Bob Magaw
Footballguy
What this thread is about: Primarily, philosophy in antiquity, a subject I became more interested in during the second half of this year. It will touch on some important and formative precursors, points of intersection with Christian thought and early medieval influences (rough outline below).
What this thread isn't about: Non-Western Thought, such as the Indian Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Buddhist Dhammapada, or Chinese Confucian Analects, Tao Te Ching and I Ching, as that kind of comparative philosophy and religion would be beyond the scope of both the thread and my competence.
Though I think seminal concepts such as Plato's forms/ideas and Jung's Archetypes and Collective Consciousness (as well as Aldous Huxley's Perennial Philosophy) nicely capture the idea that humanity, in all times and places, has expressed remarkably similar ideas about the nature and structure of reality, life, consciousness, truth, etc., possibly not because of coincidence, but due to being the expression of a core, universal "tributary" that underlies our common experience.
What form will it take: Mostly chronological, with linking commentaries between encyclopedic outlines and synoptic-type overviews, including bibliographies for those that want to explore either general or specific areas covered.
Who for: Anybody interested in how we COLLECTIVELY got to where we are intellectually.
OUTLINE
Preface/Intro - The semi-legendary Homer's Illiad and Odyssey appear based on philological (linguistic and textual analysis) research to date back to approx. the 8th century BC. Some exceptional translations are by Richmond Lattimore in a more traditional and Robert Fagles (outstanding scholarly introductions by Bernard Knox) in a more contemporary vein. Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days have been dated to between 750-650 BC. I find it interesting that just about 400 years after Homer, Plato may already represent the unsurpassed apex of Western philosophical thought/expression to date (arguably retrograde in some senses since). A highly recommended, thought provoking book on The Illiad and Odyssey as an excavation tool to explore the archaeology of the mind and consciousness is The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes (partial title borrowed for the finale of Westworld).
Homer (not Simpson, you knuckleheads ), works shaped/solidified around 800 BC, lived???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer
Bicameralism and Jaynes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)
Hesiod (7th - 6th century BC?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesiod
Bible (historical timeline of the component books)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible
1) Pre-Socratics (it is important to remember that all that has survived from this period is in the form of fragments, with in some cases uncertain provenance and attribution - Plato and Plotinus are the only philosophers from antiquity for which we have everything or nearly so). Some classic/standard texts are Ancilla To The Pre-Socratic Philosophers by Kathleen Freeman and The PreSocratic Philosophers by G.S. Kirk and J.E. Raven (second edition, there is a greatly revised third edition for which opinion is divided on). More recent collections are Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes, The First Philosophers by Robin Waterfield and the just published nine volume Early Greek Philosophy by Andre Laks and Glenn Most (the only series in the over century old history of the prestigious Loeb Classical Library to be released simultaneously), the first significant new presentation of this material reflecting the latest scholarship and research since the last revision of Kirk and Raven over a half century ago. In addition to the library, many of these titles above/below can be found inexpensively new/used, and in some instances are downloadable or even archived online.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Socratic_philosophy
Including (but not restricted to)
A) Pythagoras 570? - 495? BC (massively influential on the history of arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, Plato, later Neo-Pythagoreans and the history of ancient philosophy and western thought). Probably the first scientist in the modern sense, predating Galileo by over a millennium.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras
B) Heraclitus or Ephesian School 535? - 475? BC (champion of flux as the hallmark and signature trait of reality, couched his thoughts in paradoxical, zen koan-like riddles, coining famous phrases such as "No man ever steps into the same river twice" [[or maybe even once!]], encapsulating his concept of the unity of opposites with "The path up and down are one and the same")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus
C) Parmenides or Eleatic School 515? - ? BC (believed the opposite of Heraclitus, that all change was an illusion of man's sensory apparatus, that unity was the true underlying nature of reality). Zeno of Paradox fame was his greatest disciple, and actually surpassed his master in terms of fame surviving into posterity. Parmenides was extremely important for making what may have been the most fundamental breakthrough of his era into the realm of abstract metaphysics, and had a profound influence on Plato.
D) Other Hellenistic Schools such as Empedocles and the Pluralists, Leucippus/Democritus and the Atomists, and the Sophists. It can be a misnomer to refer to some of these schools as "Pre-Socratics", as in some cases they were contemporary to or even lived after Socrates (not covered here are the Stoics, another famous philosophical school from antiquity originating in Greece, straddling post-Aristotle in around 300 BC to and beyond it's greatest and most enduring expositor in the second century AD, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who famously wrote the Meditations). Unconventional, iconoclastic modern philosopher/thinker Peter Kingsley wrote Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition (and along similar lines, In The Dark Places Of Wisdom and Reality). John Dillon wrote The Greek Sophists which is a Penguin Classics companion to Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes noted above. The First Philosophers by Robin Waterfield combines the Pre-Socratic and Sophist material into one volume (the recent Barnes and Waterfield works incorporate some of the latest scholarship and research based on relatively newly discovered papyrus finds). See also Hellenistic Philosophy - Introductory Readings by Inwood/Gerson and Hellenistic Philosophy - Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics by A.A. Long. A few extremely rare Histories of Philosophy FROM antiquity can be found in the Loeb Classical Library, Diogenes Laertius: Lives Of Eminent Philosophers in two volumes, as well as Philostratus: Lives of the Sophists with Eunapius: Lives of the Philosophers in one volume (there is also a Loeb two volume work by Philostratus - The Life of Apollonius of Tyana on the legendary, mythical religious figure translated by Conybeare, recently re-translated in three volumes by Christopher Jones).
