John Philoponus (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ; ; c. 490 – c. 570), also known as John the Grammarian or John of Alexandria, was a
Byzantine Greek philologist,
Aristotelian commentator,
Christian theologian
Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis ...
and an author of a considerable number of philosophical treatises and theological works. He was born in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
. A rigorous, sometimes polemical writer and an original thinker who was controversial in his own time, John Philoponus broke from the
Aristotelian–
Neoplatonic
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
tradition, questioning methodology and eventually leading to empiricism in the natural sciences. He was one of the first to propose a "
theory of impetus
The theory of impetus was an auxiliary or secondary theory of Aristotelian dynamics, put forth initially to explain projectile motion against gravity. It was introduced by John Philoponus in the 6th century, and elaborated by Nur ad-Din al-Bitru ...
" similar to the modern concept of
inertia
Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...
over Aristotelian dynamics.
Later in life Philoponus turned to
Christian apologetics
Christian apologetics ( grc, ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity.
Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in ...
, arguing against the
eternity of the world
The eternity of the world is the question of whether the world has a beginning in time or has existed from eternity. It was a concern for both ancient philosophers and the medieval theologians and medieval philosophers of the 13th century. The ...
, a theory which formed the basis of pagan attacks on the Christian doctrine of
Creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
* Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
* Creationism, the belief tha ...
. He also wrote on
Christology
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
and was posthumously condemned as a
heretic by the Church in 680–81 because of what was perceived as a
tritheist
Tritheism (from Greek τριθεΐα, "three divinity") is a nontrinitarian Christian heresy in which the unity of the Trinity and thus monotheism are denied. It represents more a "possible deviation" than any actual school of thought positing thre ...
ic interpretation of the
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
.
His by-name translates as "lover of toil", i.e. "diligent," referring to a
miaphysite confraternity in Alexandria, the ''philoponoi,'' who were active in debating pagan (i.e. Neoplatonic) philosophers.
His posthumous condemnation limited the spread of his writing, but copies of his work, ''The contra Aristotelem'', resurfaced in medieval Europe, through translations from Arabic of his quotes included in the work of
Simplicius of Cilicia
Simplicius of Cilicia (; el, Σιμπλίκιος ὁ Κίλιξ; c. 490 – c. 560 AD) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian i ...
, which was debated in length by Muslim philosophers such as
al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a renowned early Isl ...
,
Avicenna,
al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
and later
Averroes
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psy ...
, influencing
Bonaventure
Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher.
The seventh Minister G ...
and
Buridan
Jean Buridan (; Latin: ''Johannes Buridanus''; – ) was an influential 14th-century French philosopher.
Buridan was a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris for his entire career who focused in particular on logic and the w ...
in Christian Western Europe, but also
Rabbanite Jews such as
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...
and
Gersonides
Levi ben Gershon (1288 – 20 April 1344), better known by his Graecized name as Gersonides, or by his Latinized name Magister Leo Hebraeus, or in Hebrew by the abbreviation of first letters as ''RaLBaG'', was a medieval French Jewish philosoph ...
, who also used his arguments against their
Karaite rivals. His work was largely debated in the Arabic scholarly tradition, where he is known as (i.e. "John the Grammarian"), and his views against Aristotelian physics were defended by philosophers at the court of
Fatimid Imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, particularly
Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani
Hamid al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ahmad ibn Abdallah al-Kirmani (; CE) was an Isma'ili scholar. He was of Persian origin and was probably born in the province of Kirman. He seems to have spent the greater part of his life as a Fatimid ''da'i'' (missiona ...
, who debated Avicenna on the topic, and
Hamza ibn Ali
Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad ( ar, حمزة بن علي بن أحمد; 985 – c. 1021) was an 11th-century Ismaili missionary and founding leader of the Druze. He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Ra ...
. His critique of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
in the
''Physics'' commentary was a major influence on
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, ...
and
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He wa ...
, who cited Philoponus substantially in his works.
[Branko Mitrović, "Leon Battista Alberti and the Homogeneity of Space", ''The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'', vol. 63, No. 4 (2004), pp. 424–439.]
