Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science (2nd edition)

292 Pages·2010·29.61 MB·English

by  Richard Sorabji (editor)

CONTRIBUTORS
Dr Wolfgang Bernard, UniversityofRostock
ProfessorHenryChadwick, late ofChristChurch,Oxford
ProfessorDavidFurley, late ofDepartmentofClassics, Princeton
ProfessorPhilippe Hoffmann, Directeurd'Etudes at the Ecole Pratiquedes Hautes Etudes,
Sierne section, and memberofthe Laboratoired'etudessur les monotheismesatCNRS
Dr LindsayJudson, ChristChurch, Oxford
Dr Charles Schmitt, late ofthe Warburg Institute, UniversityofLondon
ProfessorDavid Sedley, Christ'sCollege, Cambridge
ProfessorRichard Sorabji, WolfsonCollege, Oxford
ProfessorChristianWildberg, DepartmentofClassics, Princeton
ProfessorMichaelWolff, UniversitatBielefeld,Abteilung Philosophie
Dr FritzZimmermann, formerly ofthe Oriental Institute,Oxford
ABBREVIATIONS
CAG= Commentaria inAristotelem Graeca, ed. H. Diels, Berlin 1882-1909
LSJ = H.G. Lidell and R.Scott,A Greek-EnglishLexiconrev. H.S.Jones, Oxford 1968
OSAP = OxfordStudies inancientphilosophy
PG =Patrologia Graeca
RE =Realencyklopddieder klassichen Altertumswissenschaft,Stuttgart 1893-
aet=deAeternitateMundi contra Proclum
inAn Pr = inAnalyticaPriora
inAn Post = inAnalyticaPosteriora
in Cat= inCategorias
in Cael=inde Caelo
inDA =indeAnima
in GC= inde GenerationeetCorruptione
inMeteor = inMeteorologica 1
inPhys = inPhysica
Opif=de Opificio Mundi
VIII
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
RICHARD SORABJI
There isno general treatmentofJohn Philoponusat book length,I despite the influence he
exerted on philosophy and more particularly on science. Galileo mentioned him in his
early writing more often than Plato, and inheritedfrom him, withoutmention, the impetus
theory whose introductionThomas Kuhn hascalled ascientific revolution.
Philoponus' chiefclaim to fame ishis massive attack onthe Aristotelian science ofhis
day, referred to in the title ofthis book, and his provision of alternative theories which
helpedto fueltheRenaissance break away fromAristotle. Butthere aremany other facetsto
his work, as this volume will show. Only recently, with the studies ofvan Roey, has the
vigorous and startling character of his contributions to Christian doctrine become more
apparent. Philoponus is also our earliest source for, even if he is not the originator of,
various philosophical ideas that were offered as a means ofinterpreting Aristotle, not of
refutinghim.
The study of Philoponus has been impeded by the shortage of translations. This
deficiency isdue toberemedied bythetranslation intoEnglish ofmostofhiscommentaries
on Aristotle and most ofhis works on the eternity ofthe world, as part ofa larger series
coveringtheancient commentatorsonAristotle,editedbyRichard Sorabji.i
Allthechaptersinthisbookarenew,exceptfortheinaugurallecture(Chapter9),whichI
apologiseforreprintingvirtuallyunrevisedandwiththeoriginallecturecontextstillapparent.
It seemeddesirable,however,thatsocrucialapartofthecontroversyshouldberepresented.
The collection originated in a conference on Philoponus held at the Institute of
Classical Studies in London in June 1983, which provided an opportunity for interested
parties to pool knowledge from the many different disciplines that are relevant to his
work. Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 6 are drawn from the conference, while two other conference
papers, those ofHenry Blumenthal and Richard Sorabji, are being incorporatedintobooks
in preparation (see Bibliography}.' Sorabji's main suggestions, however, are included in
I However, after this book had gone to press, there appeared a Ph.D. dissertation on Philoponus in
DutchsubmittedtotheCatholicUniversity ofLouvainbyKoenraad Verrycken (1985). Itssubjectis
God and the world in the philosophy of Philoponus, and it detects in him a transition from
Ammonius' doctrine toaChristian doctrine ofcreation. Itsfindings aretoberepresented inEnglish
inapublicationbytheBelgian Royal Academy, and, inRichardSorabji, ed.,Aristotletransformed,
London, 1990,Chs 10-11.
