Proclus on Nature: Philosophy of Nature and its Methods in Proclus’ Commentary on Plato’s timaeus
Brill (2010)
Abstract
One of the hardest questions to answer for a (Neo)platonist is to what extent and how the changing and unreliable world of sense perception can itself be an object of scientific knowledge. My dissertation is a study of the answer given to that question by the Neoplatonist Proclus (Athens, 411-485) in his Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus. I present a new explanation of Proclus’ concept of nature and show that philosophy of nature consists of several related subdisciplines matching the ontological stratification of nature. Moreover, I demonstrate that for Proclus philosophy of nature is a science, albeit a hypothetical one, which takes geometry as its methodological paradigm. I also offer an explanation of Proclus’ view of what is later called the mathematization of physics, i.e. the role of the substance of mathematics, as opposed to its method, in explaining the natural world. Finally, I discuss Proclus’ views of the discourse of philosophy of nature and its iconic characterAuthor's Profile
Call number
B387.P763.M37 2010
ISBN(s)
9789004181915 9004181911
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Citations of this work
Geometrical First Principles in Proclus’ Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements.D. Gregory MacIsaac - 2014 - Phronesis 59 (1):44-98.
The First Principle in Late Neoplatonism: A Study of the One’s Causality in Proclus and Damascius.Jonathan Greig - 2020 - Leiden: Brill.
Order from disorder. Proclus' doctrine of evil and its roots in ancient platonism.Marije Martijn - 2008 - International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 2 (2):229-232.
Philosophy of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle.Miira Tuominen - 2012 - Philosophy Compass 7 (12):852-895.
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Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism.Walter Burkert - 1972 - Cambridge: Mass., Harvard University Press.
Aristotle's Criticism of Plato and the Academy.Harold F. Cherniss - 1944 - Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.