Porphyry: On Aristotle Categories

Porphyry: On Aristotle Categories
Author: S. Strange
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2014-04-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1780934327

Porphyry (AD 232/3 - C.305) is of crucial importance for the history of Aristotelian studies. Born in Tyre and a student of Plotinus in Rome, he later defended Aristotle's Categories against Plotinus, arguing that they were entirely compatible with Platonism. His intervention was decisive: the Categories became a basic textbook of logic for all subsequent Neoplatonist teaching and influenced both the Arabic and Western Traditions. Boethius drew heavily on Porphyry's treatment. The full commentary is lost, but a shorter version survives and is translated here.

Simplicius: On Aristotle Categories 5-6

Simplicius: On Aristotle Categories 5-6
Author: Barrie Fleet
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2014-04-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1780938926

Chapters 5 and 6 of Aristotle's Categories describe his first two categories, Substance and Quantity. It is usually taken that Plotinus attacked Aristotle's Categories, but that Porphyry and Iamblichus restored it to the curriculum once and for all. Nonetheless, the introduction to this text stresses how much of the defence of Aristotle Porphyry was able to draw out of Plotinus' critical discussion. Simplicius' commentary is our most comprehensive account of the debate on the validity of Aristotle's Categories. One subject discussed by Simplicius in these chapters is where the differentia of a species (eg the rationality of humans) fits into the scheme of categories. Another is why Aristotle elevates the category of Quantity to second place, above the category of Quality. Further, de Haas shows how Simplicius distinguishes different kinds of universal order to solve some of the problems.

Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire

Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire
Author: Michael James Griffin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 019872473X

This volume studies the origin and evolution of philosophical interest in Aristotle's Categories, and illuminates the earliest arguments for Aristotle's approach to logic as the foundation of higher education.

Ammonius: Interpretation of Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Five Terms

Ammonius: Interpretation of Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Five Terms
Author: Michael Chase
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2019-09-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350089249

One of his six introductions to philosophy, widely used by students in Alexandria, Ammonius' lecture on Porphyry was recorded in writing by his students in the commentary translated here. Along with five other types of introductions (three of which are translated in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle volume Elias and David: Introductions to Philosophy with Olympiodorus: Introduction to Logic) it made Greek philosophy more accessible to other cultures. These introductions became standard in Ammonius' school and included a popular set of five or more definitions of philosophy, some of them drawn from commentaries on quite different works. Ammonius' lecture expounded the most celebrated and discussed previous introduction written by Porphyry 200 years earlier, which was devoted to five main technical terms of Aristotle's logic. Ammonius was sympathetic to Porphyry because they both sought to harmonise the views of Plato and Aristotle with each other, arguing in different ways that the two philosophers did not disagree about the nature of universals. Porphyry's introduction was a hugely influential work for centuries after its composition, and this commentary by Ammonius served to maintain its position at the centre of later schools of philosophy. This English translation of Ammonius' work is the latest volume in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series and makes this philosophical work accessible to a modern readership. The translation is accompanied by an introduction, comprehensive commentary notes, bibliography, glossary of translated terms and a subject index.

Ammonius: On Aristotle Categories

Ammonius: On Aristotle Categories
Author: S.Marc Cohen
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2014-04-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1780933789

Ammonius, who taught most of the leading sixth-century Neoplatonists, introduced the methods of his own teacher, Proclus, from Athens to Alexandria. These are exemplified in his commentaries: for instance, in the set of ten introductory questions prefixed to this commentary, which became standard. The commentary is interesting for the light it sheds on the religious situation in Alexandria. It used to be said that the Alexandrian Neoplatonist school was allowed to remain open after the Athenian school closed because Ammonius has agreed with the Christian authorities to keep quiet about his religious views. On the contrary, as this commentary shows he freely declared his belief in the Neoplatonist deities. The philosophical problems considered by Ammonius offer a unique insight into Aristotle's Categories. They exercise the mind and deepen understanding of the subject matter. Modern readers would do well to put the same questions to themselves.

Introduction to Categories

Introduction to Categories
Author: Porphyry
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2015-06-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781514326800

The Isagoge 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 schools and 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 as William of Ockham incorporated them into their textbooks on logic.