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Olympiodorus (2), of Gaza, pupil of Carneades  

Gisela Striker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Olympiodorus (2) of Gaza, pupil of the Academic sceptic *Carneades (who lived 214–129 bce).

Article

Onasander  

Brian Campbell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Onasander, traditionally a Platonic philosopher, wrote a treatise on generalship, addressed to Quintus Veranius (consul 49 ce, governor of *Britain 57–8). He emphasized the importance of strong character and moral uprightness in a commander, while offering sound advice on military psychology, troop deployment, and the use of stratagems. Onasander claimed a practical purpose: ‘I may say confidently that my work will be a training school for good generals’ (Prologue, 4).

Article

Onesicritus, of Astypalaea  

Albert Brian Bosworth

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Onesicritus of Astypalaea, pupil of *Diogenes(2) and head steersman of *Alexander(3) the Great. On the ocean voyage of 325/4 he acted as lieutenant to *Nearchus, who gave a sharp account of their disagreement. Onesicritus later wrote an encomiastic account of Alexander (which had a reputation for fiction), purportedly modelled on *Xenophon(1)'s Cyropaedia. The extant citations focus upon *India, particularly the philosophy of the Brahmans and the kingdom of Musicanus which he depicted as an egalitarian utopia. But he was the first author to give details of Ceylon (see taprobane), and his description of the southern ocean overlapped and perhaps inspired that of Nearchus.

Article

Origen (2), Platonist philosopher, 3rd cent. CE  

Anne Sheppard

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Late Antiquity
  2. Philosophy
Origen (2), Platonist philosopher (see neoplatonism), 3rd cent. ce. Like his Christian namesake and contemporary, he is said to have studied under *Ammonius (2) Saccas, but it is generally agreed that the two Origens were different people. The pagan wrote only two works, both now lost, On the Demons and That the King Is the Only Creator (Porph.

Article

Panaetius, c. 185–109 BCE  

Brad Inwood

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Panaetius (c. 185–109 bce), son of Nicagoras; a Stoic philosopher (see stoicism) from *Rhodes. At some point he was made a priest of *Poseidon Hippios at *Lindus. From a noble family, he studied with *Crates (3) of Mallus at *Pergamum and with the leaders of the Stoic school at Athens, *Diogenes (3) of Babylon and his successor *Antipater (2) of Tarsus. He moved to Rome in the 140s and became, like *Polybius (1), part of the entourage of P. *Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. He accompanied Scipio on a major journey in the eastern Mediterranean (140/139). It is said that he lived alternately in Rome and Athens. In 129 he succeeded Antipater as head of the school. He died in Athens in 109.Panaetius seems to have been more open to the views of *Plato (1) and *Aristotle than were many Stoics, and to have questioned the earlier belief in a periodic world-conflagration.

Article

Parmenides of Elea, Presocratic philosopher, c. 515–post-450 BCE  

John Palmer

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Parmenides of Elea is one of the most profound and challenging of the early Greek philosophers. He wrote a didactic poem treating metaphysical and cosmological themes presented in the form of a mystical revelation. It comprised a proem describing his journey to the Halls of Night, where a goddess greets him and presents this revelation in two main parts, which have come to be known as the Way of Truth and the Way of Opinion. The Way of Truth presents a tightly structured sequence of arguments that What Is must be “ungenerated and deathless, | whole and uniform, and still and perfect” (28B8.3–4 DK). The Way of Opinion comprised a cosmology based on the elemental principles Light and Night that contained numerous innovations, including identification of the sun as the source of the moon’s light. Parmenides’ thought inspired diverse reactions and appropriations in antiquity, and both its details and ultimate significance have continued to be intensely controversial. Modern interpretations divide into three main types: those that view Parmenides as a strict monist who denied the existence of the sensible world, those that view him as providing a higher-order characterization of the principles of any acceptable cosmology, and those that understand him as pursuing the distinctions between necessary being, necessary non-being or impossibility, and mutable or contingent being.

Article

Peregrinus  

Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Peregrinus (later called Proteus), from a wealthy family in the Roman colony of *Parium. A *Cynic philosopher, he is the subject of a satirical essay by *Lucian‘On the death of Peregrinus’, unfortunately preserving most of what is known about him, including dubious allegations of parricide and pederasty. Visiting Palestine, he became a Christian convert (see conversion). Returning to Parium, he gave away his property to his fellow-citizens; apostasy led to a period of study in Egypt under the Cynic Agathobulus. According to Lucian a visit to Rome ended with banishment for verbal abuse of the emperor (*Antoninus Pius). Based in *Achaia, he made speeches at *Olympia exhorting a Greek revolt and attacking the ex-consul Ti. *Claudius Atticus Herodes (2), a local benefactor. He achieved posthumous fame by self-immolation at the *Olympian Games of ce 165. Although Lucian paints him as a mad charlatan, Aulus *Gellius thought him a man of ‘dignity and fortitude’ (NA 12.

