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Neoplatonism and Abrahamic Traditions

A Comparative Analysis of the Middle East, Byzantium and the Latin West (9th-16th Centuries) – NeoplAT

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(ERC Consolidator Grant hosted by University College Dublin, the Austrian Academy of Science in Vienna and the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn)

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 771640)

Project

Abstract:

NeoplAT offers a fresh and thoroughly documented account of the impact of Pagan Neoplatonism on the Abrahamic traditions. It focuses mainly, but not exclusively, on the Elements of Theology of Proclus (fifth century) which occupies a unique place in the history of thought. Together with its ninth-century Arabic adaptation, the Book of Causes, it has been translated, adapted, refuted and commented upon by Muslim, Jewish and Christian thinkers across centuries, up to the dawn of modernity. Despite a renewed interest in Proclus’ legacy in recent years, one still observes a tendency to repeat conventional hypotheses focused on a limited range of well-studied authors. This project radically challenges these conservative narratives both by analysing invaluable, previously ignored resources and by developing an innovative comparative approach that embraces a variety of research methods and disciplines. Specialists in Arabic, Greek and Latin history of ideas, philology, palaeography and lexicography develop an intense interdisciplinary research laboratory investigating the influence of Proclus on the mutual exchanges between the scriptural monotheisms from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries.

 

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In ninth-century Baghdad and in the circle of the philosopher al-Kindī (c. 870), the nascent tradition of Arabic Peripateticism integrates the Platonic metaphysical work of Proclus into a corpus of writings, which it regards as Aristotelian. This coincides with the emergence of the transmission of a portion of Plotinus’ Enneads under the title The Theology of Aristotle; the Elements of Theology were translated and afterwards adapted to Islamic Mu‘tazilite theology into a new work bearing the title Kitāb fī Maḥḍ al-ḫayr (Discourse on the Pure Good), famously known as the Book of Causes. The author deliberately selected a series of propositions from the Elements of Theology and in some cases he combined several of them, thus compressing the 211 chapters of Proclus’ work into 31[32] in the Book of Causes. There are also significant doctrinal modifications, due to the adjustment of the emanatist Proclean metaphysics to an Islamic monotheist environment. Two of these changes are especially noteworthy: Proclus’ idea of emanative causality from the One to the Many is replaced with the idea of creation and the doctrine that a Supreme Being is cause of all beings. A second version of the Book of Causes has recently been identified and discussed, but its influence was extremely limited and never reached beyond the Middle East.

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During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Elements of Theology were read by major figures within the Byzantine philosophical tradition (Michael Psellos, John Italos, Eustratios of Nicaea). Joanne Petritsi (d. 1125), who studied in Constantinople, possibly under Psellos, translated the Elements of Theology from Greek into Georgian and wrote an extensive commentary to accompany it. Concerned that certain thinkers in Byzantium were confusing Proclus’ thought with Christian doctrine, Nicholas of Methone (d. ca. 1166) wrote a lengthy Refutation of the Elements of Theology.

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By the end of the twelfth century, the Arabic text of the Book of Causes was translated into Latin as the Liber de causis. In 1268, William of Moerbeke translated the Elements of Theology from Greek into Latin. Of all the traditions mentioned above, the Latin reception of the Elements of Theology and of the BoC is the most extensive, judging by the number of manuscripts transmitting the text and the number of commentaries addressing it. The standard literature mentions six thirteenth-century Latin commentaries on the Book of Causes (Roger Bacon, Ps.-Henry of Ghent, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant and Giles of Rome) and a fourteenth-century commentary on the Elements of Theology by Berthold of Moosburg. Two sixteenth-century commentaries on the Book of Causes, by Chrysostomus Javelli and Jacob Gostynin have been almost constantly and inexplicably ignored by scholars. A single narrative has thus gained predominance through a range of highly influential studies. It claims that, after the 1280s, Neoplatonism was forgotten in Paris, and was taken up in Germany as an alternative to Parisian teaching. Henry Bate, Nicholas Cusanus, Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola would complete the list of rare authors who, from the end of the thirteenth century onwards, read either the Elements of Theology or the Book of Causes. The result, ultimately, is a desolate picture: interest in the Book of Causes declined after the Latin translation of the Elements of Theology in 1268, since medieval authors generally avoided confrontation with Proclus’ metaphysics. Until recently, these views have either been repeated or only cautiously questioned.

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In Hebrew, there exist four known translations of the Book of Causes and three commentaries. Three translations are made from the Latin version (Hillel of Verona in 1260; Jehuda Romano in the fourteenth century; ‘Eli Ḥabilio in 1477) and one from the Arabic version (Zeraḥiyah Hen in 1280). These have been published and studied. Hillel of Verona wrote an original commentary (edited and translated into French by Rothschild 2017); Jehuda Romano partially translated the commentaries by Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, providing a fascinating witness to the cross-cultural influence of the Latin and, ultimately, Arabic traditions.

