On the Problem of Syriac “Influence” in the Transmission of Greek Science to the Arabs: The Cases of Astronomy, Philosophy, and Medicine

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-227
Author(s):  
Siam Bhayro
Keyword(s):  
Medical System ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Greek Astronomy

The answer to the question of why the role of Syriac in transmitting Greek science into Arabic is negligible in astronomy but important in philosophy and medicine lies in the history of Syriac science. There was little imperative to transmit Greek astronomy into Syriac because Babylonian astronomy was dominant and received in Syriac. Conversely, there was an imperative to transmit Greek philosophy, due to the lack of anything comparable in Syriac and a need that arose in the late fifth century. Medicine is an in-between case—there was a well-established Mesopotamian medical system, yet Greek sources were translated and integrated with it. This integration was rejected by Arab translators, the effects of which impacted modern scholarship. This analysis explains why influence varies by field and highlights how the modern study of the Syriac sciences has neglected their Mesopotamian background and focussed on how they received and transmitted Greek sources.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Timothy Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Night And Day ◽  
Eleatic Monism

This book is a study of Aristotle’s engagement with Eleatic monism, the theory of Parmenides of Elea and his followers that reality is ‘one’. Parmenides wrote a single philosophical poem, sometime in the early fifth century BCE. This poem, which now survives only in fragments, is widely acknowledged to be a pivotal work in the history of Greek philosophy. It tells the story of a young man who is taken on a journey by the daughters of the Sun. After passing through the gates of the paths of Night and Day, he is greeted by a goddess:...

The Body of Western Embodiment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Ancient Greek Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The Relationship

Much of western philosophy, especially ancient Greek philosophy, addresses the problems posed by embodiment. This chapter argues that to grasp the early history of embodiment is to see the category of the body itself as historically emergent. Bruno Snell argued that Homer lacked a concept of the body (sōma), but it is the emergence of body in the fifth century BCE rather than the appearance of mind or soul that is most consequential for the shape of ancient dualisms. The body takes shape in Hippocratic medical writing as largely hidden and unconscious interior space governed by impersonal forces. But Plato’s corpus demonstrates that while Plato’s reputation as a somatophobe is well grounded and may arise in part from the way the body takes shape in medical and other physiological writing, the Dialogues represent a more complex position on the relationship between body and soul than Plato’s reputation suggests.

Cracking the Code: Narrative and Political Mobilization in the Greek Resistance

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Hart
Keyword(s):  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Material Costs ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
History Of

That narrative can be more than a mechanical recitation of events is epitomized in Thucydides’ challenge to historiographical paradigms current during the fifth century B.C. In his definitive history of the war between Athens and Sparta, the Athenian general in effect tells a “story” with a beginning, middle, and end. Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War is anything but a neutral description of events. Instead, the collection interprets the conflict for the reader. The tale contains a discussion of the role of alternative military strategies and of the war’s wider political implications. According to Thucydides, the fractionization and polarization engendered by war as a mode of resolving political conflicts is too high a price to pay for victors and losers alike. Thucydides warns of psychic as well as material costs. Thus, the ancient political scientist tells the story of the Peloponnesian War to assert that the “sequences of real events be assessed as to their significance as elements of a moral drama” (White 1987: 21).

A History of Greek Philosophy Vol. III: The Fifth-Century Enlightenment

Phoenix ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Woodbury ◽  
W. K. C. Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Facets of the cultural history of mathematics

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-497
Author(s):  
Hansjörg Geiges
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Gothic Architecture ◽  
History Of ◽  
General Culture

This article highlights the position of mathematics within general culture at various stages of the development of Western civilization. Special emphasis is given to the role of mathematics in Greek philosophy, the influence of mathematics on Gothic architecture and the place of mathematics in 17th and 18th century society. Literary quotations illustrate the shifts in the view of mathematics in society.

Ikhwan al-Safa’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Richard Netton
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Islamic Philosophy ◽  
Actual Knowledge ◽  
Final Goal ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good Living

The philosophy of the group of Arab philosophers of the fourth or fifth century AH (tenth or eleventh century ad) known as the Ikhwan al-Safa’ (Brethren of Purity) is a curious but fascinating mixture of the Qur’anic, the Aristotelian and the Neoplatonic. The group wrote fifty-two epistles, which are encyclopedic in range, covering matters as diverse as arithmetic, theology, magic and embryology. Their numerology owes a debt to Pythagoras, their metaphysics are Aristotelian and Neoplatonic and they incorporate also a few Platonic notions into their philosophy. The latter, however, is more than a mere synthesis of elements from Greek philosophy, for it is underpinned by a considerable Qur’anic substratum. There are profound links between the epistemology and the soteriology (doctrine of salvation) of the Ikhwan, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the former feeds the latter. In the history of Islamic philosophy the Ikhwan illustrate a group where the Aristotelian and the Neoplatonic clash head-on and where no attempt is made to reconcile competing and contradictory notions of God, whom the Epistles treat in both Qur’anic and Neoplatonic fashion. The final goal of the Ikhwan is salvation; their Brotherhood is the ship of that salvation, and they foster a spirit of asceticism and good living accompanied by ‘actual knowledge’ as aids to that longed-for salvation.

Philolaus (c.470–380/9 BC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann S. Schibli
Keyword(s):  
First Principles ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Greek Philosopher ◽  
Noteworthy Feature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Psychological Functions ◽  
Explanatory Concept ◽  
The Universe

The Greek philosopher Philolaus of Croton, a contemporary of Democritus and Socrates, was a pre-eminent Pythagorean. His book counts as the first written treatise in the history of Pythagoreanism. Surviving in fragments, it constitutes an important source for our knowledge of fifth-century Pythagoreanism and supplements the picture given by Aristotle of Pythagorean doctrine. Like earlier Presocratics Philolaus sought to furnish a comprehensive cosmology. Arguing from logical propositions, he posited two pre-existing principles: ‘unlimited things’ and ‘limiting things’. United by harmony these two principles account for the formation of the cosmos and its phenomena. Since Philolaus also invokes number as an all-powerful explanatory concept, it is likely that he associated his first principles and the things originating from them with numbers. The emphasis on harmony and number accords with early Pythagoreanism. Philolaus also wrote on musical theory and astronomy. A noteworthy feature of his astronomy is the displacement of the earth from the centre of the cosmos by fire, pictured as the ‘hearth’ of the universe. The fragments further attest Philolaus’ interest in embryology, the causes of diseases, and physiology combined with psychological functions. It was not unusual for early Greek philosophers to treat such a wide variety of topics. The distinctive elements of the thought of Philolaus are the logical arguments evinced in the fragments and the epistemological role of number for understanding the structure of reality.

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