E) Greek Mathematicians and Historians. Some of the most famous among the former are Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy (THAT one, from the history of astronomy fame) and Applolonius. There is an excellent two volume Greek Mathematical Works by Ivor Thomas from the Loeb Classical Library which isn't complete but very representative, and the more complete Dover reprint of the classic A History Of Greek Mathematics in two volumes, From Thales to Euclid and From Aristarchus to Diophantus by the preeminent historian of this field, Sir Thomas Heath. Of the latter, Herodotus (born nearly a decade and a half before Socrates, died in 425 about 60 years of age approx. when Plato was born) basically invented the genre with his Histories based on the Persian War, Robin Waterfield has a recent translation with a substantive introduction. Thucydides was a rough contemporary of Socrates and Plato (younger than the former, older than the latter), and his History of the Peloponnesian War documenting the decisive 5th century BC war between Athens and Sparta comes in a handy Penguin Classics edition, translated and with intro by M.I. Finley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides
2) SOCRATES 470/469? - 399 BC / PLATO 428/423? - 348/347? BC (arguably the pinnacle of Western thought/expression, 20th Century British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, only slightly exaggerating, was quoted "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."). Almost all of what we know of Plato's teacher Socrates is through the Dialogues. Plato was also Aristotle's teacher for several decades, giving him an absolutely central position in Ancient Philosophy and The Western Intellectual Tradition. He was a sort of culminating point integrating what had come before, as well as a branching off point for much that was to follow. His thinking, system and conceptual architecture may not have been monolithic, but evolved over time, and there is an extensive body of writing devoted to this subject. There are several excellent versions of his Collected Dialogues, including ones edited by Edith Hamilton/Huntington Cairns from Princeton's Bollingen Series and that by the arguably preferred John Cooper (sequenced in the "canonical" order of Thrasyllus). Both come with brief, helpful introductions, fitting for such a critically important and universal thinker. There are also many outstanding commentaries on individual dialogues (a whole, entire sub-field all by itself), with those on the Parmenides and Timaeus by the Neoplatonist Proclus being among the best, as well as modern ones by leading scholars in the first half of the 20th Century, such as J.J. Burnett, A.E. Taylor, F.M. Cornford, R. Hackforth and E.R. Dodds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
3) Aristotle 384 - 322 BC (Plato's greatest student by far, philosopher and scientist with staggering, encyclopedic range, codified logic, tutored Alexander The Great, with Plato had a massive influence on Medieval thought, especially the Scholastics and among Islamic thinkers). Plato was more of an idealist, Aristotle an empiricist. They are the two greatest Western philosophers from antiquity (probably safe to drop the "from antiquity" qualifier, period), justly, deservedly occupying the central place in the painting School of Athens by Raphael. Classic/standard texts include the one volume, abridged Basic Works of Aristotle by Richard McKeon and more complete two volumes from the Britannica Great Books Series (volumes 8 & 9). The one volume McKeon version comes with the more substantial intro. Possibly his greatest and most important commentator in antiquity was Simplicius, one of the last Neo-Platonists with Damascius (last head of the School of Athens before official closure by decree of the Roman Emperor). Thomas Aquinas was the greatest in the Middle Ages, and his most famous disciple or intellectual heir. British philosopher W.D. Ross was the greatest Aristotelian scholar of the first half of the 20th Century, both editing the monumental (Complete) Works Of Aristotle Translated Into English, in 12 volumes without commentary, as well as writing the preeminent one volume basic intro, titled Aristotle. A more recent undertaking was a Herculean job translating/editing over a hundred volumes of Aristotelian commentators (many appearing in English for the first time) by Richard Sorabji, partially distilled into three volumes - Vol. 1 Psychology (with Ethics and Religion), Vol. 2 Physics and Vol. 3 Logic and Metaphysics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
4) Plotinus 204/5? - 270 AD (this survey skips over the arcane, marginalia intellectual period/demarcation designated as Middle Platonism, to the most powerful thinker in antiquity in over a half millennia after the death of Aristotle). Plotinus was sufficiently different from his Platonist philosophical predecessors to receive the distinction by later historians of founder of a "new" school, Neo-Platonism, though he (and his philosophical successors) merely thought of himself/themselves as a continuation of the Platonist lineage. He had much in common with Pythagoras (known as a mystic, abstained from eating meat and practiced other asceticisms), and like Plato, as noted above, is the only other philosopher from which his extant corpus (surviving intellectual body of work and writings) is thought to have made the passage through the ages and history largely intact and in a relatively complete state - their dual preservation may not be unrelated, and could speak to their importance and how much they were revered by contemporary and later philosophers and intellectual historians. A belief thought to be commonly held by Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists that followed is that Plato and Aristotle could be reconciled, and apparent differences may have been chalked up merely to differences in emphasis. Later curricula (circa Iamblichus?) referred to Aristotle's teachings as the "lower mysteries" which were a preliminary for a period of several years leading up to graduating to intensive study of Plato and the "higher mysteries" for several more years. He also wrote a scathing, withering indictment against Gnosticism.
