Alcinous (philosopher)

Alkinoos ( Alcinous Greek Ἀλκίνοος ) was an ancient Greek philosopher. He probably lived in the 2nd century. He is one of the most famous representatives of the Mittelplatonismus, the ruling in his time in the direction of Platonism. Because by the works of thinkers such direction is received only relatively little is Alcinous ' "Textbook ( didaskalikós ) the principles of Plato's " one of the most important sources for the medium- Platonic understanding of the legacy of the school's founders Represents the work provides an insight into the thinking of the Platonists of Roman imperial period before the emergence of Neo-Platonism. In controversial issues provides the Didaskalikos usually no decisions of the author, but only reported opinion differs.

It has long been controversial is the question of the identity of Alcinous. Of the various alternatives discussed in the research literature proposals, to identify him with otherwise testified philosophers, so far no one has caught on.

Life

About the life of Alcinous is not known. In the manuscripts of the Didaskalikos, one presumably resulting in the 2nd century introduction to the Platonic philosophy, he is named as an author; only it is the approximate period of its activity and its membership of the Platonic tradition to open up. However, it is not excluded that the Didaskalikos has arisen in the 1st or until the 3rd century.

Because otherwise there is no information about Alkinoos, Jacob Freudenthal has proposed in 1879, to identify him with albinos, a known Mittelplatoniker of the 2nd century. Freudenthal said in the handwritten traditional name Alkinoos it were a clerical error in the original text had " Albinos " confessed. This hypothesis he substantiated with references to substantive similarities between the Didaskalikos and sure of albinos derived font "Introduction to Plato's Dialogues". The identification of Alkinoos and albinos soon found appeal; they remained until the second half of the 20th century prevailing view. It was not until the sixties of the 20th century Michelangelo Giusta and John Whittaker have shown in a series of studies that equating the two thinkers is erroneous; this knowledge has prevailed in the following years.

It has also been suggested in research to identify the author of the Didaskalikos with two eponymous philosopher, is known about the very little:

• In the " Lives of the Sophists ," written by the sophist Philostratus, " Alcinous of the Stoics " is mentioned. In the research, the hypothesis is considered, this otherwise unknown philosopher to be equated with the author of Didaskalikos.
• The Byzantine scholar Photius reported that an author named " Josepos " fought in a treatise on the universe teachings of a " Alcinous ," apparently a Platonist, about the soul and matter. Whether it is the author of Didaskalikos in this Platonist, is unclear. In any case, seems the criticism of the " Josepos ", a Christian, of whose work only fragments survive, not to refer to the Didaskalikos. According to popular opinion research is " Josepos " to identify with Hippolytus of Rome.

A novel, speculative variant of equating hypotheses in 1985 Harold Tarrant suggested. He thinks the Platonist Albinos, whose name was of Latin origin ( Albinus ), I want to emphasize at a late stage of his life his membership in the Greek culture and its commitment to a Greek philosophical tradition through a name change. Therefore, I have decided from now on to call himself Alkinoos. For this second stage of life of the tribal Didaskalikos. This philosopher Albinos / Alkinoos was also mentioned by Philostratus and called the Stoics Alcinous.

Didaskalikos

The work of Alcinous is entitled " Textbook of the principles of Plato " ( Didaskalikós TON Platonos dogmátōn ); also the handwritten testified entitled " Extract from the teachings of Plato " ( Epitome TON Platonos dogmátōn ) is probably not authentic. Perhaps the Didaskalikos is a shortened version of a lost larger font. It provides an introductory systematic presentation of Platonism, which is heavily influenced by Aristotelian and Stoic ideas of places also, in the well - is a polemic against Stoic positions - especially in ethics. A contradiction between Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy, he does not see; he does not want to mix systems, but do not represent Platonic literature in the service of his explanation of Platonism. Its target audience is not philosophical laymen, but readers with considerable knowledge.

Swell

Alkinoos has apparently accepts a variety of unknown sources. In Didaskalikos you will find a number of parallels to Apuleius ' treatise "On Plato and his teaching " ( De Platone et eius dogmate ) and at the beginning of chapter 12 is a longer passage that almost literally with a fragment of a work of the philosopher Arius Didymos matches. Whether Alkinoos has used the work of Arius Didymus, or the relationship between the two documents is to explain otherwise, is controversial. A direct relationship of dependency between the Didaskalikos and correspondence of Apuleius is not likely.