2TranslationsofthefragmentaryAgainstAristotle ontheeternityoftheworldandofAgainstProclus
ontheeternityoftheworldarenowcomplete,andcomplete,orwell-advanced,aretranslationsoffive
commentaries,those on Aristotle's Posterioranalytics, On coming-to-be andperishing, Physics, On
thesoul,andOnintellect(=Onthesoul3.4-8.)Ed.
3Blumenthal (1996), Sorabji(1988).Ed.
ix
x PHILOPONUS
Chapter I in the discussion of matter and extension (pp 18 and 23). The remairnng
chapters, apart from the inaugural lecture, were solicitedorwritten for the volume, two of
them (5 and 12) having been delivered first at a seminar on Ancient Science at the
InstituteofClassical Studies.
Chapter I offers a general account of Philoponus, which should not be taken as
committingother contributors. Itisfollowed bytwochapters onreligion. Henry Chadwick's
depiction of Philoponus' contributions to Christian doctrine is almost the only general
account, and certainly the first to make use of the new findings of van Roey. Philippe
Hoffmannprovides asalutaryreminderofhowChristianitycould looktoadevout pagan: an
irreverent and ungodly position, which elevates the corpse of Christ above the divine
heavens. Simplicius also believed that Philoponus did not understand how to write
commentaries on Aristotle, something which he himselfdid with a view to displaying the
agreement between Aristotle and Plato, and to directing the reader through a course of
studies that would lead him to God. Enemies ofPhiloponus will find the quotations from
Simplicius a splendid source ofinvective, but the invective needs to be understood in the
context which Hoffman provides.
Chapters 4 and 5are concernedwith impetustheory. Michael Wolfftraces the origins
ofthe modem study ofthe theory, and suggests an original analysis ofwhat isgoing on in
Philoponus. Fritz Zimmermann's note on work in progress throws light on the route of
transmission of Philoponus' impetus theory, which has baffled previous commentators
despite the importantfindings ofPines. Pines detected impetus theory inAvicenna and in
many other Islamic sources. Zimmermann argues that it could have been transmitted to
the Latin West, when Ghazali's summary ofAvicenna was translated into Latin in the
second halfofthe twelfth century. For further commentseepp. 52-54.
Chapters 6 and 7 are concerned with space. In the absence of any complete
translation, it is useful to have David Furley's summary of Philoponus' influential
Corollaries on Place and on Void. Furleywill himselfbe providingtranslationsofthese in
due course." David Sedley illuminates the text by asking what is meant by 'the force of
vacuum' and bythe claim that space might be vacuous, 'sofar asdependedon it'.
In Chapter 8, Wolfgang Bernard makes an addition to the literature on later Greek
treatments ofself-consciousness. Excessively slim, it has hitherto ignored the passage of
Philoponus which Bernard discusses.' Whether one takes Philoponus to be elaborating
Aristotle, or once again rejecting him, depends on whether one thinks that Aristotle has
left himselffree to agree with Philoponus' view that our consciousness ofour own vision
is due to our faculty ofreason. Philoponus himself says that Aristotle both agrees and
disagrees.
Chapters 9 to II take up Philoponus' views on the creation ofthe universe and its
future destruction. Chapter9discusses the most spectacularofhis arguments for creation,
in which he maintains that the Aristotelian concept of infinity accepted by his pagan
opponents rules out the beginningless past in which they believe. Philoponus also claims
Plato's support for the idea that the universe began, and so has to considerwhether Plato
can consistently hold that the universe begins, but does not end. Lindsay Judson has
4Furleydid so in 1991.Ed.
5See now pp. 29-31 below. Ed.
