The papyri transmit a part of the testimonia relevant to pre-Socratic philosophy. The ʼCorpus dei Papiri Filosofici‛ takes this material only partly into account. In this volume, a team of specialists discusses some of the most important papyrological texts that are major instruments for reconstructing pre-Socratic philosophy and doxography. Furthermore, these texts help to increase our knowledge of how pre-Socratic thought – through contributions to physics, cosmology, ethics, ontology, theology, anthropology, hermeneutics, and aesthetics – paved the way for the canonic (...) scientific fields of European culture. More specifically, each paper tackles papyrological texts concerning the Orphics, the Milesians, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the early Atomists, and the Sophists. For the first time in the field of pre-Socratics studies, several papers are devoted to the Herculanean sources, along with others concerning the Graeco-Egyptian papyri and the Derveni Papyrus. (shrink)

This paper first examines surviving testimonies on the doctrine of the Great Year in Heraclitus and attempts to demonstrate the reliability of Aëtius’ version handed down by the mss., according to which the Great Year is equal to 18,000 solar years. On the basis of such evidence it is also possible to newly examine Diogenes of Babylon’s views about this topic. In the second part, the paper better defines the relationship between the Great Year and the theory of cosmic conflagration. (...) It argues that in the sources at our disposal there are enough elements to credit Heraclitus with the doctrine of Ekpyrosis, although, in all probability, the philosopher never provided an in-depth description of it. Finally, the same problem is analysed in relation to Diogenes of Babylon. In the most mature phase of his career, this Stoic departed from the Ekpyrosis doctrine of the early Stoics and especially of his master Chrysippus. The paper formulates some hypotheses on the reasons for this choice (arguing that it most probably reflects an original attitude towards Heraclitus on Diogenes’ part) and highlights that it was hardly an isolated, ‘heterodox’ stance during the final phase of the early Stoa. (shrink)

This paper analyses in-depth Proclus’ testimonium to Crantor on Plato’s Atlantis (fr. 8 Mette). The expression ἱστορία ψιλή we read in the evidence should be interpreted in light of Proclus’ effort to classify the various readings of the Atlantis story (and of Platonic myths in general). From the elements at our disposal, we may tentatively infer that Crantor upheld a metaphorical (i. e. didactic) reading not only of the creation account of the Timaeus, but of the Atlantis myth as well. (...) This metaphorical reading did not deny the ‘truth’ of the fiction (in some way confirmed by the phrase λόγος ἀληθής in the Platonic lemma commented by Proclus), but we may guess it surely ruled out any plausibility of the ‘historicity’ of the Atlantis story. (shrink)

Il volume fornisce una nuova traduzione italiana, con introduzione storico-filosofica e commento del trattato plotiniano Sulla bellezza intelligibile (Enn. V 8 [31]). In Enn. V 8 [31] Plotino cerca di indagare il complesso rapporto tra il carattere “ideale” e quello “reale” della bellezza e delle sue diverse forme di manifestazione nel mondo. Tra queste, che la tradizione precedente aveva recluso negli spazi angusti dell’arte imitativa, il filosofo neoplatonico prende spunto dall’opera dello scultore, per poi ampliare lo sguardo verso altri aspetti (...) della bellezza: in particolare, quello del suo essere (ontologia) e quello del suo valore (etica). Lungi dall’essere una semplice testimonianza della corrente mistica del pensiero antico, il trattato Sulla bellezza intelligibile è anche (forse soprattutto) un invito all’azione e un comando a rendere oggetto del proprio agire innanzitutto sé stessi. Come Fidia dimostrò, grazie al suo Zeus Olimpio, che un grande artista non può limitarsi a concepire l’ideale, ma deve anche realizzarlo concretamente nella realtà; così ogni uomo, se vero uomo, sa ergersi sulla materia che lo circonda e farsi tempio della Luce intelligibile. *** Der vorliegende Band bietet eine neue italienische Übersetzung samt einer philosophiegeschichtlichen Einleitung und Kommentar zur Abhandlung Plotins Über die intelligible Schönheit (Enn. V 8 [31]). In Enn. V 8 [31] untersucht Plotin die komplizierte Beziehung zwischen dem ‚ideellen‘ und dem ‚realistischen‘ Charakter der Schönheit und ihren verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen in der Welt, die von der früheren Tradition als künstliche Nachahmungen kritisiert wurden. Als Beispiel zieht der neuplatonische Philosoph das Werk des Bildhauers heran und erweitert daraufhin seine Untersuchung im Hinblick auf andere Aspekte der Schönheit, insbesondere ihr ‚Sein‘ (Ontologie) und ihren ‚Wert‘ (Ethik). Weit davon entfernt ein Beweis für den mystischen Teil des antiken Denkens zu sein, ist die Abhandlung Über die intelligible Schönheit auch im Besonderen ein Aufruf zum Handeln und ein Befehl an jeden Menschen, sich selbst zum Objekt seines Handelns zu machen. Wie Phidias anhand seines Zeus bewies, ist es für einen großen Künstler nicht möglich, nur das Ideale zu denken, er muss es auch in der Realität verwirklichen. Auf dieselbe Art und Weise muss jeder (wahre) Mensch über der Materie stehen und sich selbst zum Tempel des intelligiblen Lichtes erheben, das überall sein Leben beleuchtet. (shrink)

