Brill's Companion to the Reception of Presocratic Natural Philosophy in Later Classical Thought

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Brill's Companion to the Reception of Presocratic Natural Philosophy in Later Classical Thought explores both explicit and hidden influences of Presocratic (6-4th c. BCE) early scientific concepts, such as nature, elements, principles, soul, organization, causation, purpose, and cosmos in Platonic, Aristotelian, and Hippocratic philosophy Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Table of contents Foreword: Some Thoughts on Interpreting the Presocratics and Their Reception Oxford Classical Dictionary – Abbreviations List Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction 1 Reception: Methodology and Grounding Concepts 2 Hidden Reception: Exploring Sources and Developing Themes 2.1 On Reading This Volume Part 1 Reception: Methodology and Grounding Concepts Chapter 1 Peri Phuseôs: Physics, Physicists, and Phusis in Aristotle 1 Introduction: What Is It to Inquire peri phuseôs? 2 Peri phuseôs before Aristotle: Scope of Inquiry and Approach 2.1 Explanations of peri phuseôs in Terms of Reference (Burnet, Naddaf) 2.2 Explanations of peri phuseôs in Terms of Approach: Genetic and Dispositional Characteristics of Things 3 Natures and Natural Things in Plato and Aristotle 3.1 Plato: Nature and Craftsmanship 3.2 Aristotle: Natures and Natural Things Bibliography Chapter 2 Plato’s Reception of Presocratic Natural Philosophy 1 Caution 1.1 Peri Phuseôs Historian 2 Phusis and the Presocratics 3 Demarcating psnp 3.1 Peri Phuseôs Skopein 4 Presocratic Medical Writers 5 Phusis, Peri Phuseôs and Enquiry 6 Is There Approval of some psnp in the Phaedo? 7 Anaxagoras and Taxonomies 8 Cosmogony, Plausibility and Chance 9 Zoogony and Plausibility 10 Multiplicities 11 Eudoxus and Astronomy 12 The Pythagorean Question 13 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 3 Presocratic Echoes: The Reception of Purposive Nature in Classical Greek Thought 1 Presocratic Conceptions of Purposive Nature 2 Hidden Catalyst: The Sophistic “Corruption” of Physis 3 Plato and Aristotle: Defending and Expanding Physis33 Bibliography Chapter 4 The Reception of Early Greek Astronomy 1 2 3 4 Bibliography Part 2 Hidden Reception: Exploring Sources and Developing Themes Chapter 5 Pythagorean Ratios in Empedocles’ Physics 1 Pythagoreanism in Empedocles?1 1.1 A Strong Claim in Simplicius 1.2 Authorship of the Claim 1.3 Simplicius’ Possible Evidence 1.3.1 Simplicius’ Knowledge of Empedoclean and Parmenidean Texts 1.3.2 Empedocles’ Two Poems22 1.3.3 Pythagoreanism in the ‘Purifications’ and in ‘On Nature’ 1.3.4 The Holy Tetraktys of the Pythagoreans 1.3.5 ‘On Nature’ as Simplicius’ Principal Source 1.4 Two Possible Objections 1.4.1 The Biographical Tradition on Empedocles 1.4.2 The Platonizing Reinterpretation of Empedocles 2 The Pythagorean Oath and Empedocles’ Cosmic Time-Table 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Rhizōmata and Pēgē in the Pythagorean Oath and in Empedocles’ ‘On Nature’ 2.2.1 Rhizōmata = ‘elemental networks’ 2.2.2 Pēgē = ‘stream of life’ 2.3 Making Sense of the Pythagorean Oath 2.3.1 The Cosmic Cycle and the Tetraktys 2.3.2 The Oath as a Pseudo-Pythagorean Text 2.4 Conclusion 3 The Structure of Empedocles’ Cosmic Cycle181 3.1 Two Zoogonies 3.1.1 The Zoogony During Love’s Expansion 3.1.2 The Zoogony During Strife’s Invasion 3.2 The Two Abiotic Stages After and Before the Turning Point 3.3 Conclusion: The Seven Phases of the Cosmic Cycle 4 The Time-Table of the Cosmic Cycle 4.1 The Basic Structure of the Time-Table According to the Florentine Scholia 4.1.1 Arist. Ph. Θ 1, 250b26–9 with Scholium B 4.1.2 Arist. Ph. Θ 1, 252a7–10 with Scholium C 4.1.3 Arist. Ph. Θ 1, 252a27–8 + 31–2 with