction of beginners."[2] It was while teaching at the Santa Sabina studium provinciale, the forerunner of the Santa Maria sopra Minerva studium generale and College of Saint Thomas, which in the 20th century would become the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, that Aquinas began to compose the Summa. He completed the Prima Pars in its entirety and circulated it in Italy before departing to take up his second regency as professor at the University of Paris (12691272).[3]
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Structure
The Summa is composed of three major parts, each of which deals with a major subsection of Christian theology. First Part (in Latin, Prima Pars): God's existence and nature; the creation of the world; angels; the nature of man Second Part: First part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae, often abbreviated Part I-II): general principles of morality (including a theory of law) Second part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae, or Part II-II): morality in particular, including individual virtues and vices Third Part (Tertia Pars): the person and work of Christ, who is the way of man to God; the sacraments; the end of the world. Aquinas left this part unfinished.[4] Each part contains several questions, each of which revolves around a more specific subtopic; one such question is "Of Christ's Manner of Life."[5] Each question contains several articles phrased as interrogative statements dealing with specific issues, such as "Whether Christ should have led a life of poverty in this world?"[6] The Summa has a standard format for each article. A series of objections to the (yet to be stated) conclusion are given; one such objection, for example, is that "Christ should have embraced the most eligible form of life...which is a mean between riches and poverty." A short counter-statement, beginning with the phrase sed contra ("on the contrary"), is then given; this statement almost always references authoritative literature, such as the Bible or Aristotle.[7] In this instance, Aquinas begins, "It is written (in Matthew 8:20): 'The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.' " The actual argument is then made; this is generally a clarification of the issue. For example, Aquinas states that "it was fitting for Christ to lead a life of poverty in this world" for four distinct reasons, each of which is expounded in some detail. Individual replies to the preceding objections are then given, if necessary. These replies range from one sentence to several paragraphs in length. Aquinas's reply to the above objection is that "those who wish to live virtuously
Summa Theologica need to avoid abundance of riches and beggary, ...but voluntary poverty is not open to this danger: and such was the poverty chosen by Christ." This method of exposition is derived from Averroes,[8] to whom Aquinas refers respectfully as "the Commentator".
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Summa Theologica Unbelief is the worst sin in the realm of morals.[14] The principles of just war[15] and natural law[16] The greatest happiness of all, the ultimate good, consists in the beatific vision.[17] Collecting interest on loans is forbidden, because it is charging people twice for the same thing.[18] In and of itself, selling a thing for more or less than it is worth is unlawful (the just price theory).[19] The contemplative life is greater than the active life,[20] but greater still is the contemplative life that takes action to call others to the contemplative life and give them the fruits of contemplation.[21] (This actually was the lifestyle of the Dominican friars, of which St. Thomas was a member.) Being a monk is greater than being married and even greater (in many ways) than being a priest, but it is not as good as being a bishop. Both monks and bishops are in a state of perfection.[22] Although the Jews delivered Christ to die, it was the Gentiles who killed him, foreshadowing how salvation would begin with the Jews and spread to the Gentiles.[23] After the end of the world (in which all living material will be destroyed), the world will be composed of non-living matter (such as rocks), but it will be illuminated or enhanced in beauty by the fires of the apocalypse; a new heaven and new earth will be established.[24] Martyrs, teachers of the faith (doctors), and virgins, in that order, receive special crowns in heaven for their achievements.[25]
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Summa Theologica draws all things to himself; but from another side, God is the cause of all things, so he is efficacious also in sin as actio but not as ens. The devil is not directly the cause of sin, but he incites the imagination and the sensuous impulse of man (as men or things may also do). Sin is original sin. Adam's first sin passes through himself to all the succeeding race; because he is the head of the human race and "by virtue of procreation human nature is transmitted and along with nature its infection." The powers of generation are, therefore, designated especially as "infected". The thought is involved here by the fact that St. Thomas, like other scholastics, believed in creationism; he therefore taught that souls are created by God. Two things, according to St. Thomas, constituted man's righteousness in paradise the justitia originalis, or the harmony of all man's powers before they were blighted by desire, and the possession of the gratis gratum faciens (the continuous, indwelling power of good). Both are lost through original sin, which, in form, is the "loss of original righteousness." The consequence of this loss is the disorder and maiming of man's nature, which shows itself in "ignorance; malice, moral weakness, and especially in concupiscentia, which is the material principle of original sin." The course of thought here is as follows: when the first man transgressed the order of his nature appointed by nature and grace, he (and with him the human race) lost this order. This negative state is the essence of original sin. From it follow an impairment and perversion of human nature in which thenceforth lower aims rule, contrary to nature, and release the lower element in man. Since sin is contrary to the divine order, it is guilt and subject to punishment. Guilt and punishment correspond to each other; and since the "apostasy from the invariable good which is infinite," fulfilled by man, is unending, it merits everlasting punishment. God works even in sinners to draw them to the end by "instructing through the law and aiding by grace." The law is the "precept of the practical reason." As the moral law of nature, it is the participation of the reason in the all-determining "eternal reason"; but since man falls short in his appropriation of this law of reason, there is need of a "divine law"; and since the law applies to many complicated relations, the practicae dispositiones of the human law must be laid down. The divine law consists of an old and a new. Insofar as the old divine law contains the moral law of nature, it is universally valid; what there is in it, however, beyond this is valid only for the Jews. The new law is "primarily grace itself" and so a "law given within"; "a gift superadded to nature by grace," but not a "written law." In this sense, as sacramental grace, the new law justifies. It contains, however, an "ordering" of external and internal conduct and so regarded is, as a matter of course, identical with both the old law and the law of nature. The consilia show how one may attain the end "better and more expediently" by full renunciation of worldly goods. Since man is sinner and creature, he needs grace to reach the final end. The "first cause" alone is able to reclaim him to the "final end." This is true after the fall, although it was needful before. Grace is, on one side, "the free act of God", and, on the other side, the effect of this act, the gratia infusa or gratia creata, a habitus infusus that is instilled into the "essence of the soul," "a certain gift of disposition, something supernatural proceeding from God into man." Grace is a supernatural ethical character created in man by God, which comprises in itself all good, both faith and love. Justification by grace comprises four elements: "the infusion of grace, the influencing of free will toward God through faith, the influencing of free will respecting sin, and the remission of sins." It is a "transmutation of the human soul," and takes place "instantaneously". A creative act of God enters, which, however, executes itself as a spiritual motive in a psychological form corresponding to the nature of man. Semipelagian tendencies are far removed from St. Thomas. In that man is created anew, he believes and loves, and now, sin is forgiven. Then begins good conduct; grace is the "beginning of meritorious works." Aquinas conceives of merit in the Augustinian sense: God gives the reward for that toward which he himself gives the power. Man can never of himself deserve the prima gratis," nor meritum de congruo (by natural ability; cf. R. Seeberg, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte, ii. 105106, Leipsic, 1898).
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Summa Theologica After thus stating the principles of morality, in the Secunda Secundae, St. Thomas comes to a minute exposition of his ethics according to the scheme of the virtues. The conceptions of faith and love are of much significance in the complete system of St. Thomas. Man strives toward the highest good with the will or through love; but since the end must first be "apprehended in the intellect," knowledge of the end to be loved must precede love; "because the will can not strive after God in perfect love unless the intellect have true faith toward him." Inasmuch as this truth that is to be known is practical, it first incites the will, which then brings the reason to "assent"; but since, furthermore, the good in question is transcendent and inaccessible to man by himself, it requires the infusion of a supernatural "capacity" or "disposition" to make man capable of faith as well as love. Accordingly, the object of both faith and love is God, involving also the entire complex of truths and commandments that God reveals, insofar as they in fact relate to God and lead to him. Thus, faith becomes recognition of the teachings and precepts of the Scriptures and the Church ("the first subjection of man to God is by faith"). The object of faith, however, is, by its nature, object of love; therefore, faith comes to completion only in love ("by love is the act of faith accomplished and formed"). Treatise on Law According to Question 90, Article Four of the Second Part of the Summa, law "is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated." All law comes from the eternal law of Divine Reason that governs the universe, which is understood and participated in by rational beings (such as men and angels) as the natural law. The natural law, when codified and promulgated, is the human law. In addition to the human law, dictated by reason, man also has the divine law, which, according to Question 91, is dictated through revelation, that man may be "directed how to perform his proper acts in view of his last end," "that man may know without any doubt what he ought to do and what he ought to avoid," because "human law could not sufficiently curb and direct interior acts," and since "human law cannot punish or forbid all evil deeds: since while aiming at doing away with all evils, it would do away with many good things, and would hinder the advance of the common good, which is necessary for human intercourse." Human law is not all-powerful; it cannot govern a man's conscience, nor prohibit all vices, nor can it force all men to act according to its letter, rather than its spirit. Furthermore, it is possible that an edict can be issued without any basis in law as defined in Question 90; in this case, men are under no compulsion to act, save as it helps the common good. This separation between law and acts of force also allows men to depose tyrants, or those who flout the natural law; while removing an agent of the law is contrary to the common good and the eternal law of God, which orders the powers that be, removing a tyrant is lawful as he has ceded his claim to being a lawful authority by acting contrary to law.
