Overview

Byzantine philosophy is an almost unexplored field. Being regarded either as mere scholars or as primarily religious thinkers, Byzantine philosophers, for the most part, have not been studied on their own philosophical merit, and their works have hardly been scrutinized as works of philosophy. Thus, although distinguished scholars in the past have tried to reconstruct the intellectual life of the Byzantine period, there is no question that we still lack even the beginnings of a systematic understanding of the philosophy of the Byzantines.Byzantine Philosophy and its Ancient Sources is conceived as a concerted attempt in this direction. It examines the attitude the Byzantines took towards the ancient philosophical tradition and the specific ancient sources which they relied upon to form their theories. But did the Byzantines merely copy ancient philosophers or interpret them the way they already had been interpreted in late antiquity? Does Byzantine philosophy as a whole lack a distinctive character which differentiates it from the previous periods in the history of philosophy?Eleven scholars, representing different disciplines from philosophy and history to classics and medieval studies, approach these questions by thoroughly investigating particular topics which give us some insight as to the directions in which we should look for possible answers. These topics range, in modern terms, from philosophy of language, theory of knowledge, and logic, to political philosophy, ethics, natural philosophy, and metaphysics. The philosophers whose works our contributors study belong to all periods from the beginnings of Byzantine culture in the fourth century to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the fifteenth century.

Full Product Details

Author:   Katerina Ierodiakonou (, Tutorial Fellow at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and Assistant Professor at the National Technical University of Athens)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.461kg
ISBN:  

9780199269716

ISBN 10:   0199269718
Pages:   318
Publication Date:   11 March 2004
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Katerina Ierodiakonou: Introduction 1: Sten Ebbesen: Greek-Latin Philosophical Interaction 2: Paul Kalligas: Basil of Caesarea on the Semantics of Proper Names 3: Dominic O'Meara: The Justinianic Dialogue On Political Science and its Neoplatonic Sources 4: Michael Frede: John of Damascus on Human Action, the Will, and Human Freedom 5: Jonathan Barnes: Syllogistic in the Anonymous Heiberg 6: John Duffy: Helenic Philosophy in Byzantium and the Lonely Mission of Michael Psellos 7: Katerina Ierodiakonou: Psellis' Paraphrasis on Aristotle's De Interpretatione 8: Börje Bydén: 'To Every Argument There is a Counter-Argument'. Theodore Metochites' Defence of Scepticism (Semeiosis 61) 9: Katerina Ierodiakonou: The Anti-Logical Movement in the 14th Century 10: Polymnia Athanassiadi: Byzantine Commentators on the Chaldaean Oracles: Psellos and Plethon 11: George Karamanolis: Plethon and Scholarios on Aristotle Linos Benakis: Epilogue: Current Research in Byzantine Philosophy Index Locorum, Index of Names

Reviews

This book is an excellent beginning, particularly as it makes accessible and available to the reader writers one might not normally read, including scholars from Greek institutions, whose work is here translated from the Greek. Kiki Kennedy-Day, Transcendent Philosophy

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