JOHN PHILOPONUS ON PHYSICAL PL

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-94-6270-274-5
Verlag: LEUVEN UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, Band 60, 193 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 410 g

Reihe: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy - Series 1

First
philosophical monograph exclusively focusing on John Philoponus’ theory of
place and the void.

This book examines the place of physical bodies, a
major topic of natural philosophy that has occupied philosophers since
antiquity. Aristotle’s conceptions of place (topos) and the void (kenon),
as expounded in the Physics, were systematically repudiated by John
Philoponus (ca. 485-570) in his philosophical commentary on that work. The
primary philosophical concern of the present study is the in-depth
investigation of the concept of place established by Philoponus, putting
forward the claim that the latter offers satisfactory solutions to problems
raised by Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition regarding the nature of
place. Philoponus’ account proposes a specific physical model of how physical
bodies exist and move in place, and regards place as an intrinsic reality of
the physical cosmos. Due to exactly this model, his account may be considered
as strictly pertaining to the study of physics, thereby constituting a
remarkable episode in the history of philosophy and science.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Papachristou, Ioannis

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Antike Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie der Mathematik, Philosophie der Physik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Preface

Chapter 1. Form,
Method and Structure of the
Physics Commentary

1.1
The
form of the Physics commentary
1.2
A note on Vitelli’s edition
1.3
The form of the commentary and Philoponus’ philosophical contributions
1.4
Levels of interpretation
1.5
Dividing Aristotle’s Physics into lectures
1.6
Introduction to the digressions
1.7
The
argument of the digressions
1.8
A note on Philoponus’ sources and targets
in the digressions

Chapter 2. Place as Extension: Problems
and Solutions

2.1
Aristotle’s rejection of place
as extension
2.2
Themistius’ exegesis of Aristotle’s argument
2.3
Philoponus’ exegesis of Aristotle’s argument
2.4
Philoponus refuting the infinity
of places
2.5
Philoponus refuting changing and coinciding places

Chapter 3. The Ontology of Place According to Philoponus

3.1
Three-dimensionality of place
3.2
Place
as measure
3.3
Place
and the ‘violation’ of nature
3.4
The
empty universe
3.5
Place, substance, qualities and quantity

Chapter 4. Philoponus on Void as Place

4.1
The
concept of plerosis
4.2
The
void is place
4.3
Motion through
void and motion
through a corporeal medium
4.4
Motion of bodies in Philoponus’ cosmological system
4.5
Philoponus on physical place

Chapter 5. Philoponus against Aristotle and the Peripatetic Tradition

5.1
Aristotle’s definition of place
5.2
The equality
between place and the bodies
in it
5.3
The immobility of place
5.4
Motion through
surfaces
5.5
The place
of the heavens

Epilogue
Bibliography
Texts
Translations
Secondary literature

Index Locorum
Index Nominum

Über Autor(innen)

Papachristou, Ioannis
Ioannis Papachristou holds a PhD in Philosophy from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He is a post-doctorate researcher in the Project ‘Sourcebook of Byzantine Philosophy’ at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.