Title | Ancient Philosophy and the Doxographical Tradition |
Type | Book Section |
Language | English |
Date | 2006 |
Published in | A Companion to Ancient Philosophy |
Pages | 20-33 |
Categories | no categories |
Author(s) | Mejer, Jørgen |
Editor(s) | Gill, Mary Louise , Pellegrin, Pierre |
Translator(s) |
[Conclusion, p. 33]: Most of the other philosophical Lives from late antiquity are written in the context of the Platonic philosophy: Apuleius wrote a book on Plato and his philosophy in the second century ce, and a hundred years later both Porphyry and Iamblichus wrote biographies of Pythagoras, but they are all three more of value as a source to the times of their authors than as a source to the subject of their biographies. Porphyry’s life of Pythagoras was part of his Historia Philosopha, on the history of philosophy in four books up to and culminating in Plato. More important is the fact that we have biographies of some Neoplatonic philosophers written by their students: Porphyry not only collected and edited Plotinus’ writings at the end of the third century ce, he also wrote a vivid description of Plotinus’ life as he knew it from his own time with the Neoplatonic philosopher in Rome.3 Two hundred years later Marinus wrote a life of Proclus who was head of the Academy in Athens in the fifth century ce, and early in the sixth century Damascius wrote a Historia Philosopha (previously called Life of Isidorus), which covers the last couple of generations of Platonic philosophers in Athens. Since we have so many writings by the Neoplatonic philosophers themselves, the significance of these biographies is not what they have to tell us about the thoughts of these Neoplatonists, but their description of the philosophical activities in Athens. Taken together with the numerous commentaries on works of Plato and Aristotle, they offer important information about the institutional aspects of doing philosophy in late antiquity, and much remains to be done in this area.4 It is no coincidence that Simplicius and many others in this period were capable of composing commentaries that are still important both for our understanding of the texts they comment on and for our knowledge of Greek philosophy. |
Online Resources | https://uni-koeln.sciebo.de/s/ZH9mhKXOhPjPuB1 |
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Since we have so many writings by the Neoplatonic philosophers themselves, \r\nthe significance of these biographies is not what they have to tell us about the thoughts \r\nof these Neoplatonists, but their description of the philosophical activities in Athens. \r\nTaken together with the numerous commentaries on works of Plato and Aristotle, \r\nthey offer important information about the institutional aspects of doing philosophy in \r\nlate antiquity, and much remains to be done in this area.4 It is no coincidence that \r\nSimplicius and many others in this period were capable of composing commentaries \r\nthat are still important both for our understanding of the texts they comment on and \r\nfor our knowledge of Greek philosophy.","btype":2,"date":"2006","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/ZH9mhKXOhPjPuB1","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":254,"full_name":"Mejer, J\u00f8rgen","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":208,"full_name":"Gill, Mary Louise ","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}},{"id":209,"full_name":"Pellegrin, Pierre","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":979,"section_of":167,"pages":"20-33","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":167,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":null,"type":4,"language":"en","title":"A Companion to Ancient Philosophy","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"Gill\/Pellegrin2006","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"2006","edition_no":null,"free_date":"2006","abstract":"A Companion to Ancient Philosophy provides a comprehensive and current overview of the history of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy from its origins until late antiquity.\r\nComprises an extensive collection of original essays, featuring contributions from both rising stars and senior scholars of ancient philosophy\r\nIntegrates analytic and continental traditions\r\nExplores the development of various disciplines, such as mathematics, logic, grammar, physics, and medicine, in relation to ancient philosophy\r\nIncludes an illuminating introduction, bibliography, chronology, maps and an index","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/X3Xt0HBXeT8fpTn","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":167,"pubplace":"Malden \u2013 Oxford - Victoria","publisher":"Blackwell Publishers","series":"Blackwell Companions to Philosophy","volume":"","edition_no":"","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":[2006]}
