Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature, 2012
By: Horn, Christoph (Ed.), Wilberding, James (Ed.)
Title Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Type Edited Book
Language English
Date 2012
Publication Place Oxford
Publisher Oxford University Press
Categories no categories
Author(s)
Editor(s) Horn, Christoph , Wilberding, James
Translator(s)
Despite Platonism’s unquestioned claim to being one of the most influential movements in the history of philosophy, for a long time the conventional wisdom was that Platonists of late antiquity—or Neoplatonists—were so focused on other-worldly metaphysics that they simply neglected any serious study of the sensible world, which after all is ‘merely’ an image of the intelligible world, and only recently has this conventional wisdom begun to be dispelled. In fact, precisely because these thinkers did see the sensible world as an image of the intelligible world, they devoted much time and energy to understanding its inner workings. Thus we find Neoplatonists writing on embryology, physiology, meteorology, astronomy, and much else. This volume collects essays by leading international scholars in the field that shed new light on how these thinkers sought to understand and explain nature and natural phenomena. It is thematically divided into two parts, with the first part—‘The general metaphysics of Nature’—directed at the explication of central Neoplatonic metaphysical doctrines and their relation to the natural world, and the second part—’Platonic approaches to individual sciences’—showing how these same doctrines play out in individual natural sciences such as elemental physics, geography, and biology. Together these essays show that a serious examination of Neoplatonic natural philosophy has far-reaching consequences for our general understanding of the metaphysics of Platonism, as well as for our evaluation of their place in the history of science.

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Self-motion and reflection: Hermias and Proclus on the harmony of Plato and Aristotle on the soul, 2012
By: Menn, Stephen, Horn, Christoph (Ed.), Wilberding, James (Ed.)
Title Self-motion and reflection: Hermias and Proclus on the harmony of Plato and Aristotle on the soul
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2012
Published in Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Pages 44-67
Categories no categories
Author(s) Menn, Stephen
Editor(s) Horn, Christoph , Wilberding, James
Translator(s)
A central puzzle of recent scholarship on late Neoplatonism has been to understand how what Richard Sorabji has called a ‘perfectly crazy position', the thesis of die harmony of Plato and Aristode, nonetheless ‘proved philosophically fruitful' — whereas, for instance, the same philosophers' perfectly crazy thesis of the harmony of Plato and Homer did not. In this chapter, starting from Hermias' commentary on a passage of the Phaedrus which poses a difficulty for harmonization, I hope to shed some light on what the late Neoplatonists were asserting when they asserted the harmony of Plato and Aristotle, in general or on some particular issue (here the immortality of soul); on why they were inclined to make such assertions o f harmony, and what they saw themselves as needing to do in order to defend them: and on why,in the process of defending them, they were led to conceptual clarifications which were in some cases of longstanding benefit to the conceptual stoic of philosophy. I will point to a sur­ prising case of such a conceptual benefit resulting from Neoplatonic interpretations of this Pimdtus passage and its parallels in the Timaeus. While my central example will be from Hermias, the themes I am interested in ate not peculiar to him, and I will also make use of other late Neoplatonic authors, especially Proclus. Hermias, and Produs, to recall, were both students of Syrianus;at one point in Hermias' commentary 'our companion Proclus' raises an aporia, and ‘the philosopher'— that is, ‘the professor — replies (92,6-10 Couvrcur), which seems to imply that the commentary in general was drawn by Hermias from Syrianus lectures. [Introduction, pp. 44 f.]

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In this chapter, starting from Hermias' commentary on a passage of the Phaedrus which poses a difficulty for harmonization, I hope to shed some light on what the late Neoplatonists were asserting when they asserted the harmony \r\nof Plato and Aristotle, in general or on some particular issue (here the immortality of soul); on why they were inclined to make such assertions o f harmony, and what they saw themselves as needing to do in order to defend them: and on why,in the process of defending them, they were led to conceptual clarifications which were in some cases of longstanding benefit to the conceptual stoic of philosophy. I will point to a sur\u00ad\r\nprising case of such a conceptual benefit resulting from Neoplatonic interpretations of this Pimdtus passage and its parallels in the Timaeus. While my central example will be from Hermias, the themes I am interested in ate not peculiar to him, and I will also \r\nmake use of other late Neoplatonic authors, especially Proclus. 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Aristotelian objections and post-Aristotelian responses to Plato's elemental theory, 2012
By: Mueller, Ian, Wilberding, James (Ed.), Horn, Christoph (Ed.)
Title Aristotelian objections and post-Aristotelian responses to Plato's elemental theory
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2012
Published in Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Pages 129-146
Categories no categories
Author(s) Mueller, Ian
Editor(s) Wilberding, James , Horn, Christoph
Translator(s)
Aristotle and Plato advanced very different theories of the traditional four elements. Whereas Plato in his Timaeus proposes a geometrical theory of these elements, Aristotle in his On the Heavens (and On Generation and Corruption) offers a qualitative analysis and offers a series of objections to Plato’s theory. These objections provided later Platonists with the opportunity to defend Plato against and possibly harmonize him with Aristotle. This paper explores Simplicius’ responses to Aristotle one by one, paying particular attention to the brand of scientific discourse that he engages in with Proclus, and to how different commitments to harmonization affect their responses to these objections. [Author’s abstract]