RICHARDSORABJI: PREFACETOTHE FIRST EDITION Xl
elsewhere considered Aristotle's treatment of this subject, and now in Chapter 10 he
reveals the subtlety of Philoponus' discussion of the relevant modalities. Christian
Wildberg introduces the Contra Aristotelem, a work whose considerable influence (see p
66) has been little researched because of the relative inaccessibility of the surviving
fragments. This lack will soon be made good by Wildberg's collection and translation of
them." InChapter 11he speaks ofMuhsinMahdi's Syriac fragment towhich hehas given
fresh thought. The fragment shows that the Contra Aristotelem originally contained two
more books than was previously thought, and that the extra books were concerned with
the Christian expectation ofa new heaven and a new earth. This connects with Judson's
theme, because it shows Philoponus occupying a position part way in the direction of
Plato's: some world, even if not this one, will begin and then last without end. (For
another example of something beginning without ending, see Chapter 1, n. 223 on the
rational soul.)
In the final chapter, Charles Schmitt offers the fullest documentation to date of
Philoponus' impactonRenaissance science withspecialreference tohisviewsonspaceand
vacuum, which are summarised by Furley in Chapter 6. He shows how influential was the
sixteenth-century translation intoLatinoftheAristotelian commentators, ofSimpliciuseven
more than of Philoponus. Their record of alternatives to Aristotelian science added
momentum totheRenaissance breakawayfromAristotle.
Itgives mepleasure to acknowledge several kinds ofhelp. The conference on Philoponus
was generously supported by the British Academy, the Centro InternazionaleA. Beltrame
di Storia dello Spazio edel Tempo and the Henry Brown Fund, and some ofthe editorial
expenses were met by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The chapter by
Hoffmann was translated from the French by Jennifer Barnes. A. P. Segonds, Christian
Wildberg and Larry Schrenk gave me extensive assistance with the Bibliography, and
Koenraad Verrycken allowed me to add items in proof from the bibliography of his
dissertation(1985). The typing was meticulouslyperformedby Mrs. Dee Woods. Ishould
also like to thank all those who contributed their interest and expertise to the conference
and to subsequent discussions. Finally, Larry Schrenkplayed a special role, preparing the
entire volume forpress, carryingout theproof-readingand supplyingthe indexes.
While this book was in proof, we learnt ofthe early death ofCharles Schmitt. His unique
contributioninChapter 12isbut one small reminderofwhat we have all lost.
R.R.K.S.
6Wildbergpublished 1987.Ed.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION
NEW FINDINGS ON PHILOPONUS
PART 1- THE CLASSROOMS EXCAVATED
RICHARD SORABJI
Since 1987, when the first edition ofthis book appeared, there have been new findings
both about Philoponus' thought and about his milieu. Inthis Introduction to the second
edition, I will start with the milieu. There has been a major archaeological discovery,
nothing less than the lecture rooms ofthe Alexandrian school.1Itwas announced in2004
that the Polish archaeological team under Grzegorz Majcherek had identified the lecture
rooms ofthe 6th century Alexandrian school surprisingly well preserved.' Although the
first few rooms had been excavated 25 years earlier, the identification had become
possible only now. By 2008, 20 rooms had been excavated. 20 is the number ofrooms
reported:' bya 12thcentury sourcewriting inArabic, Abdel-Latif,butthere maybemore.
Someoftheroomshadbeenrebuilt afteranearthquake presumed tobethatof535AD,
sothat they would have been there only inPhiloponus' lateryears.But others aredated to
the late fifth century, so belong to the time ofhis teacher, Ammonius. Even the later
rooms may be a guide to the structure of the earlier ones. Further reconstruction or
refurbishment inthe late 6th to very early 7th centuries is suggested by the ceramic in the
cement ofoneroom.
1IamverymuchindebtedtoRogerBagnallandtoGrzegorzMajcherek, formakingitpossible for
me to attend the conference held on March 16-18,2005 at and near the site inAlexandria, and to
invite Majcherek to speak at a conference on the classrooms and the use ingeneral of classrooms
heldbymyselfandCharlotteRouecheattheInstituteofClassicalStudiesinLondononApril26-27,
2005.IlearntmorefromaconferenceaddressedbyMajcherek,andhostedbytheOxfordCentrefor
LateAntiquity, on March 8,2008. Ishall includewith acknowledgement points made by othersat
the three conferences, as well as drawing on Majcherek's report and personal communication and
my own impressions. The proceedings of the Alexandria conference are published as Tomasz
Derda, Tomasz Markiewicz, Ewa Wipszycka, eds, Auditoria ofKom El-Dikka and late antique
education(Warsaw2007).
