Byzantine Philosophy

A Systematic Perspective
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-72896-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 138, 416 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters

The book is the result of thirty years of Georgi Kapriev's work in the field of Byzantine philosophy. Contrary to long-held opinions that no authentic philosophy existed in Byzantium, the fullness and complexity of this philosophical tradition are offered. The subject is its context and its main themes, presented in their systematic framework. The areas in which this tradition differs from the Latin tradition and which constitute its contribution are highlighted. Among these are the focus on being as a dynamic network, on teachings on natural and creative activities, on divine logoi and the self-existence of things, and on freedom.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kapriev, Georgi

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Mittelalterliche & Scholastische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Part1 The Context

Introduction

1 Byzantium and the Byzantine Commonwealth

2 The Emergence of Byzantine Philosophy

3 The Patristics

4 Theology

5 Philosophy

6 Periodization of Byzantine Philosophical Culture

1 Byzantium and the Byzantine commonwealth

8 Rationality and Thirst for Knowledge

9 Philosophy in Byzantium and Byzantine philosophy

10 Conclusion

Part2 Main Topics and Concepts

1 Teachings on the Energies

1 The Teaching of Aristotle

2 The Interpretation of the Theory of Energies by Martin Heidegger

3 Hellenic Reception

4 Beginning of the Christian Reception of the Doctrine of Energies

5 The Doctrine of Energies in Christian Thinkers of the 4th Century

6 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite

7 Maximus the Confessor

8 John Damascene

9 An Intermediate Balance

10 The Doctrine of Energies and Western Philosophical Thought

11 Photius of Constantinople

12 Michael Psellus

13 Nicetas of Maroneia

14 George of Cyprus (GregoryII)

15 Gregory Palamas

16 Barlaam, Acindynus and Gregoras

17 Prochorus Cydones

18 The Doctrine of Energies in the Works of the next Palamite Generation

19 Essential Energy and Accident

20 The Lack of Correctly Formulated Logical Distinction between Essence and Energy

21 George Scholarius and the Definition of the Distinction

22 Perichoresis and Synergy

23 Callistus Angelicudes: Essential Energy and Hypostasis

24 Hexis—the Hypostasizing Factor

2 The Principles of Being

1 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite

2 Maximus the Confessor

3 Metaphysics of the Concrete

4 The Analogous Independence of Being

5 Logos/Principle of Essence and Tropos/Mode of Existence

6 Being—Well/Bad-Being—Eternal-Being

7 The Co-Creator

3 Nature and Hypostasis

1 Nature/Essence

2 Hypostasis

3 Hypostasis and Person

4 Relation and Synergy

5 Individual

4 The Human Being

1 The logos of Man

2 Image of God, Microcosm and Ancestral Sin

3 The Psychosomatic Unity of the Human Being

4 The Human Body

5 The Soul

5 Human Knowledge

1 Rational Knowledge

2 Experiential Knowledge

6 Will and Freedom

1 John Cassian’s Doctrine of Freedom

2 The Cappadocians

3 Nemesius of Emesa

4 Maximus the Confessor

5 John Damascene

6 Photius of Constantinople

7 Michael Psellus

8 Providence and Fortune in Historiography

9 The Debate about Fate in the 15th Century

10 Deification and Freedom according to Gregory Palamas

11 Concluding Remarks

7 Time, Aeon, Eternity

1 Hellenic Tradition

2 Basil the Great. The Cappadocians

3 Maximus the Confessor

4 Michael Psellus

5 System of the Interaction of Structures

6 Concluding Observations

8 History and metaphysics

1 Political Thought and Historiography

2 Historicity as a Foundational Element of Byzantine Philosophy

Bibliography

Indices

Über Autor(innen)

Georgi Kapriev, D.Sc. (1960), St. Kliment Ochridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria, is a professor of ancient and medieval – Latin and Byzantine – philosophy. He is author of numerous books and articles, and editor of a number of volumes, including The Dionysian Traditions (Brepols, 2021) and (as co-editor and author) Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie: Die Philosophie des Mittelalters, Bd. 1: Byzanz, Judentum (Schwabe, 2019).