In the three chapters of "On the Heavens" dealt with in this volume, Aristotle argues that the universe is ungenerated and indestructible. In Simplicius' commentary, translated here, we see a battle royal between the Neoplatonist Simplicius and the Aristotelian, Alexander, whose lost commentary on "On the Heavens" Simplicius partly preserves. Simplicius' rival, the Christian Philoponus, had conducted a parallel battle in his "Against Proclus" but had taken the side of Alexander against Proclus and other Platonists, arguing that Plato's "Timaeus" gives a beginning to the universe. Simplicius takes the Platonist side, denying that Plato intended a beginning. The origin on which Plato refers is, according to Simplicius, not a temporal origin, but the divine cause that produces the world without beginning.
ISBN: | 9780801442162 |
Publication date: | 30th March 2006 |
Author: | Simplicius, R J Hankinson |
Publisher: | Cornell University Press |
Format: | Hardback |
Pagination: | 134 pages |
Series: | [The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle] |
Genres: |
Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy Philosophical traditions and schools of thought |