Аристотель. Идеи и интерпретации

Aristotle’s teaching on growth and growing and the problem of identity of a human body

Aristotle has formulated his views on growth and growth in the On Generation and Perishing. This essay explores the fate of his doctrine in the posterior tradition. As our study shows, Aristotle’s theory of growth and growing holds a significant place in the history of philosophical polemics regarding the identity of the human living body, being adopted and transformed both by pagan commentators and by Christian theologians. In doing this, they developed his concept of the enmattered εἶδος or corporeal form of the growing body. Each of the following authors — Alexander of Aphrodisias, John Philoponus, Simplicius — had its own set of sources and contexts. Each theory had its own logic, its complexities and its inconsistencies. Philoponus introduced into Aristotelian tradition Neoplatonic influences, Simplicius referred to the Stoic concept of ἰδίως ποιόν. Of particular interest is the transfer of the questions under consideration to the field of theology. Origen was the first to apply Alexander’s arguments concerning the preservation of the identity of a living body to the question of the identity between the earthly body and the body of resurrection. As the analysis of Origen’s reasoning shows, he combines the Aristotelian discourse about growth and growing with the Stoic concept of seminal logos, assuming at the same time, as Platonists do, that the bodily εἶδος can exist separately from the disintegrated material substratum (the subtle body of the soul serves as the carrier of the εἶδος in this case). Origen’s critic Methodius of Olympus who mostly thinks in Aristotelian terms, identified the bodily εἶδος with the qualitative form, similar to the shape of a statue. As we point out, Gregory of Nyssa too used disparate elements of the theories in question, mechanically combining them. He also reveals Alexander’s or Galen’s influence, suggesting the dependence of the εἶδος’s characteristics on the qualities of the somatic mixture. Our review, if necessary brief, nevertheless demonstrates the existence of a powerful and heretofore untraced tradition that applied the Aristotelian doctrine on growth and growing to the problem of identity of an individual human being.

Keywords: Aristotle, Alexander of Aphrodisias, John Philoponus, Simplicius, Origen, Methodius of Olympus, Gregory of Nyssa, growth, identity, human body, risen body, On Generation and Perishing, On Resurrection, εἶδος, corporeal form, ἰδίως ποιόν, seminal logos.

М.С. Петрова

Рецепция текстов Аристотеля в латинском платонизме Поздней Античности

В статье обсуждается рецепция текстов Аристотеля в латинском платонизме Поздней Античности посредством анализа Комментария на «Сон Сципиона» (II, 14–16) и Сатурналий Макробия. Показывается, как Макробий использует тексты Аристотеля при изложении представлений платоников о бессмертии души, что именно он заимствует при передаче разнообразных естественнонаучных концепций. Анализируются текстуальные и содержательные параллели между Аристотелем и Макробием; выявляется, в какой мере Макробий трансформирует греческое знание, насколько точно передает и излагает его. Делается вывод об опосредованном использовании Макробием текстов Аристотеля.

Ключевые слова: греческое знание, Аристотель, восприятие, латинская традиция, влияние, текст.

Maya Petrova

The reception of Aristotle’s texts in latin platonism of Late Antiquity

The article discusses the reception of Aristotle’s texts in Latin Platonism of Late Antiquity be means of the analysis of Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (II, 14–16) and Saturnalia. It is shown, how Macrobius used Aristotle’s texts while describing the views of the Platonists concerning the immortality of the soul, what he borrowed from Aristotle when he deals with the various theories of natural science. The article analyzes the textual and doctrinal content and parallels between Aristotle and Macrobius; it shows how Macrobius transforms Greek knowledge; discusses if he transmits and exposes it accurately. The conclusion is drawn that Macrobius’ knowledge of Aristotle’s texts is not a direct one.

Keywords: Greek knowledge, Aristotle, perception, the Latin tradition, influence, text.

М.А. Ведешкин

Тексты Аристотеля в системе философского образования IV векана примере биографии Юлиана Отступника