John Philoponos

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Johannes Philoponos (* approx. 490 in Alexandria ; † approx. 575) was a late antique Christian philosopher and scientist. His epithet Philoponos means "the work lover" and describes either his personal diligence or his membership in a brotherhood of Christian lay workers, the "Philoponoi". He was also known as "the grammarian", an epithet he used himself. In the manuscripts of his works he is also called "John of Alexandria".

Life

Little is known about the life of Philoponos. He was a Christian from birth, lived in Alexandria and studied there from around 510 under the pagan Neoplatonist Ammonios Hermeiou , who, in contrast to the Neoplatonists of the Athens School, also accepted Christian students. After the death of Ammonios (around 520) he edited his Aristotle commentaries. As his name suggests, he was probably a grammar teacher. When the Neoplatonic school in Athens, which continued the tradition of the Platonic Academy , was closed on the orders of Emperor Justinian in 529, one of the teachers there, the philosopher Simplikios , attacked Philoponos directly in an anti-Christian polemic, and John argued in writing a pamphlet against the Neoplatonic assumption of an eternity of the world for the Christian doctrine of creation.

Works

Philoponos' commentary on the categories of Aristotle in the manuscript Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, D 54 sup., Fol. 65r
Philoponos, De usu astrolabii eiusque constructione in the manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut, written in 1381/1382. 28,16, fol. 272r

In the first phase of his literary activity (up to the 530s) Philoponos wrote mainly commentaries on the works of Aristotle. He commented on De anima , the categories , De generatione et corruptione , physics , the Analytica priora , the Analytica posteriora and the Meteorologica . Against the Aristotelian doctrine, also represented by Neoplatonists, of the eternity of the world, he turned in two pamphlets; the first, “On the Eternity of the World against Proclus”, was written in 529, the second, “On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle”, has only survived in fragments.

In the second phase, around the middle of the century, Philoponos devoted himself mainly to theological topics. His theological works include the text “On the Creation of the World” ( De opificio mundi , a commentary on the Hexaemeron ) from 557/560 , Diaitetes (Latin Arbiter ), Tmemata , a letter to Emperor Justinian, “About Easter”, “About the Trinity ”and“ On the Resurrection ”.

Teaching

In his writings on Aristotle, Philoponos deals critically and argumentatively with Aristotelianism . Understanding his statements is made more difficult by the fact that he does not always state clearly which positions he takes from which philosophers (perhaps only temporarily in order to refute them later) and which theses he explicitly contradicts.

In research, the question of the extent to which a development of his philosophy is to be assumed that led from Neoplatonism and Neoplatonic understanding of Aristotle to an emphasis on specifically Christian doctrines in a sharp demarcation from incompatible non-Christian conceptions is controversial. While some researchers, including Richard Sorabji and Clemens Scholten, emphasize the aspect of continuity and consider the early Aristotle commentaries to be Christian, Koenraad Verrycken sees a “radical break” in the life and work of Philoponos, which he saw in the time of the closure of the Neoplatonic School in Athens dated 529. Before 529 Philoponos essentially represented the Neoplatonic cosmology and ontology of his teacher Ammonios; he was "Neoplatonist in the full sense of the word". At that time he tried to harmonize Plato and Aristotle in the spirit of Ammonius and interpreted Aristotle as Neoplatonic. In Aristotle he saw a Platonist who only defended himself against misinterpretations of Plato's authentic teaching. The complex doctrine of the prominent Neo-Platonist Proclus of the intelligible world has been simplified by Philoponus and Ammonius. But then he made an abrupt turn in 529, which was probably opportunistically motivated; henceforth he represented a decidedly Christian philosophy, clearly differentiating it from Neoplatonism.

Verrycken bases his view on research results that point to a revision of the Physics Commentary after 529 . He comes to the conclusion that the Aristotle commentaries can be divided into two groups. One group includes commentaries that Philoponos did not significantly revise, but left in their version from before 529. He worked on the other group ( Physics , Analytica posteriora , Meteorologica ): in the physics commentary, he added the denial of the doctrine of the eternity of the world, but left other passages in which the eternity doctrine is defended unchanged. In the commentary on the Analytica posteriora , he inserted passages that contradict the positions of his teacher Ammonios. As part of his turning away from the Neoplatonism of Ammonius, he gave up the harmonization of Plato and Aristotle and now played Plato against Aristotle within the framework of his Christian philosophy. To this end, he literally interpreted the creation myth in Plato's dialogue Timaeus and thus made Plato an ally in the struggle for the Christian doctrine of creation; Plato represented a theistic conception of God and regarded matter as created in time. With regard to the doctrine of ideas he now emphasized - historically correct - the contrast between Platonism and Aristotelianism and pointed out that Aristotle fundamentally rejected the doctrine of ideas and did not just want to distance himself from misinterpretations.

Philoponos criticized Aristotle's theory of movement and replaced it with his theory of impetus .