Cet article réexamine la totalité des témoignages sur la pensée démocritéenne de l’origine du culte divin. Une étude approfondie de ces témoignages nous autorise à affirmer que, dans l’esprit de Démocrite, le culte des dieux ne dérivait pas seulement d’une peur des phénomènes naturels hostiles, mais aussi de la reconnaissance pour les événements favorables à la survie des humains. Il est à présent possible de réinterpréter cette conception selon un point de vue polémique : Démocrite n’aurait pas nié l’existence des (...) dieux, mais plutôt exposé les mécanismes psychologiques qui conduisent les hommes ordinaires à croire dans les dieux traditionnels. Contre la croyance superstitieuse, il démontre, en s’aidant également de la théorie des εἴδωλα, que les seuls dieux qui existent sont pourvus de la même « raison » que celle à l’œuvre dans la nature et grâce à laquelle les hommes peuvent comprendre ses phénomènes aussi suprenants que variés. (shrink)

In Folder n. 7, Container 49 of the Vlastos-Nachlass, an as-yet unpublished series of notes by Gregory Vlastos on Alcmaeon and his empirical method are preserved across two fascicles. After briefly contextualizing Vlastos' remarks within the history of scholarship on Alcmaeon, this paper provides the first annotated reconstruction of the manuscript's extant portion.

El primer capítulo del tratado Sobre lo bello inteligible (Enn. V, 8 <31>) proporciona un importante punto de partida para analizar las relaciones entre las estéticas plotiniana y platónica. Plotino plantea algunas objeciones contra el concepto tradicional de mimēsis que parecen contradecir las teorías de Platón en Resp. X. Tras una relectura de pasajes básicos de los diálogos platónicos (de República a Sofista), el ensayo regresa a las Enéadas y trata de entender las razones del «giro» plotiniano. Palabras clave: Creación; (...) Mímesis; Estética; Platón; PlotinoThe first chapter of the treatise On the intelligible Beautiful (Enn. V, 8 <31>) provides an important starting point to analyse the relations between the Plotinian and Platonic aesthetics. Against the traditional concept of mimēsis, Plotinus raises some objections that seem to contradict the theories of Plato in Resp. X. After a rereading of basic passages of the Platonic dialogues (from Republic to Sophist), the essay comes back to the Enneads and tries to understand the reasons of the Plotinian «turn». Keywords: Creation; Mimesis; Aesthetics; Plato; Plotinus. (shrink)

The Heraclitean tradition in the Herculaneum papyri is a topic which involves some of the most important research fields of ancient philosophy: ethics, physics and cosmology, theology and aesthetics. This paper concentrates on Heraclitus’ fr. 18 Marcovich, where the pre-Socratic philosopher talks about an unspecified κοπίδων ἀρχηγόϲ. The fragment occurs in the seventh book of Philodemus’ Rhetoric and is the only direct quotation of Heraclitus in this multi-volume treatise. This article presents a new textual reconstruction of the two columns of (...) the papyrus in which the same passage is quoted and attempts: 1. to contextualize the quotation inside the Philodemean paraphrase of a treatise by the Stoic Diogenes of Babylon against the rhetoricians of his time; 2. to reconsider the grammatical and philosophical problem of the subject of the Heraclitean quotation. Almost all scholars have considered Pythagoras to be the target of Heraclitus. But certain elements allow us to go beyond this old opinion and to understand this fragment as something of more than a personal dispute. Rhetoric, according to its supporters, was an ‘art’ since Homer’s times and gained its professional autonomy with Corax and Tisias. There is no reason to believe that, in quoting Heraclitus, Diogenes has totally changed the subject of the fragment he cites. That subject could originally have been very similar to that attested in the Philodemean paraphrase, that is the education of the rhetoricians. (shrink)

