Books by Philoponus

Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics" elaborates the notions of science and the requirements for the distinctive kind of knowledge scientists possess. This book explores the foundations of Aristotle's theory, pointing out the similarities and differences between scientific and other types of knowledge, and establishing the need for basic principles.

Contains Aristotle's Philosophy of Science.

Explores a range of questions about the basic structure of reality, the nature of prime matter, the principles of change, the relation between form and matter, and the issue of whether things can come into being out of nothing, and if so, in what sense that is true.

In 'On The Soul' 2.1-6, Aristotle gives a very different account of the soul from Plato's by tying the soul to the body. He defines soul and life by reference to the capacities for using food to maintain structure and reproduce, for perceiving and desiring. Philoponus gives a 'cognitive' view.

Philoponus was a brilliant Christian philosopher who turned the ideas of the pagans of the Neoplatonist school against them. Here, he attacks the most devout pagan philosopher, Proclus, defending the Christian view that the universe had a beginning against Proclus' arguments to the contrary.

Philoponus is engaged in an exegesis of Plato's Timaeus which aims to settle familiar interpretive problems, notably how we should understand the pre-cosmic state of disorderly motion, and the statement that the visible cosmos is an image of the paradigm. His exegetical concerns culminate with a discussion of Plato's attitude to poetry and myth.

Philoponus was a brilliant Christian philosopher, steeped in Neoplatanism, who turned the pagans' ideas against them. Here he attacks the devout Athenian pagan philosopher, Proclus, defending the Christian view that the universe had a beginning against Proclus' arguments to the contrary.

A volume in the prestigious series, The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, which translates the works of the ancient commentators into English for the first time.

In Posterior Analytics Aristotle elaborates his assessment of how universal truths of science can be scientifically explained as inevitable in demonstrative proofs. In this commentary Philoponus takes these issues further.

Aristotle's "Meteorology" influenced generations of speculation about the earth sciences - ranging from atmospheric phenomena to earthquakes. This title presents the commentary of John Philoponus (6th century AD) on the opening three chapters of "Meteorology", building on the work of L G Westerink.

In this commentary of Aristotle's Meteorology, the Neoplatonist Philoponus discusses subjects such as the nature of fiery and light phenomena in the sky, the formation of comets, the Milky Way, the properties of moist exhalation, and the formation of hail.

Rejects accounts of soul which define it as moving, as cognitive, or in physical terms. Chapter 3 considers Aristotle's attack on the idea that the soul is in motion. What we would call the mind-body relation is the subject of Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, the author endorses Aristotle's rejection of the idea that the soul is particles.