Life
Although Philoponus' originating from a Christian family is possible, nothing is known of his early life. Philoponus studied at the school of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
and began publishing from about 510. He was a pupil and sometime
amanuensis to the Neoplatonic philosopher
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 Neoplatonis ...
, who had studied at Athens under
Proclus.
Philoponus' early writings are based on lectures given by Ammonius, but gradually he established his own independent thinking in his commentaries and critiques of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
's ''
On the Soul
''On the Soul'' (Greek: , ''Peri Psychēs''; Latin: ''De Anima'') is a major treatise written by Aristotle c. 350 BC. His discussion centres on the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their different op ...
'' and ''
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
''. In the latter work Philoponus became one of the earliest thinkers to reject Aristotle's dynamics and propose the "
theory of impetus
The theory of impetus was an auxiliary or secondary theory of Aristotelian dynamics, put forth initially to explain projectile motion against gravity. It was introduced by John Philoponus in the 6th century, and elaborated by Nur ad-Din al-Bitru ...
": i.e., an object moves and continues to move because of an energy imparted in it by the mover and ceases the movement when that energy is exhausted. This insightful theory was the first step towards the concept of
inertia
Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...
in modern physics, although Philoponus' theory was largely ignored at the time because he was too radical in his rejection of Aristotle.
Philoponus is the only writer of antiquity to have formally presented such a concept.
As the discovery of the principle of inertia is the hallmark achievement of modern science as it emerges in the 16th to 17th centuries,
Pierre Duhem
Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (; 9 June 1861 – 14 September 1916) was a French theoretical physicist who worked on thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and the theory of elasticity. Duhem was also a historian of science, noted for his work on the Eu ...
argues that its invention would put Philoponus among the "great geniuses of Antiquity" and the "principal precursors to modern science", although he holds it more likely that Philoponus may have received the idea from an earlier, otherwise unrecorded
Alexandrian school of mechanics.
In 529 Philoponus wrote his critique ''
On the Eternity of the World Against Proclus'' in which he systematically defeats every argument put forward for the
eternity of the world
The eternity of the world is the question of whether the world has a beginning in time or has existed from eternity. It was a concern for both ancient philosophers and the medieval theologians and medieval philosophers of the 13th century. The ...
, a theory which formed the basis of pagan attack of the Christian doctrine of
Creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
* Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
* Creationism, the belief tha ...
. The intellectual battle against eternalism became one of Philoponus' major preoccupations and dominated several of his publications (some now lost) over the following decade.
He introduced a new period of scientific thought based heavily on three premises: (1) The universe is a product of one single God, (2) the heavens and the earth have the same
physical properties, (3) and the stars are not divine.
With these principles Philoponus went after his rival,
Simplicius of Cilicia
Simplicius of Cilicia (; el, Σιμπλίκιος ὁ Κίλιξ; c. 490 – c. 560 AD) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian i ...
, by questioning Aristotle's' view of dynamics and cosmology.
He argued that motion can occur in a void and that the velocity of a falling object is not based on its weight.
He also held that God created all matter with its physical properties and with natural laws that would allow matter to progress from a state of chaos to an organized state forming the present universe.
What remains of his writings indicate that he used the same
didactic method
A didactic method ( el, διδάσκειν ''didáskein'', "to teach") is a teaching method that follows a consistent scientific approach or educational style to present information to students. The didactic method of instruction is often contra ...
s of reasoning that modern science uses and that he performed genuine experiments.
The style of his commentaries and his conclusions made Philoponus unpopular with his colleagues and fellow philosophers, and he appears to have ceased his study of philosophy around 530, devoting himself to theology instead. Around 550 he wrote a theological work ''
On the Creation of the World'' as a commentary on the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
’s story of creation, using the insights of Greek philosophers and
Basil of Caesarea. In this work he transfers his theory of impetus to the motion of the planets, whereas Aristotle had proposed different explanations for the motion of heavenly bodies and for earthly projectiles. Thus, Philoponus' theological work is recognized in the history of science as the first attempt at a unified
theory of dynamics. Another of his major theological concerns was to argue that all material objects were brought into being by God (''Arbiter'', 52A–B).
