Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming to be and Perishing 2.5-11
Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming to be and Perishing 2.5-11

Author: Philoponus,

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-22

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 147250125X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Until the launch of this series over ten years ago, the 15,000 volumes of the ancient Greek commentators on Aristotle, written mainly between 200 and 600 AD, constituted the largest corpus of extant Greek philosophical writings not translated into English or other European languages. Subjects covered in this, the third and last, volume of translation of this work include: why the elements are four in number; what's wrong with Empedocles' theory of elements; how homogeneous stuffs, particularly the tissues of a living body, come to be and consist of the elements. The volume also contains very important discussions of causes, particularly of efficient cause, and of necessity in the sphere of generation and corruption. It is of interest to students of ancient philosophy and science (the commentary draws on earlier philosophical and medical texts); of Patristics and Christian Theology (it allows comparison of Philoponus' later creationist doctrine with his earlier ideas about generation); of medieval philosophy (this text was known to the Arabs; it is used by Avicenna and Averroes); and to anyone with interest in the metaphysics of causation, emergence, necessity and determinism.

Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 1.1-5
Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 1.1-5

Author: C.J.F. Williams

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-10

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1780938683

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The first five chapters of Aristotle's De Generatione et Corruptione distinguish creation and destruction from mere qualitative change and from growth. They include a fascinating debate about the atomists' analysis of creation and destruction as due to the rearrangement of indivisible atoms. Aristotle's rival belief in the infinite divisibility of matter is explained and defended against the atomists' powerful attack on infinite divisibility. But what inspired Philoponus most in his commentary is the topic of organic growth. How does it take place without ingested matter getting into the same place as the growing body? And how is personal identity preserved, if our matter is always in flux, and our form depends on our matter? If we do not depend on the persistence of matter why are we not immortal? Analogous problems of identity arise also for inanimate beings. Philoponus draws out a brief remark of Aristotle's to show that cause need not be like effect. For example, what makes something hard may be cold, not hard. This goes against a persistent philosophical prejudice, but Philoponus makes it plausible that Aristotle recognized this truth. These topics of identity over time and the principles of causation are still matters of intense discussion.

On Aristotle's "On Coming to be and Perishing 2.5-11"
On Aristotle's

Author: John Philoponus

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Subjects covered in this, the third and last volume of translation of Philoponus' commentary on Aristotle's On Coming-to-Be and Perishing, include: why the elements are four in number; what is wrong with Empedocles' theory of elements; and how homogenous stuffs, particularly the tissues of a living body, come to be and consist of the elements. This book also contains important discussions of causes, particularly of efficient cause, and of necessity in the sphere of generation and corruption. It will be of interest to students of ancient philosophy and science (the commentary draws on earlier philosophical and medical texts); of Patristics and Christian theology (it allows comparison of Philoponus' later creationist doctrine with his earlier ideas about generation); of medieval philosophy (there are a number of parallels with Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle's treatise); and to anyone interested in metaphysics of causation, emergence, necessity, and determination."--BOOK JACKET.

Simplicius: On Aristotle On the Heavens 1.3-4
Simplicius: On Aristotle On the Heavens 1.3-4

Author: Simplicius,

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-22

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1472501705

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the first English translation of Simplicius' responses to Philoponus' Against Aristotle on the Eternity of the World. The commentary is published in two volumes: Ian Mueller's previous book in the series, Simplicius: On Aristotle On the Heavens 1.2-3, and this book on 1.3-4. Philoponus, the Christian, had argued that Aristotle's arguments do not succeed. For all they show to the contrary, Christianity may be right that the heavens were brought into existence by the only divine being and one moment in time, and will cease to exist at some future moment. Simplicius upholds the pagan view that the heavens are eternal and divine, and argues that their eternity is shown by their astronomical movements coupled with certain principles of Aristotle. The English translation in this volume is accompanied by a detailed introduction, extensive commentary notes and a bibliography.

Themistius: On Aristotle Metaphysics 12
Themistius: On Aristotle Metaphysics 12

Author: Yoav Meyrav

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-11-12

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1350127256

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the only commentary on Aristotle's theological work, Metaphysics, Book 12, to survive from the first six centuries CE – the heyday of ancient Greek commentary on Aristotle. Though the Greek text itself is lost, a full English translation is presented here for the first time, based on Arabic versions of the Greek and a Hebrew version of the Arabic. In his commentary Themistius offers an extensive re-working of Aristotle, confirming that the first principle of the universe is indeed Aristotle's God as intellect, not the intelligibles thought by God. The identity of intellect with intelligibles had been omitted by Aristotle in Metaphysics 12, but is suggested in his Physics 3.3 and On the Soul 3, and later by Plotinus. Laid out here in an accessible translation and accompanied by extensive commentary notes, introduction and indexes, the work will be of interest for students and scholars of Neoplatonist philosophy, ancient metaphysics, and textual transmission.

