Phantasia and Mental Images: Neoplatonist Interpretations of De Anima, 3.3, 1991
By: Sheppard, Anne D., Blumenthal, Henry J. (Ed.), Robinson, Howard (Ed.)
Title Phantasia and Mental Images: Neoplatonist Interpretations of De Anima, 3.3
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1991
Published in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supplementary volume: Aristotle and the Later Tradition
Pages 165-173
Categories no categories
Author(s) Sheppard, Anne D.
Editor(s) Blumenthal, Henry J. , Robinson, Howard
Translator(s)
Aristotle’s treatment of phantasia in De anitna, 3 . 3 , is both suggestive and tantalizing: suggestive because Aristotle there seems to be trying to describe a capacity of the mind which cannot be identified either with sense-perception or with rational thought, a capacity which, if it is not the same as what we call ‘imagination’, at least has a good deal in common with it; but tantalizing because the chapter flits from one point to another and is hard to interpret as a consistent whole. There have been a number of recent attempts to make sense of the chapter and relate it to Aristotle’s other remarks about phantasia elsewhere.1 I shall briefly discuss three of these, which all make some use of modern discussions of imagination; in all three cases the way they see Aristotle’s position is affected by the account of imagination which they themselves favour. [p. 165]

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Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?, 1990
By: Blumenthal, Henry J., Sorabji, Richard (Ed.)
Title Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1990
Published in Aristotle Transformed. The ancient commentators and their influence
Pages 113-123
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Sorabji, Richard
Translator(s)
[B]oth the content of Themistius’ works, and such evidence as we have of the commentators’ attitudes to him, show that he was predominantly a Peripatetic. In this he stood out against the tendencies of his time. His frequently expressed admiration for Plato does not invalidate this conclusion. Themistius may rightly claim to have been the last major figure in antiquity who was a genuine follower of Aristotle. For him, unlike his contemporaries, Plato does not surpass the master of those who know but he, and Socrates, ‘innanzi agli altri piu presso gli stanno’. [Conclusion, p. 123]

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Simplicius and others on Aristotle’s discussions of reason, 1988
By: Blumenthal, Henry J., Duffy, John (Ed.), Peradotto, John J. (Ed.)
Title Simplicius and others on Aristotle’s discussions of reason
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1988
Published in Gonimos: Neoplatonic and Byzantine Studies presented to Leendert G. Westerink at 75
Pages 103-119
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Duffy, John , Peradotto, John J.
Translator(s)
What I want to do in this paper is to look at how Aristotle’s successors treated some points in his discussions of reason, and in particular the discussion in the De anima. bout their handling of relevant parts of the Nichomachaean Ethics we know very little, for unlike the De anima that treatise was not a major subject of study in the philosophical lectures and seminars of late antiquity. Though a commentary on some of it had been written by Aspasius, and notes by other, probably pre-Neoplatonic, hands survive,8 exposition of the Nicomachean Ethics seems to have been one of the gaps that the group of Aristotelians around Anna Comnena in twelfth-century Constantinople felt that they needed to fill. [pp. 104 f.]

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Alexander of Aphrodisias in the later Greek commentaries on Aristotle’s De Anima, 1987
By: Blumenthal, Henry J.
Title Alexander of Aphrodisias in the later Greek commentaries on Aristotle’s De Anima
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1987
Published in Aristoteles - Werk und Wirkung. Paul Moraux gewidmet. Bd. 2: Kommentierung, Überlieferung, Nachleben
Pages 90-106
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s)
Translator(s)
These are a few examples of how the Neoplatonist commenta­ tors confronted Alexander on matters where differences could hardly fail to arise. What happens is clear enough. But it would be wrong to think that these principles of interpretation are not applied at other points in the work. Let us take an apparently innocuous issue like the section where Aristotle discusses locomotion under the stimulus of the appetitive faculty (433 b 8sqq.). Alexander, giving a clearly Aristotelian explanation, said that the faculty was moved accidentally. Plutarch differed, and said that the activity of the appetitive faculty is movement: this Simplicius describes as a Pla­ tonic explanation, and prefers it (302,23-30).44 On the other hand, a few pages below Simplicius prefers Alexander to Plutarch on the question whether moving but ungenerated entities have sense-per­ ception (320,33-34): we have already looked at his and Stephanus’ account of this passage.45 As we indicated, Stephanus there quotes Alexander only to disagree with him, and here we have at least one piece of evidence to show that Neoplatonist commentators could take a different view of the same passage. If we had more examples of texts where Alexander’s views of the De anima were discussed by more than one of his successors, we should be able to form a clearer picture of how far the different commentators were prepared to accept them, and thus incidentally of the precise differences between these commentators themselves on the points at issue. [pp. 90 f.]

