Asclepius of Tralleis

Comentarius of Alpha Meizon from Aristotle's Metaphysics

Asklepios von Tralleis ( Greek  Ἀσκληπιός Asklēpiós , also Asklepios von Tralles ) was a late antique philosopher . He belonged to the Neoplatonic direction. His birth may still fall in the late 5th century, his activity in the 6th century. He came from the city of Tralleis in western Asia Minor and studied in Alexandria .

Life

Almost nothing is known about the life of Asclepius. From his own statements it is clear that he was a student of the respected Neoplatonist Ammonios Hermeiou , who taught in Alexandria. Like his teacher, Asklepios belonged to the old religion and was thus in opposition to Christianity, which was the state religion at the time. He is not to be confused with a scholar of the same name, who was also a student of Ammonius and taught medicine.

Works

Asklepios wrote two works that have been preserved: a commentary on the beginning (books A to Z) of the metaphysics of Aristotle and a commentary on the introduction to the arithmetic of Nicomachus of Gerasa . Both commentaries are based primarily on notes that Asklepios made in the lessons of Ammonius, and thus largely reflect Ammonius' views. The metaphysics commentary is the most important source for the metaphysics of Ammonius. Asklepios adds material that comes from the incomplete metaphysical commentary by Alexander of Aphrodisias ; he is also heavily influenced by Alexander. However, it is uncertain whether he had a complete copy of Alexander's work. Even the metaphysics -Comment of Syrianos he has used.

Teaching

Like his teacher Ammonios, Asklepios takes the view, widespread in Neo-Platonist circles, that the Aristotelian philosophy essentially agrees with Platonism . Aristotle did not reject Plato's ontology , but only its erroneous interpretation by some Platonists. As a result, Asklepios usually defends Aristotelian positions, but if he disagrees with Aristotle, he does not shrink from criticism. He rejects the independent existence of ideas ; he thinks that the ideas exist in the demiurge (creator).

reception

Johannes Philoponos , another pupil of Ammonius, wrote a metaphysical commentary, for which Asclepius' commentary was a main source. The much more detailed work of Philoponos achieved a far greater lasting effect in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance than that of Asclepius.

In modern research, the question of whether Asklepios 'comments are mere compilations or whether Asklepios' own philosophical contribution is recognizable is assessed differently. Leonardo Tarán and Michael Schramm assume that Asklepios hardly brought any thoughts of his own. Already in the 19th century, Alfred Gercke and Michael Hayduck , the editors of the Metaphysics Commentary, gave a similarly negative judgment. Other studies have led to a more favorable assessment; Arthur Madigan, for example, thinks that Asklepios tried relatively impartially to understand Aristotle's philosophy instead of just presenting his own way of thinking.

Text output

• Rosa Loredana Cardullo (ed.): Asclepio di Tralle: Commentario al libro Alpha meizon (A) della Metafisica di Aristotele . Bonanno, Acireale 2012, ISBN 978-88-7796-882-1 (edition with Italian translation)
• Leonardo Tarán (Ed.): Asclepius of Tralles: Commentary to Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic . The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1969
• Michael Hayduck (Ed.): Asclepii in Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros A – Z commentaria (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca Vol. 6 Part 2). Georg Reimer, Berlin 1888 (critical edition)

literature

• Rosa Loredana Cardullo: Asclepio di Tralle: pensatore originale o mero redattore ἀπὸ φωνῆς? In: Maria Barbanti u. a. (Ed.): ΕΝΩΣΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΙΑ. Unione e amicizia. Omaggio a Francesco Romano. Catania 2002, pp. 495-514.
• Concetta Luna : Trois études sur la tradition des commentaires anciens à la Métaphysique d'Aristote . Brill, Leiden 2001, ISBN 90-04-12074-2 .
• Michael Schramm: Asklepios. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Ed.): Philosophy of the Imperial Era and Late Antiquity (= Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/3). Schwabe, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7965-3700-4 , pp. 2005 f., 2160 f.

Remarks

1. ^ Henry J. Blumenthal: Alexandria as a Center of Greek Philosophy in Later Classical Antiquity . In: Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 18, 1993, pp. 307-325, here: 322; Jean-Yves Guillaumin: La structure du chapitre 1, 4 de l'Institution Arithmétique de Boèce et le cours d'Ammonios sur Nicomaque . In: Revue d'histoire des sciences, Vol. 47, 1994, pp. 249-258, here: 253.
2. ↑ Leendert G. Westerink: Philosophy and Medicine in Late Antiquity . In: Janus, Vol. 51, 1964, pp. 169–175, here: 172 and note 11.
3. ↑ Concetta Luna: Trois études sur la tradition des commentaires anciens à la Métaphysique d'Aristote , Leiden 2001, pp. 142-189; Dominic J. O'Meara: Pythagoras Revived. Oxford 1989, pp. 121f.
4. ↑ Cristina D'Ancona: Il neoplatonismo alessandrino: alcune linee della ricerca contemporanea . In: Adamantius, Vol. 11, 2005, pp. 9–38, here: 34–36.
5. ↑ On the criticism of Aristotle see Arthur Madigan: Syrianus and Asclepius on Forms and Intermediates in Plato and Aristotle . In: Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 24, 1986, pp. 149-171, here: 161, 164f. For Asklepios' understanding of the theory of ideas see Madigan and Klaus Kremer: The concept of metaphysics in the Aristotle commentaries of the Ammonius school. Münster 1961, pp. 144-147; Lloyd P. Gerson: Aristotle and Other Platonists , Ithaca / London 2005, pp. 223-228.
6. ^ Leendert G. Westerink: Deux commentaires on Nicomaque: Asclépius et Jean Philopon . In: Revue des Études grecques, Vol. 77, 1964, pp. 526-535; Paul Moraux : Aristotelianism among the Greeks from Andronikos to Alexander von Aphrodisias, vol. 2, Berlin 1984, p. 94f .; Leonardo Tarán (Ed.): Asclepius of Tralles: Commentary to Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic , Philadelphia 1969, p. 10.
7. ↑ Leonardo Tarán (Ed.): Asclepius of Tralles: Commentary to Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic , Philadelphia 1969, p. 8; Michael Schramm: Asklepios. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Ed.): Philosophy of the Imperial Era and Late Antiquity (= Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/3), Basel 2018, pp. 2005 f.
8. ↑ Arthur Madigan: Syrianus and Asclepius on Forms and Intermediates in Plato and Aristotle . In: Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 24, 1986, pp. 149-171, here: 170f. Rosa Loredana Cardullo provides an overview of the evaluations in research since the 19th century: Asclepio di Tralle: pensatore originale o mero redattore ἀπὸ φωνῆς? In: Maria Barbanti u. a. (Ed.): ΕΝΩΣΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΙΑ. Unione e amicizia. Omaggio a Francesco Romano. Catania 2002, pp. 495-514, here: 507-513. An updated new version of the research report can be found in the introduction to Loredana Cardullo's edition and translation of the metaphysics commentary: Asclepio di Tralle: Commentario al libro Alpha meizon (A) della Metafisica di Aristotele , Acireale 2012, pp. 34–43.