From the 550s onwards, Philoponos dealt in depth with the then controversial christological problem, the question of the divine and human nature of Christ. He represented a "miaphysitic" position, a moderate monophysitism or - according to his own understanding - miaphysitism, that is, the union of the two natures in Christ into a single nature (mía phýsis) , whereby the difference between the two natures does not disappear.

reception

The Orthodox Reich Church condemned Philoponos as a Monophysite heretic in 680/81, which prevented further reception of his theological works.

The Aristotle commentaries by Philoponos still exerted an influence on philosophical thought in the Byzantine Empire , in Baghdad and later in Western Europe. For example, his commentary on Aristotelian physics was used by the Arab philosopher Ibn Bagga in the 12th century. In the early modern period , his corrections to Aristotelian physics were of great importance in the context of the physical theories of that time.

Text output (partly with translation)

  • Ioannis Philoponi (olim Ammonii) in Aristotelis categorias commentarium , ed. Adolf Busse , Reimer, Berlin 1898 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 13/1)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis analytica priora commentaria , ed. Max Wallies , Reimer, Berlin 1905 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 13/2)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis analytica posteriora commentaria cum anonymo in librum II , ed. Max Wallies, Reimer, Berlin 1909 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 13/3)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis meteorologicorum librum primum commentarium , ed. Michael Hayduck , Reimer, Berlin 1901 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 14/1)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis libros de generatione et corruptione commentaria , ed. Girolamo Vitelli , Reimer, Berlin 1897 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 14/2)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis de anima libros commentaria , ed. Michael Hayduck, Reimer, Berlin 1897 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 15)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis physicorum libros tres priores commentaria , ed. Girolamo Vitelli, Reimer, Berlin 1887 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 16)
  • Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis physicorum libros quinque posteriores commentaria , ed. Girolamo Vitelli, Reimer, Berlin 1888 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 17)
  • Johannes Philoponos: De opificio mundi. On the creation of the world , translated and introduced by Clemens Scholten, 3 volumes, Herder, Freiburg 1997 ( Fontes Christiani 23) (Greek text based on the edition by Walther Reichardt 1897 and German translation)
  • Johannes Philoponos: De aeternitate mundi. About the Eternity of the World , translated and introduced by Clemens Scholten, 5 volumes, Brepols, Turnhout 2009–2011 ( Fontes Christiani 64) (Greek text based on the edition by Rabe 1899 and German translation)
  • Johannes Philoponos: De usu astrolabii eiusque constructione. About the use of the astrolabe and its manufacture , ed. Alfred Stückelberger , de Gruyter, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-040221-6 (critical edition with translation and explanations)

Translations

German

  • Johannes Philoponos, Grammatikos of Alexandria (6th century AD): Selected writings , ed. Walter Böhm, Schöningh, Munich 1967

English

  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Categories 1-5, with Philoponus: A Treatise Concerning the Whole and the Parts , trans. by Riin Sirkel, Martin Tweedale, John Harris, Daniel King, Bloomsbury, London 2015, ISBN 978-1-47258-410-6
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Meteorology 1.1-3 , trans. by Inna Kupreeva, Bloomsbury, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-4725-5821-3
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4-9.12 , trans. by Inna Kupreeva, Bloomsbury, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-4725-5820-6
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On the Soul 1.1-2 , trans. by Philip J. van der Eijk , Duckworth, London 2005, ISBN 0-7156-3306-6
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On the Soul 1.3-5 , trans. by Philip J. van der Eijk, Duckworth, London 2006, ISBN 0-7156-3307-4
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On the Soul 2.1-6 , trans. by William Charlton, Duckworth, London 2005, ISBN 0-7156-3235-3
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On the Soul 2.7-12 , trans. by William Charlton, Duckworth, London 2005, ISBN 0-7156-3305-8
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle on the Intellect (de Anima 3.4-8) , trans. by William Charlton, 2nd edition, Bloomsbury, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-7809-3437-2
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle's "On the Soul 3.1-8" , trans. by William Charlton, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York) 2000, ISBN 0-8014-3688-5
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle's "On the Soul 3.9-13", with Stephanus: On Aristotle's "On Interpretation" , trans. by William Charlton, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York) 2000, ISBN 0-8014-3795-4
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 1.1-3 , trans. by Catherine Osborne, Duckworth, London 2006, ISBN 0-7156-3409-7
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 1.4-9 , trans. by Catherine Osborne, Duckworth, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-7156-3787-6
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 2 , trans. by Alan R. Lacey, Duckworth, London 1993, ISBN 0-7156-2433-4
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 3 , trans. by Mark J. Edwards, Duckworth, London 1994, ISBN 0-7156-2616-7
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 4.6-9 , trans. by Pamela Huby , Bloomsbury, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-4725-3916-8
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 5-8, with Simplicius, On Aristotle on the Void , trans. by Paul Lettinck and James O. Urmson, Duckworth, London 1994, ISBN 0-7156-2493-8
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 1.1-8 , trans. by Richard McKirahan, Duckworth, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7156-3667-1
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 1.1-5 , trans. by Christopher JF Williams , 2nd edition, Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-0-7156-2852-2
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 1.6-2.4 , trans. by Christopher JF Williams, Duckworth, London 1999, ISBN 0-7156-2854-2
  • Philoponus: On Aristotle, On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 2.5-11 , trans. by Inna Kupreeva, Duckworth, London 2005, ISBN 0-7156-3304-X
  • Philoponus: Against Aristotle, on the Eternity of the World , trans. by Christian Wildberg , Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York) 1987, ISBN 0-8014-2052-0
  • Philoponus: Against Proclus, On the Eternity of the World 1-5 , trans. by Michael Share, Duckworth, London 2004, ISBN 0-7156-3233-7
  • Philoponus: Against Proclus's "On the Eternity of the World 6-8" , trans. by Michael Share, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York) 2005, ISBN 0-8014-4217-6
  • Philoponus: Against Proclus, On the Eternity of the World 12-18 , trans. by James Wilberding, Duckworth, London 2006, ISBN 0-7156-3410-0
  • Philoponus: Corollaries on Place and Void, with Simplicius: Against Philoponus on the Eternity of the World , trans. by David J. Furley and Christian Wildberg, Duckworth, London 1991, ISBN 0-7156-2250-1