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NeoplAT integrates the progress accomplished by the academic community, and builds on the recent identification of a large corpus of Latin manuscripts previously overlooked. It continues continues the search for new material and facilitates a much wider analysis enabling a broad comparative analysis of the reception of the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes in the Abrahamic traditions. It gathers a large international team with experts in various disciplines. On the basis of comparative interpretations, the project develops an innovative method, which combines lexicographical, codicological and palaeographical studies with philosophical and theological analyses in Arabic, Greek and Latin. It aims to forge essential tools for extending the understanding of the dialogue between Abrahamic traditions, and to proffer a new reflection on this unconventional history of metaphysics.

The project is structured around four interrelated and fundamental questions that will be addressed through nine manageable specific tasks.

1. Where and when were the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes read, taught and copied? Arabic philosophy is consigned to hundreds of thousands of manuscripts since, as we know, these works continued to be published in manuscript from the ninth to the nineteenth century. The networks of transmission between the lands of Islam and the Christian West are largely unexplored. These gaps in our understanding are due to a lack of a systematic examination of the immense manuscript collections in which these texts are preserved. Indeed, no methodical and extensive research has been undertaken in order to explain why, when and where Proclus arabus and the Book of Causes were copied in the lands of Islam. Similar difficulties beset scholars of the Latin tradition. The two lists published by Taylor (1983) mentioning Latin manuscripts containing the text of the BoC and commentaries on the work, while useful for a brief panorama, are neither descriptive nor exhaustive. Thus, at present, it is impossible fully to understand the modalities of the diffusion of the BoC in the Latin West: was it copied as a part of the corpus Aristotelicum? Was it more popular in the ‘traditional’ universities of Western Europe (Paris, Oxford) or rather in the newer universities of Central Europe (Prague, Krakow, Erfurt)? How many more remain undisclosed in the libraries?

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2. What versions of the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes were known in each tradition? Recent studies on Petritsi’s Georgian translation of the Elements of Theology seem to indicate that in eleventh- and twelfth-century Byzantium the text was considerably different from the version used from the thirteenth century onwards, on which is based the standard edition. Nicholas of Methone therefore read and refuted a version of the Elements of Theology which differs from the latter; the current critical edition containing numerous faulty transcriptions, omits the text of the Elements of Theology transmitted in the manuscripts of the Refutation.

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The situation is comparable with the Western tradition of the BoC. Thomas Aquinas in 1270 and Giles of Rome in 1289/1291 observe in their exegeses on the BoC that the text they comment upon seems corrupt, and they check it across several manuscripts. How can one explain this deplorable state of the text less than one century after its initial translation and entry into the West? In what condition was the text transmitted to authors over subsequent centuries? Recent publications have shown that from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, the text of the BoC had considerable variations. How can these be accounted for? Which version had the widest readership? These questions, although extremely important, have never been envisaged before since the current edition of the Book of Causes fully collates only ten out of two hundred and seventy known manuscripts, and thus does not do justice to the complex Latin tradition.

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3. Who read the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes? And what is their impact on the history of thought? The quantity and distribution of the manuscripts of these two works are certainly the most important witnesses to the interest they received across the centuries and in different intellectual milieus. While their presence in the lands of Islam requires further extensive investigation, the Western tradition has begun to be uncovered in recent publications. In order to grasp their enduring influence on the history of thought, one needs to analyse the exegeses of them that span over three hundred years. In the majority of cases, these exegeses are the results of lectures, since the Book of Causes was included in the curricula of various institutions across Europe. These authors, although today they are less known or anonymous, had a considerable influence on generations of students: they provided conceptual tools to reflect both on pagan texts and on their Christian tradition; gradually, their ideas have been integrated into Western models of rationality, even if these distant origins are often unacknowledged today (e.g. the notion of “first” and “secondary causes” used in modern philosophy, elaborated mainly in the Book of Causes). However, the majority of these commentaries are still unedited. To edit and to study these texts is the only way to access the uninterrupted tradition of instruction and commentary on the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes and to attain a better understanding of the dynamics of mutual exchange between scriptural monotheisms.

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4. How and why were the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes assimilated into these various traditions? For each cultural milieu, one notices different modes of interpretation at the level of form and literary genre: translation and transformation in the lands of Islam; commentary and refutation in Byzantium; translation and teaching in the West. To what extent do these reflect the institutional and doctrinal contexts which give rise to these commentaries? What are the mechanisms of exchange that enable both the encounter of these scriptural monotheisms with a system of thought originating in Greek polytheism (through the Elements of Theology), as well as the unwitting assimilation of Islamic Mu‘tazilite theology into Christian contexts (through the Book of Causes)?