The best modern/contemporary translations/commentaries on his Enneads are by 19th century Irish linguist/writer Stephen MacKenna (prone to sacrificing accuracy and rigor for sweeping mythic/poetic feeling) for which there is a good single volume reprint by Larson Publications, a Penguin Classics abridgement of the same translation by the great contemporary Platonic/Neo-Platonist scholar John Dillon, and probably the best translation in the English language by one of the greatest Plotinian scholars of the 20th Century (based on the reference critical edition benchmark in French by Henry and Schwyzer published in three volumes from 1951-1973) is the epic seven volume Plotinus in the Loeb Classical Library by A.H. Armstrong, published from 1966-1988. BTW, the Loeb volumes (Greek classics in characteristic green covers, Latin in red) have original Greek (or Latin) text on the left page, English on the right, the main reason to get the Early Greek Philosophy series noted above or the Plotinus sets is because the former represents the first significant presentation of the latest scholarship and research in over a half century, and the latter is said to be the best (i.e. - most accurate) translation that exists in the English language. All these modern editions contain his disciple Porphyry's biography, The Life of Plotinus, one of the most important we have of any philosopher to survive from antiquity. The least expensive Penguin Classics abridgement of the MacKenna translation has easily the best introductions, by Dillon and Henry (latter the French scholar who co-translated the definitive critical edition of the Enneads by Plotinus which informed Armstrong's peerless English translation). Other recommended secondary and commentary type titles include The Heart of Plotinus by Aldis Uzdavinys, Plotinus and the Simplicity of Vision by Pierre Hadot and Plotinus: An Introduction To The Enneads by Dominic O'Meara.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus
5) Other Neo-Platonists (that followed Plotinus)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism
A) Porphyry 234 - 305 AD (chief disciple was in some ways to Plotinus as Plato was to Socrates, i.e. - it is through his efforts that his master's thoughts and writing survive, though the relationship is inverted in that Plato superseded Socrates historically because of his original thought and writing, whereas Plotinus towers above all other Neo-Platonists, with Porphyry's intellectual role more subservient as a "mere" archivist/editor). Though notably his Isagoge or Introduction served as a primer on Aristotle's logic for over a millenium, and as translated by Boethius, was instrumental and played an integral role in shaping the debate on the nature and meaning of "universals" in language during the Middle Ages. His Letter To Anebo prompted/provoked Iamblichus to write On The Mysteries in response to and in defense of Egyptian religious rituals and mystery traditions. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED is the title Introduction translated and featuring extensive commentary by Jonathan Barnes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry_(philosopher)
B) Iamblichus 245 - 325 AD (as noted above, he defended the mystery traditions of ancient cultures such as Egypt, Babylon, Persia, sometimes referred to as Theurgy). Some of the seminal and towering Greek intellects thought of philosophy as a way to lead the mind to contemplate higher planes, such as through the sacred numbers and musical intervals of Pythagoras, the eternal forms and ideas of Plato, and the One/Good, Intellect and Soul of Plotinus. Iamblichus and later Proclus placed greater relative importance on the different tools of theurgy and ritual to these same ends. He (and Proclus) are also extremely important in that to some extent, what we know of the Platonic and Plotinian tradition/s passed THROUGH them into the Medieval period, and the form that made its eventual way into modern times. There is a contemporary edition of On The Mysteries co-translated by Emma Clark and John Dillon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iamblichus
C) Proclus 412 - 485 AD (see above). By consensus the last great Neo-Platonist philosopher. As noted above in the section on Plato, his commentaries on The Parmenides and Timaeus are the best from antiquity (and arguably period). He also did a great commentary on the most important work by the greatest mathematician from antiquity, Euclid's Elements. Along with Iamblichus, reportedly placed a value on the Chaldean Oracles as nearly equal to Plato. One of the greatest and most seminal works of Neo-Platonist scholarship in the 20th century is the translation/commentary on The Elements of Theology by E.R. Dodds, which is a systematically deduced presentation of his system and philosophy that (at least formally and structurally) anticipated the likes of Spinoza and Wittgenstein. Dodds incidentally also did brilliant translations/commentaries for Clarendon Press on The Gorgias by Plato and The Bacchae by the dramatist Euripedes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclus
The above time frame is bookended by the 6th century BC Pre-Socratics to the closing of a revived Platonic Academy by Justinian I in 529 AD, so a bit over a millennium. Some of the best History of Philosophy type surveys from the Pre-Socratics through Plato and Aristotle are by George Grote (the multi-volume Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates took nearly a decade to finish in 1865, he died in 1871 before completing a planned work on Aristotle), Eduard Zeller (eight volume Philosophy of the Greeks translated from 1868 - 1897), Theodor Gomperz (Greek Thinkers: A History of Ancient Philosophy in three volumes - 1896, 1902 & 1909) and W.K.C. Guthrie (the magisterial A History of Greek Philosophy in six volumes - 1962, 1965, 1971, 1975, 1978 & 1981). Some classic/standard and more modern/contemporary smaller treatments include Early Greek Philosophy AND Greek Philosophy: From Thales To Plato by J.J. Burnett, A Critical History Of Greek Philosophy by W.T. Stace, Pythagoras Revised by Dominic O'Meara, Plato: The Man And His Work by A.E. Taylor, Plato's Theory of Ideas by W.D. Ross, Plato And Platonism: An Introduction AND Plato: The Written And Unwritten Doctrines by J.N. Findlay, Plato's Philosophers - The Coherence Of The Dialogues by Catherine Zuckert, as well as From Plato To Platonism, Aristotle And Other Platonists AND Plotinus by Lloyd Gerson.
Additional highly recommended works by outstanding classicists are the three volume Padeia: The Ideals of Greek Culture by Werner Jaeger and three volumes by Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way, Echoes Of Greece and The Roman Way (which also includes chapters on somewhat important thinkers not covered here, such as the Middle Platonist Plutarch, who wrote Moralia and was also one of the greatest practitioners of the art of biography in antiquity in The Parallel Lives, as well as the Roman Cicero, said to be one of the two greatest orators ever, along with the Greek Demosthenes). Gregory Vlastos is one of the greatest Socratic/Platonist scholars of the 20th Century, and has many titles. There are also scholarly compilations in the Cambridge Companion series on Plato, Aristotle (edited by Jonathan Barnes) and Plotinus (edited by Lloyd Gerson), Neo-Platonism by R.T. Wallis, as well as explorations of the interpenetration and cross-fertilization of Neo-Platonism with Christianity and Gnosticism, edited by O'Meara and Wallis, respectively.
