3 results
6 - Platonism
- from I - Fundamentals
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- By Jan A. Aertsen, Universität zu Köln
- Edited by Robert Pasnau, University of Colorado Boulder
- Edited in association with Christina van Dyke, Calvin College, Michigan
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- Book:
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy
- Published online:
- 05 August 2014
- Print publication:
- 19 June 2014, pp 76-85
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
In 1939 Raymond Klibansky published a programmatic essay entitled The Continuity of the Platonic Tradition during the Middle Ages, in which he presented a new project: the Corpus Platonicum Medii Aevi, meant as a counterpart of the Aristoteles Latinus. The term “continuity” in the title of the essay had a polemical intent: the principal aim of the planned collection of texts was, as it is stated in the Preface, “to reveal a neglected link” in the history of thought. In the study of medieval philosophy there existed a strong tendency to regard this period as an era dominated by Aristotelianism; it was not until the Renaissance that Plato would have been rediscovered. Against this prejudice Klibansky’s essay pointed to the continuity of the Platonic tradition throughout the Middle Ages. Medieval Platonism originated from two sources, a direct tradition, based on translations of Plato’s own works, and an indirect one through the intermediary of authors who transmitted essential doctrines of Platonism in their own accounts. This chapter will be focusing on the Latin Plato – a clear restriction, because, as Klibansky stresses, a full understanding of the role of Platonism in the Middle Ages has to take the Arabic tradition into account.
PLATO LATINUS
Boethius, one of the “founders of the Middle Ages,” saw it as his mission to make the treasures of philosophy accessible to the West. He tried to realize Cicero’s exhortation to transfer philosophy from the Greek to the Latin world and formulated to that end an ambitious program: he wanted to translate the complete works of Plato and Aristotle into Latin and to show the fundamental accordance between the two philosophers by commentaries on their works. But Boethius could only realize a fraction of this project, namely, translations of and commentaries on Aristotle’s logical works.
6 - Platonism
- from I - Fundamentals
-
- By Jan Aertsen
- Robert Pasnau, University of Colorado Boulder
-
- Book:
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy
- Published online:
- 28 May 2011
- Print publication:
- 17 December 2009, pp 76-85
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
In 1939 Raymond Klibansky published a programmatic essay entitled The Continuity of the Platonic Tradition during the Middle Ages, in which he presented a new project: the Corpus Platonicum Medii Aevi, meant as a counterpart of the Aristoteles Latinus. The term “continuity” in the title of the essay had a polemical intent: the principal aim of the planned collection of texts was, as it is stated in the Preface, “to reveal a neglected link” in the history of thought. In the study of medieval philosophy there existed a strong tendency to regard this period as an era dominated by Aristotelianism; it was not until the Renaissance that Plato would have been rediscovered. Against this prejudice Klibansky’s essay pointed to the continuity of the Platonic tradition throughout the Middle Ages. Medieval Platonism originated from two sources, a direct tradition, based on translations of Plato’s own works, and an indirect one through the intermediary of authors who transmitted essential doctrines of Platonism in their own accounts. This chapter will be focusing on the Latin Plato – a clear restriction, because, as Klibansky stresses, a full understanding of the role of Platonism in the Middle Ages has to take the Arabic tradition into account.
PLATO LATINUS
Boethius, one of the “founders of the Middle Ages,” saw it as his mission to make the treasures of philosophy accessible to the West. He tried to realize Cicero’s exhortation to transfer philosophy from the Greek to the Latin world and formulated to that end an ambitious program: he wanted to translate the complete works of Plato and Aristotle into Latin and to show the fundamental accordance between the two philosophers by commentaries on their works. But Boethius could only realize a fraction of this project, namely, translations of and commentaries on Aristotle’s logical works. During the entire Middle Ages the direct knowledge of Plato remained rather restricted.
1 - Aquinas's philosophy in its historical setting
- Edited by Norman Kretzmann, Eleonore Stump, St Louis University, Missouri
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas
- Published online:
- 28 May 2006
- Print publication:
- 28 May 1993, pp 12-37
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Thomas Aquinas was born at the end of 1224 or the beginning of 1225 in Roccasecca, not far from Naples. He was the scion of a prominent noble family, the counts of Aquino. Aquinas received his earliest education at the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino. In 1239 he went to the University of Naples to study the liberal arts.
In Naples Aquinas became acquainted with the relatively new Order of Friar Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. Like the Franciscans, whose order was founded during the same period, the Dominicans were mendicants, radicalizing the evangelical ideal of poverty. Unlike the Benedictines, the Dominicans did not tie themselves to one specific cloister. Their life was therefore marked by a high degree of mobility. The Dominicans were the first religious order to make devotion to study one of its main objectives; in keeping with this aim they established study houses in university cities throughout Europe. In 1244 Aquinas decided to join the new order, much against the will of his family, who apparently had other plans for him. He was detained for a year in the family castle of Roccasecca, but his family finally accepted Aquinas’s decision.