Eudorus of Alexandria

Eudorus of Alexandria (Greek: Εὔδωρος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, and a representative of Middle Platonism.[1] He attempted to reconstruct Plato's philosophy in terms of Pythagoreanism.[2]

He formulated a teleological principle for Platonism, derived from the Theaetetus: "as much as we can, become like God."[3] In this he believed that he had found an apt definition of the common goal of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato.[4] His metaphysics and cosmology combined Platonist, Pythagorean and Stoic ideas.[4]

He is mentioned by Alexander of Aphrodisias in his commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, [5]. This mention has been often taken as a reference to a former commentary by Eudorus on Aristotle's Metaphysics, although Alexander's text does not really say this [6]. The way Aristotle's texts were available to Eudorus is now an open field for research [7]. Simplicius refers to him as a Peripatetic philosopher, and relates that he had written on the Aristotelian Categories. He was a native of Alexandria, and had, like Aristo of Alexandria, written a work on the Nile.[8]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Middle Platonism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  2. ↑ George E. Karamanolis, 2006, Plato and Aristotle in agreement?, pages 82-4. Oxford University Press
  3. ↑ Plato, Theaetetus, 176b
  4. 1 2 Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th edition, page 306
  5. ↑ Alexander of Aphrodisias, ad Arist. Metaph. p. 59 line 7 Hayduck
  6. ↑ Fazzo, Silvia, "The Metaphysics from Aristotle to Alexander of Aphrodisias, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2012, 55: 51-68.
  7. ↑ Rashed, Marwan and Auffret Thomas, “Aristote, Métaphysique A 6, 988a 7–14, Eudore d’Alexandrie et l’histoire ancienne du texte de la Métaphysique.” In Chr. Brockmann et al., eds., Handschriften- und Textforschung heute. Zur Überlieferung der griechischen Literatur. Festschrift für Dieter Harlfinger aus Anlass seines 70. Geburtstages, 55–84. Wiesbaden 2014.
  8. ↑ Strabo, Geographica, xvii.

Bibliography

  • Bonazzi, Mauro, "Eudorus and early Imperial Platonism", in R.W. Sharples-R. Sorabji (eds.), Greek and Roman Philosophy 100 BC-200 AD, London, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies Supplement 2007, Vol. II, pp. 365–378.
  • Mazzarelli, Claudio. Raccolta e interpretazione delle testimonianze e dei frammenti del medioplatonico Eudoro di Alessandria, in Rivista di Filosofia Neoscolastica, 77 (1985), pp. 197–209 e 535-555 (Greek text of the extant fragments with Italian translation).
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