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Summa Theologica work of redemption consists herein, that Christ as head of humanity imparts ordo, perfectio, and virtus to his members. He is the teacher and example of humanity; his whole life and suffering as well as his work after he is exalted serve this end. The love wrought hereby in men effects, according to Luke vii. 47, the forgiveness of sins. This is the first course of thought. Then follows a second complex of thoughts, which has the idea of satisfaction as its center. To be sure, God as the highest being could forgive sins without satisfaction; but because his justice and mercy could be best revealed through satisfaction, he chose this way. As little, however, as satisfaction is necessary in itself, so little does it offer an equivalent, in a correct sense, for guilt; it is rather a "superabundant satisfaction", since on account of the divine subject in Christ in a certain sense his suffering and activity are infinite. With this thought, the strict logical deduction of Anselm's theory is given up. Christ's suffering bore personal character in that it proceeded "out of love and obedience". It was an offering brought to God, which as a personal act had the character of merit. Thereby, Christ "merited" salvation for men. As Christ, exalted, still influences men, so does he still work on their behalf continually in heaven through the intercession (interpellatio). In this way, Christ as head of humanity effects the forgiveness of their sins, their reconciliation with God, their immunity from punishment, deliverance from the devil, and the opening of heaven's gate; but inasmuch as all these benefits are already offered through the inner operation of the love of Christ, Aquinas has combined the theories of Anselm and Abelard by joining the one to the other.
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The sacraments
The doctrine of the sacraments follows the Christology; the sacraments "have efficacy from the incarnate Word himself". They are not only signs of sanctification, but also bring it about. It is inevitable that they bring spiritual gifts in sensuous form, because of the sensuous nature of man. The res sensibiles are the matter, the words of institution the form of the sacraments. Contrary to the Franciscan view that the sacraments are mere symbols whose efficacy God accompanies with a directly following creative act in the soul, St. Thomas holds it not unfit to agree with Hugo of St. Victor that "a sacrament contains grace", or to teach that they "cause grace". St. Thomas attempts to remove the difficulty of a sensuous thing producing a creative effect, by distinguishing between the causa principalis et instrumentalis. God, as the principal cause, works through the sensuous thing as the means ordained by him for his end. "Just as instrumental power is acquired by the instrument from this, that it is moved by the principal agent, so also the sacrament obtains spiritual power from the benediction of Christ and the application of the minister to the use of the sacrament. There is spiritual power in the sacraments in so far as they have been ordained by God for a spiritual effect." This spiritual power remains in the sensuous thing until it has attained its purpose. At the same time, St. Thomas distinguished the gratia sacramentalis from the gratia virtutum et donorum, in that the former perfects the general essence and the powers of the soul, whilst the latter in particular brings to pass necessary spiritual effects for the Christian life. Later, this distinction was ignored. In a single statement, the effect of the sacraments is to infuse justifying grace into men. That which Christ effects is achieved through the sacraments. Christ's humanity was the instrument for the operation of his divinity; the sacraments are the instruments through which this operation of Christ's humanity passes over to men. Christ's humanity served his divinity as instrumentum conjunctum, like the hand; the sacraments are instrumenta separata, like a staff; the former can use the latter, as the hand can use a staff. For a more detailed exposition, cf. Seeberg, ut sup., ii. 112 sqq.
Eschatology
Of St, Thomas's eschatology, according to the commentary on the Sentences, this is only a brief account. Everlasting blessedness consists in the vision of God; this vision consists not in an abstraction or in a mental image supernaturally produced, but the divine substance itself is beheld, and in such manner that God himself becomes immediately the form of the beholding intellect. God is the object of the vision and, at the same time, causes the vision. The perfection of the blessed also demands that the body be restored to the soul as something to be made
Summa Theologica perfect by it. Since blessedness consists in operatio, it is made more perfect in that the soul has a definite operatio with the body, although the peculiar act of blessedness (in other words, the vision of God) has nothing to do with the body.
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Influence
Not only has the Summa Theologica been one of the main intellectual inspirations for Thomistic philosophy, but it also had such a great influence on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, that Dante's epic poem has been called "the Summa in verse."[27]
References
[1] Ross, James F., "Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae (ca. 1273), Christian Wisdom Explained Philosophically", in The Classics of Western Philosophy: A Reader's Guide, (eds.) Jorge J. E. Gracia, Gregory M. Reichberg, Bernard N. Schumacher (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), p. 165. (http:/ / books. google. ca/ books?id=6jAcwGItzssC& lpg=PA165& ots=MXldxkl9sr& dq=james f ross philosopher& pg=PA165#v=onepage& q& f=false) [2] Summa theologiae, I, 1, prooemium:"Quia Catholicae veritatis doctor non solum provectos debet instruere, sed ad eum pertinet etiam incipientes erudire, secundum illud apostoli I ad Corinth. III, tanquam parvulis in Christo, lac vobis potum dedi, non escam; propositum nostrae intentionis in hoc opere est, ea quae ad Christianam religionem pertinent, eo modo tradere, secundum quod congruit ad eruditionem incipientium." [3] [4] [5] [6] Jean-Pierre Torrell, O.P. Saint Thomas Aquinas, vol 1, The Person and His Work, trans. Robert Royal, Catholic University, 1996, 146 ff. McInerny, Ralph, A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas, Notre Dame Press:Indiana, (1990), p.197, ISBN 0-268-00975-9 Summa Theologica (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ TP/ TP040. html), Third Part, Question 40. Retrieved 11 July 2006. Summa Theologica (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ TP/ TP040. html#TPQ40A3THEP1), Third Part, Question 40, Article 3. Retrieved 11 July 2006. [7] Kreeft, Peter. Summa of the Summa, Ignatius Press (1990), pp. 1718. ISBN 0-89870-300-X [8] Turner, William. "Averroes." (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 02150c. htm) The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company (1907). "St. Thomas Aquinas used the "Grand Commentary" of Averroes as his model, being, apparently, the first Scholastic to adopt that style of exposition..." Retrieved 2009-11-06. [9] ST (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ FP/ FP001. html#FPQ1A5THEP1), First Part, Question 1, Article 5. Retrieved 11 July 2006. [10] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2003. htm#8), First Part of Second Part, Q. 3, art. 8, ibid (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2003. htm#7), art. 6-7/ [11] ST (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ FP/ FP003. html#FPQ3A4THEP1), First Part, Question 3, Article 4. Aquinas develops this line of thought more fully in a shorter work, De ente et essentia. [12] Rom. 1:1920; ST (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ FP/ FP002. html#FPQ2A2THEP1), First Part, Question 2, Article 2. See also I, Q. 1, art. 8. [13] ST (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ FP/ FP004. html#FPQ4A3THEP1), First Part, Question 4, Article 3. [14] ST (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ a/ aquinas/ summa/ SS/ SS010. html#SSQ10A3THEP1), Second Part of the Second Part, Question 10, Article 3. Retrieved 11 July 2006. However, at other points, Aquinas, with different meanings of "great" makes the claim for pride, despair, and hatred of God. [15] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3040. htm), II-II, Q. 40. [16] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2091. htm#2), I-II, Q. 91, art. 2; ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2094. htm), I-II, Q. 94. [17] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2002. htm#8), I-II, Q. 2, art. 8. [18] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3078. htm#1), II-II, Q. 78, art. 1. [19] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3077. htm#1), II-II, Q. 77, art. 1. [20] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3182. htm#1), II-II, Q. 182, art. 1. [21] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3182. htm#4), II-II, Q. 182, art. 4. [22] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3184. htm), II-II, Q. 184. [23] ST (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 4047. htm#4), III, Q. 47, art. 4. [24] Supplement (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 5091. htm), Q. 91; Supplement (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 5074. htm#9), Q. 74, art. 9. [25] Supplement (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 5096. htm#5), Q. 96, arts. 57. [26] "Thomas Aquinas" (http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ newschaffherzog12haucgoog#page/ n448/ mode/ 1up) The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. XI, (1911), pp. 422427. [27] The Fordham Monthly (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=-AQTAAAAIAAJ& q="the+ Summa+ in+ verse"& dq="the+ Summa+ in+ verse"& cd=10) Fordham University, Vol. XL, Oct. 1921 June 1922, p. 76
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Further reading
McGinn, Bernard (2014). Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-15426-8.