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Within the circle of the philosopher al-Kindī, the decision to attribute the Book of Causes to Aristotle witnesses to the search for harmony between Platonism and Peripateticism. To what extent does it reflect a certain vision of Islam? Latin authors inherit the same misattribution and spread this view throughout the universities. Was it the case that the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes were regarded as Christian (or potentially Christian) versions of Aristotle’s metaphysics? These similar situations seem to indicate that the direct or indirect confrontation with Proclean metaphysics stimulates reflection on the central themes of the Abrahamic traditions. These topics interrogate the history of thought from yet another angle, for in each of these traditions, for several centuries, the relations between theology and philosophy, reason and faith was particularly complex and porous, as well as the boundaries between the Latin Christian and Greco-Arabic intellectual culture.

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By answering these questions, the project’s intention is to forge a broad comparative approach that enables a thorough understanding of the reception of Proclus in the Middle East, Byzantium and the Latin West.

Corpus

Preliminary list of Latin manuscripts of the Book of Causes

updates:

17 January 2021

22 January 2022 [we are grateful to the ÖAW team of the Mittelalterliche Handschriften in Österreich and to Dr Godfried Croenen (Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheken)]

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This list is a work in progress. Iulia Székely compiles it from various sources: Richard Taylor, Aristoteles Latinus, catalogues of manuscripts, secondary sources, personal discoveries. All manuscripts are verified first-hand (and used for the new critical edition which is in progress). The members of the NeoplAT research team currently work on these manuscripts. For remarks and further questions please contact iulia.calma@ucd.ie or dragos.calma@ucd.ie.

  1. Admont, Benediktinerstift, MS 405, f. 55r-63v

  2. Admont, Benediktinerstift, MS 482, f. 17r-24v

  3. Amsterdam, The Ritman Library – Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS s.n., no foliation sold to a private collection

  4. Angers, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 450, f. 110ra-114ra

  5. Aosta, Biblioteca del Seminario maggiore, MS 71, f. 30ra-33ra

  6. Assisi, Biblioteca communale, MS 283, f. 277r-282r

  7. Assisi, Biblioteca communale, MS 298, f. 333r-340v

  8. Assisi, Biblioteca communale, MS 663, f. 98ra-102vb

  9. Augsburg, Staats und Stadtbibliothek, MS 4° Cod. 68 (f. 265v-272v)

  10. Baltimore, George Peabody Library univ. John Hopkins, MS Peabody 1, f. 306r-313r

  11. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS F VI 75, f. 104r-104v, fragment

  12. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS F I 26, f 100ra-104rb

  13. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS F I 28, f. 105r-108v

  14. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS F IV 23, f. 30r-35v

  15. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS F IV 29, f.29ra-34rb

  16. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS Lat. Fol. 589, f. 152ra-157vb

  17. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS Lat. Fol. 662, f. 4r-9v

  18. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS Lat. Qu. 48, f. 106r-115r

  19. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS Lat. Qu. 449, f. 329r-335v

  20. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS Ham. 100, f. 19r-30r

  21. Bologna, Biblioteca communale del Archiginnasio, MS A 127, f. 270va-277va

  22. Bologna, Biblioteca universitaria, Ms Lat. 2344 (1180. pas l’invers?), f. 334r-342v

  23. Bologna, Collegio di Spagna, MS 161, f. 67v-79v

  24. Bordeaux, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 421, f. 273v-281v

  25. Brugge, Openbare Bibliotheek, MS 463, f. 150ra-155vb

  26. Brugge, Openbare Bibliotheek, MS 478, f. 299v-305vb

  27. Brugge, Grootseminarie Ten Duinen, MS 102/125, f. 115ra-126vb

  28. Bruxelles, KBR, MS II 2314, f. 338r-347r

  29. Bruxelles, KBR, MS II 2558, f. 242r-248v

  30. Bruxelles, KBR, MS IV 711, f. 67r-73v (olim Schlägl, Prämonstratenserstift, MS Cpl 59 (Vielhaber-Indra 143))

  31. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum Library, MS McClean 154, f. 286r-295v

  32. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum Library, MS McClean 156, f. 73r-77v

  33. Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii. 2. 10, f. 235ra-240ra

  34. Cava de’ Tirreni, Biblioteca del Monumento Nazionale dell’Abazia della S.S. Trinita, MS 31, f. 280r-290v

  35. Cesena, Biblioteca Malatestiana, MS Plut. VII Sin. 1, f. 190r-197v

  36. Cesena , Biblioteca Malatestiana, MS Plut. XXII Dext. 2, f. 114r-126v

  37. Cesena, Biblioteca Malatestiana, MS Plut. XXIII Dext. 6, f. 42v-45r

  38. Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 280, f. 267v-271r

  39. Chicago, Newberry Library, MS f. 23, f. 135va-140vb (olim Melk, Benediktinerstift, MS 389 (529, I 47))

  40. Clermont-Ferrand, Bibliothèque municipale et universitaire, MS 168, f. 226v-231r

  41. Durham, Cathedral Library, MS C. III, 15, f. 117ra-121ra

  42. Düsseldorff, Universitats- und Landesbibliothek, MS B179, f. 239r-f. 250v

  43. Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, MS CA Amplon. 2° 19, f. 94r-101v

