Depuis le milieu du XIXe siecle, on a generalement considere qu'un cycle de sept disciplines scolaires (grammaire, dialectique, rhetorique, musique, astronomie, geometrie et arithmetique), connu au Moyen Age sous le nom des sept arts liberaux, avait constitue la base de l'instruction habituelle et cela depuis l'epoque hellenistique jusqu'a l'epoque imperiale et au Moyen Age. Cette these, largement vulgarisee par le livre Histoire de l'education dans l'Antiquite d'Henri-Irenee Marrou, est fondamentalement remise en question dans le present ouvrage, qui montre que ce (...) fameux cycle des sept arts, que l'on croyait deja connu par Varron au Ier siecle avant J.-C., est ne en realite dans le neoplatonisme et n'a jamais constitue le programme d'education des jeunes gens de rang social eleve au cours de l'Antiquite. Cette nouvelle edition comprend des notes additionnelles au texte prealablement publie, un reexamen de la question varronienne qui tient compte de publications parues entre 1983 et 2003 (B. Cardauns, N. Cipriani, J. Doignon et D. Shanzer), et six articles sur certains themes fondamentaux traites dans la premiere edition, comme l'enseignement des mathematiques et de la medecine a l'epoque imperiale, l'organisation de l'enseignement philosophique, l'attitude des philosophes a l'egard du savoir encyclopedique ou la signification du terme eclectique dans la philosophie antique. (shrink)

Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonism and the Harmonization of Aristotle and Plato by Ilsetraut Hadot deals with the Neoplatonist tendency to harmonize the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle.

English summary: The idea of spiritual guidance as a philosophical practice lies at the center of Senecas thought, and can provide us with a new perspective on our own moral conduct, as well as the meaning of philosophy itself. Through a close philological, historical, and philosophical study, Ilsetraut Hadot breathes new life into Senecas work and restores it to its place at the heart of western philosophy. French description: Seneque et la philosophie du present : la distance qui les separe (...) est precisement ce qui nous permet de nous voir nous-memes plus objectivement et de mieux comprendre les insuffisances de nos systemes philosophiques contemporains. L'idee de direction spirituelle en tant que pratique philosophique est au centre de la pensee de Seneque et, dans toute sa specificite, nous ouvre une perspective nouvelle sur notre conduite morale aussi bien que sur le sens de la philosophie elle-meme. Car ce sont paradoxalement Seneque et la tradition de la direction spirituelle qui nous apportent des concepts et des exercices precieux pour decouvrir, dans notre passe philosophique, notre vraie actualite. Ainsi, grace a sa lecture rigoureuse, a la fois philologique, historique et philosophique, Ilsetraut Hadot restitue a la richesse de l'oeuvre de Seneque son role essentiel au coeur de l'histoire de la pensee occidentale. C'est a nous d'utiliser cette lecture pour mettre en pratique l'experience de la philosophie. (shrink)

Depuis le milieu du XIXe siecle, on a generalement considere qu'un cycle de sept disciplines scolaires (grammaire, dialectique, rhetorique, musique, astronomie, geometrie et arithmetique), connu au Moyen Age sous le nom des sept arts liberaux, avait constitue la base de l'instruction habituelle et cela depuis l'epoque hellenistique jusqu'a l'epoque imperiale et au Moyen Age. Cette these, largement vulgarisee par le livre Histoire de l'education dans l'Antiquite d'Henri-Irenee Marrou, est fondamentalement remise en question dans le present ouvrage, qui montre que ce (...) fameux cycle des sept arts, que l'on croyait deja connu par Varron au Ier siecle avant J.-C., est ne en realite dans le neoplatonisme et n'a jamais constitue le programme d'education des jeunes gens de rang social eleve au cours de l'Antiquite. Cette nouvelle edition comprend des notes additionnelles au texte prealablement publie, un reexamen de la question varronienne qui tient compte de publications parues entre 1983 et 2003 (B. Cardauns, N. Cipriani, J. Doignon et D. Shanzer), et six articles sur certains themes fondamentaux traites dans la premiere edition, comme l'enseignement des mathematiques et de la medecine a l'epoque imperiale, l'organisation de l'enseignement philosophique, l'attitude des philosophes a l'egard du savoir encyclopedique ou la signification du terme eclectique dans la philosophie antique. (shrink)