6) Some Non-Christian religious influences (more to follow)
A) Orphism (poetry dates back at least to the 5th - 6th century BC?), a great history is Orpheus and Greek Religion by W.K.C. Guthrie, also partly covered in his The Greeks and Their Gods. Coverage of this era (and later) can also be found in two titles by E.R. Dodds, The Greeks And The Irrational AND Pagan & Christian in an Age of Anxiety.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphism_(religion)
B) Gnosticism (1st - 2nd century AD?), see the recent survey/overview by Stephan Hoeller of the Los Angeles Gnostic Society, Gnosticism - New Light On The Ancient Tradition Of Inner Knowing, as well as related chapters (also on Pythagorean Philosophy, Mathematics and Music) in Manly P. Hall's The Secret Teaching Of All Ages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism
C) Chaldean Oracles (traced back to fragmentary texts from the second century AD?), recent translation/commentary by Ruth Majercik published by Prometheus Trust.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Oracles
D) Hermeticism (attributed to Hermes Trismegistus - "Thrice Great", literature emerges 3rd - 7th century AD?), recent title Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction by Brian Copenhaver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism
7) Influence on Jewish/Christian thinkers (more to follow)
A) Philo (25 BC - 50 AD), a pioneer in basically using Greek philosophy in his exegesis (critical explanation or interpretation of a text) of Jewish scripture. Philo was from Alexandria (and rough contemporary of Christ, though he didn't know of him or his disciples), at the time a central nexus of Classical learning, and this trailblazing Hellenized Jewish thinker used Greek philosophy to shed light on Jewish Theology. He didn't leave a lasting impact or impression in Jewish thought, but was influential to later Christian thinkers from the Alexandrian School, especially Origen (see below) and Clement. There is a single volume from the great Classics of Western Spirituality series, also a 10 volume set (plus two additional supplemental volumes) from the Loeb Classical Library.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo
B) Origen (184/5? - 253/4? AD), controversial but very important to early Christian thought (extending into later intellectual eras) and some of the Church Fathers. A volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, also recommended is History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen by the great French Jesuit writer Henri De Lubac (somewhat densely written, but worth the tough slogging).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
C) Eusebius (260/5 - 339/40? AD), another very important early Christian thinker, wrote The Ecclesiastical History (two volume edition in the Loeb Classical Library), Preparation For The Gospel and Proof Of The Gospel, available in PB from Baker Book House publisher's Twin Brooks series in two and one volume editions, respectively. He not only tried to show how the Bible was in accord with Greek/pagan philosophy, but also that in many ways the former ANTICIPATED the latter (this also somewhat anticipated to an extent later work by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius
D) Augustine (11/13/354 - 8/28/430 AD), classic works were The Confessions and City Of God. The former included the classic quote ("Lord, give me chastity - but not yet!" ), one of the two most important Church fathers with Thomas Aquinas. Admired Plato, incredibly his mature and advanced thought on eternity and time remains sophisticated and influential to this day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo
E) Boethius (480 - executed 524 AD), called variously the last important thinker of Antiquity and first important Medieval thinker, he was an intellectual colossus bestride two eras. He rose to the highest rank of statesmen and adviser in the post-Roman Empire under the "Barbarian" Ostrogothic King Theodoric The Great (NOT the character Theodoric of York - Medieval Barber played by Steve Martin on SNL), along with his sons, but was tragically put to death with his family for falling out of political favor and falling on the wrong side of a dispute involving potential reconciliation with the Roman Republic. While he was in prison awaiting torture/death, he wrote the classic Consolations of Philosophy. Though he didn't specifically mention Jesus in that work (just as some religious authors wouldn't NECESSARILY in all their writing depending on the context and circumstances), he is generally thought to be Christian. There is a one volume Loeb edition which also contains his important Five Theological Tractates. If he had lived, Boethius had an incredibly ambitious intellectual agenda to translate all of Plato and Aristotle's known works from Greek into Latin, and than to demonstrate that they were perfectly in accord with each other. As noted above, his translation of Porphyry's Isagoge or Introduction played an integral role in shaping the most singularly important debate in Medieval Philosophy, that of the problem of universals that raged between the Nominalist and Realist factions (expertly covered in the Unity of Philosophical Experience by Etienne Gilson).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius
F) Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th - 6th century AD?), very influential in the Middle Ages in part because of a false attribution (thus the Pseudo qualifier/moniker) as a contemporary of St. Paul, the body of work was later discovered to have been written much later, with attribution never conclusively demonstrated. John Dillon, one of the greatest contemporary scholars of Platonism and Plotinian thought, chose as his research focus/emphasis Plotinus, Philo of Alexandria and Pseudo-Dionysius. He represents one of the greatest integrations and hybrids of Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology from Antiquity. There is a volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Dionysius_the_Areopagite
G) John Scotus Eriugena (815 - 877 AD), has been called one of the greatest thinkers by 200-300 years on either side of his epoch, high praise indeed. He was an Irish monk that came to the attention of the pre-French Carolingian King for his formidable Greek scholarship (translation ability into Latin a very unusual skill set at the time in Western Europe, with the exception of Ireland), first translating a royal gift of a manuscript from the corpus of Pseudo-Dionysius, than work of Maximus The Confessor and one of the Cappadocian Fathers, Gregory of Nyssa, and finally promoted to head of the Palace School and Royal Academy. His magnum opus is titled Periphyseon or The Division of Nature, which is hard to find, but there is a good one volume abridged version with some full and partial books/chapters, edited and translated by Myra Uhlfelder (summaries by Jean Potter). He was a brilliant Neo-Platonist influential at the time, but has largely lapsed into criminally underrated and neglected obscurity in modern/contemporary times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scotus_Eriugena
H) Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 3/7/1274 AD), as noted, with Augustine, one of the two most towering Church Doctors and figures in Catholic doctrine and theology. Augustine was seemingly more partial to Plato, Thomas Aquinas to Aristotle, he was without peer as a Scholastic Philosopher and wrote voluminous Aristotelian commentaries. He is one of four thinkers with the rare distinction of two volumes in the Britannica Great Books series, with Aristotle, Shakespeare and Edward Gibbon (who wrote the monumental The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire). Probably the greatest 20th Century Thomistic, one of the greatest Medieval Philosophy scholars and historians of philosophy period was Etienne Gilson. His greatest biography is reportedly St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by prolific 20th Century British Christian writer G.K. Chesterton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
* This took a few minutes to compile, I may have a pop tart before the next installment.
