Democritus (Platonist)

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Demokritos ( Greek  Δημόκριτος Dēmókritos ; † before 268) was an ancient Greek philosopher . He was a Platonist in the last phase of Middle Platonism .

Nothing is known about Democritus' life, his works are known only from a few mentions by later authors. He is listed by his contemporary Longinos († 272) in his treatise "About the goal" among the Platonists who left philosophical writings behind. Longinos claims that Democritus was not an original thinker, but was one of those who only put together older knowledge and conveyed it in textbooks. By the time "About the Goal" was being written (268 at the latest), Democritus had already died.

In Neoplatonic writings of late antiquity , references are made several times to Democritus and his interpretation of Plato . According to these sources, he wrote commentaries on Plato's dialogues : Olympiodorus the Younger mentions a commentary on the (possibly spurious) First Alcibiades , Damascius quoted a Phaidon -Comment; In Proclus' commentary on Timaeus , a question raised by Democritus is discussed, which suggests that he also wrote a Timaeus commentary. Iamblichus tells about Democritus' theory of the soul that he has traced all soul faculties back to the one substance of the soul; Syrianos mentions his doctrine of ideas and their agreement with that of the Middle Platonists Attikos and Plutarch . Like Attikos and Plutarch, Democritus was of the opinion that ideas were outside the nous and ontologically subordinate to it, that they were to be localized in the spiritual realm. Syrianos criticized this view as an inadmissible mixture of transcendent and immanent reality.

It is not certain, but is considered plausible, that the late antique information on "Demokritos" refers at least partially to the Middle Platonists of the 3rd century. However, this does not seem to be the case for all of the mentions. Damascius ascribes in his Philebos commentary to Demokritos the doctrine that the names of gods are “sounding statues” (agálmata phōnḗenta) of the gods. This "onoma agalma theory" was probably not developed until late ancient Neo-Platonism; its attribution to the Middle Platonist Democritus is therefore problematic. In addition, Longinos describes the Middle Platonist as unoriginal, which is poorly compatible with the assumption that he devised such a theory. For this reason, Maurus Hirschle assumed that the name Demokritos was given due to an oversight in a lecture transcript. Henri Dominique Saffrey believes that Damascius is probably not referring to the Middle Platonist, but to a late ancient Neo-Platonist of the same name. Otherwise nothing is known of the existence of a Neoplatonist of this name. If Saffrey's hypothesis is correct, the Phaidon commentary and probably also the commentary on Alcibiades I mentioned by Olympiodorus are not to be ascribed to the Middle Platonist of the 3rd century, but to the late ancient Neo-Platonist Democritus, while the statements by Iamblichus refer to the Middle Platonist. In any case, the earlier widespread assumption that Damascius' message about the doctrine of the names of gods contained a fragment of the pre-Socratic Democritus of Abdera is wrong .

Source edition with translation

  • Marie-Luise Lakmann (Ed.): Platonici minores. 1st century BC - 2nd century AD. Prosopography, fragments and testimony with German translation (= Philosophia antiqua , volume 145). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-90-04-31533-4 , pp. 93–96, 416–421 (critical edition)

literature

  • Luc Brisson : Democritos . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 716-717
  • Luc Brisson: Notices sur les noms propres . In: Luc Brisson u. a. (Ed.): Porphyre, La Vie de Plotin. Volume 1, Vrin, Paris 1982, ISBN 2-7116-2035-2 , pp. 49-142, here: 78-79
  • Maurus Hirschle: Philosophy of Language and Name Magic in Neo-Platonism. With an excursus on 'Democritus' B 142 . Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1979, ISBN 3-445-01623-2 , pp. 63-65

Remarks

  1. ↑ Longinus, Peri télous , Preface, quoted by Porphyry , Vita Plotini 20th
  2. ↑ See Irmgard Männlein-Robert : Longin, Philologe und Philosopher , Munich 2001, p. 196 f.
  3. ^ Heinrich Dörrie , Matthias Baltes : The Platonism in antiquity , Volume 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, p. 141.
  4. ↑ Olympiodoros, In Alcibiadem primum 113c, ed. Leendert G. Westerink: Olympiodorus, Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato , Amsterdam 1982, p. 70; Greek text of the passage and translation by Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Volume 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, p. 41 (and commentary on p. 194).
  5. ↑ Damaskios, In Platonis Phaedonem 1,503 Westerink; Greek text of the place and translation by Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Volume 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, p. 38 f. (and comment on p. 191).
  6. ^ Proklos, In Platonis Timaeum II 33.13 ff .; see Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Volume 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, pp. 52 f., 218; English translation: Dirk Baltzly: Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus , Volume 3, Cambridge 2007, p. 79 f.
  7. ↑ Iamblichus in Johannes Stobaios 1, 370 Wachsmuth-Hense; see Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Volume 5, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1998, p. 258.
  8. ↑ Syrianos, In Aristotelis metaphysicam p. 105 Kroll; Greek text of the passage and translation by Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Volume 5, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1998, pp. 26–29 (and commentary, pp. 256–259).
  9. ↑ Damascios , In Philebum 24, ed. Gerd Van Riel: Damascius, Commentaire sur le Philèbe de Platon , Paris 2008, p. 9. See Maurus Hirschle: Philosophy of Language and Name Magic in Neo-Platonism. With an excursus on 'Demokrit' B 142 , Meisenheim am Glan 1979, p. 57 f.
  10. ^ Maurus Hirschle: Philosophy of Language and Name Magic in Neo-Platonism. With an excursus on 'Demokrit' B 142 , Meisenheim am Glan 1979, p. 64 f.
  11. ^ Henri Dominique Saffrey: Recherches sur le néoplatonisme après Plotin , Paris 1990, p. 240 f. Gerd Van Riel (ed.) Also tends to this view: Damascius, Commentaire sur le Philèbe de Platon , Paris 2008, p. 101, note 5.
  12. ^ In the collection of the pre-Socratic fragments by Diels and Kranz , the passage was included as a real Democritus fragment (68 B 142 DK); therefore it has often been discussed in Democritus research, see Maurus Hirschle: Philosophy of Language and Name Magic in Neoplatonism. With an excursus on 'Demokrit' B 142 , Meisenheim am Glan 1979, p. 65 and note 97.
personal data
SURNAME Democritus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH before 268