Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to PorphyryGeorge Karamanolis breaks new ground in the study of later ancient philosophy by examining the interplay of the two main schools of thought, Platonism and Aristotelianism, from the first century BC to the third century AD. From the time of Antiochus and for the next four centuries Platonists were strongly preoccupied with the question of how Aristotle's philosophy compared with the Platonic model. Scholars have usually classified Platonists into two groups, the orthodox ones and the eclectics or syncretists, depending on whether Platonists rejected Aristotle's philosophy as a whole or accepted some Peripatetic doctrines. Karamanolis argues against this dichotomy. He argues that Platonists turned to Aristotle only in order to discover and elucidate Plato's doctrines and thus to reconstruct Plato's philosophy, and they did not hesitate to criticize Aristotle when judging him to be at odds with Plato. For them, Aristotle was merely auxlilary to their accessing and understanding Plato. Platonists were guided in their judgement about Aristotle's proximity to, or distance from, Plato by their own assumptions about what Plato's doctrines were. Also crucial for their judgement were their views about which philosophical issues particularly mattered. Given the diversity of views rehearsed in Plato's works, Platonists were flexible enough to decide which were Plato's own doctrines. The real reason behind the rejection of Aristotle's testimony was not to defend the purity of Plato's philosophy, as Platonists sometimes argued in a rhetorical fashion. Aristotle's testimony was rejected, rather, because Platonists assumed that Plato's doctrines were views found in Plato's work which Aristotle had discarded or criticized. The evaluation of Aristotle's testimony on the part of the Platonists also depends on their interpretation of Aristotle himself. This is particularly clear in the case of Porphyry, with whom the ancient discussion reaches a conclusion which most later Platonists accepted. While essentially in agreement with Plotinus's interpretation of Plato, Porphyry interpreted Aristotle in such a way that the latter appeared to agree essentially with Plato on all significant philosophical questions, a view which was dominant until the Renaissance. Karamanolis argues that Porphyry's view of Aristotle's philosophy guided him to become the first Platonist to write commentaries on Aristotle's works. |
Contents
| 1 | |
1 Antiochus of Ascalon | 44 |
2 Plutarch | 85 |
3 Numenius | 127 |
4 Atticus | 150 |
5 Ammonius Saccas | 191 |
6 Plotinus | 216 |
7 Porphyry | 243 |
The Platonism of Aristotle and of the Early Peripatetics | 331 |
List of Works of Platonists on Aristotles Philosophy | 337 |
Bibliography | 340 |
| 363 | |
| 379 | |
Other editions - View all
Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to ... George E. Karamanolis No preview available - 2013 |
Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?:Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to ... George E. Karamanolis No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
Acad Academics accepted according actually already Ammonius amounts ancients anima Antiochus appears Arcesilaus argues argument Aristotelian Aristotle’s Aristotle’s philosophy assume Atticus authority becomes believe body Categories cause claim comes commentary conception concerned considered criticism crucial dialogues Dillon discussion distinction distinguishes diVerent divine early entities especially essentially ethics evidence existence fact Forms fragments further given Hierocles human immanent important instance intellect intelligible interpretation issue kind knowledge later living maintained matter means metaphysics mind nature Numenius object ŒÆd particular passage Peripatetics Philo philosophy Places Plato and Aristotle Plato’s doctrine Plato’s philosophy Platonists Plotinus Plutarch Porphyry Porphyry’s position possible presented principle probably Pythagorean question rational reason refers regards rejected relation seems seen sense similar Simplicius soul Stoic substance suggests takes Taurus term theory things thinking thought Timaeus transcendent treatise understanding virtue Wrst