What this thread isn't about: Non-Western Thought, such as the Indian Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Buddhist Dhammapada, or Chinese Confucian Analects, Tao Te Ching and I Ching, as that kind of comparative philosophy and religion would be beyond the scope of both the thread and my competence.
Though I think seminal concepts such as Plato's forms/ideas and Jung's Archetypes and Collective Consciousness (as well as Aldous Huxley's Perennial Philosophy) nicely capture the idea that humanity, in all times and places, has expressed remarkably similar ideas about the nature and structure of reality, life, consciousness, truth, etc., possibly not because of coincidence, but due to being the expression of a core, universal "tributary" that underlies our common experience.What form will it take: Mostly chronological, with linking commentaries between encyclopedic outlines and synoptic-type overviews, including bibliographies for those that want to explore either general or specific areas covered.
Who for: Anybody interested in how we COLLECTIVELY got to where we are intellectually.
OUTLINE
Preface/Intro - The semi-legendary Homer's Illiad and Odyssey appear based on philological (linguistic and textual analysis) research to date back to approx. the 8th century BC. Some exceptional translations are by Richmond Lattimore in a more traditional and Robert Fagles (outstanding scholarly introductions by Bernard Knox) in a more contemporary vein. Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days have been dated to between 750-650 BC. I find it interesting that just about 400 years after Homer, Plato may already represent the unsurpassed apex of Western philosophical thought/expression to date (arguably retrograde in some senses since). A highly recommended, thought provoking book on The Illiad and Odyssey as an excavation tool to explore the archaeology of the mind and consciousness is The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes (partial title borrowed for the finale of Westworld).
Homer (not Simpson, you knuckleheads
), works shaped/solidified around 800 BC, lived??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer
Bicameralism and Jaynes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)
Hesiod (7th - 6th century BC?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesiod
Bible (historical timeline of the component books)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible
1) Pre-Socratics (it is important to remember that all that has survived from this period is in the form of fragments, with in some cases uncertain provenance and attribution - Plato and Plotinus are the only philosophers from antiquity for which we have everything or nearly so). Some classic/standard texts are Ancilla To The Pre-Socratic Philosophers by Kathleen Freeman and The PreSocratic Philosophers by G.S. Kirk and J.E. Raven (second edition, there is a greatly revised third edition for which opinion is divided on). More recent collections are Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes, The First Philosophers by Robin Waterfield and the just published nine volume Early Greek Philosophy by Andre Laks and Glenn Most (the only series in the over century old history of the prestigious Loeb Classical Library to be released simultaneously), the first significant new presentation of this material reflecting the latest scholarship and research since the last revision of Kirk and Raven over a half century ago. In addition to the library, many of these titles above/below can be found inexpensively new/used, and in some instances are downloadable or even archived online.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Socratic_philosophy
Including (but not restricted to)
A) Pythagoras 570? - 495? BC (massively influential on the history of arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, Plato, later Neo-Pythagoreans and the history of ancient philosophy and western thought). Probably the first scientist in the modern sense, predating Galileo by over a millennium.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras
B) Heraclitus or Ephesian School 535? - 475? BC (champion of flux as the hallmark and signature trait of reality, couched his thoughts in paradoxical, zen koan-like riddles, coining famous phrases such as "No man ever steps into the same river twice" [[or maybe even once!]], encapsulating his concept of the unity of opposites with "The path up and down are one and the same")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus
C) Parmenides or Eleatic School 515? - ? BC (believed the opposite of Heraclitus, that all change was an illusion of man's sensory apparatus, that unity was the true underlying nature of reality). Zeno of Paradox fame was his greatest disciple, and actually surpassed his master in terms of fame surviving into posterity. Parmenides was extremely important for making what may have been the most fundamental breakthrough of his era into the realm of abstract metaphysics, and had a profound influence on Plato.
D) Other Hellenistic Schools such as Empedocles and the Pluralists, Leucippus/Democritus and the Atomists, and the Sophists. It can be a misnomer to refer to some of these schools as "Pre-Socratics", as in some cases they were contemporary to or even lived after Socrates (not covered here are the Stoics, another famous philosophical school from antiquity originating in Greece, straddling post-Aristotle in around 300 BC to and beyond it's greatest and most enduring expositor in the second century AD, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who famously wrote the Meditations). Unconventional, iconoclastic modern philosopher/thinker Peter Kingsley wrote Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition (and along similar lines, In The Dark Places Of Wisdom and Reality). John Dillon wrote The Greek Sophists which is a Penguin Classics companion to Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes noted above. The First Philosophers by Robin Waterfield combines the Pre-Socratic and Sophist material into one volume (the recent Barnes and Waterfield works incorporate some of the latest scholarship and research based on relatively newly discovered papyrus finds). See also Hellenistic Philosophy - Introductory Readings by Inwood/Gerson and Hellenistic Philosophy - Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics by A.A. Long. A few extremely rare Histories of Philosophy FROM antiquity can be found in the Loeb Classical Library, Diogenes Laertius: Lives Of Eminent Philosophers in two volumes, as well as Philostratus: Lives of the Sophists with Eunapius: Lives of the Philosophers in one volume (there is also a Loeb two volume work by Philostratus - The Life of Apollonius of Tyana on the legendary, mythical religious figure translated by Conybeare, recently re-translated in three volumes by Christopher Jones).