Content

The philosopher and his duties

The Introduction ( Chapters 1-3 ) deals with the first meaning of the terms "philosophy" and " philosopher " and the intellectual and character requirements for philosophizing. It is found that there are two ways of life, the contemplative ( bios theoretikos ) and the active ( bios praktikós ). The goal of the contemplative life is the knowledge of the truth, while it proposed in the active life, doing that by reason of the BID. The observation as the basis of the philosophical life fees of priority, but the activity is also necessary. With the activities in the philosophical consideration Detected 'll rehearsed in the practice of life. The activity in the community, the philosopher turn to when he noted that the public affairs were in bad hands. It had for him, the legislation and the education of youth the most important fields of activity. When he turn to to make a living, he could not neglect the observation; this is rather constantly practicing. Then Alcinous treated the division of philosophy into subdomains.

Dialectics and epistemology

The first main part (chapters 4-6) includes the presentation of the dialectic, including the counted to her epistemology. This involves the insight ( noesis ) and their objects to sense-perception and the types of its objects and to the logic of Aristotle, but with reference to the thinking and reason to judgment and opinion, memory and imagination to Plato's works is presented; Plato appears as its true author. The objects of perception are the intelligible things. With them Alkinoos distinguishes between the transcendental and the immanent ideas, inseparable from matter forms. After his presentation, the primary ideas or intelligible things ( perilēpsis ) are in an intuitive, not discursive knowledge process by an enclosing view recorded and evaluated, but the scientific reasoning ( epistēmonikós lógos ) is involved; the forms or secondary intelligible things are the subject of scientific reasoning with the participation of intuitive insight. The sensible things considered Alkinoos as aggregates; he thinks they are nothing but combinations of their various properties (bundle theory).

In the second main part Alkinoos engages in connection with his discussion of the immortality of the soul again on an epistemological question. He criticizes the Aristotelian notion of induction as a way of obtaining the general findings by arguing against the reliability of inductive inferences. However, it approves the induction a useful role to play because it was "very useful for awakening the natural terms" that are already inherent in the soul. Against the Aristotelian epistemology he defends the Platonic doctrine, according to which the soul acquires knowledge by remembering the ideas that were accessible to her prior to its entry into the body. In his view, the soul during their stay in the body do not have direct access to the ideas, because they can not free enough from their attachment to the world of sense. However, it is able to procure means of remembering the ideas of knowledge.

Theoretical Philosophy

The second main part (chapters 7-26 ) deals with the " theoretical ". There first the philosophical relevance of mathematics, astronomy and music theory will be discussed, then discusses principles of doctrine and theology, with the matter, the ideas, the " first god " and the qualities to be treated. The following natural philosophy ( cosmology ), anthropology, and in Chapter 26 a consideration of the relationship between necessity and free will.

Alkinoos takes on three fundamental principles: God, matter and idea. The first he identifies God with the idea of good. He keeps the ideas for the thoughts of the first God. The Nous is in the soul of the world as a potential reason, which would to -date thinking reason by the action of the first God. Alkinoos indicates that there are no ideas of resistance Natural (such as diseases), of individuals, of worthless ( such as dirt ) or relational terms and conditions (such as the larger or dominator ) according to the belief of most Platonists.

Alkinoos distinction between the transcendent God and him first ontologically subordinate creator god, the Demiurge, which the cosmos immediately owe its existence. Thus, the first God works only indirectly a to the cosmos. In the controversial question of how Plato's designation of the universe is " created " as signifying Alkinoos is on the side of those who reject a development in time; " emerged " with is meant that the universe was always understood in the making. The " perpetual " world soul is not created in a single act of creation, but only ordered by the Creator, and this Ordnungsakt have no beginning, but is a perpetual happening. The ordered world soul in turn bring forth the world order. The entire area below the sphere of the moon, including the human habitat, the administration is left by child gods who drew this part of the cosmos according to the will of the Demiurge. On the human soul is only the top part, the rational soul, immortal; the affective components are perishable, as well as the irrational animal souls. With regard to mortality of unreasoning souls or soul parts Alcinous recognizes, however, that the boom Plato were at odds about it. The reason that an immortal soul resides in a mortal body, is either the will of the gods or the licentiousness of the soul or their inclination to the body.

