The Academy was a philosophical school established by Plato that safeguarded the continuity and the evolution of Platonism over a period of about 300 years. Its contribution to the development of Hellenistic philosophical and scientific thinking was decisive, but it also had a major impact on the formation of most of the other philosophical trends emerging during this period. This volume surveys the evidence for the historical and social setting in which the Academy operated, as well as the various shifts in the philosophical outlook of Platonism during its existence. Its contribution to the evolution of special sciences such as mathematics is also examined. The book further includes the first complete annotated translation in English of Philodemus' History of the Academy, preserved on a papyrus from Herculaneum. It thus offers a comprehensive picture of one of the most prominent and influential of all educational institutions in ancient Greece.

The Academy was a philosophical school established by Plato that safeguarded the continuity and the evolution of Platonism over a period of about 300 years. Its contribution to the development of Hellenistic philosophical and scientific thinking was decisive, but it also had a major impact on the formation of most of the other philosophical trends emerging during this period. This volume surveys the evidence for the historical and social setting in which the Academy operated, as well as the various shifts in the philosophical outlook of Platonism during its existence. Its contribution to the evolution of special sciences such as mathematics is also examined. The book further includes the first complete annotated translation in English of Philodemus' History of the Academy, preserved on a papyrus from Herculaneum. It thus offers a comprehensive picture of one of the most prominent and influential of all educational institutions in ancient Greece.

The volumes of the Symposium Aristotelicum have become essential reference works for the study of Aristotle. In this nineteenth volume, eleven distinguished scholars of ancient philosophy provide a running commentary on the first book of Aristotle's Physics, a central treatise of the Aristotelian corpus that aims at knowledge of the principles of physical change. Along with the general introduction, the ten chapters together comment on the entirety of the Aristotelian text and discuss the philosophical issues that are raised in it in detail. Aristotle is shown to be in dialogue with the divergent doctrines of earlier philosophers, namely with the Eleatics' monism, with Anaxagoras' theory of mixture, and finally with the Platonist dyadism that posits the two principles of Form and the Great and Small. Aristotle uses critical examination of his predecessors' views as the basis for formulating his own theory of the principles of natural things, which are fundamental for the entire Aristotelian study of the natural world. He provides his own solution to the problem of coming-to-be and passing-away by distinguishing between coming in actuality and in potentiality. Comprehensive analysis of Aristotle's doctrines and arguments, as well as critical discussion of rival interpretations, will make this volume a valuable resource for scholars of Aristotle.

The first volume in a landmark commentary on an important and influential work of ancient philosophy This is the first volume of a groundbreaking commentary on one of the most important works of ancient philosophy, the Enneads of Plotinus—a text that formed the basis of Neoplatonism and had a deep influence on early Christian thought and medieval and Renaissance philosophy. This volume covers the first three of the six Enneads, as well as Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, a document in which Plotinus’s student—the collector and arranger of the Enneads—introduces the philosopher and his work. A landmark contribution to modern Plotinus scholarship, Paul Kalligas’s commentary is the most detailed and extensive ever written for the whole of the Enneads. For each of the treatises in the first three Enneads, Kalligas provides a brief introduction that presents the philosophical background against which Plotinus’s contribution can be assessed; a synopsis giving the main lines and the articulation of the argument; and a running commentary placing Plotinus’s thought in its intellectual context and making evident the systematic association of its various parts with each other.

This is the first volume of a groundbreaking commentary on one of the most important works of ancient philosophy, the "Enneads" of Plotinus--a text that formed the basis of Neoplatonism and had a deep influence on early Christian thought and medieval and Renaissance philosophy. This volume covers the first three of the six "Enneads," as well as Porphyry's "Life of Plotinus," a document in which Plotinus's student--the collector and arranger of the "Enneads"--introduces the philosopher and his work. A landmark contribution to modern Plotinus scholarship, Paul Kalligas's commentary is the most detailed and extensive ever written for the whole of the "Enneads."

For each of the treatises in the first three "Enneads," Kalligas provides a brief introduction that presents the philosophical background against which Plotinus's contribution can be assessed; a synopsis giving the main lines and the articulation of the argument; and a running commentary placing Plotinus's thought in its intellectual context and making evident the systematic association of its various parts with each other.

The second volume in a landmark commentary on an important and influential work of ancient philosophy This is the second volume of a groundbreaking commentary on one of the most important works of ancient philosophy, the Enneads of Plotinus-a text that formed the basis of Neoplatonism and had a deep influence on early Christian thought and medieval and Renaissance philosophy. This volume covers Enneads IV and V, which focus on two of the principal "hypostases" of Plotinus's ontological system, namely the soul and the Intellect. Paul Kalligas provides an analytical exegesis of the arguments, along with an account of Plotinus's principal sources, references to other parts of his work, and a systematic evaluation of his overarching theoretical aspirations. A landmark contribution to Plotinus scholarship, this is the most detailed and extensive commentary ever written for the whole of the Enneads.