E) Greek Mathematicians and Historians. Some of the most famous among the former are Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy (THAT one, from the history of astronomy fame) and Applolonius. There is an excellent two volume Greek Mathematical Works by Ivor Thomas from the Loeb Classical Library which isn't complete but very representative, and the more complete Dover reprint of the classic A History Of Greek Mathematics in two volumes, From Thales to Euclid and From Aristarchus to Diophantus by the preeminent historian of this field, Sir Thomas Heath. Of the latter, Herodotus (born nearly a decade and a half before Socrates, died in 425 about 60 years of age approx. when Plato was born) basically invented the genre with his Histories based on the Persian War, Robin Waterfield has a recent translation with a substantive introduction. Thucydides was a rough contemporary of Socrates and Plato (younger than the former, older than the latter), and his History of the Peloponnesian War documenting the decisive 5th century BC war between Athens and Sparta comes in a handy Penguin Classics edition, translated and with intro by M.I. Finley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides
2) SOCRATES 470/469? - 399 BC / PLATO 428/423? - 348/347? BC (arguably the pinnacle of Western thought/expression, 20th Century British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, only slightly exaggerating, was quoted "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."). Almost all of what we know of Plato's teacher Socrates is through the Dialogues. Plato was also Aristotle's teacher for several decades, giving him an absolutely central position in Ancient Philosophy and The Western Intellectual Tradition. He was a sort of culminating point integrating what had come before, as well as a branching off point for much that was to follow. His thinking, system and conceptual architecture may not have been monolithic, but evolved over time, and there is an extensive body of writing devoted to this subject. There are several excellent versions of his Collected Dialogues, including ones edited by Edith Hamilton/Huntington Cairns from Princeton's Bollingen Series and that by the arguably preferred John Cooper (sequenced in the "canonical" order of Thrasyllus). Both come with brief, helpful introductions, fitting for such a critically important and universal thinker. There are also many outstanding commentaries on individual dialogues (a whole, entire sub-field all by itself), with those on the Parmenides and Timaeus by the Neoplatonist Proclus being among the best, as well as modern ones by leading scholars in the first half of the 20th Century, such as J.J. Burnett, A.E. Taylor, F.M. Cornford, R. Hackforth and E.R. Dodds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
3) Aristotle 384 - 322 BC (Plato's greatest student by far, philosopher and scientist with staggering, encyclopedic range, codified logic, tutored Alexander The Great, with Plato had a massive influence on Medieval thought, especially the Scholastics and among Islamic thinkers). Plato was more of an idealist, Aristotle an empiricist. They are the two greatest Western philosophers from antiquity (probably safe to drop the "from antiquity" qualifier, period), justly, deservedly occupying the central place in the painting School of Athens by Raphael. Classic/standard texts include the one volume, abridged Basic Works of Aristotle by Richard McKeon and more complete two volumes from the Britannica Great Books Series (volumes 8 & 9). The one volume McKeon version comes with the more substantial intro. Possibly his greatest and most important commentator in antiquity was Simplicius, one of the last Neo-Platonists with Damascius (last head of the School of Athens before official closure by decree of the Roman Emperor). Thomas Aquinas was the greatest in the Middle Ages, and his most famous disciple or intellectual heir. British philosopher W.D. Ross was the greatest Aristotelian scholar of the first half of the 20th Century, both editing the monumental (Complete) Works Of Aristotle Translated Into English, in 12 volumes without commentary, as well as writing the preeminent one volume basic intro, titled Aristotle. A more recent undertaking was a Herculean job translating/editing over a hundred volumes of Aristotelian commentators (many appearing in English for the first time) by Richard Sorabji, partially distilled into three volumes - Vol. 1 Psychology (with Ethics and Religion), Vol. 2 Physics and Vol. 3 Logic and Metaphysics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
4) Plotinus 204/5? - 270 AD (this survey skips over the arcane, marginalia intellectual period/demarcation designated as Middle Platonism, to the most powerful thinker in antiquity in over a half millennia after the death of Aristotle). Plotinus was sufficiently different from his Platonist philosophical predecessors to receive the distinction by later historians of founder of a "new" school, Neo-Platonism, though he (and his philosophical successors) merely thought of himself/themselves as a continuation of the Platonist lineage. He had much in common with Pythagoras (known as a mystic, abstained from eating meat and practiced other asceticisms), and like Plato, as noted above, is the only other philosopher from which his extant corpus (surviving intellectual body of work and writings) is thought to have made the passage through the ages and history largely intact and in a relatively complete state - their dual preservation may not be unrelated, and could speak to their importance and how much they were revered by contemporary and later philosophers and intellectual historians. A belief thought to be commonly held by Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists that followed is that Plato and Aristotle could be reconciled, and apparent differences may have been chalked up merely to differences in emphasis. Later curricula (circa Iamblichus?) referred to Aristotle's teachings as the "lower mysteries" which were a preliminary for a period of several years leading up to graduating to intensive study of Plato and the "higher mysteries" for several more years. He also wrote a scathing, withering indictment against Gnosticism.
