Diogenes Laertios
Diogenes Laertios ( Greek Διογένης Λαέρτιος Diogénēs Laértios , Latinized Diogenes Laertius ) was an ancient historian of philosophy and doxographer . He probably lived in the 3rd century and has authored a compilation on the life and doctrine of the ancient philosophers , which is divided into ten books.
Life
Almost nothing is known about the living conditions of Diogenes. A dating (3rd century) can only be inferred indirectly from his style and from the life data of the philosophers he deals with: The latest philosopher he mentions (IX 116) is a pupil of Sextus Empiricus , Diogenes hardly leads any other Roman philosophers Imperial era and, surprisingly, completely ignored the Middle Platonism that was prevalent at the time .
From the nickname Laertios one wanted to draw conclusions about the origin. So it was derived from the place Laerte in Caria or Cilicia or from the Roman family name Laertii . In today's research, the name is mostly related to Laertes , the father of Odysseus , whom Homer diogenes Laertiades (Διογένης means 'begotten by God') mentions. The epithet Laertiades is therefore to be interpreted more as a literarily playful distinguishing feature from other Greeks named Diogenes ; biographical information cannot be derived from it.
Diogenes writes about Apollonides from Nicaea that he is someone “who comes from our corner” (IX 109). Based on this passage, some have suspected that Diogenes could have come from Bithynia . The fact that his erudition seems antiquated and that, in a certain 'antiquarian tendency', he particularly likes to use older and remote sources would suggest that he came from the provinces. The work itself confirms that Diogenes was certainly educated and well- read , but was not an independent or critical thinker himself, so probably not a 'specialist philosopher' who studied in Athens or the like or undertook long educational trips.
Sometimes the assumption was made that Diogenes was identical to Diogenes of Oinoanda , who became known from a larger inscription , but this remains speculation. The argument for the identification was that Diogenes von Oinoanda was an Epicurean, but Diogenes Laertios devoted an entire book to the Hellenistic philosopher and therefore, as is assumed, harbored sympathy for Epicureanism.
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General characteristics
The exact title of the ten-book work, written after the middle of the 2nd century, varies somewhat in the manuscripts and editions. The most common formulations about the life and teachings of famous philosophers or a compilation of the life and teachings of the philosophers (ancient Greek φιλοσόφων βίων καὶ δογμάτων συναγωγή) already suggests the compendial character of the work, which combines biography and doxography . This compilation as a doxobiography is extremely atypical, as these two literary genres were widespread in the Roman Empire, but were strictly separated from each other.
Diogenes can hardly be assigned to a school of philosophy, although it is often assumed that he was a skeptic . He seems to have been an isolated figure and to have put together his compilation out of hobby. His work is free of polemics - as far as it was not taken from the sources - and has left no traces in late antique literature in the form of quotations from later authors.
So Diogenes did not intend to write a 'scientific' work. It was more important to him to present his extensive, but uncritically collected biographical news, anecdotal stories and sentenzen-like expressions of opinion in an entertaining way. The work consists mainly of excerpts and quotations from third or fourth hand. Diogenes himself hardly seems to have read the original texts; in many cases they were no longer preserved at the time.
The identification of sources has been the main research question since the 19th century. Diogenes is presumably based on works by Favorinus and Diocles of Magnesia , but it is not possible to prove in detail who his sources were. He probably also has collections of sayings and Apophthegmensammlungen used. This is why his biographical details on the life of the ancient philosophers are rarely authentic: First and foremost (apart from Book X) it is anecdotes, gossip or ridicule. From this it follows: Due to its uncritical design, Diogenes' work should only be used with great caution. However, since it represents the most extensive surviving doxographic source on the philosophy of ancient Greece, one is nevertheless dependent on Diogenes for lack of better sources.
The structure (see table) is neither systematically nor consistently arranged according to the lifetimes of the persons treated, but according to the philosophical “schools” to which Diogenes assigns the individual philosophers according to ancient, but often quite arbitrary, practice. Diogenes assumed (Book I) that there were only two philosophical directions, an 'Ionic' and an 'Italic'. He subordinates the individual philosophers to these two currents (in some cases making little sense). In the last book there are exceptionally first-hand texts, namely letters and the will of Epicurus , for which Diogenes is an excellent source in this case.
Friedrich Nietzsche judged: "He is the night watchman of the history of Greek philosophy, you cannot enter it without the key being given to you by him."
Depicted philosophers
In the order in which Diogenes treated them, the following philosophers and authors are portrayed: Thales, Solon, Chilon, Pittakos, Bias, Cleobulus, Periander, Anacharsis, Myson, Epimenides, Pherekydes, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaos, Socrates, Xenophon, Aeschines, Aristipp, Phaidon, Eukleides, Stilpon, Kriton, Simon, Glaukon, Simmias, Kebes, Menedemos, Plato, Speusipp, Xenokrates, Polemon, Krates, Krantor, Arkesilaos, Bion, Lakydes, Karneades, Kleitomachos, Aristotle, Theophrom, Straton, Lykon, Demetrios, Herakleides, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Monimos, Onesikritos, Krates, Metrokles, Hipparchia, Menippos, Menedemos, Zenon, Ariston, Herillos, Dionysios, Kleanthes, Sphairos, Chrysipp, Pythagoras, Archmaus, Empedionokles, Epicharm Hippasus, Philolaos, Eudoxus, Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Melissus, Leucippus, Democritus, Protagoras, Diogenes of Apollonia, Anaxarchus, Pyrrhon, Timon and Epicurus.