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Plotinus in later Platonism, 1981
By: Blumenthal, Henry J. (Ed.), Markus, R. A. (Ed.), Blumenthal, Henry J.
Title Plotinus in later Platonism
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1981
Published in Neoplatonism and early Christian thought: Essays in honour of A.H. Armstrong
Pages 212-222
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Blumenthal, Henry J. , Markus, R. A.
Translator(s)
To us, Plotinus was the founder of Neoplatonism. Many of his ideas were not new, but the overall structure of his thought, its power, and its great measure of internal consistency differentiate his work unmistakeably from what went before—and much of what came after, dependent as much of it was on his achievement. Did Plotinus’ Neoplatonic successors think of him in this way? [p. 212]

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  • PAGE 2 OF 2
Soul Vehicles in Simplicius, 1993
By: Blumenthal, Henry J., Blumenthal, Henry J. (Ed.)
Title Soul Vehicles in Simplicius
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1993
Published in Soul and intellect: Studies in Plotinus and later Neoplatonism
Pages 173-188
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Translator(s)
There has been a not inconsiderable amount of discussion of the nature and function of the "exiftia — or exochema — the body or bodies made of not quite bodily substance which served as an intermediary between body and soul in various Neoplatonisms from Porphyry, or even arguably Plotinus, down to and including Proclus. Rather less attention, and, in Simplicius’ case virtually none, has been paid to the nature and role of such intermediary vehicles in the Neoplatonist commentators on Aristotle. The purpose of the following pages will be to examine the use of the concept in Simplicius. [Introduction, p. 173]

{"_index":"sire","_type":"_doc","_id":"896","_score":null,"_ignored":["booksection.book.abstract.keyword"],"_source":{"id":896,"authors_free":[{"id":1322,"entry_id":896,"agent_type":null,"is_normalised":null,"person_id":108,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","free_first_name":"Henry J.","free_last_name":"Blumenthal","norm_person":{"id":108,"first_name":"Henry J.","last_name":"Blumenthal","full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/1051543967","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}},{"id":2442,"entry_id":896,"agent_type":"person","is_normalised":1,"person_id":108,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"},"free_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","free_first_name":"Henry J.","free_last_name":"Blumenthal","norm_person":{"id":108,"first_name":"Henry J.","last_name":"Blumenthal","full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/1051543967","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}}],"entry_title":"Soul Vehicles in Simplicius","main_title":{"title":"Soul Vehicles in Simplicius"},"abstract":"There has been a not inconsiderable amount of discussion of the nature and function of the \"exiftia \u2014 or exochema \u2014 the body or bodies made of not quite bodily substance which served as an intermediary between body and soul in various Neoplatonisms from Porphyry, or even arguably Plotinus, down to and including Proclus. Rather less attention, and, in Simplicius\u2019 case virtually none, has been paid to the nature and role of such intermediary vehicles in the Neoplatonist commentators on Aristotle. The purpose of the following pages will be to examine the use of the concept in Simplicius. [Introduction, p. 173]","btype":2,"date":"1993","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/TVpisoEkoNEZkWU","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":108,"full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":108,"full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":896,"section_of":214,"pages":"173-188","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":214,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":null,"type":1,"language":"en","title":"Soul and intellect: Studies in Plotinus and later Neoplatonism","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"Blumenthal1993c","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"1993","edition_no":null,"free_date":"1993","abstract":"This book presents a series of Dr. Blumenthal\u2019s studies on the history of Neoplatonism, from its founder Plotinus to the end of Classical Antiquity, relating especially to the Neoplatonists\u2019 doctrines about the soul. The work falls into two parts. The first deals with Plotinus and considers the soul both as part of the structure of the universe and in its capacity as the basis of the individual\u2019s vital and cognitive functions. The second part is concerned with the later history of Neoplatonism, including its end. Its main focus is the investigation of how Neoplatonic psychology was modified and developed by later philosophers, in particular the commentators on Aristotle, and used as the starting point for their Platonizing interpretations of his philosophy.","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/o9PFSmbWfnXTRz5","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":214,"pubplace":"Aldershot (Hampshire)","publisher":"Variorum","series":"Variorum collected studies series","volume":"426","edition_no":"","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":["Soul Vehicles in Simplicius"]}