Scholium E 4.1.4 Arist. GC B 6, 334a5–9 with Scholium J 4.1.5 Arist. GC A 1, 315a4–8 with Scholium G 4.2 The Florentine Time-Table and the Tetraktys 4.2.1 A Pythagorean Subdivision of the Florentine Time-Table 4.2.2 ‘Time units’ = aiōnes 4.2.3 The Seven Phases of the Cosmic Cycle and the Double Tetraktys 4.2.4 Proof of the Pudding: The Time to Be Given in Exchange 4.2.5 Hinting at the Divine Orthos Logos 4.3 Conclusion: A Pythagorizing Answer to Parmenides Bibliography Chapter 6 Pythagoreanism and the History of Demonstration 1 Demonstration 2 Inference 3 Causation 4 Unmediated Steps in Demonstration Bibliography Chapter 7 Aristotle’s Outlook on Pythagoras and the (So-Called) Pythagoreans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bibliography Chapter 8 Eleatic Archai in Aristotle: : A Dependence on Theophrastus’ Natural History? 1 Theophrastus on Xenophanes 2 Aristotle on Xenophanes 3 Theophrastus and Alexander on “Parmenides’ Argument” 4 Aristotle on “Parmenides’ Argument” 5 “The Argument of Melissus” Bibliography Chapter 9 The Reception of Presocratic Flat Earth Cosmology in Aristotle, the Doxography, and Beyond 1 Introduction 2 A Specification of the Flat Shape of the Earth 3 Falling on a Flat Earth 4 Temporal Features 5 The Distance of the Heavens 6 The Distance of the Heavens and an Ancient Argument for the Flat Earth 7 The Tilt of the Celestial Axis 8 The Alleged Tilt of the Earth 9 Geographical and Climatological Issues 10 The Milky Way and the Cause of Lunar Eclipses Bibliography Chapter 10 Elements and Their Forms: : The Fortunes of a Presocratic Idea 1 Introduction 2 Diogenes1 2.1 Differentiations of the Elementary Air 2.2 Diogenes on the Relation between Different Orders of Properties 3 Hippocratic Writers 3.1 Varieties of Air—and Other Stuffs—in Some of the Early Hippocratic Works 3.2 Elemental Varieties in Regimen 4 Later Treatments Of (Quasi)Elemental Variation 4.1 Plato on Varieties of Triangles and of Simple Bodies 4.2 Aristotle on Forms of Earth and of Water 4.3 Fiery Disposition 5 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 11 Aristotle, Empedocles, and the Reception of the Four Elements Hypothesis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 12 The Aristotelian Reception Of Heraclitus’ Conception of the Soul 1 The Testimony 2 The Soul as First Principle 3 The Operations of the Soul 4 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 13 Mixing Minds: Anaxagoras and Plato’s Phaedo 1 Socrates’s “Autobiographical” Disappointment with Anaxagoras 2 Anaxagoras’ Philosophy 3 Socrates’ Defense 4 The Affinity Argument (78b–84b) 5 The Cyclical Argument (70c–71e) 6 Coda: A Metaphysical Problem for Anaxagoras and Plato Bibliography Chapter 14 Platonic Reception – Atomism and the Atomists in Plato’s Timaeus 1 Introduction 2 Different Forms of Philosophical Reception in the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle 2.1 Aristotle 2.2 The Presocratics 2.3 Plato 3 Plato’s Reception of the Atomists 3.1 The Atomistic Base in Plato’s Timaeus 3.2 Plato’s Changes to the Atomistic Theory 3.2.1 Modifications of the Atomistic Theory 3.2.2 Disagreement with the Atomists 3.2.2.1 Teleology 3.2.2.2 No Void 3.2.2.3 The Intelligibility of Motion 3.2.2.4 Transformation of the Basic Bodies 3.3 Why are the Atomists Not Named? Bibliography Chapter 15 Presocratic Cosmology and Platonic Myth 1 Plato and the Presocratics 2 Plato on the Use and Abuse of Myth 3 Presocratic Cosmology 4 Eschatological Myth in Gorgias, Phaedo, Republic and Phaedrus 4.1 Gorgias (523a–527a) 4.2 Phaedo (107c–115a) 4.3 Republic (614b–621d) 4.4 Phaedrus (246a–257a) 5 The Timaeus Myth 5.1 Myth and Doxa 5.2 The Craftsman God and the Causes of Change 5.3 The Constituents of Matter 6 Reciprocal Links of Macrocosm and Microcosm Bibliography Index