  44. Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, MS CA Amplon. 2° 20, f. 152r-158r

  45. Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, MS CA Amplon. 2° 21, f. 90va-91va

  46. Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, MS CA Amplon. 2° 363, f. 133r-137v

  47. Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, MS CA Amplon. 4° 18, f. 23v-33r

  48. Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, MS CA Amplon. 4° 220, f. 49r-56v

  49. Erlangen, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 195, f. 141ra-145rb

  50. Erlangen, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 196, f. 303ra-311vb

  51. Évreux, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 79, f. 306va-309va

  52. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Ashburnham 1674, f 261rb-268vb

  53. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Fiesolano 167, f. 242ra-247vb

  54. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Plut. 83,27, f. 1r-3v

  55. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Plut. 84,3, f. 203vb-210vb

  56. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Plut. 84,10, f. 205r-211r

  57. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS S. Crucis, Plut. 12 Sin. 7, f. 259r-266v

  58. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS S. Crucis, Plut. 13 Sin. 11, f. 92r-101r

  59. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS S. Crucis, Plut. 14 Sin. 1, f. 220r-223r

  60. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS S. Marco 61, f. 148v-154r

  61. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale MS Conv. Soppr. I. 4. 22, f. 345r-348v

  62. Frankfurt am Main, Stadt-und Universitätsbibliothek, MS Praed. 39, f. 102va-103vb

  63. Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek, MS C.2., f. 26r-31v

  64. Genève, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire, MS Lat. 76, f. 320v-236v

  65. Genève-Cologny, Bibliotheca Bodmeriana MS 10 (olim Leipzig Universitätsbibliothek MS 1341), f. 63r-69v

  66. Genova, Biblioteca della Congregazione RR. Operai Evangelici (Franzoniani) MS s.n. (olim Biblioteca della Missione Urbana di S. Carlo MS 205), f. 101v-104r [destroyed during WW2]

  67. Gent, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS 5, f. 59v-65r

  68. Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, MS Membr. I 94, f. 17ra-22ra

  69. Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, MS Membr. I 124, f. 86rb-96ra

  70. Göttweig, Benediktinerstifts, MS 59 (69), f. 228ra-230rb

  71. Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 93, f. 219r-225v

  72. Halle (Saale), Universitätsbibliothek, MS Stolb-Wernig Za 27a. 1435-1436, f. 71v-77r

  73. Halle (Saale), Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt, MS Qu. Cod. 207, f. 49ra

  74. Innsbruck, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Tirol, MS 302, f. 38r-41v

  75. Innsbruck, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Tirol, MS 461, f. 204r-210v

  76. Innsbruck, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Tirol, MS 487, f. 32r-37v

  77. Kalocsa, Kalocsai föszékesegyhazi könyvtar, MS 97, f. 57ra-60ra

  78. Klosterneuburg, Augustiner-Chorherrenstift, MS 1052, f. 121ra-127va

  79. København, Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Thott 164, f. 47v-52v

  80. København, Kongelige Bibliotek, Fragmenta 1342 + 1343 [fragment]

  81. Köln, Stadtarchiv, MS G.B.F.200, f. 57ra-60rb

  82. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 503, f. 334rb-344ra

  83. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 506, f. 225rb-232ra

  84. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 507, f. 192r-199v

  85. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 1487, f. 394r-400r

  86. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 2052, f. 128v-135r

  87. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 2595, f. 228v-240v

  88. Kremsmünster, Benediktinerstift, MS 134, f. 211r-219r

  89. Kynzvart , Zameka Knihovny, MS 80, f. 265ra-269ra

  90. Laon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 434, f. 224r-231v

  91. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 459, f. 110r-120v

  92. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1338, f. 112va-116ra

  93. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1339, f. 283vb-290va

  94. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1382, f. 196vb-201vb

  95. Leipzig , Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1384, f. 131ra-138va

  96. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1396, f. 211r-212v

  97. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1397, f. 16v-21v

  98. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1442, f. 156v-159r

  99. London, British Library, MS Add. 19582, f. 151r-154r

  100. London, British Library, MS Arundel 325, f. 74r-83r

  101. London, British Library, MS Royal 12.D.XIV, f. 145v-149r

  102. London, British Library, MS Royal 12.F.I., f. 100r-107v

  103. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 489, f. 101ra-105rb

  104. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 1427, f. 199va-205va

  105. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 9726, f. 225ra-228va

  106. Mainz, Stadtbibliothek, MS Abteil I, 560, f. 255r-270r and 276v-284v

  107. Mainz, Stadtbibliothek, MS Abteil II, 194, f. 173vb-176rb

  108. Mantova, Biblioteca comunale Teresiana, MS 359 (olim C.IV.18), f. 269v-275v

  109. Mantova, Biblioteca comunale Teresiana, MS 151 (B. I. 6), fragment

  110. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS C.148. Inf., f. 232r-239v