The Role of the Commentaries on Aristotle in the Teaching of Philosophy according to the Prefaces of the Neoplatonic Commentaries on the Categories, 1991
By: Hadot, Ilsetraut, Blumenthal, Henry J. (Ed.), Robinson, Howard (Ed.)
Title The Role of the Commentaries on Aristotle in the Teaching of Philosophy according to the Prefaces of the Neoplatonic Commentaries on the Categories
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1991
Published in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supplementary volume: Aristotle and the Later Tradition
Pages 175-189
Categories no categories
Author(s) Hadot, Ilsetraut
Editor(s) Blumenthal, Henry J. , Robinson, Howard
Translator(s)
n 19671 had  only  just  begun  to  study  Simplicius’  commentary  on  Epictetus’ 
Enchiridion, and I had had at that time my first few doubts about whether 
Praechter’s  views  on  the  dogmatic  position  of Alexandrian  Neo­
platonism were well founded.2 Praechter had at least formulated these 
views in the form of hypotheses, but despite his circumspection, they 
had quickly become unassailable certainties for historians, universally 
admired and accepted for over fifty years. It was just at this point that I 
came  across  the  contribution  of A. C.  Lloyd,  who  dared  to say3 that 
Praechter had  misread or read too hastily the passages in Simplicius’ 
commentary on Epictetus which referred to first principles, on which 
Praechter  largely  based  his  theory.  It  was  Lloyd  again,  in  the  same 
paper,4  who  put  historians  of philosophy  on  their  guard  against the tendency  (likewise  deriving from  Praechter)  to  minimize,  or even  to 
refuse to acknowledge, the importance of the fact that for a long time all 
the  Neoplatonists  believed  in  a  fundamental  agreement  between 
Plato’s  philosophy  and  Aristotle’s.  In  my  book  Le Problème du néo­
platonisme alexandrin: Hiéroclès et Simplicius’ I simply followed the track 
marked  out  by  Lloyd.  And  even  now,  in  the  translation  with  com­
mentary of Simplicius’ commentary on the  Categories which has been 
undertaken under my editorship,5 61 am attempting to carry further the 
critique of Praechter’s hypotheses which Lloyd began.This will also be the case in the present paper, which will bring out 
some  of  the  results  which  might  be  reached  by  working  on  the 
Neoplatonic commentaries on Aristotle’s  Categories. [pp. 175 f.]