The best modern/contemporary translations/commentaries on his Enneads are by 19th century Irish linguist/writer Stephen MacKenna (prone to sacrificing accuracy and rigor for sweeping mythic/poetic feeling) for which there is a good single volume reprint by Larson Publications, a Penguin Classics abridgement of the same translation by the great contemporary Platonic/Neo-Platonist scholar John Dillon, and probably the best translation in the English language by one of the greatest Plotinian scholars of the 20th Century (based on the reference critical edition benchmark in French by Henry and Schwyzer published in three volumes from 1951-1973) is the epic seven volume Plotinus in the Loeb Classical Library by A.H. Armstrong, published from 1966-1988. BTW, the Loeb volumes (Greek classics in characteristic green covers, Latin in red) have original Greek (or Latin) text on the left page, English on the right, the main reason to get the Early Greek Philosophy series noted above or the Plotinus sets is because the former represents the first significant presentation of the latest scholarship and research in over a half century, and the latter is said to be the best (i.e. - most accurate) translation that exists in the English language. All these modern editions contain his disciple Porphyry's biography, The Life of Plotinus, one of the most important we have of any philosopher to survive from antiquity. The least expensive Penguin Classics abridgement of the MacKenna translation has easily the best introductions, by Dillon and Henry (latter the French scholar who co-translated the definitive critical edition of the Enneads by Plotinus which informed Armstrong's peerless English translation). Other recommended secondary and commentary type titles include The Heart of Plotinus by Aldis Uzdavinys, Plotinus and the Simplicity of Vision by Pierre Hadot and Plotinus: An Introduction To The Enneads by Dominic O'Meara.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus
5) Other Neo-Platonists (that followed Plotinus)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism
A) Porphyry 234 - 305 AD (chief disciple was in some ways to Plotinus as Plato was to Socrates, i.e. - it is through his efforts that his master's thoughts and writing survive, though the relationship is inverted in that Plato superseded Socrates historically because of his original thought and writing, whereas Plotinus towers above all other Neo-Platonists, with Porphyry's intellectual role more subservient as a "mere" archivist/editor). Though notably his Isagoge or Introduction served as a primer on Aristotle's logic for over a millenium, and as translated by Boethius, was instrumental and played an integral role in shaping the debate on the nature and meaning of "universals" in language during the Middle Ages. His Letter To Anebo prompted/provoked Iamblichus to write On The Mysteries in response to and in defense of Egyptian religious rituals and mystery traditions. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED is the title Introduction translated and featuring extensive commentary by Jonathan Barnes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry_(philosopher)
B) Iamblichus 245 - 325 AD (as noted above, he defended the mystery traditions of ancient cultures such as Egypt, Babylon, Persia, sometimes referred to as Theurgy). Some of the seminal and towering Greek intellects thought of philosophy as a way to lead the mind to contemplate higher planes, such as through the sacred numbers and musical intervals of Pythagoras, the eternal forms and ideas of Plato, and the One/Good, Intellect and Soul of Plotinus. Iamblichus and later Proclus placed greater relative importance on the different tools of theurgy and ritual to these same ends. He (and Proclus) are also extremely important in that to some extent, what we know of the Platonic and Plotinian tradition/s passed THROUGH them into the Medieval period, and the form that made its eventual way into modern times. There is a contemporary edition of On The Mysteries co-translated by Emma Clark and John Dillon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iamblichus
C) Proclus 412 - 485 AD (see above). By consensus the last great Neo-Platonist philosopher. As noted above in the section on Plato, his commentaries on The Parmenides and Timaeus are the best from antiquity (and arguably period). He also did a great commentary on the most important work by the greatest mathematician from antiquity, Euclid's Elements. Along with Iamblichus, reportedly placed a value on the Chaldean Oracles as nearly equal to Plato. One of the greatest and most seminal works of Neo-Platonist scholarship in the 20th century is the translation/commentary on The Elements of Theology by E.R. Dodds, which is a systematically deduced presentation of his system and philosophy that (at least formally and structurally) anticipated the likes of Spinoza and Wittgenstein. Dodds incidentally also did brilliant translations/commentaries for Clarendon Press on The Gorgias by Plato and The Bacchae by the dramatist Euripedes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclus
The above time frame is bookended by the 6th century BC Pre-Socratics to the closing of a revived Platonic Academy by Justinian I in 529 AD, so a bit over a millennium. Some of the best History of Philosophy type surveys from the Pre-Socratics through Plato and Aristotle are by George Grote (the multi-volume Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates took nearly a decade to finish in 1865, he died in 1871 before completing a planned work on Aristotle), Eduard Zeller (eight volume Philosophy of the Greeks translated from 1868 - 1897), Theodor Gomperz (Greek Thinkers: A History of Ancient Philosophy in three volumes - 1896, 1902 & 1909) and W.K.C. Guthrie (the magisterial A History of Greek Philosophy in six volumes - 1962, 1965, 1971, 1975, 1978 & 1981). Some classic/standard and more modern/contemporary smaller treatments include Early Greek Philosophy AND Greek Philosophy: From Thales To Plato by J.J. Burnett, A Critical History Of Greek Philosophy by W.T. Stace, Pythagoras Revised by Dominic O'Meara, Plato: The Man And His Work by A.E. Taylor, Plato's Theory of Ideas by W.D. Ross, Plato And Platonism: An Introduction AND Plato: The Written And Unwritten Doctrines by J.N. Findlay, Plato's Philosophers - The Coherence Of The Dialogues by Catherine Zuckert, as well as From Plato To Platonism, Aristotle And Other Platonists AND Plotinus by Lloyd Gerson.
Additional highly recommended works by outstanding classicists are the three volume Padeia: The Ideals of Greek Culture by Werner Jaeger and three volumes by Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way, Echoes Of Greece and The Roman Way (which also includes chapters on somewhat important thinkers not covered here, such as the Middle Platonist Plutarch, who wrote Moralia and was also one of the greatest practitioners of the art of biography in antiquity in The Parallel Lives, as well as the Roman Cicero, said to be one of the two greatest orators ever, along with the Greek Demosthenes). Gregory Vlastos is one of the greatest Socratic/Platonist scholars of the 20th Century, and has many titles. There are also scholarly compilations in the Cambridge Companion series on Plato, Aristotle (edited by Jonathan Barnes) and Plotinus (edited by Lloyd Gerson), Neo-Platonism by R.T. Wallis, as well as explorations of the interpenetration and cross-fertilization of Neo-Platonism with Christianity and Gnosticism, edited by O'Meara and Wallis, respectively.