Article

Peripatetic school  

David John Furley

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
The name belongs to a series of philosophers of whom *Aristotle was the first and by far the most significant. Geographically the school was located in a sanctuary dedicated to *Apollo, called the Lyceum, a public space outside the city wall of Athens but within easy walking distance (the *Academy was another such place). A *gymnasium was built there; by the end of the 5th cent. bce it was a favourite gathering place for young Athenian men. Visiting *sophists lectured there, *Socrates met his young conversational partners there. As in other similar places, there were ‘walks’ (peripatoi). The name ‘Peripatos’ stuck to the school begun there by Aristotle, formerly a member of the Academy, when he returned to Athens in 336.The school was originally, perhaps always, a collection of people rather than a building: Aristotle, a non-Athenian with the status of *metic, could not own property.

Article

Persaeus, of Citium, c. 306–c. 243 BCE  

Julia Annas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Persaeus of Citiu (c. 306–c. 243 bce), Stoic (see stoicism), brought up by *Zeno (2), whose pupil he became. In 277, when Zeno declined the invitation of *Antigonus (2) Gonatas to come to his court at *Pella, Persaeus was sent instead. He educated Antigonus' son Halcyoneus and acquired great political influence. He wrote works on *kingship, the Spartan constitution, on applied topics such as marriage, criticisms of *Plato (1)'s Laws, and dialogues on symposia (see symposium).

Article

Phaedon, of Elis, 5th–4th cent. BCE  

Christopher Rowe

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Phaedon of *Elis (5th–4th cent. bce), narrator of *Plato (1)'s Phaedo, was evidently a young member of *Socrates' circle, who originally came to Athens as a prisoner of war (see Méthexis 2, 1989, 1–18). His reported foundation of a ‘school of Elis’ suggests a notable philosophical career based there. He probably wrote two Socratic dialogues (Zopyrus, cf.

Article

Phaedrus (1), son of Pythocles of Myrrhinous, 5th cent. BCE  

A. W. Price and Catherine Osborne

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Son of Pythocles of Myrrhinous, (b. c.450 bce), appears twice in the list of those whose property was confiscated in connection with the mutilation of the herms and profanation of the mysteries. It appears that he was condemned for both offences. He appears as an associate of *Socrates, in *Plato (1)'s Prt.

Article

Phaedrus (3), Epicurean philosopher, c. 140–70 BCE  

William David Ross and Dirk Obbink

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Epicurean philosopher (see epicurus), perhaps an Athenian by birth, was in Rome, where *Cicero heard him lecture, before 88. He was head of the Epicurean school in Rome for a short time. He appears in Cicero as one of the most respected Epicureans of the time: Cicero thought him of decent character and an excellent stylist (Nat. D. 1. 93 Phaedro nihil elegantius nihil humanius). Cicero when he was writing On the Nature of the Gods 1 asked his friend T. *Pomponius Atticus (Att. 13. 39. 2) to send him Phaedrus' work Περὶ θεῶν, ‘about the gods’ (according to a convincing emendation). He is also attested in dedications at *Eleusis. While still living, he was succeeded by Patro as head of the school.

Article

Phaenias, of Eresus, fl. 320 BCE  

Godfrey Louis Barber and Simon Hornblower

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Phaenias of *Eresu (fl. 320 BCE), a pupil of *Aristotle who inherited the *Peripatetic interest in literary and historical research. Amongst various writings may be noted Τυράννων ἀναίρεσις ἐκ τιμωρίας (‘On the slaying of tyrants for motives of revenge’), an expansion of Aristotle, Pol. 1311a25, marked by moral judgements characteristic of the period, and Περὶ τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ τυράννων (‘On the tyrants in Sicily’). References in *Plutarch's ‘Lives’ of Solon and Themistocles suggest that Phaenias was a valuable addition to Plutarch's sources.

Article

Philodemus, c. 110–c. 35 BCE  

David Blank

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Philodemus (c. 110 Gadara, Syria–c. 35 bce Naples?) was an Epicurean philosopher. Philodemus eventually settled in Italy, where he was mentioned by Cicero as a companion of the Roman politician L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a composer of elegant verse and a good explainer of Epicurean doctrine, along with Siro, with whom he had a school of Epicureans in Naples that included a number of Roman poets in the circle of Vergil and Horace. Some of Philodemus’ epigrams were anthologized in the Garland of Philipp and became known to early modern scholars in the Palatine Anthology. His philosophical writings were unknown until they were found, in the 18th century, to be the vast majority of the book-rolls discovered in excavations of the “Villa of the Papyri” in Herculaneum.

The philosophical books of Philodemus so far known cover a wide variety of topics and show a particular interest in theology and religious observance; arts such as rhetoric, poetics, music; vices such as flattery, anger, greed, arrogance, and the character types of those who suffer from them; the history of other philosophical schools, such as the Platonic Academy and the Stoa, as seen in short biographies of their leading figures; longer, almost hagiographical accounts of the lives of the early Epicureans, and letters indicating their relations with one another. In these books Philodemus is frequently seen defending the interpretations of Epicurean doctrine by his own revered teacher Zeno of Sidon. He also stresses the manner in which an Epicurean school should be conducted, with a culture of “frank criticism” among junior and senior members and an understanding that, when one initially feels that a wise teacher is being unfair, overly critical, or even angry, it is the result of pedagogical strategy.