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In defence of geometric atomism: Explaining elemental properties, 2012
By: Opsomer, Jan, Wilberding, James (Ed.), Horn, Christoph (Ed.)
Title In defence of geometric atomism: Explaining elemental properties
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2012
Published in Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Pages 147-173
Categories no categories
Author(s) Opsomer, Jan
Editor(s) Wilberding, James , Horn, Christoph
Translator(s)
Plato introduces what is nowadays called geometric atomism in his Timaeus—more precisely, in the second part of the physical account where he examines the cosmos under the aspect of what he calls ‘necessity’. This resurfaces again in the final part, which is devoted to what comes about from the cooperation of reason and necessity, where he regularly invokes the triangles and polyhedra in order to explain various biochemical processes of the human body. The introduction of geometric atomism is preceded by the infamously obscure description of the receptacle. This mysterious entity is presented as that in which qualities and shapes appear but also appears to provide the stuff out of which things are made.1 I will not here enter into the debates about what the receptacle is supposed to be; it suffices to note that the text in some passages may suggest to readers familiar with the later conception of matter that matter is exactly what Plato means. Since this is certainly what Aristotle1 2 and in his wake all ancient commentators took it to be, we need not for our present purposes consider other readings. [Introduction, p. 147]

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  • PAGE 1 OF 1
Aristotelian objections and post-Aristotelian responses to Plato's elemental theory, 2012
By: Mueller, Ian, Wilberding, James (Ed.), Horn, Christoph (Ed.)
Title Aristotelian objections and post-Aristotelian responses to Plato's elemental theory
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2012
Published in Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Pages 129-146
Categories no categories
Author(s) Mueller, Ian
Editor(s) Wilberding, James , Horn, Christoph
Translator(s)
Aristotle and Plato advanced very different theories of the traditional four elements. Whereas Plato in his Timaeus proposes a geometrical theory of these elements, Aristotle in his On the Heavens (and On Generation and Corruption) offers a qualitative analysis and offers a series of objections to Plato’s theory. These objections provided later Platonists with the opportunity to defend Plato against and possibly harmonize him with Aristotle. This paper explores Simplicius’ responses to Aristotle one by one, paying particular attention to the brand of scientific discourse that he engages in with Proclus, and to how different commitments to harmonization affect their responses to these objections. [Author’s abstract]

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In defence of geometric atomism: Explaining elemental properties, 2012
By: Opsomer, Jan, Wilberding, James (Ed.), Horn, Christoph (Ed.)
Title In defence of geometric atomism: Explaining elemental properties
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2012
Published in Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Pages 147-173
Categories no categories
Author(s) Opsomer, Jan
Editor(s) Wilberding, James , Horn, Christoph
Translator(s)
Plato introduces what is nowadays called geometric atomism in his  Timaeus—more 
precisely, in the second part of the physical account where he examines the cosmos 
under the aspect of what he calls  ‘necessity’. This resurfaces again in the final part, 
which is devoted to what comes about from the cooperation of reason and necessity, 
where  he  regularly invokes the  triangles and polyhedra in order to explain various 
biochemical processes of the human body. The introduction of geometric atomism is 
preceded by the  infamously  obscure description of the receptacle. This mysterious 
entity is presented as that in  which  qualities and shapes appear but also appears to 
provide the stuff out of which things are made.1 I will not here enter into the debates 
about what the receptacle is supposed to be; it suffices to note that the text in some 
passages may suggest to readers familiar with the later conception of matter that matter 
is exactly what Plato means. Since this is certainly what Aristotle1 2 and in his wake all 
ancient commentators took it to be, we need not for our present purposes consider 
other readings. [Introduction, p. 147]