2 G. Majcherek, 'Excavations and preservation work 2002/2003', Polish archaeology in the
Mediterranean XV (2004), 25-38; id. and W. Kolataj, 'Alexandria, excavations and preservation
work,2001/2',Polish archaeologyintheMediterranean XIV (2003), 19-31.Therearewebreports
on Majcherek's excavation in Polish in Histmag for 19 May 2004 by Lord Lothar at
www.histmag.org andinEnglishinAl-Ahram for20-26January2005athttp://weekly.ahram.org.eg
byJillKamil.
3lowethisinformationtoJudithMckenzie.
2 PHILOPONUS
TheAlexandrian classroom excavated in2005
Oneverygood specimen ofaroom, which isillustrated here, has fourtiersofseats ina
horseshoe, enough to accommodate 30 students, with a professor's throne (thronos)
elevated up sixsteps atthe backofthe horseshoe, and a stone stand out atthe front ofthe
horseshoe. One stand has a hole in, which Majcherek takes to be for a lectern to be
inserted. The speaker would have stood there. 20 rooms ofsimilar or smaller size could
have accommodated 400 to 500 students. The stand is not found in most rooms, but the
throne was eventually recognised inall, although it sometimes took the form ofone step,
or a block covered with plaster or in one case marble. More rooms are rectangular than
horseshoe, andsomehaveonlyonetierofseats.
The position ofthe stone stand for a lectern isolated in front gives us a sense ofthe
extent to which the speaker, often a student, would have been exposed to interrogation
from professor and students. We can also imagine many different tasks that a speaker
might perform there. The different environment of Plotinus' Rome did not necessarily
have a roomofthe same structure. Butwecan imagine how the Alexandrian rooms could
have been put to use, when we think ofPorphyry, newly arrived as a student at Plotinus'
seminar inthe 3rd century AD. He had to rewrite his essay three times, and face criticism
RICHARD SORABJI: INTRODUCTION - NEW FINDINGS I 3
from another research student, Amelius, until he was persuaded to change his view. We
might picture a student reading out hisrevised essay atthe stand, although itwas actually
Amelius who was asked to read aloud Porphyry's." Plotinus also started his classes by
having commentaries and texts read to him by a student.5 At avery much earlier date, in
Athens ofthe second century BC, Cameades, the head ofthe Platonic Academy, had a
student summarise hisprevious lecture atthe beginning ofthe next, and criticised him for
getting itwrong.6
Theprofessor'sthrone orthronos, bycontrast, being attheback, gave himamuch less
exposed position than the modem Western professor tends to have, unless he chose to
come out infront. Raffaella Cribiore hasverywell explained the throne orthrones.' Plato
caricatures the sophists at Protagoras 315C, when he has Socrates go to see the sophist
Hippias ofElis holding forth on a thronos, with listeners sitting round him on benches
(bathra). Plutarch comments that Socrates did not use a thronos nor set out benches.8
Ammonius iscaricatured intheworknamed after him,Ammonius,which iswritten byone
of his Christian students, Zacharias. Ammonius is presented as being interrupted in a
lecture on Aristotle's physics by his Christian students who refute him on the question
whether the universe had a beginning. Ammonius is represented as sitting on a high step
or seat (bema) and expounding Aristotle's doctrine in a very sophistic and swaggering
way," which suggests that Ammonius' lecture arrangements made a similar provision.
Cribiore suggests that the caricature is partly drawn from Plato's Protagoras. Mossman
Roueche has pointed out to me an Ethiopic text, which reports that earlier inAlexandria,
Hypatia, the woman mathematician murdered in415 AD, had been forced offahigh seat
or lofty chair before being dragged away to her death.10 Cribiore and Majcherek have
drawn attention to the fourth century rhetorician Libanius describing the terror of a
rhetoric student required to deliver his composition in front of the teacher who sits
frowning 'on a high place'.J1 The tallest set of professorial steps surviving in the
Alexandrian excavation issixstepshigh. Comparison has been madewith the minbar ofa
laterperiod, theflight ofsteps leadinguptothe speaker inIslamicmosques.