  111. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS S.70.Sup., f. 253r-258r

  112. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS P.208 Sup., f. 1r-8v

  113. Montecassino, Biblioteca dell’Abbazia, MS 8 VV (ext. 8 et 292), f. 709r-732r

  114. Montpellier, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, section Médecine, MS 177, f. 15v-19v

  115. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm. 162, f. 244v-251r

  116. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm. 527, f. 1r-5r

  117. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm. 2604, f. 280r-285v

  118. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm. 11591, f. 20r-24v

  119. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 14756, f. 15v

  120. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm. 18917, f. 121ra-129vb

  121. München, Ludwig Maximilian Universitätsbibliothek, MS quart Cod. ms. 649, f. 140vb-148vb

  122. Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VIII.E.21, f. 151vb-157vb

  123. Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VIII.E.24, f. 159va-162rb

  124. Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VIII.E.43, f. 288r-294v

  125. Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VIII.E.45, f. 80v-88v

  126. Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, Ms. VIII.F.12, f. 366r-376r

  127. Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VIII.G.4, f. 218ra-221vb

  128. New Haven, Yale Medical Library, MS 11 (olim Wien, Dominikanerkonvent, MS 66), f. 56r-61v

  129. New Haven, Yale Medical Library, MS 12 (olim Admont, Stiftsbibliothek MS 126), f. 332r-335v

  130. Nürnberg, Stadtbibliothek, MS Cent. IV.1, f. 202va-210va

  131. Nürnberg, Stadtbibliothek, MS Cent. V. 59, f. 276r-287v

  132. Oxford, Balliol College Library, MS 112, f. 119vb-123vb

  133. Oxford, Balliol College Library, MS 232 A, f. 278ra-286va

  134. Oxford, Balliol College Library, MS 232 B, f. 164r-167v

  135. Oxford, Balliol College Library MS 241, f. 1r, fragment

  136. Oxford, Balliol College Library, MS 245, f. 178ra-182va

  137. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F.5.28 (3623), f. 153r-158r

  138. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Canon. lat. class. 291 (18872), f. 156v-162r

  139. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 67 (1668), f. 85ra-89ra

  140. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Selden supra 24 (3412), f. 76r-83v

  141. Oxford, Corpus Christi College Library, MS 114, f. 134va-136vb

  142. Oxford, Magdalen College Library, MS 192, f. 14v-18v

  143. Oxford, Merton College Library, MS 140, f.1ra-3vb

  144. Oxford, Merton College Library, MS 276, f. 17ra-18vb

  145. Padova, Biblioteca Antoniana, MS Scaff. XX, 428, f. 92r-99v

  146. Padova, Biblioteca Universitaria, MS 1388, f. 119r-124v

  147. Padova, Biblioteca Universitaria, MS 2177, f. 1r-8r

  148. Pamplona, Bibliotheca de la Catedral, MS 8, f. 249v-258v

  149. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 349, f. 227v-230v

  150. Paris, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne, MS 119, f. 274ra-280vb

  151. Paris, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne, MS 567, f. 162r-166r

  152. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 3456, f. 224r-235v

  153. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 3458, f. 330r-337v

  154. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 3459, f. 188r-195r

  155. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 3460, f. 202ra-206va

  156. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 3461, f.201rb-204vb

  157. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 3237, f. 53r-60v

  158. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6296, f. 301r-308v

  159. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6298, f. 156rb-160ra

  160. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6318, f. 215ra-220vb

  161. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6319, f. 200vb-206va

  162. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6322, f. 183r-187v

  163. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6323, f. 220ra-229va

  164. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6325, f. 88ra-93va

  165. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6506, f. 21ra-26va

  166. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6569, f. 116v-125r

  167. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6636, f. 16v [fragment]

  168. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6791, f. 1ra-6ra

  169. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 7193, f. 35ra-40vb

  170. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 8802, f. 47r-60v

  171. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 12951, f. 69ra-73va

  172. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 12953, f. 271va-274rb

  173. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 14704, f. 55rb-55va

  174. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 14717, f. 172rb-180vb

  175. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 14719, f. 255ra-261rb

  176. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 16082, f. 311r-321r

  177. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat.16083, f. 93vb-97vb

  178. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat.16084, f. 198va-202vb

  179. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 16088, f. 156rb-163rb

  180. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 16635, f. 89r-94r et f. 63va-vb, fragments