External links
Corpus Thomisticum: Sancti Thomae de Aquino Summa Theologi (http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/ sth0000.html) (original Latin text in HTML format) Summa Theologica (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html) (English translation in HTML, PDF, TXT, and other formats requires payment) Summa Theologica (http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0023/) (Hypertextualized text together with wordlists and concordances) Summa Theologica (http://www.newadvent.org/summa) (English translation in HTML from NewAdvent.org (http://www.newadvent.org/)) Summa Theologica at sacred-texts.com (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/index.htm) (English translation in HTML) Summa Theologica (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17611) (Project Gutenberg Edition of Part 1) Summa Theologica (http://feedchopper.ning.com/index.php/main/feed/showUrl?id=13156518) (English translation as an RSS feed) Summa Theologica (http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/summa-translation/TOC.htm) (A new English translation in progress, by Alfred Freddoso) Summa Theologica (http://www.summatheologica.info/) (A Searchable English translation) This articleincorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Seeburg, Reinhold (1914). "Thomas Aquinas" (http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ schaff/ encyc11. t. vii. html). In Jackson, Samuel Macauley. New SchaffHerzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge XI (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. pp.422427.
Thomism
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Thomism
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Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his disputed questions and commentaries on Aristotle are perhaps his most well-known works. In theology, his Summa Theologica is one of the most influential documents in medieval theology and continues to be the central point of reference for the philosophy and theology of the Catholic Church. In the encyclical Doctoris Angelici[1] Pope Pius X cautioned that the teachings of the Church cannot be understood without the basic philosophical underpinnings of Thomas' major theses: The capital theses in the philosophy of St. Thomas are not to be placed in the category of opinions capable of being debated one way or another, but are to be considered as the foundations upon which the whole science of natural and divine things is based; if such principles are once removed or in any way impaired, it must necessarily follow that students of the sacred sciences will ultimately fail to perceive so much as the meaning of the words in which the dogmas of divine revelation are proposed by the
Thomism magistracy of the Church.[2] The Second Vatican Council described Thomas's system as the "Perennial Philosophy".[3]
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Thomistic philosophy
General
St. Thomas Aquinas believed that truth is to be accepted no matter where it is found. His doctrines draw from Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers. Specifically, he was a realist (i.e., he, unlike the skeptics, believed that the world can be known as it is). He largely followed Aristotelian terminology and metaphysics, and wrote comprehensive commentaries on Aristotle, often affirming Aristotle's views with independent arguments. Thomas respectfully referred to Aristotle simply as "the Philosopher."[4] He also adhered to some neoplatonic principles, for example that "it is absolutely true that there is first something which is essentially being and essentially good, which we call God, ... [and that] everything can be called good and a being, inasmuch as it participates in it by way of a certain assimilation..." Shortly before Thomas died, his friend Reginald of Piperno implored him to finish his works. Thomas replied, "I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me."[5]
24 Thomistic Theses
With the decree Postquam sanctissimus of 27 July 1914,[6] Pope St. Pius X declared that 24 theses formulated by "teachers from various institutions ... clearly contain the principles and more important thoughts" of Thomas. Principal contributors to the Church's official statement of the "24 Theses" of Thomism include Dominican philosopher and theologian Edouard Hugon of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum and Jesuit philosopher theologian Guido Mattiussi of the Pontifical Gregorian University. Ontology 1. Potency and Act divide being in such a way that whatever is, is either pure act, or of necessity it is composed of potency and act as primary and intrinsic principles. 2. Since act is perfection, it is not limited except through a potency which itself is a capacity for perfection. Hence in any order in which an act is pure act, it will only exist, in that order, as a unique and unlimited act. But whenever it is finite and manifold, it has entered into a true composition with potency. 3. Consequently, the one God, unique and simple, alone subsists in absolute being. All other things that participate in being have a nature whereby their being is restricted; they are constituted of essence and being, as really distinct principles. 4. A thing is called a being because of "esse". God and creature are not called beings univocally, nor wholly equivocally, but analogically, by an analogy both of attribution and of proportionality. 5. In every creature there is also a real composition of the subsisting subject and of added secondary forms, i.e. accidental forms. Such composition cannot be understood unless being is really received in an essence distinct from it. 6. Besides the absolute accidents there is also the relative accident, relation. Although by reason of its own character relation does not signify anything inhering in another, it nevertheless often has a cause in things, and hence a real entity distinct from the subject. 7. A spiritual creature is wholly simple in its essence. Yet there is still a twofold composition in the spiritual creature, namely, that of the essence with being, and that of the substance with accidents. 8. However, the corporeal creature is composed of act and potency even in its very essence. These act and potency in the order of essence are designated by the names form and matter respectively.
Thomism Cosmology 1. Neither the matter nor the form have being of themselves, nor are they produced or corrupted of themselves, nor are they included in any category otherwise than reductively, as substantial principles. 2. Although extension in quantitative parts follows upon a corporeal nature, nevertheless it is not the same for a body to be a substance and for it to be quantified. For of itself substance is indivisible, not indeed as a point is indivisible, but as that which falls outside the order of dimensions is indivisible. But quantity, which gives the substance extension, really differs from the substance and is truly an accident. 3. The principle of individuation, i.e., of numerical distinction of one individual from another with the same specific nature, is matter designated by quantity. Thus in pure spirits there cannot be more than individual in the same specific nature. 4. By virtue of a body's quantity itself, the body is circumscriptively in a place, and in one place alone circumscriptively, no matter what power might be brought to bear. 5. Bodies are divided into two groups; for some are living and others are devoid of life. In the case of the living things, in order that there be in the same subject an essentially moving part and an essentially moved part, the substantial form, which is designated by the name soul, requires an organic disposition, i.e. heterogeneous parts. Psychology 1. Souls in the vegetative and sensitive orders cannot subsist of themselves, nor are they produced of themselves. Rather, they are no more than principles whereby the living thing exists and lives; and since they are wholly dependent upon matter, they are incidentally corrupted through the corruption of the composite. 2. On the other hand, the human soul subsists of itself. When it can be infused into a sufficiently disposed subject, it is created by God. By its very nature, it is incorruptible and immortal. 3. This rational soul is united to the body in such a manner that it is the only substantial form of the body. By virtue of his soul a man is a man, an animal, a living thing, a body, a substance and a being. Therefore the soul gives man every essential degree of perfection; moreover, it gives the body a share in the act of being whereby it itself exists. 4. From the human soul there naturally issue forth powers pertaining to two orders, the organic and the non-organic. The organic powers, among which are the senses, have the composite as their subject. The non-organic powers have the soul alone as their subject. Hence, the intellect is a power intrinsically independent of any bodily organ. 5. Intellectuality necessarily follows upon immateriality, and furthermore, in such manner that the further the distance from matter, the higher the degree of intellectuality. Any being is the adequate object of understanding in general. But in the present state of union of soul and body, quantities abstracted from the material conditions of individuality are the proper object of the human intellect. 6. Therefore, we receive knowledge from sensible things. But since sensible things are not actually intelligible, in addition to the intellect, which formally understands, an active power must be acknowledged in the soul, which power abstracts intelligible likeness or species from sense images in the imagination. 7. Through these intelligible likenesses or species we directly know universals, i.e. the natures of things. We attain to singulars by our senses, and also by our intellect, when it beholds the sense images. But we ascend to knowledge of spiritual things by analogy. 8. The will does not precede the intellect but follows upon it. The will necessarily desires that which is presented to it as a good in every respect satisfying the appetite. But it freely chooses among the many goods that are presented to it as desirable according to a changeable judgment or evaluation. Consequently, the choice follows the final practical judgment. But the will is the cause of it being the final one.
