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Isagoge
The ''Isagoge'' ( el, Εἰσαγωγή, ''Eisagōgḗ''; ) or "Introduction" to Aristotle's "Categories", written by Porphyry in Greek and translated into Latin by Boethius, was the standard textbook on logic for at least a millennium after his death. It was composed by Porphyry in Sicily during the years 268–270, and sent to Chrysaorium, according to all the ancient commentators Ammonius, Elias, and David. The work includes the highly influential hierarchical classification of genera and species from substance in general down to individuals, known as the Tree of Porphyry, and an introduction which mentions the problem of universals. Boethius' translation of the work, in Latin, became a standard medieval textbook in European scholastic universities, setting the stage for medieval philosophical-theological developments of logic and the problem of universals. Many writers, such as Boethius himself, Averroes, Abelard, Scotus, wrote commentaries on the book. Other writers such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry of Tyre (; grc-gre, Πορφύριος, ''Porphýrios''; ar, فُرْفُورِيُوس, ''Furfūriyūs''; – ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published ''The Enneads'', the only collection of the work of Plotinus, his teacher. His commentary on Euclid's ''Elements'' was used as a source by Pappus of Alexandria. He wrote original works in the Greek language on a wide variety of topics, ranging from music theory to Homer to vegetarianism. His ''Isagoge'', or ''Introduction'', an introduction to logic and philosophy, was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages in its Latin and Arabic translations. Porphyry was, and still is, also well-known for his anti-Christian polemics. Through works such as ''Philosophy from Oracles'' and ''Against the Christians'' (which was banned by Constantine the Great), he was involved in a controversy with early Christians. Biography The ''Suda'' (a 10th- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree Of Porphyry
The Tree of Porphyry (also known as ''scala praedicamentalis'') is a classic device for illustrating what is also called a "scale of being". It was suggested—if not first, then most famously in the European philosophical tradition—by the 3rd century CE Greek neoplatonist philosopher and logician Porphyry and revived through the translations of Boethius. Porphyry suggests the Porphyrian tree in his introduction (in Greek, "''Isagoge''") to Aristotle's Categories. Porphyry presented Aristotle's classification of categories in a way that was later adopted into tree-like diagrams of two-way divisions, which indicate that a species is defined by a genus and a differentia and that this logical process continues until the lowest species is reached, which can no longer be so defined. No illustrations or diagrams occur in editions of Porphyry's original work. But, diagrams were eventually made, and became associated with the scheme that Porphyry describes, following Aristotle. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David (commentator)
David ( el, Δαυΐδ; fl. 6th century) was a Greek scholar and a commentator on Aristotle and Porphyry. He may have come from Thessaly, but in later times he was confused with an Armenian of the same name ( David Anhaght).Pamela M. Huby, R. W. Sharples, Dimitri Gutas, 1995, ''Theophrastus of Eresus, Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence'', page 16. Brill. He was a pupil of Olympiodorus in Alexandria in the late 6th century. His name suggests that he was a Christian. Three commentaries to Aristotle's works attributed to him have survived:D. N. Sedley, 2003, ''The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy'', page 249. as well as an introduction (''prolegomena'') to philosophy: * ''Definitions and Divisions of Philosophy'' * Commentary on Porphyry's ''Isagoge'' * Commentary on Aristotle's ''Categories'' * Commentary on Aristotle's ''Prior Analytics'' (in Armenian) All these works will be published, with an English translation, in the series ''Commentaria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duns Scotus
John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important Christian philosopher-theologians of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages, together with Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and William of Ockham. Scotus has had considerable influence on both Catholic and secular thought. The doctrines for which he is best known are the "univocity of being", that existence is the most abstract concept we have, applicable to everything that exists; the formal distinction, a way of distinguishing between different aspects of the same thing; and the idea of haecceity, the property supposed to be in each individual thing that makes it an individual. Scotus also developed a complex argument for the existence of God, and argued for the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Duns Scotus was given the scholastic accolade ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the translation of the Greek classics into Latin, a precursor to the Scholastic movement, and, along with Cassiodorus, one of the two leading Christian scholars of the 6th century. The local cult of Boethius in the Diocese of Pavia was sanctioned by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1883, confirming the diocese's custom of honouring him on the 23 October. Boethius was born in Rome a few years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. A member of the Anicii family, he was orphaned following the family's sudden decline and was raised by Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, a later consul. After mastering both Latin and Greek in his youth, Boethius rose to prominence as a statesman during the Ostrogothic Kingdom: becoming a senator by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Problem Of Universals