Around 553 Philoponus made some theological contributions to the
Council of Constantinople concerning
Christology
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
. His doctrine on Christ's duality, according to which in Christ remain two united substances, united but divided, is analogous to the union of the soul and body in human beings and coincides with the
miaphysite school of thought. He also produced writings on the Trinity around this time. ''Arbiter'', John Philoponus' Christological “opus magnum” stands in the line with
Cyril of Alexandria and
Severus of Antioch.
Philoponus asserted the understanding of Christ as divine and human, in opposition to
Chalcedonian authors who strove to reach a middle ground.
Legacy
After his death, John Philoponus was declared to have held heretical views of the Trinity and was made
anathema
Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema was a cr ...
at the
Third Council of Constantinople
The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical ...
in 680–681. This limited the spread of his ideas in the following centuries, but in his own time and afterwards he was translated into
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, and many of his works survived and were studied by the Arabs. Some of his works continued to circulate in Europe in Greek or Latin versions and influenced
Bonaventure
Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher.
The seventh Minister G ...
. The theory of impetus was taken up by
Buridan
Jean Buridan (; Latin: ''Johannes Buridanus''; – ) was an influential 14th-century French philosopher.
Buridan was a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris for his entire career who focused in particular on logic and the w ...
in the 14th century.
Philoponus and his contemporaries,
Simplicius of Cilicia
Simplicius of Cilicia (; el, Σιμπλίκιος ὁ Κίλιξ; c. 490 – c. 560 AD) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian i ...
and Strato developed the Aristotelian concept of space further, eventually influencing the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
theory of perspective, particularly the one highlighted by
Leon Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
, and other architectural masters.
Works
John Philoponus wrote at least 40 works on a wide array of subjects including grammar, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and theology.
*''On words with different meanings in virtue of a difference of accent'' (''De vocabulis quae diversum significatum exhibent secundum differentiam accentus'')
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
On Generation and Corruption
''On Generation and Corruption'' ( grc, Περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς; la, De Generatione et Corruptione), also known as ''On Coming to Be and Passing Away'' is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scie ...
''
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
De Anima
''On the Soul'' ( Greek: , ''Peri Psychēs''; Latin: ''De Anima'') is a major treatise written by Aristotle c. 350 BC. His discussion centres on the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their differen ...
''
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
Categories
Category, plural categories, may refer to:
Philosophy and general uses
*Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally
*Category of being
* ''Categories'' (Aristotle)
*Category (Kant)
* Categories (Peirce)
* ...
''
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
Prior Analytics''
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
Posterior Analytics''
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
'' – Philoponus' most important commentary, in which he challenges Aristotle on time, space, void, matter and dynamics.
*''Commentary on Aristotle's
Meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
''
*''Commentary on Nicomachus'
Introduction to Arithmetic
The book ''Introduction to Arithmetic'' ( grc-gre, Ἀριθμητικὴ εἰσαγωγή, ''Arithmetike eisagoge'') is the only extant work on mathematics by Nicomachus (60–120 AD).
Summary
The work contains both philosophical prose an ...
''
*''On the Eternity of the World against Proclus'' (
De aeternitate mundi contra Proclum')
*''On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle'' (''De aeternitate mundi contra Aristotelem'') – A refutation of Aristotle's doctrines of the fifth element and the eternity of motion and time, consisting of at least eight books.
*''On the Creation of the World'' (''De opificio mundi'') – A theological-philosophical commentary on the Creation story in the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
.
*''On the Contingency of the World'' (''De contingentia mundi'')
*''On the Use and Construction of the Astrolabe'' – The oldest extant Greek treatise on the
astrolabe.
*''Arbiter'' (''Διαιτητής
iaitêtês') – A philosophical justification of monophysitism. Not extant in Greek; Syriac text with Latin translation.
*''On the Trinity'' (''De trinitate'') – The main source for a reconstruction of Philoponus' trinitarian doctrine.
Philosophical commentaries
The commentaries of the late antiquity and early Middle Ages aimed to teach an audience. In that regard, the repetitive nature of Philoponus’ commentaries demonstrates his pedagogical awareness. Although abstract in manner, Philoponus is chiefly focused on the concept in question.
Most of Philoponus’ early philosophical works strive to define the distinction between matter, extension, place, and various kinds of change. For example, the commentary ''
On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle
On, on, or ON may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews
* ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin
* ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995
* ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001
* ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...
