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There were Byzantium commentators on Aristotle see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentaries_on_Aristotle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentaries_on_Ar

by iorrus 9y ago

There were Byzantium commentators on Aristotle see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentaries_on_Aristotle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentaries_on_Aristotle In fact most of Byzantium natural philosophy was based on Aristotle: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/byzantine-philosophy/#Top https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/byzantine-philosophy/#Top

boomboomsubban 9y ago
After six long centuries dormant they also were influenced by their Arab neighbors. Their philosophy would all be from around the same time, until 1054 they were a part of Christian philosophy.
- mkempe 9y ago
  Are we to believe that the Byzantines did not keep or study Aristotle's works in Greek? or that somehow the Arabs/Moslems taught the Byzantines about Aristotle? "Leo the Mathematician [790-869] ... appointed to the chair of philosophy at the Magnaura School in the mid-9th century, was to teach Aristotelian logic. In fact, elementary Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy combined with elementary mathematics would always form the standard philosophical curriculum in Byzantium" [for at least the next 400 years]. The heirs of the Roman Empire did not depend on nor need Moslem culture for the study and transmission of Aristotle's works. We know it because the Byzantines kept studying Aristotle for centuries, until they were destroyed by Moslem armies, and at the same time the Carolingians had access to Greek works and Greek translators -- including the Byzantines themselves.
  - boomboomsubban 9y ago
    They kept them, and there was likely some limited study over the centuries, but yes. Christian thought dominated the period, and it largely ignored Aristotle. I don't know why that's hard to believe, there has been a staggering amount of scholarly works lost over the centuries. Leo the Mathematician supposedly lived on an island with frequent contact with Muslims, and then supposedly met with the Caliph. Even still, I can't find where this tie to Aristotle comes from.
    - mkempe 9y ago
      What is the basis for your statements? According to everything I've read about Leo, he was from the Greek mainland, he did not have "frequent contact" with Moslems, and he never "met with the Caliph".
      - boomboomsubban 9y ago
        Met with the Caliph may have been my misreading, he delivered a letter from the Caliph to the Emperor. His education on Andros seems well established.
        mkempe 9y ago
        Right, "misreading". Same thing with everything else you've written in this post and the ones before.
        boomboomsubban 9y ago
        No, his student was kidnapped, and it's unclear who he received the Caliph's letter from. I assumed he had met with him, but it wasn't explicitly said. Given your repeated quoting of a thirteenth century source on the alleged seventh century burning of the Library of Alexandria, I'm done.
- iorrus 9y ago
  I suggest you read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Aristotle-East-West-Metaphysics-Christendom/dp/0521035562/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 https://www.amazon.com/Aristotle-East-West-Metaphysics-Chris... It's simply not true that Aristotle died out in Byzantium. All these intellectual currents were absorbed into the Christian theology of Byzantium which is Orthodox and different from Western Christiandom. See also when released: http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/european-history-general-interest/cambridge-intellectual-history-byzantium http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/europe...
  - boomboomsubban 9y ago
    The Orthodox split happened in 1054. Though there was a gradual shift apart before that they were very closely related. If your argument was that Orthodox Christianity moved towards Aristotle a century before the West, that seems to be well backed up. Your first book lists five people covered in the book, all of them outside the period being discussed. I have no idea why you think the second one will support your argument.
    - iorrus 9y ago
      My argument is that Aristotle never dies out. See for instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Photius) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Photius) Lots of emperors were very learned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VII And there were philosophers throughout that time period: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Psellos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Psellos What makes you think Aristotle was neglected?
      - boomboomsubban 9y ago
        The Bibliotheca shows my point, the Roman Christians largely kept knowledge they considered important, and this didn't include Aristotle. The table of contents is full of Christian and Roman subjects, with only a few ancient Greeks mentioned. Aristotle is absent. The neoplatonic views of Christianity during the period are well known, and several hundred years of that lead to Aristotle being neglected.

by iorrus 9y ago

boomboomsubban 9y ago

After six long centuries dormant they also were influenced by their Arab neighbors. Their philosophy would all be from around the same time, until 1054 they were a part of Christian philosophy.

mkempe 9y ago
Are we to believe that the Byzantines did not keep or study Aristotle's works in Greek? or that somehow the Arabs/Moslems taught the Byzantines about Aristotle? "Leo the Mathematician [790-869] ... appointed to the chair of philosophy at the Magnaura School in the mid-9th century, was to teach Aristotelian logic. In fact, elementary Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy combined with elementary mathematics would always form the standard philosophical curriculum in Byzantium" [for at least the next 400 years]. The heirs of the Roman Empire did not depend on nor need Moslem culture for the study and transmission of Aristotle's works. We know it because the Byzantines kept studying Aristotle for centuries, until they were destroyed by Moslem armies, and at the same time the Carolingians had access to Greek works and Greek translators -- including the Byzantines themselves.
- boomboomsubban 9y ago
  They kept them, and there was likely some limited study over the centuries, but yes. Christian thought dominated the period, and it largely ignored Aristotle. I don't know why that's hard to believe, there has been a staggering amount of scholarly works lost over the centuries. Leo the Mathematician supposedly lived on an island with frequent contact with Muslims, and then supposedly met with the Caliph. Even still, I can't find where this tie to Aristotle comes from.
  - mkempe 9y ago
    What is the basis for your statements? According to everything I've read about Leo, he was from the Greek mainland, he did not have "frequent contact" with Moslems, and he never "met with the Caliph".
    - boomboomsubban 9y ago
      Met with the Caliph may have been my misreading, he delivered a letter from the Caliph to the Emperor. His education on Andros seems well established.
      - mkempe 9y ago
        Right, "misreading". Same thing with everything else you've written in this post and the ones before.
        boomboomsubban 9y ago
        No, his student was kidnapped, and it's unclear who he received the Caliph's letter from. I assumed he had met with him, but it wasn't explicitly said. Given your repeated quoting of a thirteenth century source on the alleged seventh century burning of the Library of Alexandria, I'm done.
iorrus 9y ago
I suggest you read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Aristotle-East-West-Metaphysics-Christendom/dp/0521035562/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 https://www.amazon.com/Aristotle-East-West-Metaphysics-Chris... It's simply not true that Aristotle died out in Byzantium. All these intellectual currents were absorbed into the Christian theology of Byzantium which is Orthodox and different from Western Christiandom. See also when released: http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/european-history-general-interest/cambridge-intellectual-history-byzantium http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/europe...
- boomboomsubban 9y ago
  The Orthodox split happened in 1054. Though there was a gradual shift apart before that they were very closely related. If your argument was that Orthodox Christianity moved towards Aristotle a century before the West, that seems to be well backed up. Your first book lists five people covered in the book, all of them outside the period being discussed. I have no idea why you think the second one will support your argument.
  - iorrus 9y ago
    My argument is that Aristotle never dies out. See for instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Photius) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Photius) Lots of emperors were very learned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VII And there were philosophers throughout that time period: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Psellos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Psellos What makes you think Aristotle was neglected?
    - boomboomsubban 9y ago
      The Bibliotheca shows my point, the Roman Christians largely kept knowledge they considered important, and this didn't include Aristotle. The table of contents is full of Christian and Roman subjects, with only a few ancient Greeks mentioned. Aristotle is absent. The neoplatonic views of Christianity during the period are well known, and several hundred years of that lead to Aristotle being neglected.