Latin (medieval)

  • Jean Philopon: Commentaire sur le De Anima d'Aristote. Traduction de Guillaume de Moerbeke , ed. Gérard Verbeke, Publications Universitaires de Louvain, Louvain 1966 ( Corpus Latinum commentariorum in Aristotelem Graecorum 3)

Latin (humanistic)

  • Johannis Philoponi commentariae annotationes in libros priorum resolutivorum Aristotelis , translated by Guillelmus Dorotheus, with an introduction by Koenraad Verrycken and Charles Lohr, Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1994, ISBN 3-7728-1224-4 (reprint of the Venice 1541 edition; Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca: Versiones latinae temporis resuscitatarum litterarum 4)
  • Johannis Philoponi commentaria in libros posteriorum Aristotelis , translated by Andreas Gratiolus and Philippus Theodosius, with an introduction by Koenraad Verrycken and Charles Lohr, Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1995, ISBN 3-7728-1225-2 (reprint of the Venice 1542 edition; Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca: Versiones latinae temporis resuscitatarum litterarum 5)
  • Johannis Philoponi commentaria in libros de generatione et corruptione Aristotelis , translated by Hieronymus Bagolinus, with an introduction by Frans AJ de Haas, Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 2004, ISBN 3-7728-1231-7 (reprint of the Venice 1558 edition; Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca: Versiones latinae temporis resuscitatarum litterarum 10)
  • Johannis Philoponi commentaria in libros physicorum , translated by Guillelmus Dorotheus, ed. Charles Lohr, Minerva, Frankfurt a. M. 1984, ISBN 978-3-86598-150-9 (reprint of the Venice 1554 edition; Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca: Versiones latinae 5A)

literature

Overview and overall representations

Investigations on individual topics

  • Ludwig Fladerer: Johannes Philoponos “De opificio mundi”. Late antique language thinking and Christian exegesis . Teubner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-519-07684-5
  • Frans AJ de Haas: John Philoponus' new definition of prime matter. Aspects of its background in Neoplatonism and the ancient commentary tradition . Brill, Leiden 1997, ISBN 90-04-10446-1
  • Clemens Scholten: Ancient natural philosophy and Christian cosmology in the book "De opificio mundi" by Johannes Philoponos (= Patristic texts and studies , 45). De Gruyter, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-11-014834-X
  • Richard Sorabji (Ed.): Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science . Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York) 1987, ISBN 0-8014-2049-0
  • Christian Wildberg: John Philoponus' Criticism of Aristotle's Theory of Aether . De Gruyter, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-11-010446-6

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ For his names see Richard Sorabji: John Philoponus . In: Richard Sorabji (ed.): Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science , Ithaca 1987, pp. 1-40, here: 5 f .; Koenraad Verrycken: Johannes Philoponos . In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christianentum , Vol. 18, Stuttgart 1998, Sp. 534–553, here: 535.
  2. ↑ Clemens Scholten: Ancient natural philosophy and Christian cosmology in the book "De opificio mundi" by Johannes Philoponos , Berlin 1996, p. 103 ff.
  3. ^ Koenraad Verrycken: Johannes Philoponos . In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christianentum , Vol. 18, Stuttgart 1998, Sp. 534–553, here: 535 ff .; Clemens Scholten is skeptical about this: Johannes Philoponos: De aeternitate mundi. About the Eternity of the World , Volume 1, Turnhout 2009, pp. 58–65, 177 ff.
  4. ↑ Clemens Scholten: Ancient natural philosophy and Christian cosmology in the book "De opificio mundi" by Johannes Philoponos , Berlin 1996, p. 195 ff.
  5. ^ Koenraad Verrycken: Johannes Philoponos . In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christianentum , Vol. 18, Stuttgart 1998, Sp. 534–553, here: 547–549.
personal data
SURNAME Philoponos, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John of Alexandria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek (ancient) philosopher and scientist
DATE OF BIRTH at 490
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria
DATE OF DEATH at 575