The problem of universals is an ancient question from metaphysics that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: Should the properties an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to exist beyond those objects? And if a property exists separately from objects, what is the nature of that existence? The problem of universals relates to various inquiries closely related to metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, as far back as Plato and Aristotle, in efforts to define the mental connections a human makes when they understand a property such as shape or color to be the same in nonidentical objects. Universals are qualities or relations found in two or more entities. As an example, if all cup holders are ''circular'' in some way, ''circularity'' may be considered a universal property of cup holders. Further, if two daughters can be considered ''female offspring of Frank'', the qualities of being ''female'', ''offspring'', and ''of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ammonius Hermiae
Ammonius Hermiae (; grc-gre, Ἀμμώνιος ὁ Ἑρμείου, Ammōnios ho Hermeiou, Ammonius, son of Hermias; – between 517 and 526) was a Greek philosopher from Alexandria in the eastern Roman empire during Late Antiquity. A Neoplatonist, he was the son of the philosophers Hermias and Aedesia, the brother of Heliodorus of Alexandria and the grandson of Syrianus. Ammonius was a pupil of Proclus in Roman Athens, and taught at Alexandria for most of his life, having obtained a public chair in the 470s. According to Olympiodorus of Thebes's ''Commentaries'' on Plato's ''Gorgias'' and ''Phaedo'' texts, Ammonius gave lectures on the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Porphyry of Tyre, and wrote commentaries on Aristotelian works and three lost commentaries on Platonic texts. He is also the author of a text on the astrolabe published in the ''Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum'', and lectured on astronomy and geometry. Ammonius taught numerous Neoplatonists, includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elias (commentator)
Elias (; grc-gre, Ἠλίας; fl. 6th century) was a Greek scholar and a commentator on Aristotle and Porphyry. He was a pupil of Olympiodorus in Alexandria in the late-6th century.Jonathan Barnes, 2006, ''Porphyry Introduction'', page xxi. Oxford University Press His name suggests that he was a Christian. A commentary on Porphyry's ''Isagoge'' written in Greek has survived. Some fragments survive of a commentary he wrote on the ''Prior Analytics'' of Aristotle, and he is known to have written on the ''De Interpretatione'' of Aristotle. It is also possible that the extant Commentary on Aristotle's ''Categories'' which is attributed to David was actually written by Elias. In addition, a second extant commentary on Porphyry's ''Isagoge'' was falsely ascribed to Elias.Pamela M. Huby, R. W. Sharples, Dimitri Gutas, 1995, ''Theophrastus of Eresus, Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence'', page 17. BRILL. The commentary was also falsely ascribed to David, and it has be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Al-Muqaffa‘
Abū Muhammad ʿAbd Allāh Rūzbih ibn Dādūya ( ar, ابو محمد عبدالله روزبه ابن دادويه), born Rōzbih pūr-i Dādōē ( fa, روزبه پور دادویه), more commonly known as Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ ( ar, ابن المقفع), (), was a Persian. "Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, the son of a Persian tax collector who had been tortured for mishandling tax revenues (hence the nickname “al-Muqaffaʿ,” the cripple), was happy to oblige." translator, philosopher, author and thinker who wrote in the Arabic language. Biography Ibn al-Muqaffa, though a resident of Basra, was originally from the town of Goor (or Gur, Firuzabad, Fars) in the Iranian province of Fars and was born into a family Persian stock. His father had been a state official in charge of taxes under the Umayyads, and after being accused and convicted of embezzling some of the money entrusted to him, was punished by the ruler by having his hand crushed, hence the name ''Muqaffa'' (shrivelled hand). Ibn al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abelard
Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philosophy he is celebrated for his logical solution to the problem of universals via nominalism and conceptualism and his pioneering of intent in ethics. Often referred to as the " Descartes of the twelfth century", he is considered a forerunner of Rousseau, Kant, and Spinoza. He is sometimes credited as a chief forerunner of modern empiricism. In history and popular culture, he is best known for his passionate and tragic love affair, and intense philosophical exchange, with his brilliant student and eventual wife, Héloïse d'Argenteuil. He was a defender of women and of their education. After having sent Héloïse to a convent in Brittany to protect her from her abusive uncle who did not want her t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athanasius Of Balad
Athanasius II Baldoyo ( syr, ܐܬܢܐܣܝܘܣ ܕܬܪܝܢ ܒܠܕܝܐ, ar, اثناسيوس الثاني البلدي), also known as Athanasius of Balad, and Athanasius of Nisibis, was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 684 until his death in 687. Biography Athanasius was born at Balad, and studied Syriac, Greek, and sciences under Severus Sebokht at the monastery of Qenneshre, where he became friends with Jacob of Edessa. After becoming a monk at the monastery of Beth Malka near Antioch, he continued his studies, and was educated in philosophy. Athanasius was later ordained as a priest, and made his residence at Nisibis. In the tenure of the Patriarch Severus II bar Masqeh, the church had suffered schism between the patriarch and a number of bishops over the issue of the right of archbishops to ordain suffragan bishops. On his deathbed, Severus authorised John, archbishop of the monastery of Saint Matthew, to reconcile with the errant bishops, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Categorization
Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as Object (philosophy), objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by associating them to a more abstract group (that is, a category, class, or type), on the basis of their traits, features, similarities or other criteria that are Universal (metaphysics), universal to the group. Categorization is considered one of the most fundamental cognitive abilities, and as such it is studied particularly by psychology and cognitive linguistics. Categorization is sometimes considered synonymous with classification (cf., Classification (general theory)#Synonyms and near-synonyms, Classification synonyms). Categorization and classification allow humans to organize things, objects, and ideas that exist around them and simplify their understanding of the world. Categorization is something that humans and other organisms ''do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
