Document Type
Contribution to Book
Publication Date
2023
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Source Publication
Contextualizing Premodern Philosophy
Source ISSN
9781003309895
Original Item ID
DOI: 10.4324/9781003309895-4
Abstract
This chapter examines Philoponus’ stance in regard to positing Platonic forms. He rejects separately existing universals. But Philoponus never decisively rejects Platonic forms, as understood in as logoi in the mind of God, identified with the Platonic Demiurge. So understood, these forms are particulars that are such as can cause a multiplicity of particulars to exist. He attributes such causal principles to Aristotle, and to Plato as interpreted by Aristotle, without correction. He does however take issue with Forms subsisting prior to the demiurgic intellect, and accordingly follows his teacher Ammonius in rejecting the Proclean interpretation of Plato’s metaphysics. In earlier commentaries, he echoes Ammonius in his assertion that those who attribute to Plato the existence of pre-demiurgic principles err in the interpretation of Plato. In later works, he signals that they got Plato right.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Goldin, Owen, "Philoponus and Forms" (2023). Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications. 890.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/phil_fac/890
Comments
Published version. Contextualizing Premodern Philosophy (2023): 56-74. DOI.