4PorphyryLifeofPlotinus18.19.
5Porphyry, LifeofPlotinus 14.10.This istheinterpretation of thepassivevoiceaneginosketo autoi
in H.G. Snyder, Teachers and texts in theancient world (London 2000), from whom I draw these
examples.
6PhilodemusIndexofAcademicphilosophers(Herculaneum papyrus)col.xxii(35)-xxiii(2).
7 At conferences on the excavation in Alexandria, and Budapest and at the Institute ofClassical
Studies in London. Her paper, 'The school of Alexandria and the rivalry between rhetoric and
philosophy',willbepublished intheBudapest Proceedings.
8Plutarch Whetheroldmenshouldengage inpublic life796D-E.
9 Zacaharias Scholasticus, Ammonius, or De mundi opijicio, Patrologia Graeca vol. 85, cols
1028-29,andColonna,Ammonio (Naples 1973),lines92-99.
10Chronicle ofJohn, BishopofNikiu,Chapter 84.
11Libanius,ed.Foerster, vol.VIII,Chreia3.7.
4 PHILOPONUS
As regards the rounded shape, it has been pointed out that Elias, head Alexandrian
philosopher later in the 6th century CE, explains its purpose. Seminar rooms (diatribai)
12
are rounded so that students can see each other and the teacher. In a passage to be
discussed in the next chapter, Philoponus attaches importance to seeing the students'
faces, to tell whether or not they have understood.P Nothing prevents the teacher from
moving to the front, if he wants a clearer view offaces while he delivers a talk. But the
layout seems to have been designed to ensure a lot of student participation. The rounded
shape may have been recalled in the lecture rooms refurbished by Julian, Emperor in
Constantinople from 361 to 363, and used earlier in the century by his hero, the
Neoplatonist lamblichus. A mosaic preserved on the site shows Socrates surrounded by
colleagues in a curve to either side ofhim. I know ofno evidence that the curved shape
was still used in Islamic teaching, and Yahya Michot has drawn attention to Islamic
pictures ofdisorderly seating." But some orderly arrangement would fitwith those cases
forwhich itisreported that the Islamic professor put hisbest pupil andaspirant successor
tositnexttohim,demoting himifnextyear'sentrycontained anevenbetter student.
IS
Acloser analogue isthe bishop's throne inChristian basilicas, sited inthecentre ofthe
curved apse. The most striking example 1know isthat ofthe cathedral ofTorcello off
16
the coast ofVenice (see facing page). Not only is the throne in the centre ofthe apse
elevated above steep steps, but to either side of it is a horseshoe of six tiers of curved
stone benches for the presbyters, extraordinarily like those in the lecture rooms ofsixth
century Alexandria. Theterm 'high place' usedbyLibanius forthethrone ofthe frowning
professor ofrhetoric, isaterm still used ineastern churches for thebishop's throne inthe
apse. From the same fourth to early fifth centuries there are pagan and Christian mosaics
of teacher with disciples in a horseshoe around him. One, which I have discussed
elsewhere, is the mosaic installed in 360-362 CE in the Platonist school in Apamea in
what is now Syria by the Emperor Julian, who was trying in his brieftwo-year reign to
restore pagan religion and was here commemorating the devout pagan Platonist
Iamblichus." The mosaic shows Socrates surrounded ina horseshoe by his disciples, but
without a throne, since, as already mentioned, Socrates did not imitate the practice of
professorial enthronement. A Christian mosaic that has been dated to 410-417 CE from
12Elias, Commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge 21,30: Majcherek acknowledges Elzbieta Szabat as
havingpointedthisout.
13Philoponus inPhys. 7,trans fromArabic byLettinck, 771,21-772,3, repr. inRichard Sorabji, The
philosophy ofthe commentators 200-600 AD (London and Ithaca New York 2004), vol. 1 (=
Psychology Sourcebook) 6a(54).