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Thomism God 1. We do not perceive by an immediate intuition that God exists, nor do we prove it a priori. But we do prove it a posteriori, i.e., from the things that have been created, following an argument from the effects to the cause: namely, from things which are moved and cannot be the adequate source of their motion, to a first unmoved mover; from the production of the things in this world by causes subordinated to one another, to a first uncaused cause; from corruptible things which equally might be or not be, to an absolutely necessary being; from things which more or less are, live, and understand, according to degrees of being, living and understanding, to that which is maximally understanding, maximally living and maximally a being; finally, from the order of all things, to a separated intellect which has ordered and organized things, and directs them to their end. 2. The metaphysical motion of the Divine Essence is correctly expressed by saying that it is identified with the exercised actuality of its own being, or that it is subsistent being itself. And this is the reason for its infinite and unlimited perfection. 3. By reason of the very purity of His being, God is distinguished from all finite beings. Hence it follows, in the first place, that the world could only have come from God by creation; secondly, that not even by way of a miracle can any finite nature be given creative power, which of itself directly attains the very being of any being; and finally, that no created agent can in any way influence the being of any effect unless it has itself been moved by the first Cause.
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Metaphysics
Thomas says that the fundamental axioms of ontology are the principle of non-contradiction and the principle of causality. Therefore, any being that does not contradict these two laws could theoretically exist,[7] even if said being were incorporeal.
Predication
Thomas noted three forms of descriptive language when predicating: univocal, analogical, and equivocal. Univocality is the use of a descriptor in the same sense when applied to two objects or groups of objects. For instance, when the word "milk" is applied both to milk produced by cows and by any other female mammal. Analogy occurs when a descriptor changes some but not all of its meaning. For example, the word "healthy" is analogical in that it applies both to a healthy person or animal (those that enjoy of good health) and to some food or drink (if it is good for the health). Equivocation is the complete change in meaning of the descriptor and is an informal fallacy. For example, when the word "bank" is applied to river banks and financial banks. Modern philosophers talk of ambiguity. Further, the usage of "definition" that Thomas gives is the genus of the being, plus a difference that sets it apart from the genus itself. For instance, the Aristotelian definition of "man" is "rational animal"; its genus being animal, and what sets apart man from other animals is his rationality.
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Being
[E]xistence is twofold: one is essential existence or the substantial existence of a thing, for example man exists, and this is existence simpliciter. The other is accidental existence, for example man is white, and this is existence secundum quid. De Principiis Natur, 1. [8] In Thomist philosophy, the definition of a being is "that which is," which is composed of two parts: "which" refers to its quiddity (literally "whatness"), and "is" refers to its esse (the Latin infinitive verb "to be").[9] "Quiddity" is synonymous with essence, form and nature; whereas "esse" refers to the principle of the being's existence. In other words, a being is "an essence that exists."[10] Being is divided in two ways: that which is in itself (substances), and that which is in another (accidents). Substances are things which exist per se or in their own right. Accidents are qualities that apply to other things, such as shape or color: "[A]ccidents must include in their definition a subject which is outside their genus." Because they only exist in other things, Thomas holds that metaphysics is primarily the study of substances, as they are the primary mode of being.[11] The Catholic Encyclopedia pinpoints Thomas's definition of quiddity as "that which is expressed by its definition." The quiddity or form of a thing is what makes the object what it is: "[T]hrough the form, which is the actuality of matter, matter becomes something actual and something individual," and also, "the form causes matter to be."[12] Thus, it consists of two parts: "prime matter" (matter without form), and substantial form, which is what causes a substance to have its characteristics. For instance, an animal can be said to be a being whose matter is its body, and whose soul[13] is its substantial form.[14] Together, these consist of its quiddity/essence. All real things have the transcendental properties of being: oneness, truth, goodness (that is, all things have a final cause and therefore a purpose), etc.
Causality
Aristotle categorized causality into four subsets in the Metaphysics, which is an integral part of Thomism: "In one sense the term cause means (a) that from which, as something intrinsic, a thing comes to be, as the bronze of a statue and the silver of a goblet, and the genera of these. In another sense it means (b) the form and pattern of a thing, i.e., the intelligible expression of the quiddity and its genera (for example, the ratio of 2: 1 and number in general are the cause of an octave chord) and the parts which are included in the intelligible expression. Again, (c) that from which the first beginning of change or of rest comes is a cause; for example, an adviser is a cause, and a father is the cause of a child, and in general a maker is a cause of the thing made, and a changer a cause of the thing changed. Further, a thing is a cause (d) inasmuch as it is an end, i.e., that for the sake of which something is done; for example, health is the cause of walking. For if we are asked why someone took a walk, we answer, "in order to be healthy"; and in saying this we think we have given the cause. And whatever occurs on the way to the end under the motion of something else is also a cause. For example, reducing, purging, drugs and instruments are causes of health; for all of these exist for the sake of the end, although they differ from each other inasmuch as some are instruments and others are processes." Metaphysics 1013a, trans. John P. Rowan, Chicago, 1961 [15] (a) refers to the material cause, what a being's matter consists of (if applicable). (b) refers to the formal cause, what a being's essence is. (c) refers to the efficient cause, what brings about the beginning of, or change to, a being. (d) refers to the final cause, what a being's purpose is.
Unlike many ancient Greeks, who thought that an infinite regress of causality is possible (and thus held that the universe is uncaused), Thomas argues that an infinite chain never accomplishes its objective and is thus impossible. Hence, a first cause is necessary for the existence of anything to be possible. Further, the First Cause must
Thomism continuously be in action (similar to how there must always be a first chain in a chain link), otherwise the series collapses: The Philosopher says (Metaph. ii, 2 [16]) that "to suppose a thing to be indefinite is to deny that it is good." But the good is that which has the nature of an end. Therefore it is contrary to the nature of an end to proceed indefinitely. Therefore it is necessary to fix one last end. Summa, II-I, Q.1, art.4. [17] Thus, both Aristotle and Thomas conclude that there must be an uncaused Primary Mover,[18][19] because an infinite regress is impossible. However, the First Cause does not necessarily have to be temporally the first. Thus, the question of whether or not the universe can be imagined as eternal was fiercely debated in the Middle Ages. The University of Paris's condemnation of 1270 denounced the belief that the world is eternal. Thomas's intellectual rival, St. Bonaventure, held that the temporality of the universe is demonstrable by reason.[20][21] Thomas's position was that the temporality of the world is an article of faith, and not demonstrable by reason; though one could reasonably conclude either that the universe is temporal or eternal.
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Goodness
As per the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, Thomas defines "the good" as what all things strive for. E.g., a cutting knife is said to be good if it is effective at its function, cutting. As all things have a function/final cause, all real things are good. Consequently, evil is nothing but privatio boni, or "lack of good," as St. Augustine of Hippo defined it.[22] Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv), 'Evil is neither a being nor a good.' I answer that, one opposite is known through the other, as darkness is known through light. Hence also what evil is must be known from the nature of good. Now, we have said above that good is everything appetible; and thus, since every nature desires its own being and its own perfection, it must be said also that the being and the perfection of any nature is good. Hence it cannot be that evil signifies being, or any form or nature. Therefore it must be that by the name of evil is signified the absence of good. And this is what is meant by saying that 'evil is neither a being nor a good.' For since being, as such, is good, the absence of one implies the absence of the other. Summa, I, Q.48, art.1. [23] Commentating on the aforementioned, Thomas says that "there is no problem from the fact that some men desire evil. For they desire evil only under the aspect of good, that is, insofar as they think it good. Hence their intention primarily aims at the good and only incidentally touches on the evil." As God is the ultimate end of all things, God is by essence goodness itself. Furthermore, since love is "to wish the good of another," true love in Thomism is to lead another to God. Hence why St. John the Evangelist says, "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."
