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List Of Metaphysicians
This is a list of metaphysicians, philosophers who specialize in metaphysics. ''See also Lists of philosophers.'' Metaphysicians born BC * Pythagoras * Thales * Anaximander * Anaximenes * Xenophanes * Heraclitus * Parmenides * Zeno of Elea * Melissus of Samos * Leucippus * Democritus * Anaxagoras * Empedocles * Alcmaeon of Croton * Hippasus * Diogenes of Apollonia * Plato * Eudoxus of Cnidus * Speusippus * Xenocrates * Aristotle Metaphysicians born between 1 and 600 AD * Numenius * Alexander of Aphrodisias * Ammonius Saccas * Origen of Alexandria * Origen the Pagan * Plotinus * Porphyry * Iamblichus * Syrianus * Proclus * Ammonius Hermiae * Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite * Olympiodorus the Younger * Damascius * Simplicius of Cilicia * John Philoponus Metaphysicians born between 600 and 1400 * John Scotus Eriugena * Al-Farabi * Avicenna * Anselm of Canterbury * Peter Abelard * Al-Ghazali * Bernard of Chartres * Gilbert de la Porrée * Thierry of Chartres * Hugh of Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, such as physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western philosophy, Western, Islamic philosophy, Arabic–Persian, Indian philosophy, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation. Indian philosophy combines the Spirituality, spiritual problem of how to reach Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlighten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippasus
Hippasus of Metapontum (; , ''Híppasos''; c. 530 – c. 450 BC) was a Greek philosopher and early follower of Pythagoras. Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers. The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, and Hippasus is supposed to have drowned at sea, apparently as a punishment from the gods for divulging this and crediting it to himself instead of Pythagoras, which was the norm in Pythagorean society. The few ancient sources who describe this story, however, either do not mention Hippasus by name (e.g., Pappus) or alternatively tell that Hippasus drowned because he revealed how to construct a dodecahedron inside a sphere. The discovery of irrationality is not specifically ascribed to Hippasus by any ancient writer. Life Little is known about the life of Hippasus. He may have lived in the late 5th century BC, about a century after the ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry (; ; – ) 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. 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. Life The ''Suda'' (a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia based on many sources now lost) reports that Porphyry was born in Tyre, however, other sources report that he was born in Batanaea, present-day Syria . His par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plotinus
Plotinus (; , ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a Greek Platonist philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius Saccas, who belonged to the Platonic tradition. Historians of the 19th century invented the term "neoplatonism" and applied it to refer to Plotinus and his philosophy, which was vastly influential during late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Much of the biographical information about Plotinus comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' most notable literary work, '' The Enneads''. In his metaphysical writings, Plotinus described three fundamental principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His works have inspired centuries of pagan, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and early Islamic metaphysicians and mystics, including developing precepts that influence mainstream theological concepts within religion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Origen The Pagan
Origen the Pagan (; fl. early 3rd century) was a Platonist philosopher who lived in Alexandria. He was a student of Ammonius Saccas and a contemporary of Plotinus in Ammonius's philosophy school in Alexandria.Ramelli, "Origen and the Platonic Tradition" Some researchers posit that this Origen is the very same famous Christian philosopher and theologian Origen of Alexandria, who was educated by Ammonius Saccas. The pagan philosopher is sometimes referred to as Origenes to distinguish him more easily from the Christian Origen. Origen is mentioned three times in Porphyry's ''Life of Plotinus'',Porphyry, ''Life of Plotinus'', chapters iii, xiv, and xx. where he is treated much more kindly than the Christian Origen, whom Porphyry disliked.Armstrong 1967, p. 198 He is also mentioned several times by Proclus, and it is clear that Origen's fellow students Plotinus and Longinus treated him with respect. According to Porphyry, Plotinus estimated him so far as to say that he has nothing to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Origen Of Alexandria
Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, homiletics, and spirituality. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in early Christian theology, apologetics, and asceticism. He has been described by John Anthony McGuckin as "the greatest genius the early church ever produced". Overview Origen sought martyrdom with his father at a young age but was prevented from turning himself in to the authorities by his mother. When he was eighteen years old, Origen became a catechist at the or School of Alexandria. He devoted himself to his studies and adopted an ascetic lifestyle. He came into conflict with Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, in 231 after he was ordained as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ammonius Saccas