Simplicius: On Aristotle On the Heavens 1.2-3
Simplicius: On Aristotle On the Heavens 1.2-3

Author: Simplicius,

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-22

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1472501667

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One of the arguments in Aristotle's On the Heavens propounds that the world neither came to be nor will perish. This volume contains the pagan Neoplatonist Simplicius of Cilicia's commentary on the first part of this this important work. The commentary is notable and unusual because Simplicius includes in his discussion lengthy representations of the Christian John Philoponus' criticisms of Aristotle along with his own, frequently sarcastic, responses. This is the first complete translation into a modern language of Simplicius' commentary, and is accompanied by a detailed introduction, extensive explanatory notes and a bibliography.

Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 7
Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 7

Author: C. Hagen

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-10

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 178093422X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

There has recently been considerable renewed interest in Book 7 of the Physics of Aristotle, once regarded as merely an undeveloped forerunner to Book 8. The debate surrounding the importance of the text is not new to modern scholarship: for example, in the fourth century BC Eudemus, the Peripatetic philosopher associate of Aristotle, left it out of his treatment of the Physics. Now, for the first time, Charles Hagen's lucid translation gives the English reader access to Simplicius' commentary on Book 7, an indispensable tool for the understanding of the text. Its particular interest lies in its explanation of how the chapters of Book 7 fit together and its reference to a more extensive second version of Aristotle's text than the one which survives today.

Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 8.6-10
Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 8.6-10

Author: Richard D. McKirahan

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-10

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1780938969

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Aristotle's Physics is about the causes of motion and culminates in a proof that God is needed as the ultimate cause of motion. Aristotle argues that things in motion need to be moved by something other than themselves - he rejects Plato's self-movers. On pain of regress, there must be an unmoved mover. If this unmoved mover is to cause motion eternally, it needs infinite power. It cannot, then, be a body, since bodies, being of finite size, cannot house infinite power. The unmoved mover is therefore an incorporeal God. Simplicius reveals that his teacher, Ammonius, harmonised Aristotle with Plato to counter Christian charges of pagan disagreement, by making Aristotle's God a cause of beginningless movement, but of beginningless existence of the universe. Eternal existence, not less than eternal motion, calls for an infinite, and hence incorporeal, force. By an irony, this anti-Christian interpretation turned Aristotle's God from a thinker into a certain kind of Creator, and so helped to make Aristotle's God acceptable to St Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This text provides a translation of Simplicius' commentary on Aristotle's work.

Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming to be 1.6-2.4
Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming to be 1.6-2.4

Author: C.J.F. William

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-04-10

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1780938764

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

These chapters of Aristotle's treatise are about physical interactions. In his innovative commentary, Philoponus discusses Aristotle's idea that certain qualities of the elements are basic. In what way are they basic? he asks. To what extent can the other qualities be reduced to the basic ones? And if the other qualities depend on the basic ones, how is it that they can vary independently of each other when the basic qualities change? Philoponus develops the idea that the other qualities merely supervene on the basic ones, rather than resulting from them. Moreover, physical qualities admit of different ranges of variation, and so have different thresholds at which they appear or disappear. Philoponus also discusses Aristotle's idea that the elements and their basic qualities survive potentially when mixed together. He explains this by drawing a third sense of 'potential' out of Aristotle's texts to take the place of the two senses which Aristotle explicitly recognises. Philoponus adds further restrictions to Aristotle's principles of causation. Black can contaminate white, but the black in ebony does not have the right matter for affecting the white of milk. He asks why fluids can affect each other more easily than solids. In every case, Philoponus takes Aristotle's discussions further, and his ideas on the dependence of some qualities on others are very relevant to the continuing philosophical debate on the subject.

Philoponus: On Aristotle Physics 4.1-5
Philoponus: On Aristotle Physics 4.1-5

Author: Keimpe Algra

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-04-22

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1472501772

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Aristotle's account of place, in which he defined a thing's place as the inner surface of its nearest immobile container, was supported by the Latin Middle Ages, even 1600 years after his death, though it had not convinced many ancient Greek philosophers. The sixth century commentator Philoponus took a more common-sense view. For him, place was an immobile three-dimensional extension, whose essence did not preclude its being empty, even if for other reasons it had always to be filled with body. However, Philoponus reserved his own definition for an excursus, already translated in this series, The Corollary on Place. In the text translated here he wanted instead to explain Aristotle's view to elementary students. The recent conjecture that he wished to attract young fellow Christians away from the official pagan professor of philosophy in Alexandria has the merit of explaining why he expounds Aristotle here, rather than attacking him. But he still puts the students through their paces, for example when discussing Aristotle's claim that place cannot be a body, or two bodies would coincide. This volume contains an English translation of Philoponus' commentary, as well as a detailed introduction, extensive explanatory notes and a bibliography.