Existence of God
St. Thomas Aquinas holds that the existence of God can be demonstrated by reason, a view that is taught by the Catholic Church.[24] The quinque viae (Latin: five ways) found in the Summa Theologica (I, Q.2, art.3 [25]) are five possible ways of demonstrating the existence of God,[26] which today are categorized as: 1. Argumentum ex motu, or the argument of the unmoved mover; 2. Argumentum ex ratione causae efficientis, or the argument of the first cause; 3. Argumentum ex contingentia, or the argument from contingency; 4. Argumentum ex gradu, or the argument from degree; and 5. Argumentum ex fine, or the teleological argument.
Thomism Despite this, Thomas also thought that sacred mysteries such as the Trinity could only be obtained through revelation; though these truths cannot contradict reason: The existence of God and other like truths about God, which can be known by natural reason, are not articles of faith, but are preambles to the articles; for faith presupposes natural knowledge, even as grace presupposes nature, and perfection supposes something that can be perfected. Nevertheless, there is nothing to prevent a man, who cannot grasp a proof, accepting, as a matter of faith, something which in itself is capable of being scientifically known and demonstrated. Summa, I, Q.2, art.2. [27] Thomas responds to the problem of evil by saying that God allows evil to exist that good may come of it,[28] (for goodness done out of free will is superior than goodness done from biological imperative) but does not personally cause evil Himself. See also Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought: Chapter 7: The Proofs Of God's Existence Garrigou-Lagrange.
[29]
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View of God
Thomas articulated and defended, both as a philosopher and a theologian, the orthodox Christian view of God. God is the sole being whose existence is the same as His essence: "what subsists in God is His existence." (Hence why God names himself "I Am that I Am" in Exodus 3:14 [30].) Consequently, God cannot be a body (that is, He cannot be composed of matter), He cannot have any accidents, and He must be simple (that is, not separated into parts; the Trinity is one substance in three persons). Further, He is goodness itself, perfect, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, happiness itself,[31] knowledge itself, love itself, omnipresent, immutable, and eternal. Summing up these properties, Thomas offers the term actus purus (Latin: "pure actuality"). Thomas held that not only does God have knowledge of everything, but that God has "the most perfect knowledge," and that it is also true to say that God "is" his understanding. Aquinas also understands God as the transcendent cause of the universe, the "first cause of all things, exceeding all things caused by him," the source of all creaturely being and the cause of every other cause.[32] Consequently, God's causality is not like the causality of any other causes (all other causes are "secondary causes"), because he is the transcendent source of all being, causing and sustaining every other existing thing at every instant. Consequently, God's causality is never in competition with the causality of creatures; rather, God even causes some things through the causality of creatures.[33] Thomas was an advocate of negative theology, which says that because God is infinite, people can only speak of God by analogy, for some of the aspects of the divine nature are hidden (Deus absconditus) and others revealed (Deus revelatus) to finite human minds. Thomist philosophy holds that we can know about God through his creation (general revelation), but only in an analogous manner.[34] For instance, we can speak of God's goodness only by understanding that goodness as applied to humans is similar to, but not identical with, the goodness of God. Further, he argues that sacred scripture employs figurative language: "Now it is natural to man to attain to intellectual truths through sensible objects, because all our knowledge originates from sense. Hence in Holy Writ, spiritual truths are fittingly taught under the likeness of material things." In order to demonstrate God's creative power, Thomas says: "If a being participates, to a certain degree, in an 'accident,' this accidental property must have been communicated to it by a cause which possesses it essentially. Thus iron becomes incandescent by the action of fire. Now, God is His own power which subsists by itself. The being which subsists by itself is necessarily one."
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Anthropology
In addition to agreeing with the Aristotelian definition of man as "the rational animal," Thomas also held various other beliefs about the substance of man. For instance, as the essence (nature) of all men are the same,[35] and the definition of being is "an essence that exists," humans that are real therefore only differ by their specific qualities. More generally speaking, all beings of the same genus have the same essence, and so long as they exist, only differ by accidents and substantial form.[36]
Soul
Thomists define the soul as the substantial form of living beings. Thus, plants have "vegetative souls," animals have "sensitive souls," while human beings alone have "intellectual" rational and immortal souls.
[37]
For Aristotle, the soul is one, but endowed with five groups of (copy by Peter Schffer, 1471) faculties (dunmeis): (1) the "vegetative" faculty (threptikn), concerned with the maintenance and development of organic life; (2) the appetite (oretikn), or the tendency to any good; (3) the faculty of sense perception (aisthetikn); (4) the "locomotive" faculty (kinetikn), which presides over the various bodily movements; and (5) reason (dianoetikn). The Scholastics generally follow Aristotle's classification. For them body and soul are united in one complete substance. The soul is the forma substantialis, the vital principle, the source of all activities. Hence their science of the soul deals with functions which nowadays belong to the provinces of biology and physiology. [...] The nature of the mind and its relations to the organism are questions that belong to philosophy or metaphysics. Dubray, C. (1909). Faculties of the Soul. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved May 29, 2010 from New Advent. [38] The appetite of man has two parts, rational and irrational. The rational part is called the will, and the irrational part is called passion.
Ethics
Thomas affirms Aristotle's definition of happiness as "an operation according to perfect virtue,"[39] and that "happiness is called man's supreme good, because it is the attainment or enjoyment of the supreme good." Regarding what the virtues are, Thomas ascertained the cardinal virtues to be prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity (which is used interchangeably with love in the sense of agape). These are supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object, namely, God. In accordance with Roman Catholic theology, Thomas argues that humans can neither wish nor do good without divine grace. However, "doing good" here refers to doing good per se: man can do, moved by God even then but "only" in the sense in which even his nature depends on God's moving, things that happen to be good in some respect, and are not sinful, though if he has not grace, it will be without merit, and he will not succeed in it all the time. Therefore, happiness is attained through the perseverance of virtue given by the Grace of God, which is not fully attained on earth;[40] only at the beatific vision.[41] Notably, man cannot attain true happiness without God. Regarding emotion (used synonymously with the word "passion" in this context), which, following St. John Damascene, Thomas defines as "a movement of the sensitive appetite when we imagine good or evil," Thomism
Thomism repudiates both the Epicurean view that happiness consists in pleasure (sensual experiences that invoke positive emotion), and the Stoic view that emotions are vices by nature. Thomas takes a moderate view of emotion, quoting St. Augustine: "They are evil if our love is evil; good if our love is good." While most emotions are morally neutral, some are inherently virtuous (e.g. pity) and some are inherently vicious (e.g. envy). Thomist ethics hold that it is necessary to observe both circumstances and intention to determine an action's moral value, and therefore Thomas cannot be said to be strictly either a deontologicalist or a consequentialist. Rather, he would say that an action is morally good if it fulfills God's antecedent will. Of note is the principle of double effect, formulated in the Summa, II-II, Q.64, art.7 [42], which is a justification of homicide in self-defense. Previously experiencing difficulties in the world of Christian philosophy, the doctrine of Just War was expounded by Thomas with this principle. He says: In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign by whose command the war is to be waged... Secondly, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault... Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil... Summa, II-II, Q.40, art.1. [43]
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Law
Thomism recognizes four different species of law, which he defines as "an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated": 1. Eternal law, which is "the type of Divine Wisdom, as directing all actions and movements;" 2. Natural law, "whereby each one knows, and is conscious of, what is good and what is evil," which is the rational being's participation in the eternal law;[44] 3. Human or temporal law, laws made by humans by necessity; and 4. Divine law, which are moral imperatives specifically given through revelation.[45] The development of natural law is one of the most influential parts of Thomist philosophy.[46] Thomas says that "[the law of nature] is nothing other than the light of the intellect planted in us by God, by which we know what should be done and what should be avoided. God gave this light and this law in creation... For no one is ignorant that what he would not like to be done to himself he should not do to others, and similar norms." This reflects St. Paul the Apostle's argument in Romans 2:15 [47], that the "work of the law [is] written in [the Gentiles'] hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them." Thomas argues that the Mosaic covenant was divine, though rightfully only given to the Jews before Christ; whereas the New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant and is meant for all humans.