14YahyaMichot,talkattheOxfordconferenceofMarch2008.
15W.Montgomery Watt, TheirifluenceofIslamonmedievalEurope (Edinburgh 1972).
16IthankthearthistorianChristineVerzarforawealthofinformation aboutbishop'sthrones,which
is what enabled me to see the relevance of Torcello and make the suggestion below about San
Clementeasamissing link.
17Richard Sorabji, Introduction (available also in French) to his (ed.) Aristotle Transformed: The
Ancient Commentators and Their Influence (London, Duckworth, and Cornell University Press,
1990)atpp.9-10.
RICHARDSORAHJI:INTRODUCTION- NEW FINDINGS I 5
Bishop'sthrone with curved benches inCathedral ofTorcello
the apse ofSanta Prudenziana in Rome shows Christ on a gilded throne surrounded by
disciples inahorseshoe.
There is an even more unexpected continuity of design. One of the basilicas with a
throne inthecentre oftheapse,dated byan inscriptiontoacardinal of1108, isthatofSan
Clemente in Rome. But this is the very basilica that contains the 15thcentury fresco (see
frontispiece), depicting the structure of the 6th century Alexandrian lecture rooms. This
fresco, dating from 1425AD,shows SaintCatherine ofAlexandria inthe third century BC
refuting the Alexandrian philosophers. Masolino da Panicale, the artist, portrays her
counting off the points against them on her fingers, while they look very refuted. The
professor iselevated at the back, while she stands infront,and the listenersare on benches
to either side. How did Masolino depict so accurately Alexandrian lecturerooms of a type
only now brought to light by archaeology? Could the bishop's throne in the apse of this
basilica havesupplied himwiththe missinglink?Thechiefdifference fromAlexandria and
Torcello isthathe hasportrayedthebenches infrontofthe throneasstraight.He mayhave
based his straight benches on the church's choir stalls which by his day had been installed
outsidetheapseandseparatedfromitbyacanopiedaltar.
Another depiction, by Sodoma (see book cover image), from the first halfofthe 16th
century is in Monte Olivetto Maggiore. It shows a similar structure in a lecture room of
6 PHILOPONUS
Lecture room with separate apse,excavated2004
Philoponus' period. Here Philoponus' contemporary Saint Benedict is tiptoeing out ofa
seminar, so as to avoid being corrupted by the pagan professor, who is again at the back
on anelevated throne, while the listeners areseated toeither side.
18
One ofthe excavated lecture rooms illustrated here has a unique structure. The four
student tiers are facing each other, but instead ofa complete horseshoe there isan apse at
the back where we might have expected the professor's throne to be. The apse would
accommodate only a few people, and is separated offby a low, curved wall in front, so
that itisnoteasily visible from the closest ofthe student seats. The area cut offisroughly
circular. My present inclination is to wonder if there could have been an aperture in the
roofleaving the apse open to the sky. Only the two banks ofstudent benches would have
needed roofing. There isa report by Simplicius about his former teacher in Alexandria,
19
Ammonius, that he looked through a 3-dimensional 'astrolabe' and confirmed that the
'fixed' star Arcturus had moved one degree from its supposedly fixed position over the
previous 100years. Philoponus wrote the only extant ancient treatise on the astrolabe. In
that treatise, he describes" how delicately you have to hoist the instrument by its ring,
shut one eye to make sure you are looking through both holes, angle itto the right plane,
swivel its ruler, and mark your findings with charcoal or wax on its face. You could not
have done all this ifhoisting itby hand. It must have required a very stable platform, and
18 Ithank Maurice Pope for showing me the reproduction and its relevance, which Ihad not fore
seenonmypre-excavationvisittothefrescoes.
19SimpliciusinCae1462,12-31,trans. IanMueller, Simplicius OnAristotleOntheheavens 2.1-9.
20Chapter5inHasestext reproducedbySegonds with French translation(Paris 1981),chapter4in
thetranslationofRobertT.Gunther,inTheastrolabes oftheworld,vol. I(Oxford 1932).