Byzantine philosophy
refers to the distinctive philosophical ideas of the philosophers and scholars of the
Byzantine Empire
, especially between the 8th and 15th centuries. It was characterised by a
Christian
world-view, closely linked to
Eastern Orthodox theology
, but drawing ideas directly from the Greek texts of
Plato
,
Aristotle
, and the
Neoplatonists
.
History
[
edit
]
Greek science and literature remained alive in the Byzantine world, and Byzantine philosophy drew heavily on
Plato
,
Aristotle
, and the
Neoplatonists
, even if it was now
Christian
in tone. In the 7th century,
John of Damascus
produced a three-part encyclopedia containing in its third part a systematic exposition of Christian
theology
.
[1]
In the 9th century
Photios
, the
Patriarch of Constantinople
, collected many works by ancient writers, and studied
Aristotelian logic
, and his pupil
Arethas
commentated on works by Plato and Aristotle.
[2]
By the 11th and 12th centuries there was a growing interest in the teaching of philosophy, and figures such as
Michael Psellos
,
Eustratius of Nicaea
, and
Michael of Ephesus
wrote commentaries on Aristotle.
[2]
In the 13th and 14th centuries we have important philosophers such as
Nicephorus Blemmydes
and
Theodore Metochites
. An important figure was
Gregory Palamas
who defended the mystical movement known as
Hesychasm
, which involved the use of the
noetic
Jesus prayer
to achieve a vision of the
uncreated Light
also called the Illumination or
Vision of God
.
[1]
It was the Hesychast movement that caused a rift in the Christian East which led many philosophically minded individuals to go West. This migration played a critical role in the manifestation of the
Renaissance
in the West. Especially the role
Barlaam of Calabria
, who opposed Hesychasm, played in the formation of Roman Catholic theology in the West. The last great philosopher of Byzantium was
Gemistus Pletho
who felt that a restored Platonism could reverse the decline of the Empire. He was an important figure in the transmission of ancient philosophy to the West.
[1]
University of Constantinople
[
edit
]
Byzantine society was well educated by the standards of its time, with high levels of literacy compared to the rest of the world. Significantly it possessed a secular education system that was a continuation of the academies of classical antiquity. Primary education was widely available, even at the village level. Uniquely in that society education was available for both sexes. It was in this context that the secular
University of Constantinople
can be understood. Further still secular education was common, to a degree, in the empire. As for many centuries, before the Muslim conquest, similar institutions operated in such major
provincial capitals
as Antioch and Alexandria.
[3]
The original school was founded in 425 by Emperor
Theodosius II
with 31 chairs for
Law
,
Philosophy
,
Medicine
,
Arithmetic
,
Geometry
,
Astronomy
,
Music
,
Rhetoric
and other subjects, 15 to
Latin
and 16 to
Greek
. The university existed until the 15th century.
[4]
The main content of higher education for most students was rhetoric, philosophy and law. With the aim of producing competent, and learned personnel to staff the bureaucratic postings of state and church. In this sense the university was the secular equivalent of the Theological Schools. The university maintained an active philosophical tradition based on
Platonism
and
Aristotelianism
, with the former being the longest unbroken Platonic school, running for close to two millennia until the 15th century.
The School of Magnaura was founded in the 9th century and in the 11th new schools of philosophy and law were established at the Capitol School. The period of decline begun with the
Latin conquest
of 1204 although the university survived as a non-secular institution under Church management until the
Fall of Constantinople
.
Issues and ideas
[
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]
The principal characteristics of Byzantine philosophy are:
[2]
- The personal
hypostases
of God as the principle not only of substance but also of being (
Ontology
,
Metaphysics
). Person as ontological rather than substance or essence.
- The creation of the world by God and the limited timescale of the universe
- The continuous process of creation and the purpose behind it
- The perceptible world as the realization in time of that which is perceptible to the mind, having its eternal hypostasis in the divine intellect (
nous
)
The world and humanity are subject to
divine providence
, but the Byzantine philosophers asserted the need for
free will
and
self-determination
. The
soul
as immortal is uncreated in its energies but created in itself. Soul is body plus spirit, and directly connects with the intellect to enable the achievement of happiness by means of the freedom of decision. The relationship between God and human beings is based on
love
, which explains the central place of humans in creation.