  181. Pommersfelden, Schlossbibliothek, MS 129 (2689), f. 58rb-63vb

  182. Praha, Knihovna pražské metropolitní kapituly, MS L. XXXV, f. 175va-180vb

  183. Praha, Knihovna pražské metropolitní kapituly, MS M. LXIII, f. 1r-10v

  184. Praha, Národní knihovna České republiky, MS IV.D.6, f. 155rb-159vb

  185. Praha, Národní knihovna České republiky, MS I.F.25, f. 284r-290v

  186. Praha, Národní knihovna České republiky, MS V E 4b, f. 1r-69r

  187. Reims, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 864, f. 136ra-144rb

  188. Reims, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 868, f. 268ra-275vb

  189. Rennes, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 149, f. 76va-79vb

  190. Roma, Biblioteca Angelica, MS 242, f. 47r-49bis

  191. Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vitt. Eman. Fondo Vitt. Eman., MS 796, f; 143rb-149rb

  192. Roma, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, Manoscritti, MS F 46/1-3, f. 25r-43v

  193. Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 920, f. 287va-292vb

  194. Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 592, f. 65va-70vb

  195. Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 625, f. 71v-79r

  196. Salamanca, Biblioteca Universidad, MS 2256 (olim Madrid, Bibl. de la Palacio Ms. 255), f. 261rb-265r

  197. Salamanca, Biblioteca Universidad, MS 2706 (olim Madrid, Bibl. de la Palacio, MS 152), f. 51vb-59rb

  198. San Candido (Innichen), Biblioteca della Collegiata, MS 16, f. 145r-160r

  199. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS Sang. 837, f. 22-41

  200. Schlägl, Prämonstratenserstift, MS Cpl 143 (Vielhaber-Indra 129)

  201. Schlägl, Prämonstratenserstift, MS Cpl 173 (Vielhaber-Indra 148) 15, f. 58va-63va

  202. Sevilla, Biblioteca Capitular y Colombina, MS 82.6, f. 132ra-140vb

  203. Sevilla, Biblioteca Capitular y Colombina, MS 7.2.26, f. 47r-48r

  204. Stockholm, Riksarkivet, MS Fr. 9331 (f. 1r-2v), fragment

  205. Strasbourg, Bibliothèque universitaire, MS 55, f. 257ra-260rb

  206. Toledo, Biblioteca de la Catedral, MS 97.1, f. 1r-20r

  207. Tortosa, Archivo de la Catedral, MS 24, f. 140va-143r

  208. Tortosa, Archivo de la Catedral, MS 241, f 264r-274r

  209. Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 733, f. 39va-43vb

  210. Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 679, f. 286va-293vb

  211. Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 680, f. 249r-254v

  212. Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 682, f. 99r-102v [destroyed during WW2]

  213. Troyes, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 951, f. 1r-8v

  214. Troyes , Bibliothèque municipale, MS 1374, f. 75v-90v

  215. Tübingen, Universitätsbibliothek, MS Mc. 103, f. 108v-113v

  216. Uppsala, Universitetsbibliothek, MS C 595, f. 31ra-35ra

  217. Valencia, Biblioteca del Cabildo MS 86 (olim 236), f. 279r-287v

  218. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Barb. Lat. 165, f. 379r-382r

  219. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Borgh. 37, f. 233r-230

  220. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS 126, f. 190r-195v

  221. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS 127, f. 203vb-210va

  222. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS 128, f. 234r-240v

  223. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS 308, f. 292r-300r

  224. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS 309, f. 83v-88r

  225. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Chigi H. VII. 238, f. 142r-150v

  226. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Ottob. Lat. 1415, f. 17r-23r

  227. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Urb. Lat. 206, f. 346v-354v

  228. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 1041, f. 183r-194v

  229. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2072, f. 285r-290r

  230. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2073, f. 100v-104r

  231. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2081, f. 206r-210r

  232. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2083, f. 170ra-175va

  233. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2084, f. 169r-176v

  234. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2085, f. 296r-305r

  235. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2089, f. 1r-5v

  236. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2984, f. 217r-222r

  237. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2985, f. 48r-52r

  238. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 7670, f. 116v-121r

  239. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 10452, f. 38vb-46ra

  240. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 10658, f. 225rv

  241. Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 14717, f. 25r-33v

  242. Venezia, Biblioteca del Museo Correr, MS “Cicogna 1903”, f. 188va-190vb

  243. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Lat. VI, 23b (3462), f. 74ra-79vb

  244. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Lat. VI, 33 (2462), f. 283va-293vb

  245. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Lat. VI, 38 (3214), f. 8va-9ra

  246. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Lat. VI, 52 (3018), f. 344rb-351ra

  247. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Lat. VI, 165 (3038), f. 53ra-64va

  248. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Z.L. 232 (1637), f. 200r-214r

  249. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Z.L. 288 (1839), f. 2r-12v

  250. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Z.L. 520 (1946), f. Ir, fragment

  251. Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS Z.L. 520 (1946), f. IIr-VIv