Ammonius Saccas (; ; 175 AD243 AD) was a Hellenistic Platonist self-taught philosopher from Alexandria, generally regarded as the precursor of Neoplatonism or one of its founders. He is mainly known as the teacher of Plotinus, whom he taught from 232 to 243. He was undoubtedly the most significant influence on Plotinus in his development of Neoplatonism, although little is known about his own philosophical views. Later Christian writers stated that Ammonius was a Christian, but it is now generally assumed that there was a different Ammonius of Alexandria who wrote biblical texts. Life The origins and meaning of Ammonius' cognomen, "Sakkas", are disputed. Many scholars have interpreted it as indicating he was a porter in his youth, a view supported in antiquity by Byzantine bishop Theodoret. Others have asserted that this is a misreading of "Sakkas" for "sakkophoros" (porter). Some others have connected the cognomen with the " Śākyas", an ancient ruling clan of India, claimi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Of Aphrodisias
Alexander of Aphrodisias (; AD) was a Peripatetic school, Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek Commentaries on Aristotle, commentators on the writings of Aristotle. He was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria and lived and taught in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century, where he held a position as head of the Peripatetic school. He wrote many commentaries on the works of Aristotle, extant are those on the ''Prior Analytics'', ''Topics (Aristotle), Topics'', ''Meteorology (Aristotle), Meteorology'', ''Sense and Sensibilia (Aristotle), Sense and Sensibilia'', and ''Metaphysics (Aristotle), Metaphysics''. Several original treatises also survive, and include a work ''On Fate'', in which he argues against the Stoicism, Stoic doctrine of necessity; and one ''On the Soul''. His commentaries on Aristotle were considered so useful that he was styled, by way of pre-eminence, "the commentator" (). Life and career Alexander was a native of Aphrodisias in Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numenius Of Apamea
Numenius of Apamea (, ''Noumēnios ho ex Apameias''; ) was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Rome, and flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century AD. He was a Neopythagorean and forerunner of the Neoplatonists. Philosophy Statements and fragments of his apparently very numerous works have been preserved by Origen, Theodoret, and especially by Eusebius, and from them we may learn the nature of his Platonist-Pythagorean philosophy, and its approximation to the doctrines of Plato. Numenius was a Neopythagorean, but his object was to trace the doctrines of Plato up to Pythagoras, and at the same time to show that they were not at variance with the dogmas and mysteries of the Brahmins, Jews, Magi and Egyptians. His intention was to restore the philosophy of Plato, the genuine Pythagorean and mediator between Socrates and Pythagoras in its original purity, cleared from the Aristotelian and Stoic doctrines, and purified from the unsatisfactory and perverse explanations, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelianism, Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science. Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira (ancient city), Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical Greece, Classical period. His father, Nicomachus (father of Aristotle), Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At around eighteen years old, he joined Plato's Platonic Academy, Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty seven (). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xenocrates
Xenocrates (; ; c. 396/5314/3 BC) of Chalcedon was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and leader ( scholarch) of the Platonic Academy from 339/8 to 314/3 BC. His teachings followed those of Plato, which he attempted to define more closely, often with mathematical elements. He distinguished three forms of being: the sensible, the intelligible, and a third compounded of the two, to which correspond respectively, sense, intellect and opinion. He considered unity and duality to be gods which rule the universe, and the soul a self-moving number. God pervades all things, and there are daemonical powers, intermediate between the divine and the mortal, which consist in conditions of the soul. He held that mathematical objects and the Platonic Ideas are identical, unlike Plato who distinguished them. In ethics, he taught that virtue produces happiness, but external goods can minister to it and enable it to effect its purpose. Life Xenocrates was a native of Chalcedon. By the most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speusippus
Speusippus (; ; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Platonic Academy, Academy, near age 60, and remained its head for the next eight years. However, following a stroke, he passed the chair to Xenocrates. Although the successor to Plato in the Academy, Speusippus frequently diverged from Plato's teachings. He rejected Plato's Theory of Forms, and whereas Plato had identified the Form of the Good, Good with the ultimate ''principle'', Speusippus maintained that the Good was merely secondary. He also argued that it is impossible to have satisfactory knowledge of any thing without knowing all the differences by which it is separated from everything else. The standard edition of the surviving fragments and testimonies is Leonardo Tarán's ''Speusippus of Athens: A Critical Study with a Collection of the Related Texts and Commentary'' (1982). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