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It was just at this point that I \r\ncame across the contribution of A. C. Lloyd, who dared to say3 that \r\nPraechter had misread or read too hastily the passages in Simplicius\u2019 \r\ncommentary on Epictetus which referred to first principles, on which \r\nPraechter largely based his theory. It was Lloyd again, in the same \r\npaper,4 who put historians of philosophy on their guard against the tendency (likewise deriving from Praechter) to minimize, or even to \r\nrefuse to acknowledge, the importance of the fact that for a long time all \r\nthe Neoplatonists believed in a fundamental agreement between \r\nPlato\u2019s philosophy and Aristotle\u2019s. In my book Le Probl\u00e8me du n\u00e9o\u00ad\r\nplatonisme alexandrin: Hi\u00e9rocl\u00e8s et Simplicius\u2019 I simply followed the track \r\nmarked out by Lloyd. And even now, in the translation with com\u00ad\r\nmentary of Simplicius\u2019 commentary on the Categories which has been \r\nundertaken under my editorship,5 61 am attempting to carry further the \r\ncritique of Praechter\u2019s hypotheses which Lloyd began.This will also be the case in the present paper, which will bring out \r\nsome of the results which might be reached by working on the \r\nNeoplatonic commentaries on Aristotle\u2019s Categories. [pp. 175 f.]","btype":2,"date":"1991","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/XguF7or4lVRgRJ5","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":4,"full_name":"Hadot, Ilsetraut","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":108,"full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}},{"id":139,"full_name":"Robinson, Howard ","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":640,"section_of":354,"pages":"175-189","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":354,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":null,"type":4,"language":"en","title":"Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supplementary volume: Aristotle and the Later Tradition","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"Blumenthal\/Robinson1991","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"1991","edition_no":null,"free_date":"1991","abstract":"","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/anTH9fx9QKBfykf","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":354,"pubplace":"Oxford","publisher":"Clarendon Press","series":"Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy","volume":"","edition_no":"","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":["The Role of the Commentaries on Aristotle in the Teaching of Philosophy according to the Prefaces of the Neoplatonic Commentaries on the Categories"]}

The commentators: their identity and their background, 1996
By: Blumenthal, Henry J., Blumenthal, Henry J. (Ed.)
Title The commentators: their identity and their background
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1996
Published in Aristotle and Neoplatonism in late antiquity: Interpretations of the "De Anima"
Pages 35-51
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Translator(s)

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The writings of the De anima commentators, 1996
By: Blumenthal, Henry J., Blumenthal, Henry J. (Ed.)
Title The writings of the De anima commentators
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1996
Published in Aristotle and Neoplatonism in late antiquity: Interpretations of the "De Anima"
Pages 53-71
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Translator(s)
So far we have discussed the work of our commentators as if it was 
simply scholarship  and  philosophical exposition,  whether of their own 
philosophy or that of Aristotle which most of them held to be fundamen­
tally the same. There is, however, another aspect of the commentaries 
which, while not prominent, should not be forgotten. That is the way in 
which doing such work was an integral part of a life aimed at the greatest 
possible degree of return to that higher reality from which the commenta­
tors  saw  human  life  as  a  decline  and  separation.  It  is  becoming 
increasingly better understood that for the great majority of Greek philo­
sophers, philosophy was not only a way of thinking but a way of life.70 The 
late Neoplatonists  seem  to have gone  even further,  and  regarded  the 
production of commentaries as a kind of service to the divine, much as a 
Christian monk who engaged in scholarship would have seen it in that 
light So we find at the end of Simplicius’ commentary on the De caelo what 
can only be described as a prayer: ‘Oh lord and artificer of the universe 
and the simple bodies in it, to you and all that has been brought into being 
by you I offer this work as a hymn, being eager to see as a revelation the 
magnitude of your works and to proclaim it to those who are worthy, so 
that thinking no  mean  or mortal  thoughts  about  you  we  may  make 
obeisance to you in accordance with the high place you occupy in respect 
of all that is produced by you’ (731.25-9). Those who think that ancient 
philosophy ceased to be of interest some three and a half centuries before 
these words were written and who may from time to time consult Sim­
plicius for an opinion on the meaning of an Aristotelian text, are unlikely 
ever to see these words, or those that come at the end of the commentary 
on the Enckeiridion (138.22-3). Without them they cannot fully under­
stand the nature of works beyond whose surface they never penetrate, 
works whose very composition could be seen as an act of reverence to the 
gods of paganism. [Conclusion, p. 71]

