Bryson of Herakleia

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Bryson of Herakleia ( ancient Greek Βρύσων Brýsōn , Latinized Bryson ; * probably towards the end of the 5th century BC in Herakleia Pontike ; † 4th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician . He belonged to the current of the Megarics .

Bryson's writings are lost; only a few testimonies have survived (ancient accounts of life and teaching). Little is known about Bryson's teaching. He believed that no one used indecent expressions; he is also said to have tried to square the circle .

Bryson of Herakleia is not to be confused with that of Diogenes Laertios and in the Suda , a Byzantine encyclopedia, called Bryson the Achaean .

Life

Bryson's life dates are unclear. The evaluation of the ancient evidence suggests that he was born at the end of the 5th to 4th century BC at the latest. Must have been born in BC; his death certainly falls in the 4th century BC. Chr.

Bryson was the son of the mythographer Herodorus of Herakleia . It is difficult to assess whose pupil and whose teacher Bryson was because of the vastly different, sometimes contradicting information available. Possibly it is a subsequent construction of ancient philosophical historians, in any case it is often associated with Euclid of Megara , who could have been his teacher.

Works

After Diogenes Laertios, Bryson did not write any writings. Today, however, this is considered incorrect, firstly because Theodoros of Cyrene (as Athenaios reports) claims that Plato copied from Bryson, among others, and secondly because it can be assumed that Aristotle , who goes into Bryson's teachings, is more likely to use them from Bryson's writings than from them oral tradition.

Teaching

Squaring the circle

Like other of his contemporaries, Bryson tried to square the circle, that is, he was looking for the same square as a given circle in terms of area. This is known from two places in Aristotle and was explained in more detail in ancient commentaries on Aristotle's writings. What Bryson's solution looked like, however, is not clear from the surviving passages. Kurt von Fritz assumes the following: “It is [...] a continuity observation, according to which if you circumscribe a square and inscribe a square in the circle and then let one continuously merge into the other, a square must appear somewhere in between , which has as many sizes above and as many sizes below as the circle. "

Indecent expressions

According to Aristotle, Bryson believed that no one used indecent terms. If one can denote the same thing with different expressions, then these expressions have the same meaning. Therefore, no one of them could be more indecent than the other.

Lore

The most important sources are five passages in Aristotle that report on Bryson, as well as the later commentaries on the Aristotelian texts, which contain explanations of Bryson's teachings. Other sources are the Suda, Diogenes Laertios, Athenaios, Plato and Sextus Empiricus .

Source collections

  • Klaus Döring : The mega-riders. Annotated Collection of Testimonies , Grüner, Amsterdam 1971, (Studies on Ancient Philosophy 2), ISBN 90-6032-003-4
  • Gabriele Giannantoni (Ed.): Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae , Volume 1, Bibliopolis, Naples 1990, Section II-S ( online )
  • Robert Muller: Les mégariques. Fragments et témoignages , Vrin, Paris 1985, pp. 66-71

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b c Klaus Döring: Bryson . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 212–214, here: p. 213.
  2. ↑ Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 11.508c-11.508d.
  3. ↑ Aristotle, Analytica posteriora A 75b37- A 76a2 and Aristotle, Sophistic Refutations 171b3-172a7.
  4. ↑ Kurt von Fritz: Review of "The Megariker" . In: Gnomon , number 47, 1975, pp. 128-134, here: p. 133.
  5. ↑ Aristotle, rhetoric 1405b.
  6. ^ Klaus Döring: Bryson . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 212–214, p. 212.
personal data
SURNAME Bryson of Herakleia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bryson Heracleensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek mathematician, philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Herakleia Pontike
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC Chr.