With the knowledge of God Alkinoos distinguishes three approaches: the rejection of all ideas from the field of the sensible, the use of analogies between the transcendental and philosophical issues and the rise from lower to higher and higher ontological levels of the knowable. These three approaches were called (Latin via negationis ) way of analogy (via analogiae ) and way of increase or elevation (via eminentiae ) in the later history of philosophy as a way of negation.

In the 10th chapter Alkinoos bears the following argument for the existence of the gods before: there are intelligible things that are not perceptible to the senses, not the sensual part have perceptible, but intelligible to the "first" things, there is such a first, simple intelligible things in pure form as objects of thought. But people can be so pure thinking how it would be appropriate such objects do not penetrate, because their thinking is always filled with ideas from the world of sense. It is therefore likely that there are beings who are capable of these pure objects of thought to really think, and actually do so. The beings which these objects of thought associated with the gods. This consideration implies the acceptance that there will be any object of thought is a thought that corresponds to it.

Practical Philosophy

The third major section (chapters 27-35 ) is the "practical" dedicated to philosophy. Here Alkinoos first discusses the ethics ( theory of goods and eudaimonia, alignment with God as the goal of life, virtue and wickedness, emotions, friendship and love). He then turns to the forms of government. In conclusion, he defined the Sophists, by separating it from the philosophers.

Alcinous says that sought in Platonism approximation of man to God " as far as possible " refers to the localized in heaven, immanent deity ( epouránios theos ) and not to the transcendent, the " super-celestial God " ( theos hyperouránios ). This he explained by the fact that the approximation done by practicing virtue; but the überhimmlische God possess no virtue, because he was " better than this ". On the way to the deification of philosophizing human ethical perfection plays a central role for Alcinous; In his opinion, it can not be replaced by mere contemplation.

Reception

In the school of Plotinus, who founded Neoplatonism in the 3rd century in Rome, the Didaskalikos not one of the plants used in the classroom, and also in the late ancient Neoplatonists he took no heed. The oldest surviving manuscript - the famous Codex Pari Sinus Graecus 1962 - dates from the second half of the 9th century.

At the latest in 1460 made ​​the humanist Pietro Balbi to the first Latin translation of the Didaskalikos; He dedicated it to Nicholas of Cusa. In 1469 it was printed in Rome as an attachment to an Apuleius output. So Alcinous was the first Greek-speaking author of antiquity, of which a work - appeared in print - even if only in translation. The second Latin translation was by Marsilio Ficino, who in 1464 Cosimo de ' Medici devoted; its first edition was not published until 1497 The first edition of the Greek text was an Aldine, which was released in 1521 in Venice, where the Didaskalikos formed an attachment to an Apuleius edition.; the publisher Francesco d' Asola sharply criticized the " barbaric " translation Balbis. There followed a series of other issues. Published in Paris in 1567 a Latin translation of the humanist Denis Lambin ( Dionysius Lambinus ). The 1656 published English translation by Thomas Stanley was the first transfer in a modern language. 1853 Carl Friedrich Hermann published in Leipzig the first critical edition.

Published in 1554, a native of Seville humanist Sebastián Fox Morcillo in Basel a comment on Plato's Timaeus (in Platonis Timaeum Commentarium ). He was based among other things on Alcinous ' interpretation of Plato's philosophy. He read Alkinoos, whose harmonization of Plato and Aristotle appealed to him, in the original Greek.

Since the ratio of Didaskalikos is difficult to estimate the processed therein lost sources, is difficult to judge the personal contribution of the author. Conflicting or certain of different perspectives statements in the work can be related to that Alkinoos not presented a closed private system, but Platonism portrays the role of a rapporteur. Some researchers point to the lack of coherence in some way or see in Alkinoos a mere compiler, which was insignificant as a philosopher; others attribute to him to skills in the development of the substance. David Sedley maintains that shown in Didaskalikos interpretation of Plato's theory of knowledge for a " no small achievement."

Text editions and translations

• John Dillon ( Eds.): Alcinous: The Handbook of Platonism. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993, ISBN 0-19-824472- X (English translation with introduction and detailed commentary )
• John Whittaker, Pierre Louis ( ed.): Alcinoos: Enseignement the doctrines de Platon. 2 (unchanged ) edition, Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-251-00407-6 ( critical edition of the Greek text with French translation and commentary )
• Orrin F. Summerell, Thomas Zimmer (ed.): Alcinous, Didaskalikos. Textbook of the principles of Plato. De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019451-7 ( non-critical edition of the Greek text with German translation )