[2]
Neoplatonism
[
edit
]
The relationship between the mystic, religious understanding of God and a philosophical one has various stages of development in the history of the Roman East. The
nous
as mind in Byzantine philosophy is given the central role of understanding only when it is placed or reconciled with the heart or soul of the person. The soul being the whole unit of man the mind as rational and
noetic
being an integral part of man's soul. Earlier versions of Christian and Greek philosophical
syncretism
are in modern times referred to as Neoplatonic. An example of this can be seen in the works of
Origen
and his teaching on the nous as to Origen, all souls pre-existed with their Creator in a perfect, spiritual (non-material) state as "minds" or nous, but later fell away in order to pursue an existence independent of God. Since all souls were created absolutely free, God could not simply force them to return to Him (this was, according to Origen, due to God's boundless love and respect for His creatures). Instead, God created the material cosmos, and initiated history, for the purpose of guiding the wayward souls back to contemplation of His infinite mind, which is, according to Origen, the perfect state.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Ninian Smart,
World Philosophies
, pages 151-2. Routledge
- ^
a
b
c
d
Phil Linos Benakis, "Byzantine philosophy" entry in the
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(1998)
- ^
Europe: A Cultural History, by Peter Rietbergen 1998, p.101
- ^
Myriobiblos
- ^
Apokatastasis - In pre-Christian Stoic and Middle Platonic philosophy, this term referred to the universal restoration of the cosmos to the state in which it was first constituted by the divine mind or first principle. The great Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria used this term to denote the final restoration of all souls to God. According to Origen, all souls pre-existed with their Creator in a perfect, spiritual (non-material) state as "minds," but later fell away in order to pursue an existence independent of God. Since all souls were created absolutely free, God could not simply force them to return to Him (this was, according to Origen, due to God's boundless love and respect for His creatures). Instead, God created the material cosmos, and initiated history, for the purpose of guiding the wayward souls back to contemplation of His infinite mind, which is, according to Origen, the perfect state. This obviously excludes any concept of eternal damnation or hell.
"Theology Glossary - Theandros - an Online Journal of Orthodox Christian Theology and Philosophy"
. Archived from
the original
on 2006-06-20
. Retrieved
2009-03-13
.
References
[
edit
]
- Tatakis, B., 1949,
La philosophie Byzantine
, Paris. Modern Greek translation with bibliography for 1949?76 by L. Benakis, Athens 1977. English translation by N. J. Moutafakis, Indianapolis & Cambridge 2003.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Linos Benakis
,
Texts and Studies on Byzantine Philosophy
, Parousia, Athenai, 2002.
- Linos Benakis,
Byzantine Philosophy B
, Parousia, Athenai, 2013.
- Linos Benakis,
Byzantine Philosophy - An Introductory Approach,
Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP), Saarbrucken 2017, 104 pp.
ISBN
978-3-330-03021-3
.
- Alberto del Campo Echevarria,
La teoria platonica de las Ideas en Bizancio (ss. V-XI)
, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, 2010.
- Katerina Ierodiakonou (ed.).
Byzantine Philosophy and Its Ancient Sources
. Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Frederick Lauritzen]], Sarah Wear (eds.),
Byzantine Platonists (284-1453)
, Franciscan University Press, Steubenville Ohio, 2021.
ISBN
9781736656105
.
- B. N. Tatakis,
La philosophie Byzantine
, Paris, 1949. English translation:
Byzantine Philosophy
by Nicholas Moutafakis, Hackett Publishing, 2003.
- Michele Trizio,
Byzantine Philosophy as a Contemporary Historiographical Project
, Recherches de Theologie et Philosophie Medievales, 74, 247?294, 2007.
- Denis Walter:
Michael Psellos
?
Christliche Philosophie in Byzanz
,
Mittelalterliche Philosophie im Verhaltnis zu Antike und Spatantike
. De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2017,
ISBN
978-3-11-052597-7
.
- Jan Zozulak
,
Inquiries into Byzantine Philosophy
, Peter Lang, Berlin 2018,
ISBN
978-3-631-76600-2
.
doi
:
10.3726/b14585
.
External links
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