Free will
Thomas argues that there is no contradiction between God's providence and human free will: ... just as by moving natural causes [God] does not prevent their acts being natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does not deprive their actions of being voluntary: but rather is He the cause of this very thing in them; for He operates in each thing according to its own nature. Summa, I., Q.83, art.1. [48] Thomas argues that God offers man both a prevenient grace to enable him to supernaturally good works, and cooperative grace within the same. The relation of prevenient to grace to voluntariness has been the subject of further debate; the position known, here, as "Thomist", was originated by Domingo Bez[49] and says that God gives an additional grace (the "efficient grace") to the predestined which makes them accept, while Luis de Molina held that
Thomism God distributes grace according to a middle knowledge, and man can accept it without a different grace. Molinism is a school that is part of Thomism in the general sense (it originated in commentaries to St. Thomas), yet it must be born in mind that, here, Thomism and Molinism oppose each other. (The question has been declared undecided by the Holy See.)
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Epistemology
"Whatever is in our intellect must have previously been in the senses." St. Thomas Aquinas, the peripatetic axiom. Thomas adhered to the correspondence theory of truth, which says that something is true "when it conforms to the external reality." Therefore, any being that exists can be said to be true insofar that it participates in the world. Aristotle's De anima (On the Soul) divides the mind into three parts: sensation, imagination and intellection. When one perceives an object, his mind composites a sense-image. When he remembers the object he previously sensed, he is imagining its form (the image of the imagination is often translated as "phantasm"). When he extracts information from this phantasm, he is using his intellect. Consequently, all human knowledge concerning universals (such as species and properties) are derived from the phantasm ("the received is in the receiver according to the mode of the receiver"), which itself is a recollection of an experience. Concerning the question of "Whether the intellect can actually understand through the intelligible species of which it is possessed, without turning to the phantasms?" in the Summa Theologica, Thomas quotes Aristotle in the sed contra: "the soul understands nothing without a phantasm." Hence the peripatetic axiom. (Another theorem to be drawn from this is that error is a result of drawing false conclusions based on our sensations.) Thomas's epistemological theory would later be classified as empiricism, for holding that sensations are a necessary step in acquiring knowledge, and that deductions cannot be made from pure reason.
Impact of Thomism
Aquinas shifted Scholasticism away from neoplatonism and towards Aristotle. In this he was influenced by contemporary Islamic philosophy, especially the work of Averroes. The ensuing school of thought, through its influence on Catholicism and the ethics of the Catholic school, is one of the most influential philosophies of all time, also significant due to the number of people living by its teachings. Before Thomas's death, Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris, forbade certain positions associated with Thomas (especially his denial of both universal hylomorphism and a plurality of substantial forms in a single substance) to be taught in the Faculty of Arts at Paris. Through the influence of traditional Augustinian theologians, some theses of Thomas were condemned in 1277 by the ecclesiastical authorities of Paris and Oxford (the most important theological schools in the Middle Ages). The Franciscan Order opposed the ideas of the Dominican Thomas, while the Dominicans institutionally took up the defense of his work (1286), and thereafter adopted it as an official philosophy of the order to be taught in their studia. Early opponents of Thomas include William de la Mare, Henry of Ghent, Giles of Rome, and Jon Duns Scotus. Early and noteworthy defenders of Aquinas were his former teacher Albertus Magnus, the ill-fated Richard Knapwell, William Macclesfeld, Giles of Lessines, John of Quidort, Bernard of Auvergne, and Thomas of Sutton.[citation needed] The canonization of Aquinas in 1323 led to a revocation of the condemnation of 1277. Later, Aquinas and his school would find a formidable opponent in the via moderna, particularly in William of Ockham and his adherents. Thomism remained a doctrine held principally by Dominican theologians, such as Giovanni Capreolo (13801444) or Tommaso de Vio (14681534). Eventually, in the 16th century, Thomism found a stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, through for example the Dominicans Francisco de Vitoria (particularly noteworthy for his work in natural law theory), Domingo de Soto (notable for his work on economic theory), John of St. Thomas, and Domingo Bez;
Thomism the Carmelites of Salamanca (i.e., the Salmanticenses); and even, in a way, the newly formed Jesuits, particularly Francisco Surez, and Luis de Molina. The modern period brought considerable difficulty for Thomism.[50] By the 19th century, Aquinas's theological doctrine was often presented in seminaries through his Jesuit manualist interpreters, who adopted his theology in an eclectic way, while his philosophy was often neglected altogether in favor of modern philosophers. And in all this, the Dominican Order, was having demographic difficulties. Pope Leo XIII attempted a Thomistic revival, particularly with his 1879 encyclical Aeterni Patris and his establishment of the Leonine Commission, established to produce critical editions of Thomas's opera omnia. This encyclical served as the impetus for the rise of Neothomism, which brought an emphasis on the ethical parts of Thomism, as well as a large part of its views on life, humans, and theology, are found in the various schools of Neothomism. Neothomism held sway as the dominant philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church until the Second Vatican Council, which seemed to confirm the significance of Ressourcement theology. Thomism remains a school of philosophy today, and influential in Catholicism, though "The Church has no philosophy of her own nor does she canonize any one particular philosophy in preference to others." According to one of its proponents, Alasdair MacIntyre, a Thomistic Aristotelianism is the best philosophical theory so far of our knowledge of external reality and of our own practice.[citation needed] In recent years, the cognitive neuroscientist Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible with neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the journal Mind and Matter entitled "Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention According to Aquinas."
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Thomism Thomist revival. Their approach is reflected in many of the manuals and textbooks widely in use in Roman Catholic colleges and seminaries before Vatican II. While the Second Vatican Council took place from 1962-1965 Cornelio Fabro was already able to write in 1949 that the century of revival with its urgency to provide a synthetic systematization and defense of Aquinas' thought was coming to an end. Fabro looked forward to a more constructive period in which the original context of Aquinas' thought would be explored.[60]
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Scholastic Thomism
Scholastic Thomism identifies with the philosophical and theological tradition streaching back to the time of St. Thomas. It focuses not only on exegesis of the historical Aquinas but also on the articulation of a rigorous system of orthodox Thomism to be used as an instrument of critique of contemporary thought. Due to its suspicion of attempts to harmonize Aquinas with non-Thomistic categories and assumptions Scholastic Thomism has sometimes been called "Strict Observance Thomism."[62] A discussion of recent and current Scholastic Thomism can be found in La Metafisica di san Tommaso d'Aquino e i suoi interpreti (2002) by Battista Mondin,[63] which includes such figures as Sofia Vanni Rovighi (1908-1990),[64] Cornelio Fabro (1911-1995), Carlo Giacon (1900-1984),[65] Tomas Tyn O.P. (1950-1990), Abelardo Lobato O.P. (1925-2012), Leo Elders[66] (1926- ) and Giovanni Ventimiglia (1964- ) among others. Fabro in particular emphasizes Aquinas' originality, especially with respect to the actus essendi or act of existence of finite beings by participating in being itself. Other scholars such as those involved with the "Progetto Tommaso"[67] seek to establish an objective and universal reading of Aquinas' texts.[68]
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Existential Thomism
tienne Gilson (18841978), the key proponent of this approach to Thomism, tended to emphasize the importance of historical exegesis but also to deemphasize Aquinas's continuity with the Aristotelian tradition, and like Cornelio Fabro of the Neo-scholastic school, to highlight the originality of Aquinas's doctrine of being as existence. He was also critical of the Neo-Scholastics' focus on the tradition of the commentators, and given what he regarded as their insufficient emphasis on being or existence accused them of "essentialism" (to allude to the other half of Aquinas's distinction between being and essence). Gilson's reading of Aquinas as putting forward a distinctively "Christian philosophy" tended, at least in the view of his critics, to blur Aquinas's distinction between philosophy and theology.[72] Jacques Maritain (18821973) introduced into Thomistic metaphysics the notion that philosophical reflection begins with an "intuition of being," and in ethics and social philosophy sought to harmonize Thomism with personalism and pluralistic democracy. Though "existential Thomism" was sometimes presented as a counterpoint to modern existentialism, the main reason for the label is the emphasis this approach puts on Aquinas's doctrine of existence. Contemporary proponents include Joseph Owens and John F. X. Knasas.
