- Title
- Elenchus and syllogistic in Olympiodorus of Alexandria
- Creator
- Tarrant, Harold
- Relation
- Ancient Greek Dialectic and Its Reception p. 427-439
- Relation
- Topics in Ancient Philosophy 10
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110744149-020
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Olympiodorus has left us both Aristotelian and Platonic commentaries, but he was the admired leader of an Alexandrian school that has otherwise left us only the latter in spite of a widespread admiration for Plato. It is therefore natural to be asking whether the term “Neoplatonist” is a satisfactory appellation either for the school or for this one individual. In his case, my impression is that Plato progressively became more central to his endeavors, but uncertainties regarding the internal chronology of his works certainly cloud the picture. Here I shall confine myself to matters of logic, where, if anywhere, one might expect Aristotle to win greater honors, especially for his contribution to syllogistic. However, Platonists were reluctant to concede that Plato lacked knowledge of syllogistic patterns, of sophistic tricks, or of the categories. This can clearly be seen in Alcinous’ treatment of Platonic logic in Didaskalikos 6, where syllogisms, including hypothetical syllogisms more typical of the Stoa, are detected in demonstrations and refutations from a variety of works, patterns of sophistic argument are exposed in the Euthydemus, categories are employed in the Parmenides, and etymology is explained in the Cratylus. When we come to Proclus, one finds him idealizing Plato’s arguments in the Parmenides in particular, always insisting that Plato never produces a work intended to teach logic in isolation but rather selects his methods in accordance with the needs of the principal topic.¹
- Subject
- Olympiodorus; Alexandria; Plato; chronology
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1491480
- Identifier
- uon:53045
- Identifier
- ISBN:9783110744064
- Language
- eng
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