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This resurfaces again in the final part, \r\nwhich is devoted to what comes about from the cooperation of reason and necessity, \r\nwhere he regularly invokes the triangles and polyhedra in order to explain various \r\nbiochemical processes of the human body. The introduction of geometric atomism is \r\npreceded by the infamously obscure description of the receptacle. This mysterious \r\nentity is presented as that in which qualities and shapes appear but also appears to \r\nprovide the stuff out of which things are made.1 I will not here enter into the debates \r\nabout what the receptacle is supposed to be; it suffices to note that the text in some \r\npassages may suggest to readers familiar with the later conception of matter that matter \r\nis exactly what Plato means. Since this is certainly what Aristotle1 2 and in his wake all \r\nancient commentators took it to be, we need not for our present purposes consider \r\nother readings. 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Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature, 2012
By: Horn, Christoph (Ed.), Wilberding, James (Ed.)
Title Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Type Edited Book
Language English
Date 2012
Publication Place Oxford
Publisher Oxford University Press
Categories no categories
Author(s)
Editor(s) Horn, Christoph , Wilberding, James
Translator(s)
Despite Platonism’s unquestioned claim to being one of the most influential movements in the history of philosophy, for a long time the conventional wisdom was that Platonists of late antiquity—or Neoplatonists—were so focused on other-worldly metaphysics that they simply neglected any serious study of the sensible world, which after all is ‘merely’ an image of the intelligible world, and only recently has this conventional wisdom begun to be dispelled. In fact, precisely because these thinkers did see the sensible world as an image of the intelligible world, they devoted much time and energy to understanding its inner workings. Thus we find Neoplatonists writing on embryology, physiology, meteorology, astronomy, and much else. This volume collects essays by leading international scholars in the field that shed new light on how these thinkers sought to understand and explain nature and natural phenomena. It is thematically divided into two parts, with the first part—‘The general metaphysics of Nature’—directed at the explication of central Neoplatonic metaphysical doctrines and their relation to the natural world, and the second part—’Platonic approaches to individual sciences’—showing how these same doctrines play out in individual natural sciences such as elemental physics, geography, and biology. Together these essays show that a serious examination of Neoplatonic natural philosophy has far-reaching consequences for our general understanding of the metaphysics of Platonism, as well as for our evaluation of their place in the history of science.

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Self-motion and reflection: Hermias and Proclus on the harmony of Plato and Aristotle on the soul, 2012
By: Menn, Stephen, Horn, Christoph (Ed.), Wilberding, James (Ed.)
Title Self-motion and reflection: Hermias and Proclus on the harmony of Plato and Aristotle on the soul
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2012
Published in Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Pages 44-67
Categories no categories
Author(s) Menn, Stephen
Editor(s) Horn, Christoph , Wilberding, James
Translator(s)
A central puzzle of recent scholarship on late Neoplatonism has been to understand how  what  Richard Sorabji  has called a ‘perfectly  crazy  position', the thesis of die harmony  of  Plato  and  Aristode,  nonetheless  ‘proved  philosophically  fruitful' — 
whereas, for instance, the same philosophers' perfectly crazy thesis of the harmony of Plato and Homer did not. In this chapter, starting from Hermias' commentary on a passage of the Phaedrus which poses a difficulty for harmonization, I hope to shed some light on what the late Neoplatonists were asserting when they asserted the harmony 
of Plato and Aristotle, in general or on some particular issue (here the immortality of soul); on why they were inclined to make such assertions o f harmony, and what they saw themselves as needing to do in order to defend them: and on why,in the process of defending them, they were led to conceptual clarifications which were in some cases of longstanding benefit to the conceptual stoic of philosophy. I  will point to a sur­
prising case of such a conceptual benefit resulting from Neoplatonic interpretations of this Pimdtus passage and its parallels in the Timaeus. While my central example will be from Hermias, the themes I am interested in ate not peculiar to him, and I will also 
make use of other late Neoplatonic authors, especially Proclus. Hermias, and Produs, to recall, were both students of Syrianus;at one point in Hermias' commentary 'our companion Proclus' raises an aporia, and ‘the philosopher'— that is, ‘the professor — replies (92,6-10 Couvrcur), which seems to imply that the commentary in general was drawn by Hermias from Syrianus lectures. [Introduction, pp. 44 f.]

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In this chapter, starting from Hermias' commentary on a passage of the Phaedrus which poses a difficulty for harmonization, I hope to shed some light on what the late Neoplatonists were asserting when they asserted the harmony \r\nof Plato and Aristotle, in general or on some particular issue (here the immortality of soul); on why they were inclined to make such assertions o f harmony, and what they saw themselves as needing to do in order to defend them: and on why,in the process of defending them, they were led to conceptual clarifications which were in some cases of longstanding benefit to the conceptual stoic of philosophy. I will point to a sur\u00ad\r\nprising case of such a conceptual benefit resulting from Neoplatonic interpretations of this Pimdtus passage and its parallels in the Timaeus. While my central example will be from Hermias, the themes I am interested in ate not peculiar to him, and I will also \r\nmake use of other late Neoplatonic authors, especially Proclus. 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In fact, precisely because these thinkers did see the sensible world as an image of the intelligible world, they devoted much time and energy to understanding its inner workings. Thus we find Neoplatonists writing on embryology, physiology, meteorology, astronomy, and much else. This volume collects essays by leading international scholars in the field that shed new light on how these thinkers sought to understand and explain nature and natural phenomena. It is thematically divided into two parts, with the first part\u2014\u2018The general metaphysics of Nature\u2019\u2014directed at the explication of central Neoplatonic metaphysical doctrines and their relation to the natural world, and the second part\u2014\u2019Platonic approaches to individual sciences\u2019\u2014showing how these same doctrines play out in individual natural sciences such as elemental physics, geography, and biology. 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