On Aristotle Metaphysics 13-14

by Syrianus, John Dillon (Translator), Richard Sorabji (Editor)

Syrianus, originally from Alexandria, moved to Athens and became the head of the Academy there after the death of Plutarch of Athens. Syrianus attacked Aristotle in his commentary on Books 13 and 14 of the "Metaphysics", just as his pupil Proclus was to do later in his commentaries on Plato. This is because in "Metaphysics 13-14", Aristotle himself was being thoroughly polemical towards Platonism, in particular against the Academic doctrine of Form-numbers and the whole concept of separable number. In reply, Syrianus gives an account of mathematical number and of geometrical entities, and of how all of these are processed in the mind, which was to influence Proclus and all subsequent Neoplatonists.

Genres: Philosophy

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Syrianus (Ancient Greek: Συριανός, Syrianos; died c. 437) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, and head of Plato's Academy in Athens, succeeding his teacher Plutarch of Athens in 431/432. He is important as the teacher of Proclus, and, like Plutarch and Proclus, as a commentator on Plato and Aristotle. His best-known extant work is a commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle. He is said to have written also on the De Caelo and the De Interpretatione of Aristotle and on Plato's Timaeus.

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't want to repeat everything I've already said in the review of the first volume of Syrianus' commentary; background info on Syrianus can be found there. I will say that the commentary on these chapters is even more substantive in terms of it's defense of Plato and in it's criticisms of Aristotle. It also provides more details in regards to Syrianus' own Neo-Platonist system. I noted parallels between Proclus and Syrianus while I was reading this work and Proclus' commentary on the Parmenides.

It's in these chapters of the Metaphysics (i.e. 13 and 14) where Aristotle is at his most polemical towards Platonism. It's here where he attacks the idea of number-forms. Most of Syrianus' defenses of Plato here are pretty easily summed up: Aristotle consistently tries to conflate the super-essential numbers of Pythagoreanism/Platonism with numbers relating to quantity and magnitude. The monad and the dyad are not to be confused as relating to this mundane use of numbers except in a very tangential way. Once one has this in mind, most of Aristotle's criticisms are null and void.

In the previous commentary, Syrianus accused Aristotle of having no unifying element to his catagories; the most brutal of Syrianus' criticisms of Aristotle here is where he not only uses Aristotle to refute Aristotle (i.e. showing contradictions in his philosophical system), but when he accuses Aristotle of having a system devoid of mind (nous). He's basically accusing Aristotle of being un-philosophical--OUCH! Obviously, having Platonist sympathies myself, I certainly find myself alligned far more with Syrianus than with Aristotle.

As I said in my review to the first volume of this commentary, for anyone who wants to acquaint themselves with how Neo-Platonists dealt with Aristotle's anti-Platonic views, this is pretty much the essential source for that. Recommended.

[Edward Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

But for a single bad translation choice that crops up again and again, this edition would be perfect. One will need, as a result, to keep the Greek text at hand. But aside from that it's well done, rendering Syrianus' somewhat daunting Greek into fluid English mostly preserving the text's meaning. The problem is the translation of monadikos as "unitary", when the latter has traditionally been used for heniaios. The translators know it's misleading, too, because in several cases they revert to the conventional usage. It's a tradition of sorts at this point for there to be *something* pointlessly wrong with English translations of Neoplatonic texts. Of course there's no justification offered nor care given for the confusion that will inevitably result when a crucial technical term used throughout the text is idly swapped for another.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Syrianus eviscerates Aristotle’s critiques of the Forms in Metaphysics 13-14. Really fun and illuminating because Syrianus explains things about Forms that are less clear at face value.