Title | Ancient Philosophy and the Doxographical Tradition |
Type | Book Section |
Language | English |
Date | 2006 |
Published in | A Companion to Ancient Philosophy |
Pages | 20-33 |
Categories | no categories |
Author(s) | Mejer, Jørgen |
Editor(s) | Gill, Mary Louise , Pellegrin, Pierre |
Translator(s) |
[Conclusion, p. 33]: Most of the other philosophical Lives from late antiquity are written in the context of the Platonic philosophy: Apuleius wrote a book on Plato and his philosophy in the second century ce, and a hundred years later both Porphyry and Iamblichus wrote biographies of Pythagoras, but they are all three more of value as a source to the times of their authors than as a source to the subject of their biographies. Porphyry’s life of Pythagoras was part of his Historia Philosopha, on the history of philosophy in four books up to and culminating in Plato. More important is the fact that we have biographies of some Neoplatonic philosophers written by their students: Porphyry not only collected and edited Plotinus’ writings at the end of the third century ce, he also wrote a vivid description of Plotinus’ life as he knew it from his own time with the Neoplatonic philosopher in Rome.3 Two hundred years later Marinus wrote a life of Proclus who was head of the Academy in Athens in the fifth century ce, and early in the sixth century Damascius wrote a Historia Philosopha (previously called Life of Isidorus), which covers the last couple of generations of Platonic philosophers in Athens. Since we have so many writings by the Neoplatonic philosophers themselves, the significance of these biographies is not what they have to tell us about the thoughts of these Neoplatonists, but their description of the philosophical activities in Athens. Taken together with the numerous commentaries on works of Plato and Aristotle, they offer important information about the institutional aspects of doing philosophy in late antiquity, and much remains to be done in this area.4 It is no coincidence that Simplicius and many others in this period were capable of composing commentaries that are still important both for our understanding of the texts they comment on and for our knowledge of Greek philosophy. |
Online Resources | https://uni-koeln.sciebo.de/s/ZH9mhKXOhPjPuB1 |
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Since we have so many writings by the Neoplatonic philosophers themselves, \r\nthe significance of these biographies is not what they have to tell us about the thoughts \r\nof these Neoplatonists, but their description of the philosophical activities in Athens. \r\nTaken together with the numerous commentaries on works of Plato and Aristotle, \r\nthey offer important information about the institutional aspects of doing philosophy in \r\nlate antiquity, and much remains to be done in this area.4 It is no coincidence that \r\nSimplicius and many others in this period were capable of composing commentaries \r\nthat are still important both for our understanding of the texts they comment on and \r\nfor our knowledge of Greek philosophy.","btype":2,"date":"2006","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/ZH9mhKXOhPjPuB1","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":254,"full_name":"Mejer, J\u00f8rgen","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":208,"full_name":"Gill, Mary Louise ","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}},{"id":209,"full_name":"Pellegrin, Pierre","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":979,"section_of":167,"pages":"20-33","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":167,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":null,"type":4,"language":"en","title":"A Companion to Ancient Philosophy","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"Gill\/Pellegrin2006","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"2006","edition_no":null,"free_date":"2006","abstract":"A Companion to Ancient Philosophy provides a comprehensive and current overview of the history of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy from its origins until late antiquity.\r\nComprises an extensive collection of original essays, featuring contributions from both rising stars and senior scholars of ancient philosophy\r\nIntegrates analytic and continental traditions\r\nExplores the development of various disciplines, such as mathematics, logic, grammar, physics, and medicine, in relation to ancient philosophy\r\nIncludes an illuminating introduction, bibliography, chronology, maps and an index","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/X3Xt0HBXeT8fpTn","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":167,"pubplace":"Malden \u2013 Oxford - Victoria","publisher":"Blackwell Publishers","series":"Blackwell Companions to Philosophy","volume":"","edition_no":"","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":["Ancient Philosophy and the Doxographical Tradition"]}