Transcendental Thomism
Unlike the first three schools mentioned, this approach, associated with Joseph Mar chal (18781944), Karl Rahner (190484), and Bernard Lonergan (190484), does not oppose modern philosophy wholesale, but seeks to reconcile Thomism with a Cartesian subjectivist approach to knowledge in general, and Kantian epistemology in particular. It seems fair to say that most Thomists otherwise tolerant of diverse approaches to Aquinas's thought tend to regard transcendental Thomism as having conceded too much to modern philosophy genuinely to count as a variety of Thomism, strictly speaking, and this school of thought has in any event been far more influential among theologians than among philosophers.
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Lublin Thomism
This approach, which derives its name from the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland where it is centered, is also sometimes called "phenomenological Thomism." Like transcendental Thomism, it seeks to combine Thomism with certain elements of modern philosophy. In particular, it seeks to make use of the phenomenological method of philosophical analysis associated with Edmund Husserl and the personalism of writers like Max Scheler in articulating the Thomist conception of the human person. Its best-known proponent is Karol Wojtyla (19202005), who went on to become Pope John Paul II. However, unlike transcendental Thomism, the metaphysics of Lublin Thomism places priority on existence (as opposed to essence), making it an existential Thomism that demonstrates consonance with the Thomism of tienne Gilson. It should be noted that the phenomenological concerns of the Lublin school are not metaphysical in nature as this would constitute idealism. Rather, they are considerations which are brought into relation with central positions of the school, such as when dealing with modern science, its epistemological value, and its relation to metaphysics.
Analytical Thomism
This approach to Thomism is described by John Haldane, its key proponent, as "a broad philosophical approach that brings into mutual relationship the styles and preoccupations of recent English-speaking philosophy and the concepts and concerns shared by Aquinas and his followers" (from the article on "analytical Thomism" in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, edited by Ted Honderich). By "recent English-speaking philosophy" Haldane means the analytical tradition founded by thinkers like Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, which tends to dominate academic philosophy in the English-speaking world. Elizabeth Anscombe (19192001) and her husband Peter Geach are sometimes considered the first "analytical Thomists," though (like most writers to whom this label has been applied) they did not describe themselves in these terms, and as Haldane's somewhat vague expression "mutual relationship" indicates, there does not seem to be any set of doctrines held in common by all so-called analytical Thomists. What they do have in common seems to be that they are philosophers trained in the analytic tradition who happen to be interested in Aquinas in some way; and the character of their "analytical Thomism" is determined by whether it tends to stress the "analytical" side of analytical Thomism, or the "Thomism" side, or, alternatively, attempts to emphasize both sides equally.[77]
References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] http:/ / maritain. nd. edu/ jmc/ etext/ doctoris. htm Accessed 25 October 2012 Pope St. Pius X, Doctoris Angelici, 29 June 1914. Second Vatican Council, Optatam Totius (28 October 1965) 15. E.g., Summa Theologi, Q.84, art.7. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1084. htm#article7), where the sed contra is only a quote from Aristotle's De anima. Davies, Brian (1993). The Thought of Thomas Aquinas, p. 9. Oxford University Press. Postquam sanctissimus (http:/ / vaxxine. com/ hyoomik/ aquinas/ theses. eht), Latin with English translation See also P. Lumbreras, O.P., S.T.Lr., Ph.D.'s commentary on the 24 Thomistic Theses (http:/ / www. u. arizona. edu/ ~aversa/ scholastic/ 24Thomisticpart2. htm). De Ente et Essentia, 6768. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DeEnte& Essentia. htm) "Although everyone admits the simplicity of the First Cause, some try to introduce a composition of matter and form in the intelligences and in souls... But this is not in agreement with what philosophers commonly say, because they call them substances separated from matter, and prove them to be without all matter." http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DePrincNaturae. htm
[7]
[8]
[9] De Ente et Essentia, 83. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DeEnte& Essentia. htm) "And this is why substances of this sort are said by some to be composed of "that by which it is" and "that which is," or as Boethius says, of "that which is" and "existence."" [10] Summa, I, Q.3, art.4. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1003. htm#article4) "Therefore, if the existence of a thing differs from its essence, this existence must be caused either by some exterior agent or by its essential principles."
Thomism
[11] Ibid., 110. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DeEnte& Essentia. htm) "And because accidents are not composed of matter and form, their genus cannot be taken from matter and their difference from form, as in the case of composed substances." [12] Summa, I, Q.75, art.5. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1075. htm#article5) The meaning of this sentence can be altered depending on how the Latin word used in this sentence, "materi", is translated into English. An alternate rendering of this sentence is "The form causes matter to be what it is. [13] The Aristotelian and Thomist definition of the "soul" does not refer to spirit, but is perhaps better translated as "life force." Hence, plants have souls in the sense that they are living beings. The human soul is unique in that it has consciousness. Cf. De anima, Bk. I. [14] De Principiis Natur, 5. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DePrincNaturae. htm) "But, just as everything which is in potency can be called matter, so also everything from which something has existence whether that existence be substantial or accidental, can be called form; for example man, since he is white in potency, becomes actually white through whiteness, and sperm, since it is man in potency, becomes actually man through the soul." [15] http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ Metaphysics5. htm#2 [16] http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ Metaphysics2. htm#4 [17] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2001. htm#article4 [18] Summa contra Gentiles, II, chp.15. (http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ ContraGentiles2. htm#15) [19] Summa, I, Q.2, art.3. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1002. htm#article3) "The third way is taken from possibility and necessity, and runs thus..." [20] Br. Bugnolo, Alexis, trans., Opera Omnia S. Bonaventurae (Franciscan Archives, 2007), 22. (http:/ / www. franciscan-archive. org/ bonaventura/ opera/ bon02019. html) "It must be said, that to posit, that the world is eternal and (has) not (been) eternally produced, by positing that all things (have been) produced out of nothing, is entirely contrary to the truth and to reason." [21] Davis, Richard. "Bonaventure and the Arguments for the Impossibility of an Infinite Temporal Regression." American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 70, no. 3 (Summer 1996): 361 380. Poiesis: Philosophy Online, EBSCOhost (Retrieved 13 April 2010): 380. [22] St. Augustine of Hippo. Enchridion, chp. 11. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ fathers/ 1302. htm) [23] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1048. htm#article1 [24] Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 34. (http:/ / www. vatican. va/ archive/ catechism/ p1s1c1. htm) [25] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1002. htm#article3 [26] Thomas offers more metaphysical explanations for the existence of God in De Ente et Essentia (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DeEnte& Essentia. htm) and elsewhere, though the Quinquae viae are the most well-known and most commonly analyzed among these. [27] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1002. htm#article2 [28] Summa Contra Gentiles, Bk. III, Q.10. (http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ ContraGentiles3a. htm#10) "Thus, it is... that evil is only caused by good accidentally." [29] http:/ / www. ewtn. com/ library/ theology/ reality. htm#07 [30] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ bible/ exo003. htm [31] Summa, II-I, Q.3, art.1. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2003. htm#article1) "God is happiness by His Essence." [32] Summa Theologiae I, Q. 12, art. 12. [33] Summa Contra Gentiles III, chap. 17. [34] Summa contra Gentiles, Bk. I, chp. 30. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ ContraGentiles1. htm#30) "For we cannot grasp what God is, but only what He is not and how other things are related to Him, as is clear from what we said above." [35] De Ente et Essentia, 24. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DeEnte& Essentia. htm) "It is clear, therefore, that the essence of man and the essence of Socrates do not differ, except as the non-designated from the designated. Whence the Commentator says in his considerations on the seventh book of the Metaphysics that "Socrates is nothing other than animality and rationality, which are his quiddity."" [36] De Ente et Essentia, 33. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ DeEnte& Essentia. htm) "The difference, on the contrary, is a name taken from a determinate form, and taken in a determinate way, i.e. as not including a determinate matter in its meaning. This is clear, for example, when we say animated, i.e., that which has a soul; for what it is, whether a body or something other, is not expressed. Whence Ibn Sn says that the genus is not understood in the difference as a part of its essence, but only as something outside its essence, as the subject also is understood in its properties. And this is why the genus is not predicated essentially of the difference, as the Philosopher says in the third book of the Metaphysics and in the fourth book of the Topics, but only in the way in which a subject is predicated of its property." [37] St. Thomas Aquinas's commentary on De anima, Bk. I, 402a1403b2, 1. (http:/ / dhspriory. org/ thomas/ DeAnima. htm) "Now living beings taken all together form a certain class of being; hence in studying them the first thing to do is to consider what living things have in common, and afterwards what each has peculiar to itself. What they have in common is a life-principle or soul; in this they are all alike. In conveying knowledge, therefore, about living things one must first convey it about the soul as that which is common to them all. Thus when Aristotle sets out to treat of living things, he begins with the soul; after which, in subsequent books, he defines the properties of particular living beings." [38] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 05749a. htm [39] St. Thomas Aquinas's commentary on Nicomachean Ethics, Lec. 10, 130. (http:/ / www. op-stjoseph. org/ Students/ study/ thomas/ Ethics1. htm#10) Thomas further says that "it is clear that happiness is a virtue-oriented activity proper to man in a complete life."
