'Middle Platonists' is a work that focuses on the period of intellectual activity which flourished from the time of the "dogmatist" Antiochus Aschalon (ca. 80 BC) to Ammonius Saccas (ca. 220 AD), the mysterious "teacher" of the great Plotinus.

This chapter contains sections titled: Middle Platonism: A Problematic Label Literary sources Philosophy as Exegesis: Dogmatic and Systematic Interpretation of Plato's Thought Continuity or Rupture in the Platonic Tradition? Common Doctrinal Topics in Middle Platonism Platonism as a Synthesis of Ancient Culture Bibliography.

CHAPTER ONE The Old Academy and the Themes of Middle Platonism Plato, on his death in 347 BC, left behind him a philosophical heritage that has not yet lost ...

English and Latin. Includes bibliographies and index.

The term "Middle Platonism" is used as a classification of those who professed some form of Platonic philosophy between the end of the third Academy and the beginning of "Neoplatonism". The evidence which survives concerning the "Middle" Platonists is not on the whole of great philosophical interest, but has been given increasing attention in recent years for the reason that the Middle Platonists are to some extent heirs to the Academy and ancestors to Neoplatonism. Middle (...) Platonism is also of interest to intellectual historians as an important intellectual force in the literary and religious life of the Roman Empire. For an introduction to Middle Platonism, the English-speaking non-expert has had to turn to Merlan’s rather compressed account in The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy. He now will be able to avail of Dillon’s detailed and compendious survey. (shrink)

In his study of this neglected tradition, Stephen Gersh presents a thorough analysis of early medieval Platonism. His central interest is the transmission of Greek philosophy to the West. He argues against any significant direct transmission of Platonic texts; for instance, the translations by Aristippus are late and uninfluential, and even the partial translation of the Timaeus by Calcidius is so overwhelmed by the accompanying commentary that one cannot truly speak of an unmediated, "direct" transmission. Thus, Gersh focuses on (...) the various indirect routes by which knowledge of Plato and his thought journeyed to the West. (shrink)

Discuter de leurs propres doctrines selon une méthode “scolaire”, qui consiste à retrouver les doctrines de Platon afin de construire par ce moyen leur propre pensée, est une caractéristique commune aux médio-platoniciens. Un tel procédé est donc conditionné par l’exégèse de Platon ; d’ailleurs, l’exégèse elle-même devient un objet de discussion durant le moyen-platonisme, où surgit le problème très controversé de la meilleure interprétation de Platon. Une enquête sur la présence du Phèdre – qui était l’un des dialogues les plus (...) lus de Platon – chez ces philosophes doit prendre en compte diverses méthodes d’interprétation mise en place, notamment l’interprétation grammaticale, l’interprétation physique et l’interprétation épistémologique, que cet article s’efforce de mettre en lumière. (shrink)

This volume is the first monograph devoted to the philosophy of Taurus of Beirut, and provides a long-awaited analysis of his texts and their first English translation. Through close examination of the extant witnesses, Petrucci gives a new account of Middle Platonism based on a fresh approach to the theological and cosmological view of Taurus. In this way, the book contributes substantially to the debate on Post-Hellenistic Platonism from the point of view of both exegetical methods and (...) philosophical doctrines, and offers a starting point for a new understanding of many aspects of ancient thought. (shrink)

One of the main lines of research that emerged within the framework of studies on ancient philosophy consists of outlining the main proposals of its most representative authors. At least in part, the philosophers so-called today Middle-Platonists are studied from this perspective. Thus, the article proposes a schematization of the Middle-Platonist ethics starting from the metaphysical-anthropological approaches common to the main representatives of these philosophers. By analysing the concepts of God, Idea and man, the article seeks to highlight (...) which are the main ethical theses of the Middle-Platonists, namely, the subjection of sensitivity to reason, the importance of moral virtue and human directionality in relation to the ultimate end. (shrink)

This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a complex and effective philosophical reasoning: the Middle Platonists conceived of Plato’s text as a web of passages which Plato himself had carefully established. Only a few of them were granted a qualified priority, namely, those offering a complete and comprehensive philosophical account of the key elements which the Platonists regarded as fundamental. This will allow us to show that the Middle (...) Platonists’ preference for the Timaeus does not depend on the fact that it is systematic. Rather it is systematic insofar as it proves capable of giving context to passages from other dialogues and provides them with an account that is philosophically sound. (shrink)

INTRODUCTION "Badness can be got easily and in abundance : the road is smooth, and she dwells very near. But in front of goodness, the immortal gods have ...

Journal Name: Apeiron Issue: Ahead of print.

Originally published in 1937, this book began as a doctoral dissertation by Reginald Witt on the subject of the Didaskalikos and its often overlooked author Albinus. Witt looks at the philosophical text with an eye to its setting within the various strains of Platonism and other relevant schools of ancient philosophy. This text will be of value to anyone with an interest in Middle- and Neoplatonism and in the writings of Albinus.

The aim of this paper is to deeply rethink the traditional notion of “ideological emendation”. By taking Taurus T27 as a test-case, I shall emphasise that Taurus’ intervention on Timaeus 27c5 is the result of a conjecture, and that such an emendation meets the requirements for a philological conjecture on Plato’s text. Indeed, Taurus’ fragment, which is usually taken as a typical example of “ideological emendation”, only reflects an effort to recover what Plato actually wrote, and is nothing but a (...) textual emendation. Accordingly, the ideological core of such an emendation is what must lie at the basis of any conjecture, that is an attempt to re-establish (what is assumed to be) Plato’s text in accordance with his consistent doctrine. (shrink)