  252. Venezia, Biblioteca dei PP. Redentoristi (S. Maria della Consolazione “della Fava”), MS 3 (olim 445), f. 21rb-32ra.

  253. Vercelli, Archivio Capitolare Eusebiano, MS CXIII (160), f. 216r-219v

  254. Volterra, Biblioteca Guarnacci, MS 6366 (LVII, 8, 5), f. 159rb-164vb

  255. Warszawa, Biblioteka Uniwersytecka,  MS 10 (olim 2217), f. 158ra-161rb

  256. Washington, Folger Library, MS V.b.32, f. 243r-250v

  257. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal.  87, f. 57r-62v

  258. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal. 113, f. 85v-88v

  259. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal. 125, f. 53va-59ra

  260. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal. 169, f. 129r-150v

  261. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal. 195, f. 140v-146v

  262. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal. 2291, f. 165vb-170vb

  263. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS Vindob. Pal. 2491, f. 103v-118v

  264. Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August Bibliothek, MS Guelf. 577 (Helmst.), f. 140r-144v

  265. Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August Bibliothek, MS Guelf. 1105 (Helmst.), f. 418v-420v

  266. Worcester, Cathedral Library, MS F. 169, f. 53r(54r)-58r(59r)

  267. Wrocław, Biblioteka Ossolineum, MS 734, f. 31r-60r

  268. Zagreb, Nacionalna i sveucilsna bibl., MS Bibl. Capituli Metropolitani Mr. 97, f. 125ra-137vb

List of Latin Manuscripts and Commentaries on Proclus' Elements of Theology
(last updated 19 January 2021)

Nicholas of Methone (d. c. 1166), Refutation of Proclus’ Elements of Theology

 

Edition of the Greek text:

 

Ἀνάπτυξις τῆς Θεολογικῆς Στοιχειώσεως Πρόκλου τοῦ Λυκίου, by Athanasios Angelou (Athens / Leiden, Academy of Athens / Brill, 1984)

 

Latin translations [unpublished, currently examined by the NeoplAT research team]:

 

Anonymus (16th. c.), MS Milan Ambr. Lat. P 63

 

Bonaventura Vulcanius (d. ca. 1614), MS Leiden, B.P.L. 47.

 

 

Anonymus Parisiensis (13th. c.), Quaestiones

 

Edition:

 

L.M. de Rijk, “Two Short Questions on Proclean Metaphysics in Paris, B.N. lat. 16096”, in Vivarium 29/1(1991), p. 1-12.

 

Manuscript:

 

Paris, BnF, lat. 16096, f. 172va-174va [manuscripts owned and annotated by Godfrey of Fontaines, who bequeathed it to the library of the Collège de Sorbonne]

 

Berthold of Moosburg (c. 1290 – c. 1361/1363), Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli

 

Edition

 

Under the direction of Loris Sturlese, Hamburg, Felix Meiner, 1984-2021

 

Manuscripts:

 

Oxford, Balliol College Library, Ms. 224B

 

Vaticano (Città del), Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Ms. Vat. Lat. 2192

 

Iohannes Krosbein (14th c.), Sententia Procli Alti Philosophi

 

Edition:

 

Fiorella Retucci, “Sententia Procli alti philosophi. Notes on an Anonymous Commentary on Proclus’ Elementatio theologica“, in D. Calma (ed.), Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages. vol. II. New Commentaries on Liber de causis and Elementatio theologica (ca. 1350-1500), Turnhout, Brepols, 2016, p. 99-179.

 

Manuscripts:

 

Halle(Saale), Universit.t- und Landesbibliothek, MS. Wernigerode Za 27, f. 90v-91v

 

Warszawa, Biblioteka Narodowa, MS. II. 8057, f. 107r-142v

 

København, Kongelige Bibliotek, Ny Kgl. S. 26 fol., f. 44r-49r

 

 

Anonymus (15th c.?), Declaratio in Elementationem theologicam Procli

 

Edition:

 

In preparation by Evan King [for 2021]

 

Manuscripts:

 

Città del Vaticano, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Vat. Lat. 4567, f. 23v-39r.

 

Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. philol. 27

Team

Steering Committee

olivier.jpg

Olivier Boulnois

Professor of Medieval Philosophy and Theology at École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris. Specialised in the history of Western metaphysics.
Read more.

irene.jpg

Irene Zavattero

Professor in History of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Trento. She is a specialist of medieval ethics and investigates particularly the reception of Aristotle’s ethic thought in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Read more.

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​Levan Gigineishvili

Professor at the Institute of Classics, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies of the Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
Read more.

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Dominique Poirel

Senior researcher at Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes, Paris. Specialised in medieval manuscripts and intellectual history. Read more.