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[40] Summa, II-I, Q.5, art.3. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2005. htm#article3) "First, from the general notion of happiness. For since happiness is a "perfect and sufficient good," it excludes every evil, and fulfils every desire. But in this life every evil cannot be excluded." [41] Summa, II-I, Q.5, art.1. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2005. htm#article1) "Happiness is the attainment of the Perfect Good... And therefore man can attain Happiness. This can be proved again from the fact that man is capable of seeing God, [which] man's perfect Happiness consists." [42] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3064. htm#article7 [43] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 3040. htm#article1 [44] St. Thomas Aquinas cites Romans 2:14 (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ bible/ rom002. htm) authoritatively on the definition of natural law, in Summa, II-I, Q.91, art.2. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2091. htm#article2) [45] Summa, II-I, Q.91, art.4. (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 2091. htm#article4) "By the natural law the eternal law is participated proportionately to the capacity of human nature. But to his supernatural end man needs to be directed in a yet higher way. Hence the additional law given by God, whereby man shares more perfectly in the eternal law." [46] Cf. Veritatis splendor, 12. (http:/ / www. vatican. va/ holy_father/ john_paul_ii/ encyclicals/ documents/ hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en. html) [47] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ bible/ rom002. htm [48] http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ summa/ 1083. htm#article1 [49] Ludwig Ott, Grundriss der Dogmatik, nova & vetera, Bonn 2005, IV/I 15 [50] "Gradually, however, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there came a decline in the study of the works of the great Scholastics." [51] Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, (I:2,15). [52] http:/ / domcentral. org/ blog/ the-revival-of-thomism-an-historical-survey-weisheipl/ The Revival of Thomism: An Historical Survey, James Weisheipl, 1962. [53] John Haldane, 1998. "Thomism". In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved August 18, 2013, from http:/ / www. rep. routledge. com/ article/ N067 [54] A Short History of Thomism, Catholic University of America Press, 2005 [55] Early Thomistic School, Frederick J. Roensch, 1964; http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=v0lDAAAAIAAJ& q Accessed 30 August, 2013 [56] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=6BDmuuAe3gcC& pg=PA21#v=onepage& q& f=false Accessed 30 August, 2013 [57] http:/ / www. saintwiki. com/ index. php?title=Hinnebusch/ The_Dominicans:_A_Short_History/ Chapter_IX Accessed 30 August, 2013 [58] The Revival of Thomism: An Historical Survey, James Weisheipl, 1962 http:/ / domcentral. org/ blog/ the-revival-of-thomism-an-historical-survey-weisheipl/ Accessed 30 August, 2013 [59] http:/ / www. u. arizona. edu/ ~aversa/ scholastic/ 24Thomisticpart2. htm [60] La nozione Metafisica di Participazione, Cornelio Fabro, Preface to the second edition, 5; http:/ / www. scribd. com/ doc/ 90016006/ Fabro-La-Nozione-Metafisica-Di-Partecipazione Accessed 30 August, 2013 [61] http:/ / edwardfeser. blogspot. com/ 2009/ 10/ thomistic-tradition-part-i. html Accessed 27 March 2013 [62] http:/ / edwardfeser. blogspot. com/ 2009/ 10/ thomistic-tradition-part-i. html Accessed 5 September, 2013 [63] http:/ / it. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Battista_Mondin Accessed 12 April 2013 [64] http:/ / www. treccani. it/ enciclopedia/ sofia-vanni-rovighi_(Dizionario-di-filosofia)/ Accessed 17 August, 2013 [65] http:/ / www. treccani. it/ enciclopedia/ carlo-giacon_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ Accessed 9 April 2013 [66] Leo Elders Accessed 30 August, 2013 [67] http:/ / www. istitutotomistico. it/ risorse/ testi_arca. htm Accessed 5 Sept. 2013 [68] See Raffaele Rizzellos "Il Progetto Tommaso," in Vita quaerens intellectum, eds. Giacomo Grasso, O.P. and Stefano Serafini, Millennium Romae, Rome 1999, pp. 157-161. http:/ / www. phmae. it/ rec35. htm Accessed 5 Sept. 2013 [69] http:/ / segr-did2. fmag. unict. it/ ~polphil/ polphil/ Cracow/ Cracow. html Accessed 15 March 2013 [70] " Bocheski and Balance: System and History in Analytic Philosophy", Peter Simons, Studies in East European Thought 55 (2003), 281297, Reprinted in: Edgar Morscher, Otto Neumaier and Peter Simons, Ein Philosoph mit "Bodenhaftung": Zu Leben und Werk von Joseph M. Bocheski. St.Augustin: Academia, 2011, 6179 [71] http:/ / pl. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Jan_Salamucha Accessed 16 March 2013 [72] Gilson wrote about the topic of faith and reason in a chapter of his book Le Thomisme (http:/ / www. u. arizona. edu/ ~aversa/ scholastic/ gilson/ ). [73] " The natural sciences are epistemologically first. (http:/ / www. u. arizona. edu/ ~aversa/ scholastic/ riverforest/ )" contains an excerpt from comparing this chief thesis of River Forest Thomism to the objections from Lawrence Dewan, O.P. [74] http:/ / www. morec. com/ nature. htm [75] http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ ThomismAndMathematicalPhysics [76] For an excellent introduction to River Forest Thomism, see: [77] The introduction (https:/ / www. ashgate. com/ pdf/ SamplePages/ Analytical_Thomism_Intro. pdf) to Paterson & Pugh's book on Analytical Thomism (http:/ / www. worldcat. org/ title/ analytical-thomism-traditions-in-dialogue/ oclc/ 61211285) is available gratis online.
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External links
(English) (Latin) (http://dhspriory.org/thomas/) (Latin) Corpus Thomisticum (http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/) his complete works
Bibliographia Thomistica (http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/bt/index.html) The Thomist (http://www.thomist.org/jourl/explore.htm), a scholarly journal on Thomism Introductory chapter by Craig Paterson and Matthew Pugh on the development of Thomism (https://www. ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Analytical_Thomism_Intro.pdf) The XXIV Theses of Thomistic Philosophy (http://www.vaxxine.com/hyoomik/aquinas/theses.eht) and commentary by P. Lumbreras, O.P. (http://scholastic.us.to/24Thomisticpart2.htm) Electronic Resources for Medieval Philosophy (http://www2.bc.edu/~solere/siepm.html) Books Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought (http://www.ewtn.com/library/theology/reality.htm) by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange Garrigou-Lagrange, R ginald (2013). The Essence & Topicality of Thomism (http://216.27.62.241/shop/ r ginald-garrigou-lagrange-op/the-essence-topicality-of-thomism/hardcover/product-21199740.html). ISBN9781304416186. Modern Thomistic Philosophy (http://www.archive.org/details/modernthomisticp01phil) by Richard Percival Phillips, a good introduction on the Thomistic philosophy of nature for students
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