Contents overview
| 1st book | The Seven Wise Men and the Author's Philosophy Theory (Ionic and Italian School) |
| 2nd book | Anaximander , Anaxagoras , Socrates and the so-called smaller Socratics |
| 3rd book | Plato |
| 4th book | Plato's pupils |
| 5th book | Aristotle and his disciples (the Peripatos ) |
| 6th book | Antisthenes and the Cynics |
| 7th book | Zenon , Kleanthes and Chrysippos . Portions of this book are lost, however |
| 8th book | Pythagoras , Empedocles and other Pythagoreans |
| 9th book | Heraclitus , Xenophanes , Parmenides , Zeno of Elea , Leucippus , Democritus , Protagoras , Pyrrhon of Elis and Timon |
| 10th book | Epicurus |
Excursus: Significance as a source for ancient logic
Diogenes Laertios was considered the source of knowledge of Stoic logic. Since the rediscovery of Stoic propositional logic by Jan Łukasiewicz the texts in question have won but still of interest.
It is clear from the work that propositional logic does not go back to the Stoic school, but was developed by the ' dialecticians ' (previously identified with the 'megarics'). The founders of the Stoa , Zenon and Chrysippus , adopted and modified the propositional approaches of the dialecticians Diodoros Kronos and Philo of Megara .
In Diogenes one can already find a consistent doctrine of the "unprovable" arguments, these are the axioms of the Stoic propositional logic. One passage in Diogenes' reports even shows that Philo advocated a truth-functional theory of material implication , as it was only after him that Ludwig Wittgenstein developed in his logical-philosophical treatise . The work of Diogenes is also an important source for the fallacies with which the Stoics and, above all, the dialectics have dealt in great detail.
Text output
- Herbert S. Long (Ed.): Diogenis Laertii vitae philosophorum. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1964 (the older standard edition is considered problematic)
- Miroslav Marcovich , Hans Gärtner (ed.): Diogenis Laertii vitae philosophorum . 3 volumes. Teubner, Stuttgart / Leipzig 1999 (volumes 1 and 2) and Saur, Munich / Leipzig 2002 (volume 3: Indices ) (authoritative edition)
- Tiziano Dorandi (ed.): Diogenes Laertius. Lives of Eminent Philosophers (= Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries. Volume 50). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2013, ISBN 978-0-521-88681-9 .
Translations
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From the lives and opinions of famous philosophers. From the Greek by August Christian Borheck . 2 volumes. Franz Haas, Vienna / Prague 1807 (therein: Volume I, 1–5, “Preface” Borheck and his “Message from Diogenes Laertius, his writings and their editions”; Volume II, 6–18. Digital copies at ÖNB : First volume , Second volume ). New edition:
- From the life and opinions of famous philosophers. From the Greek by August Borheck [New edition]. Marix, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-86539-164-3 (Note in the imprint: "The text has been carefully revised." Contains a large number of typographical errors, for example in the rendering of the translator's name; the Borheck preface and the "message" appear here as the "Translator's Introduction".)
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Lives and opinions of famous philosophers . Book I – X. Translated from the Greek by Otto Apelt . Two volumes ( Philosophical Library . Vol. 53/54). Meiner, Leipzig 1921 (contains an important section of notes with text-critical and factual explanations as well as indexes. Digital copies in the Internet Archive: Volume 1 Volume 2 ).
- Licensed edition in the series “ Philosophical Study Texts ”: Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1955 (with a foreword by Marie Simon, Volume I, V-XII, here, XIf .: “The comments have been deleted if they are not necessary for understanding the text or explain Apelt's philological considerations that led him to his translation. ")
- Second edition. Newly edited with the collaboration of Hans Günter Zekl and provided with a foreword, introduction and new comments on the text and translation by Klaus Reich (= Philosophical Library Vol. 53/54), Hamburg 1967 (with extensive text-critical comments and the abridged version of Apelt's explanations) .
- Reprints or "special editions" of the second edition from 1967: Hamburg 1987, 1998 and 2008.
- Life and teaching of the philosophers. Translated from the Greek and edited by Fritz Jürß . Reclams Universal Library 1998, ISBN 978-3-15-009669-7
literature
Overview representations
- Tiziano Dorandi: Diogenes Laertios. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Hrsg.): Philosophy of the imperial era and late antiquity (= outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/1). Schwabe, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7965-3698-4 , pp. 461–471, 479–483
- Jørgen Mejer: Diogène Laërce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 824-833
Investigations
- Rise and Fall of the Roman World (ANRW) Series II Volumes 36.5 and 36.6. De Gruyter, Berlin 1992 (including 13 essays on Diogenes Laertios)
- Diogene Laerzio storico del pensiero antico (= Elenchos , vol. 7, Napoli 1986) (nine essays on Diogenes Laertios)
- Tiziano Dorandi: Laertiana . De Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-020914-3 (important for the history of reception)
- Christian Kaiser: The life of others in the mix of wisdom paths. Diogenes Laertios and the discourse on the philosophical way of life between late antiquity and early modern times. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-029301-2
- Jørgen Mejer: Diogenes Laertius and his Hellenistic Background. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1978, ISBN 3-515-02686-X
Web links
- Literature by and about Diogenes Laertios in the catalog of the German National Library
- Text editions and translations
- HS Long: Vitae , ancient Greek text, Oxford 1964.
- RD Hicks: Vitae , English translation and ancient Greek text, Cambridge 1925.
- Philippe Remacle: Vitae , ancient Greek text and French translation, Paris 1840.
- literature
- Raul Corazzon: Selected Bibliography , Milan 2010.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Diogenes Laertios. Life and teaching of the philosophers. Translated from the Greek and edited by Fritz Jürß . Reclams Universal Library 1998, ISBN 978-3-15-009669-7
- ↑ Oliver Overwien: Diogenes, Laertios. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 307.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Diogenes Laertios |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Diogenes Laertius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | ancient historian of philosophy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd century or 4th century |