Eubulides of Miletus

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Eubulides of Miletus ( ancient Greek Εὑβουλίδης Eubulídēs , Latinized Eubulides Milesius ) was an ancient Greek philosopher from Miletus . He lived in the 4th century BC. In the history of philosophy one counts him to the current of the Megarics .

Eubulides' writings are lost; only a few sparse testimony (ancient accounts of life and doctrine) have survived.

Life

The dates of Eubulides' life are unknown. A source reports that he is said to have defamed Aristotle in a document . There is a 342 or 341 BC. Aristotle's marriage assumed; it is also believed that the 335 BC Philip II, who died in BC, is the addressee of the slander. It follows that Eubulides wrote the relevant work in the period from 342 to 335 BC. Has drawn up. A misinformation is likely to be the claim that Demosthenes was supposed to have been a pupil of Eubulides. According to Diogenes Laertios , Eubulides is said to have been mentioned in an ancient comedy. There he is portrayed as a subtle and boastful eristic .

plant

The writings of Eubulides are lost. That Eubulides should have written a comedy called Zecher is likely to be misinformation.

Logical conclusions

Eubulides dealt with logical conclusions, in particular with fallacies . In ancient times, a distinction was made between different types of inference, which were given names to identify them. The following seven are said to have been mentioned in Eubulide's writings: the liar ( pseudómenos ; see the liar paradox ), the hidden ( dialanthánōn ), the Elektra ( Eléktra ), the veiled ( egkekalymménos ; see fallacy of the veiled ), the heap ( sōrítēs ; see paradox of the heap ), the horned ( keratínēs ; see horn question ) and the bald head ( phalakrós ; see Calvus ).

It is not known whether Eubulides was the originator of some of these inferences. Zeno von Elea had already used the cluster closure before . Around the time of Eubulides' life, Aristotle wrote an extensive work on fallacies, the sophistic refutations , in which the veiled and the liar appear. It is also unknown whether Eubulides only used the above conclusions for eristic purposes or whether he wanted to make an independent contribution to the science of logic .

Reversibility of statements

In Aristotle's Analytica priora , he assumes that three of the four categorical statements he made can be reversed . According to Alexander von Aphrodisias , however, Eubulides assumed that all four were convertible. The report by Themistios , who attributes to Eubulides the view that statements are irreversible, is contradicting this .

Lore

The main source on Eubulides is Diogenes Laertios. Further passages can be found in Eusebius of Caesarea, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Sextus Empiricus , Athenaios and Themistios. There are also a few brief mentions from other authors. Since 1990 one has been of the opinion that even in fragmentary excerpts of the 28th book of Epicurus On the Nature of Eubulides is mentioned. Another passage possibly relating to Eubulides has been preserved in Aristotle.

Source collections

  • Klaus Döring : The mega-riders. Annotated collection of testimony (= studies on ancient philosophy 2). Grüner, Amsterdam 1971, ISBN 90-6032-003-4
  • Gabriele Giannantoni (Ed.): Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae. Volume 1, Bibliopolis, Naples 1990, Section II-B ( online )
  • Robert Muller: Les mégariques. Fragments and témoignages. Vrin, Paris 1985, pp. 29-32

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea , Praeparatio evangelica 15,2,5.
  2. ↑ a b c Klaus Döring: Eubulides from Milet . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 215–218, here: p. 215.
  3. ^ A b Diogenes Laertios, On the life and teachings of famous philosophers 2,108
  4. ↑ Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 10.437d-10.437e.
  5. ↑ See the compilation of ancient reports in Robert Muller: Les mégariques. Fragments et témoignages, traduits et commentés par Robert Muller , Paris 1985, pp. 75-86.
  6. ^ Klaus Döring: Eubulides from Milet . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 215–218, here: p. 216.
  7. ^ A b Klaus Döring: Eubulides from Milet . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/1, Schwabe, Basel 1998, pp. 215–218, here: p. 217.
  8. ↑ Aristotle, Analytica priora 25a1-25a26.
  9. ↑ The passage has only been preserved in an Arabic translation and can be found, for example, in A. Badawi: Commentaires sur Aristote perdus en grec et autres épitres , Beirut 1971, p. 66.
  10. ↑ The passage is only available in an Arabic translation and can be found, for example, in A. Badawi: La transmission de la philosophie greque au monde arabe , 2nd edition, Paris 1987, p. 180.
  11. ^ Sextus Empiricus, Adversus mathematicos 7.13.
  12. ^ Gabriele Giannantoni: Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae , Volume 4, Naples 1990, p. 88.
personal data
SURNAME Eubulides of Miletus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eubulides Milesius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher and logician
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC Chr.