Dopo uno sguardo generale alla dottrina dell'anima nel tardo neoplatonismo e alla tradizione dei commentari al De anima di Aristotele, l'A. esamina il tema della sensazione, della sensazione comune, dei sensibili comuni e della coscienza soprattutto in Simplicio, Prisciano e Filopono. L'A. propone inoltre un esame critico dello studio di P. Lautner Rival Theories of Self-Awareness in Late Neoplatonism in «Bullettin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London» 29 107-16. L'ultima parte del saggio è centrata sul (...) commento dello Pseudo-Filopono al De anima relativamente al tema della sensazione comune. (shrink)

The historian Agathias (Hist. II 30.3-31.4) relates that under the Emperor Justinian seven philosophers (Damascius, Simplicius, Eulamius, Priscianus, Hermeias, Diogenes, and Isidorus) sought refuge in Persia because of their own country's anti-pagan laws but that they ultimately returned in 532 to the Roman Empire. There have been many hypotheses about the fate of these philosophers after their return. Most recently M. Tardieu has argued that these philosophers went to Harran, a town that was located on the Persian frontier and that (...) remained mostly pagan until the tenth century. This hypothesis, which M. Tardieu had backed with a number of arguments, has found many echoes, both positive and negative, in subsequent secondary literature. Yet the complexity of the issue has never really been faced by Tardieu's critics. For example, the fact that, according to Arab sources, Simplicius could found a famous school of mathematics has been completely neglected, as has the fact that details of the dogmas of Manicheanism, which he obtained through his encounter with a member of that sect, enable one to envision a Mesopotamian locale for this encounter. The present study aims at taking stock of the elements of this controversy, beginning with a detailed article by D. Watts and a review by C. Luna. Watts mostly bases his criticisms of M. Tardieu and me on Luna's summary. In the conclusion (pages 58-59), I summarize the main points that seem to me to confirm M. Tardieu's hypothesis. (shrink)

Concerning the book by R. Arnzen Abū l-'Abbās an-Nayrīzīs Exzerpte aus (Ps.-?) Simplicius' Kommentar zu den Definitionen, Postulaten und Axiomen in Euclids Elementa I, the present paper offers a survey of the way the late Neoplatonists used to conceive and compose their commentaries. Far from trying to be original, each commentary is largely based on the works of predecessors.

Preface The Neoplatonist Hierocles, who lived in the fifth century ad and taught at Alexandria, has not yet received his due place in the history of ...

What does “encyclopedic knowledge” mean to us today? I believe that, as in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, what we mean by this term is a knowledge that strives to embrace in detail the greatest possible number of sciences and bodies of knowledge. As Sainte-Beuve said in 1850 regarding Madame de Genlis:All these tastes, all these diverse talents, all these pleasurable arts, all these trades (for she didn't even omit the trades), made her a living Encyclopedia that prided itself upon (...) being the rival and the antagonist of the other Encyclopedia. (shrink)

The French translation with commentary, the first in a modern language, allows historians of philosophy access to a fundamental work for the understanding of medieval and modern thought. They could also explore more easily the great variety of information contained in the commentary of Simplicius on the history of the exegis of the _Catégories of Aristotle_, and more generally on the history of comparative philosophy of Simplicius. They will discover some important aspects in the actual thought of Simplicius, which so (...) far has hardly been explored. (shrink)

The French translation with commentary, the first in a modern language, allows historians of philosophy access to a fundamental work for the understanding of medieval and modern thought. They could also explore more easily the great variety of information contained in the commentary of Simplicius on the history of the exegis of the Catégories of Aristotle, and more generally on the history of comparative philosophy of Simplicius. They will discover some important aspects in the actual thought of Simplicius, which so (...) far has hardly been explored. (shrink)