Article

Philon (3), of Larissa, last undisputed head of the Academy, 159/158–84/83 BCE  

Gisela Striker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Philon (3) of *Larissa (159/8–84/3 bce), the last undisputed head of the *Academy. Philon studied for eight or nine years in his native town under Callicles, a pupil of *Carneades, before he went to Athens at the age of 24, to study under Clitomachus, whom he succeeded as head of the Academy in 110/9. In 88, during the Mithradatic wars (see mithradates vi), he left for Rome, where he numbered among his pupils Catulus, father and son (see lutatius catulus(1–2), q.), and *Cicero, who became his most devoted pupil and follower. Philon probably remained in Rome until his death.Although Philon may have published many books, none of them, not even their titles, have survived, and we know nothing about their form. Some of his teachings are represented in a long passage in *Stobaeus and in Cicero's Academicus primus and Lucullus.

Article

Philon (6), 'the Dialectician'  

D. Sedley

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

An innovative logician, active in the late 4th and early 3rd cents. bce. Often erroneously called Philo of Megara by scholars (his birthplace is unknown), he belonged to the Dialectical school—an independent offshoot of the *Megarian school, not geographically linked with Megara—where he studied under *Diodorus (2) Cronus. He defended a truth-functional account of a valid conditional, and formulated a definition of possibility in terms of the subject's bare ‘fitness’ for receiving the predicate in question, regardless of circumstances.

Article

Philopator  

Julia Annas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Stoic (see stoicism), probably of the time of *Hadrian (ce 117–38). See Zeller, Phil. d. Griechen 3. 14. 169, 714.

Article

Philoponus, John  

Richard Sorabji

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Christianity
  2. Philosophy
John Philoponus (c. 490ce to 570s), a Christian Neoplatonist (see neoplatonism) in *Alexandria (1), influenced subsequent science down to Galileo by replacing many of *Aristotle's theories with an account supporting Christian ideas. But because his own Christian theology was unorthodox, he was anathematized in 680, and his scientific influence came to the West belatedly through the Arabs. Seven early commentaries on Aristotle survive, four described as taken from the seminars of his Alexandrian teacher Ammonius, although he added his own ideas. In 529, the Christian emperor *Justinian closed the other great Neoplatonist school at Athens, and Philoponus published an attack on the Athenian Neoplatonist *Proclus, who had been Ammonius' own teacher. This attack (Against Proclus On the Eternity of the World) was followed by Against Aristotle on the Eternity of the World. In these two works Philoponus used arguments about infinity to prove the Christian view that the universe must have had a beginning. Otherwise it would have finished going right through a more than finite number of years, which his opponents regarded as impossible. Further, Aristotle ought to have analyzed corporeal matter as a kind of three-dimensional extension, not as an unextended substratum. Moreover, Aristotle's dynamics was wrong. Motion in a vacuum is theoretically possible. Again, projectiles are moved by an internal impetus impressed from outside, not by Aristotle's external forces.

Article

philosophers and politics  

M. T. Griffin

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
*Plato (1) (Resp. 473d) regarded good government as unattainable ‘unless either philosophers become kings in our cities or those whom we now call kings and rulers take to the pursuit of philosophy’. He already recognized, however, that philosophers would either be reluctant to leave the contemplation of truth for the task of governing any but an ideal city, or would be ridiculed and rejected if they tried (Resp. 516d–517a; 519e–521b).Philosopher-leaders were rare in the ancient world: *Cicero (Leg. 3. 14) named only *Demetrius (3) of Phaleron, the *Peripatetic philosopher who ruled Athens from 317 to 307 bce, ignoring less respectable examples, like the Peripatetic Athenion and the Epicurean *Aristion (see epicurus) who ruled Athens for brief periods in his youth; see also dion. The Romans themselves sent philosophers to rule *Tarsus (Strabo 14. 675), but it was in the 2nd cent. ce that admirers of Marcus *Aurelius, the emperor, could claim that Plato's ideal was finally fulfilled (SHA Marc.

Article

philosophy, early modern reception of  

Anna Corrias

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2019
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
  2. Reception
The early modern period saw a tremendous revival in interest in ancient philosophy. New Platonic texts became available. New ways of analyzing Aristotle were explored. Stoic and Epicurean philosophy began to exert an influence on key thinkers. The impact of ancient philosophy was felt in a number of key areas, these included natural history, theology, and epistemology.The history of Western philosophy can be seen as a continuous and intensive dialogue with the past in which the texts of classical antiquity were tirelessly interrogated, imitated, praised, criticized, transformed, and zealously restored. The early modern period has a special place in this history. At the dawn of modernity, philosophical inquiries were deeply informed by the questions raised by the Greeks and Romans.Throughout the early modern period, the works of Aristotle and his commentators were the most prominent of the texts discussed. Plato enjoyed a more complex reception history. Recovered in the .