In Aëtius 1.7.8 Mansfeld–Runia, Diogenes, Cleanthes and Oenopides are said to have maintained that the deity is the world-soul. However, the identity of the Diogenes whom the doxographer mentions here has long been a matter of scholarly dispute. In response to attempts to ascribe the doxa to Diogenes of Apollonia, this paper reassesses old arguments and proposes new considerations to argue that a fundamental aspect of Diogenes of Babylon's theology is at stake here.

Since the editio princeps, PSI XI 1215 has been recognized as a fragment of a Socratic dialogue. After the first studies on its philological aspects and probable authorship, however, the text has not drawn the attention of historians of ancient philosophy, and this important Socratic evidence has long been totally neglected. This paper reviews the history of scholarship on the Florentine fragment and presents a new critical edition, on the basis of which it tries to give for the first time (...) a historico-philosophical reading of the text. This interpretation aims to demonstrate: a) that the Socratic philosopher who is writing had not a low cultural level, and the fragment presupposes an accurate knowledge of Plato’s political thought, as Medea Norsa and Girolamo Vitelli already supposed with regard to Book 8 of Plato’s Republic; b) that the fragment in question can be attributed to a Socratic dialogue which was most likely composed in the first half of the 4th century BC; c) that both philosophical and textual arguments support the attribution of the fragment to a dialogue of Antisthenes. (shrink)

Questo volume, curato da Livio Rossetti e Massimo Pulpito, raccoglie le lezioni su Parmenide e Zenone di Elea tenute da M. Laura Gemelli Marciano (d’ora in poi GM) durante il convegno “Eleatica 2007” (Ascea Marina, 29 novembre - 2 dicembre 2007). Tali lezioni si presentano come la sintesi degli studi che GM ha condotto negli ultimi decenni sui Presocratici, in particolare dei suoi tentativi di emanciparli definitivamente dalla geschichtliche Entwicklung in cui Eduard Zeller li aveva inquadrat...

This paper considers PHerc. 1788 (= HV 2 VIII 60, fr. 6) as a source for Presocratic doxography. As a matter of fact, in the Neapolitan apograph of the papyrus it is possible to read a testimonium to Thales, which has hitherto not been taken into account by the editors of his fragments. The text is full of gaps. Even so a clear reference to a monistic physical theory can be restored in the lines immediately following the quotation of the (...) Presocratic. The evidence falls in a polemical context. An Epicurean (probably Philodemus) seems to take the side of a philosopher accused by others (most likely Epicurean dissidents) to have stolen several theories of Thales and in particular his equation of the first principle with the “One” (ἕν). The paper tries to understand if there are sufficient elements in order to give credit to an ‘emanatistic’ theory of the first Western philosopher, as HEGEL supposed. The negative answer which concludes the inquiry does not undermine the importance of this Herculanean piece of evidence, which certainly must put in the corpus of Thales’ fragments and testifies to the prominent role of the Herculaneum papyri for the most complete possible reconstruction of the Presocratic tradition in ancient philosophy. (shrink)

Cet article analyse le problème de l’« athéisme » prétendu de Prodicos. Un ré-examen des sources à notre disposition et, surtout, une nouvelle reconstruction des témoignages fournis par le Sur la piété de Philodème, dont l’un est consacré à la théologie du stoïcien Persaïos, démontre que Prodicos n’était pas un athée mais un critique virulent de la conception traditionnelle des dieux.

Parallel to the edition volumes of the series Traditio Praesocratica, in which texts of early Greek natural philosophers are presented in a critical edition with translation, the series Studia Praesocratica presents commentaries, monographs and collective volumes on early Greek philosophy and its doxography.

Name der Zeitschrift: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie Jahrgang: 99 Heft: 1 Seiten: 120-123.