'' represents a standardized description of Aristotelian
natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science.
From the ancient wo ...
. Both Aristotle and Philoponus argue that in kinds of change there are differences, in their form and matter.
In ''Physics'', Aristotle operates with the idea of places, but dismisses the existence of space. The idea that came from Plato and was developed by Aristotle has been evolved by Philoponus. Philoponus attempts to combine the idea of homogeneous space with the Aristotelian system.
The argument made by Philoponus is that substances by themselves require some determinate quantity for their being. Similarly to Aristotle, who rejected the immaterial things, and in contrast to Plato who accepted immaterial substances in his metaphysics, Philoponus’ concept of substance refers to the material objects.
Concerning the discussion of space, Philoponus’ claim that from every point in space is possible to draw identical figures, made him be perceived as an innovative thinker who influenced later Renaissance scholars, for instance,
Gianfranceso Pico della Mirandola
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola (1470–1533) was an Italian nobleman and philosopher, the nephew of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. His name is typically truncated as Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola.
Biography
Gianfrancesco was the so ...
and
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He wa ...
. Thus, Philoponus' idea of perspective signifies the concept of space as immaterial three-dimensional medium in which objects are located.
In the third book of ''De Anima'', entitled ''De Intellectu'', Philoponus analyzes the doctrine of the intellect. The author (Philoponus or pseudo-Philoponus?) sets the theory on the role and functioning of the active intellect. On one hand, there is the active intellect, and on the other, the idea of perception awareness or how we are aware that we are perceiving. In other words, in this reflective philosophy, there is a rationalist conclusion which emphasizes a relation between self and truth which leads to the discussion of the nature of knowledge.
According to this view, the knowledge is identical to its object, since the self-awareness of perception is divorced from the irrational soul.Therefore, the understanding arises through the identification of the intellect and its object. More specifically, perception deals only with material things.
Philoponus has raised the central question of the scientific and philosophical Aristotle's work on chemistry. The work called ''On Generation and Corruption'' examines the question of how is the mixture (chemical combination) possible? Philoponus’ contribution to the topic is in his new definition of potential, the third of the seven elements criteria. There are various interpretations of the theory of mixture, but it seems that Philoponus is rather refining Aristotle's approach than rejecting it. One of interpreters of Philophonus’ work on the theory of mixture, De Haas, implies that “no element can possess a quality essential to it except to a superlative extent”.
Theological treatises
Philoponus’ major Christological work is ''Arbiter''. The work was written shortly before the
Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and rec ...
of 553.
[Translated and edited by A. Sandra in 1930] It became famous in regard to its doctrine on resurrection. Similarly to ideas presented in ''Physics'', Philoponus in the work titled ''Arbiter'' states that our corrupted bodies (material things) will be eventually brought into being (matter and form) by God.
See also
*
Byzantine science
Byzantine science played an important role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world and to Renaissance Italy, and also in the transmission of Islamic science to Renaissance Italy. Its rich historiographical tradition preser ...
References
Further reading
* Gleede, Benjamin, ''Platon und Aristoteles in der Kosmologie des Proklos. Ein Kommentar zu den 18 Argumenten für die Ewigkeit der Welt bei Johannes Philoponos'' (Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2009) (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity, 54).
* Grant, E. ''Much Ado about Nothing: Theories of Space and Vacuum from the Middle Ages to the Scientific Revolution'' (Cambridge, 1981).
* Grant, E. ''A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century'' (Cambridge, 2007).
* Jammer, M. ''Concepts of Space: The History of Theories of Space in Physics'' (Mineola, NY, 1993), 53–94.
*
*
* MacCoull, Leslie S. B., "Aristophanes in Philoponus: Did he get the joke?" ''Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik'', 57, 2007,
* Scholten, Clemens, "Welche Seele hat der Embryo? Johannes Philoponos und die Antike Embryologie," ''Vigiliae Christianae'', 59,4 (2005), 377–411.
*
*Wisnovsky, R., "Yaḥyā al-Naḥwī." ''
Encyclopaedia of Islam'', 2012.
External links
*
*
*
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