6) Some Non-Christian religious influences (more to follow)
A) Orphism (poetry dates back at least to the 5th - 6th century BC?), a great history is Orpheus and Greek Religion by W.K.C. Guthrie, also partly covered in his The Greeks and Their Gods. Coverage of this era (and later) can also be found in two titles by E.R. Dodds, The Greeks And The Irrational AND Pagan & Christian in an Age of Anxiety.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphism_(religion)
B) Gnosticism (1st - 2nd century AD?), see the recent survey/overview by Stephan Hoeller of the Los Angeles Gnostic Society, Gnosticism - New Light On The Ancient Tradition Of Inner Knowing, as well as related chapters (also on Pythagorean Philosophy, Mathematics and Music) in Manly P. Hall's The Secret Teaching Of All Ages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism
C) Chaldean Oracles (traced back to fragmentary texts from the second century AD?), recent translation/commentary by Ruth Majercik published by Prometheus Trust.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Oracles
D) Hermeticism (attributed to Hermes Trismegistus - "Thrice Great", literature emerges 3rd - 7th century AD?), recent title Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction by Brian Copenhaver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism
7) Influence on Jewish/Christian thinkers (more to follow)
A) Philo (25 BC - 50 AD), a pioneer in basically using Greek philosophy in his exegesis (critical explanation or interpretation of a text) of Jewish scripture. Philo was from Alexandria (and rough contemporary of Christ, though he didn't know of him or his disciples), at the time a central nexus of Classical learning, and this trailblazing Hellenized Jewish thinker used Greek philosophy to shed light on Jewish Theology. He didn't leave a lasting impact or impression in Jewish thought, but was influential to later Christian thinkers from the Alexandrian School, especially Origen (see below) and Clement. There is a single volume from the great Classics of Western Spirituality series, also a 10 volume set (plus two additional supplemental volumes) from the Loeb Classical Library.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo
B) Origen (184/5? - 253/4? AD), controversial but very important to early Christian thought (extending into later intellectual eras) and some of the Church Fathers. A volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, also recommended is History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen by the great French Jesuit writer Henri De Lubac (somewhat densely written, but worth the tough slogging).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
C) Eusebius (260/5 - 339/40? AD), another very important early Christian thinker, wrote The Ecclesiastical History (two volume edition in the Loeb Classical Library), Preparation For The Gospel and Proof Of The Gospel, available in PB from Baker Book House publisher's Twin Brooks series in two and one volume editions, respectively. He not only tried to show how the Bible was in accord with Greek/pagan philosophy, but also that in many ways the former ANTICIPATED the latter (this also somewhat anticipated to an extent later work by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius
D) Augustine (11/13/354 - 8/28/430 AD), classic works were The Confessions and City Of God. The former included the classic quote ("Lord, give me chastity - but not yet!"
), one of the two most important Church fathers with Thomas Aquinas. Admired Plato, incredibly his mature and advanced thought on eternity and time remains sophisticated and influential to this day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo
E) Boethius (480 - executed 524 AD), called variously the last important thinker of Antiquity and first important Medieval thinker, he was an intellectual colossus bestride two eras. He rose to the highest rank of statesmen and adviser in the post-Roman Empire under the "Barbarian" Ostrogothic King Theodoric The Great (NOT the character Theodoric of York - Medieval Barber played by Steve Martin on SNL), along with his sons, but was tragically put to death with his family for falling out of political favor and falling on the wrong side of a dispute involving potential reconciliation with the Roman Republic. While he was in prison awaiting torture/death, he wrote the classic Consolations of Philosophy. Though he didn't specifically mention Jesus in that work (just as some religious authors wouldn't NECESSARILY in all their writing depending on the context and circumstances), he is generally thought to be Christian. There is a one volume Loeb edition which also contains his important Five Theological Tractates. If he had lived, Boethius had an incredibly ambitious intellectual agenda to translate all of Plato and Aristotle's known works from Greek into Latin, and than to demonstrate that they were perfectly in accord with each other. As noted above, his translation of Porphyry's Isagoge or Introduction played an integral role in shaping the most singularly important debate in Medieval Philosophy, that of the problem of universals that raged between the Nominalist and Realist factions (expertly covered in the Unity of Philosophical Experience by Etienne Gilson).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius
F) Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th - 6th century AD?), very influential in the Middle Ages in part because of a false attribution (thus the Pseudo qualifier/moniker) as a contemporary of St. Paul, the body of work was later discovered to have been written much later, with attribution never conclusively demonstrated. John Dillon, one of the greatest contemporary scholars of Platonism and Plotinian thought, chose as his research focus/emphasis Plotinus, Philo of Alexandria and Pseudo-Dionysius. He represents one of the greatest integrations and hybrids of Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology from Antiquity. There is a volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Dionysius_the_Areopagite
G) John Scotus Eriugena (815 - 877 AD), has been called one of the greatest thinkers by 200-300 years on either side of his epoch, high praise indeed. He was an Irish monk that came to the attention of the pre-French Carolingian King for his formidable Greek scholarship (translation ability into Latin a very unusual skill set at the time in Western Europe, with the exception of Ireland), first translating a royal gift of a manuscript from the corpus of Pseudo-Dionysius, than work of Maximus The Confessor and one of the Cappadocian Fathers, Gregory of Nyssa, and finally promoted to head of the Palace School and Royal Academy. His magnum opus is titled Periphyseon or The Division of Nature, which is hard to find, but there is a good one volume abridged version with some full and partial books/chapters, edited and translated by Myra Uhlfelder (summaries by Jean Potter). He was a brilliant Neo-Platonist influential at the time, but has largely lapsed into criminally underrated and neglected obscurity in modern/contemporary times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scotus_Eriugena
H) Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 3/7/1274 AD), as noted, with Augustine, one of the two most towering Church Doctors and figures in Catholic doctrine and theology. Augustine was seemingly more partial to Plato, Thomas Aquinas to Aristotle, he was without peer as a Scholastic Philosopher and wrote voluminous Aristotelian commentaries. He is one of four thinkers with the rare distinction of two volumes in the Britannica Great Books series, with Aristotle, Shakespeare and Edward Gibbon (who wrote the monumental The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire). Probably the greatest 20th Century Thomistic, one of the greatest Medieval Philosophy scholars and historians of philosophy period was Etienne Gilson. His greatest biography is reportedly St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by prolific 20th Century British Christian writer G.K. Chesterton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
* This took a few minutes to compile, I may have a pop tart before the next installment.
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