Eudorus of Alexandria

Eudorus of Alexandria (Greek Εὔδωρος ) was an ancient Greek philosopher ( Platonist ). He lived in the 1st century BC and was one of the first representatives of the Mittelplatonismus; Some scholars regard him even as its real founder.

Life

Very little is known about the life of Eudorus; he probably spent it in his native city of Alexandria. He was a contemporary of the Peripatetic Ariston of Alexandria and the 64/63 BC -born geographer Strabo. Ariston was much older than Strabo; he initially had the " Old Academy " of well 68 BC Antiochus of Ascalon deceased philosopher belongs, whose pupil he was. Thus Ariston was originally Platonist; but later he opted for the teaching of Aristotle. From this evidence for the chronology of the Eudorus, which was probably active BC around the middle and in the second half of the 1st century arise.

Where Eudorus received his philosophical training is unknown. Apparently he has the " Old Academy ", the only then existing successor institution of Plato's Academy, does not belong; their characteristics, in particular its proximity to the Stoic philosophy in denial of transcendence, can not be seen with him. The older research review, after which Antiochus of Ascalon, who temporarily resided in Alexandria, there left a school, who was Eudorus is outdated. It is striking that Eudorus is never mentioned in the sources " Platonist ," but " academics ", a term reminiscent of the latest 86 BC defunct "Younger Academy ". Therefore, Harold Tarrant has suggested that he continued the philosophy of the younger Academy, whose main feature was the skepticism ( " academic skepticism "). In what is known of his views, but are hardly any useful indications of proximity to the skepticism of the younger academy.

Works

From Eudorus ' works only fragments survive. Several of his works are known from references and quotations in the works of later authors:

  • The " Classification of teaching philosophy ," a systematic, summary overview of the philosophy that was ordered by questions ( Problemata ); one handed down in John Stobaeus fragment deals with the classification of ethics.
  • A commentary on Plato's Timaeus
  • A treatise in which he criticized the categories of Aristotle; while it could well be a polemic, not a commentary on this work.
  • A treatise on metaphysics; it is unclear whether it was a treatise on Platonic ontology or to comment on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, treated the Eudorus also textual criticism.
  • A cosmological and astronomical font ( possibly in the form of a commentary on astronomical didactic poem of Aratus of Soli )
  • "On the Nile ". The famous geographer Strabo says that it was present a book on the Nile in two content matching, differing only in the arrangement of frames. One version came from Eudorus, the other by Ariston of Alexandria. One of them had plagiarized the work of others; Eudorus have Ariston accused, but speak the phraseology rather for Ariston.

Harold Tarrant has put forward the hypothesis that Eudorus was the author of an anonymous traditional Middle Platonist commentary on Plato's dialogue Theaetetus. His argument was refuted by Jaap Mansfeld. Also, for a biography of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism literature for Eudorus has been suggested as a writer. It also comes as an author of a font into consideration, from the obtain a fragment on optics ( emergence of mirror images) in a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus ( POxy 1609); there his Timaeus commentary is quoted.

Teaching

Eudorus draws on Plato's transcendent philosophy, which he defines his doctrine from both the " academic skepticism " of the younger Academy as well as the stoic dominated, materialistic world view of the " Old Academy " of Antiochus of Ascalon. Regarding his metaphysics he refers to the Pythagoreans; he assumes Pythagoras had anticipated teachings of Plato. He has proved himself as a representative of the Neo-Pythagorean, common in later Platonism flow that connects Pythagorean ideas with Platonic. Taking up part of a Pythagorean concept, some details of Plato, following he represents as a monist ontology in a hierarchical order. He takes the " A " (to hen ) as a first principle, supreme deity and origin of everything (including matter ) to. Immediately below this completely undifferentiated ontologically a stand, a pair of opposing " elements ": the "unity " ( Monas, as opposed to multiplicity ) and the " indefinite duality " ( aóristos Dyas ). This pair covers all polar opposites, with the indefinite duality for each negatively evaluated pole stand (for example, the disordered, the Unlimited and the Dark ).

In cosmology suggests Eudorus Plato's remarks on cosmogony in the Timaeus in a figurative sense. In his view, the cosmos is uncreated and imperishable, the idea of ​​a temporal act of creation he refuses.

The ethics Eudorus divided into three parts. Its classification should not only apply to the Ethics in Platonism, but for the systems of all the schools of philosophy. In addition to a theoretical part, the subject matter are the values ​​and a practical part in which it comes to the actions he took to the study of the shoot action or pulse ( HORME ) as a separate third sub-region. He used the then popular Stoic terminology, but not necessarily from which it follows that he took Stoic positions. The doctrine that the goal of human life and the highest good in the " alignment with God " is, has been attributed by some researchers to him. This provision of the goal in life is linked to the finding in Plato's Theaetetus, that man should strive to be similar to the deity as possible. However, the source base for the assumption is that Eudorus was the first of Plato's remark made ​​a statement about the goal of life, is not unanimously accepted in the research. He represented the rigorous view that eudaimonia ( happiness ) based solely on the presence of spiritual virtues; the bodily and external goods are not components of eudaimonia. With that he turned against Aristotle and the Peripatetics, who thought that a happy life is not possible without bodily and external goods.

In the field of logic Eudorus emerged as a critic of the theory of categories of Aristotle. With him began the criticism of Aristotelian category system that was practiced in the following centuries in the Platonic and Stoic circles.

Reception

Paul Keyser suspected, the author of the spurious second letter in the collection of the thirteen Plato attributed, in large part forged letters was a student of the Eudorus or at least with its teachings have been familiar. This counterfeiters have probably written a significant part of the remaining letters.

Arios, the court philosopher of the Emperor Augustus, estimated Eudorus ' " Classification of teaching philosophy "; he described it as erwerbenswert and took out some material. Plutarch sat critically with the Timaeus - interpretation of Eudorus. When ecclesiastical writers Clement of Alexandria is the influence of " classification " clearly visible. The writer Achilles - probably in the 3rd century - a treatise "On the All" wrote later in an abridged version of ' didactic poem served Eudorus used ' as an introduction to astronomical Aratus font. In late antiquity, the Neoplatonist Simplicius took in his commentary on Aristotle's Categories several times on the relevant work of the Eudorus reference; he considered him among the "old booms ". In his commentary on Aristotle's Physics, he quoted him.

In modern research applies Eudorus, although the range of its influence is difficult to determine, as a key figure in the revival of Platonism at the beginning of the era of Mittelplatonismus.

Text output

  • Claudio Mazzarelli: Raccolta delle e interpretazione Testimonianze e dei frammenti del medio plato Eudoro nico di Alessandria. In: Rivista di Filosofia Neo- scolastica 77, 1985, pp. 197-209 and 535-555 (Greek text of the fragments with Italian translation, without commentary )
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