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There is, however, another aspect of the commentaries \r\nwhich, while not prominent, should not be forgotten. That is the way in \r\nwhich doing such work was an integral part of a life aimed at the greatest \r\npossible degree of return to that higher reality from which the commenta\u00ad\r\ntors saw human life as a decline and separation. It is becoming \r\nincreasingly better understood that for the great majority of Greek philo\u00ad\r\nsophers, philosophy was not only a way of thinking but a way of life.70 The \r\nlate Neoplatonists seem to have gone even further, and regarded the \r\nproduction of commentaries as a kind of service to the divine, much as a \r\nChristian monk who engaged in scholarship would have seen it in that \r\nlight So we find at the end of Simplicius\u2019 commentary on the De caelo what \r\ncan only be described as a prayer: \u2018Oh lord and artificer of the universe \r\nand the simple bodies in it, to you and all that has been brought into being \r\nby you I offer this work as a hymn, being eager to see as a revelation the \r\nmagnitude of your works and to proclaim it to those who are worthy, so \r\nthat thinking no mean or mortal thoughts about you we may make \r\nobeisance to you in accordance with the high place you occupy in respect \r\nof all that is produced by you\u2019 (731.25-9). Those who think that ancient \r\nphilosophy ceased to be of interest some three and a half centuries before \r\nthese words were written and who may from time to time consult Sim\u00ad\r\nplicius for an opinion on the meaning of an Aristotelian text, are unlikely \r\never to see these words, or those that come at the end of the commentary \r\non the Enckeiridion (138.22-3). Without them they cannot fully under\u00ad\r\nstand the nature of works beyond whose surface they never penetrate, \r\nworks whose very composition could be seen as an act of reverence to the \r\ngods of paganism. [Conclusion, p. 71]","btype":2,"date":"1996","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/1xXItSZspUfzEIR","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":108,"full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":108,"full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":927,"section_of":213,"pages":"53-71","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":213,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":null,"type":1,"language":"en","title":"Aristotle and Neoplatonism in late antiquity: Interpretations of the \"De Anima\"","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"Blumenthal1996a","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"1996","edition_no":null,"free_date":"1996","abstract":"Steven Strange, Emory UniversityScholars have traditionally used the Aristotelian commentators as sources for lost philosophical works and occasionally also as aids to understanding Aristotle. In H. J. Blumenthal's view, however, the commentators often assumed that there was a Platonist philosophy to which not only they but Aristotle himself subscribed. Their expository writing usually expressed their versions of Neoplatonist philosophy. Blumenthal here places the commentators in their intellectual and historical contexts, identifies their philosophical views, and demonstrates their tendency to read Aristotle as if he were a member of their philosophical circle.This book focuses on the commentators' exposition of Aristotle's treatise De anima (On the Soul), because it is relatively well documented and because the concept of soul was so important in all Neoplatonic systems. Blumenthal explains how the Neoplatonizing of Aristotle's thought, as well as the widespread use of the commentators' works, influenced the understanding of Aristotle in both the Islamic and Judaeo-Christian traditions.H. J. Blumenthal is the author or coeditor of six previous books and is currently preparing a two-volume translation, with introduction and commentary, of Simplicius' Commentary on \"De anima\" for publication in Cornell's series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle.","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/fixlFMqtKju8xdW","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":213,"pubplace":"London","publisher":"Duckworth","series":"","volume":"","edition_no":"","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":["The writings of the De anima commentators"]}

Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?, 1990
By: Blumenthal, Henry J., Sorabji, Richard (Ed.)
Title Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 1990
Published in Aristotle Transformed. The ancient commentators and their influence
Pages 113-123
Categories no categories
Author(s) Blumenthal, Henry J.
Editor(s) Sorabji, Richard
Translator(s)
[B]oth the content of Themistius’ works, and such evidence as we 
have  of  the  commentators’  attitudes  to  him,  show  that  he  was 
predominantly a Peripatetic. In this he stood out against the tendencies 
of  his  time.  His  frequently  expressed  admiration  for  Plato  does  not 
invalidate this conclusion. Themistius may rightly claim to have been the 
last major figure in antiquity who was a genuine follower of Aristotle. For 
him,  unlike  his  contemporaries,  Plato  does  not  surpass  the  master  of 
those  who know but he,  and  Socrates, ‘innanzi agli  altri  piu presso gli 
stanno’. [Conclusion, p. 123]

{"_index":"sire","_type":"_doc","_id":"875","_score":null,"_ignored":["booksection.book.abstract.keyword"],"_source":{"id":875,"authors_free":[{"id":1285,"entry_id":875,"agent_type":null,"is_normalised":null,"person_id":108,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","free_first_name":"Henry J.","free_last_name":"Blumenthal","norm_person":{"id":108,"first_name":"Henry J.","last_name":"Blumenthal","full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/1051543967","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}},{"id":1286,"entry_id":875,"agent_type":null,"is_normalised":null,"person_id":133,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"},"free_name":"Sorabji, Richard","free_first_name":"Richard","free_last_name":"Sorabji","norm_person":{"id":133,"first_name":"Richard","last_name":"Sorabji","full_name":"Sorabji, Richard","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/130064165","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}}],"entry_title":"Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?","main_title":{"title":"Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?"},"abstract":"[B]oth the content of Themistius\u2019 works, and such evidence as we \r\nhave of the commentators\u2019 attitudes to him, show that he was \r\npredominantly a Peripatetic. In this he stood out against the tendencies \r\nof his time. His frequently expressed admiration for Plato does not \r\ninvalidate this conclusion. Themistius may rightly claim to have been the \r\nlast major figure in antiquity who was a genuine follower of Aristotle. For \r\nhim, unlike his contemporaries, Plato does not surpass the master of \r\nthose who know but he, and Socrates, \u2018innanzi agli altri piu presso gli \r\nstanno\u2019. [Conclusion, p. 123]","btype":2,"date":"1990","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/qUf0DABj9Bcfzr5","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":108,"full_name":"Blumenthal, Henry J.","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":133,"full_name":"Sorabji, Richard","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":875,"section_of":1453,"pages":"113-123","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":1453,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":"reference","type":4,"language":"en","title":"Aristotle Transformed. The ancient commentators and their influence","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"1990","edition_no":null,"free_date":null,"abstract":"This book brings together twenty articles giving a comprehensive view of the work of the Aristotelian commentators. First published in 1990, the collection is now brought up to date with a new introduction by Richard Sorabji. New generations of scholars will benefit from this reissuing of classic essays, including seminal works by major scholars, and the volume gives a comprehensive background to the work of the project on the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, which has published over 100 volumes of translations since 1987 and has disseminated these crucial texts to scholars worldwide.\r\n\r\nThe importance of the commentators is partly that they represent the thought and classroom teaching of the Aristotelian and Neoplatonist schools and partly that they provide a panorama of a thousand years of ancient Greek philosophy, revealing many original quotations from lost works. Even more significant is the profound influence - uncovered in some of the chapters of this book - that they exert on later philosophy, Islamic and Western. Not only did they preserve anti-Aristotelian material which helped inspire Medieval and Renaissance science, but they present Aristotle in a form that made him acceptable to the Christian church. It is not Aristotle, but Aristotle transformed and embedded in the philosophy of the commentators that so often lies behind the views of later thinkers. [author's abstract]","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/M8lXuAdHpDW8tvu","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":1453,"pubplace":"London","publisher":"Duckworth","series":"","volume":"","edition_no":"1","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":["Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?"]}

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