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Fosca Mariani Zini

Full Professor in Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy at the University François Rabelais, Tours. She currently works on neoplatonism in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, theory and practice of argumentation, history of metaphysics
Read more.

jules.jpg

Jules Janssens

Senior researcher attached to KU Leuven. Specialised in Avicenna's Arabic texts and Latin translations.
Read more.

istvan.jpg

István Perczel

Professor in the Department of Medieval Studies at Central European University, Vienna. He has extensively worked on Late Antique and Patristic philosophy. One of his research projects is on Christian Platonism and Byzantine theology.
Read more.

Collaborations

News & Events

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Outputs

2022

2021

2020

2019

Books [monographs, edited volumes, translations]

Brill_SPNP28_proef2-768x904.jpg

Calma, D. (ed.), “Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 3: On Causality and the Noetic Triads, Leiden / Boston, Brill (open access)

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Calma, D. (ed.), “Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 2: Translations and Acculturations”, Leiden / Boston, Brill, 492p., ISBN: 978-90-04-34511-9, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004395114

Brill_SPNPT22_proef4-copie-768x568_edite

Calma, D. (ed.), “Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates”, Leiden / Boston, Brill, 505p., ISBN: 978-90-04-39511-4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004395114

Articles / Book-chapters

2022

Calma, D, “Notes on Causes and the Noetic Triad”, in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, vol. 3, Leiden, Brill, p. 1-12.

 

-“Antoine de Parme, Dante, les intelligences actives: contexte et coïncidence”, in A.A. Robiglio, P. Pellegrini (eds), La Quaestio de aqua et terra di Dante: Testo e Contesto, Special issue of Studi di erudizione e di filologia italiana

 

– “L’homme sans pensée. L’averroïsme d’Antoine de Parme et la Questio de Budapest”, in L. Bianchi, L. Campi (eds), Filosofia e medicina fra medioevo e prima età moderna, Turnhout, Brepols.

 

Greig, J., “Proclus’ Reception in Maximus the Confessor, Mediated through John Philoponus and Pseudo-Dionysius: A Case Study of Ambiguum 7”, D. Calma (ed), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, Volume 3, Leiden, Brill, p. 117–167.

 

Malgieri, M.E., “Dove l’esser di tutto suo contento giace. Note sulla creazione mediata in Dante, tra il Liber de causis e Alberto Magno”, in Medioevo, 46 (2022)

 

2021

Calma, D.,  “Al-‘Aql dans la tradition latine du Liber de causis“, in Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 31 (2021), p. 131-152.

 

– (with E. King), “Introduction”, in D. Calma, E. King (eds), The Renewal of Medieval Metaphysics: Berthold of Moosburg’s Expositio on Proclus’ Elements of Theology, Leiden / Boston, Brill, 2021, p. 1-25.

– “Par-delà les textes, les traits de l’historien. De la philosophie avec Ruedi Imbach“, Mediterranea

Greig, J., “The Aporetic Method of Aristotle’s Metaphysics B in Damascius’ De Principiis”, in History of Philosophy and Logical Analysis 24, p. 161–209.

– “Reason, Revelation, and Sceptical Argumentation in 12th- to 14th-Century Byzantium”, in Theoria 87.

 

– “Proclus on the Two Causal Models for the One’s Production of Being: Reconciling the Relation of the Henads and the Limit/Unlimited”, inInternational Journal of Platonic Tradition 14 (1), p. 23–48.

 

– Review of B. Bossi, T. Robinson (eds.) (2020), Plato’s ‘Theaetetus’ revisited, Berlin / Boston, De Gruyter”, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review.

 

– “Review of N. Spanu (2020), Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles, London and New York: Routledge”, in Plêkos 23, p. 387–404. 

 

– Review of M. Vlad, Damascius et l’ineffable: récit de l’impossible discours, Paris, Vrin, 2019”, in Rhizomata 9(1), p. 143–149.

 

King, E., (with D. Calma), “Introduction”, in D. Calma, E. King (eds), The Renewal of Medieval Metaphysics: Berthold of Moosburg’s Expositio on Proclus’ Elements of Theology, Leiden / Boston, Brill, 2021, p. 1-25.

 

Malgieri, M.E., “Universale latissimae universalitatis: origine della creazione e natura del fluxus nel De causis di Alberto Magno“, in Quaestio 20, p. 389-413.

– “L’esse nel Liber de Causis. Una polisemia parzialmente inaspettata: problemi dottrinali e tradizione manoscritta“, in Quaestio, 21, p. 347-367.

– “Dove ‘l’esser di tutto suo contento giace’. Note sulla creazione mediata in Dante, tra il Liber de causis e Alberto Magno“, in Medioevo. Rivista di storia della filosofia medievale, XLVI, 2021, p. 95-120.

2020

Calma, D., “Notes on the Translations and Acculturations“,  in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 2: Translations and Acculturations, Leiden/Boston, Brill, p. 1-16.

– “Metaphysics as a Way of Life: Heymericus de Campo on Universals and the “Inner Man””, in Vivarium 58 (2020), p. 305-334.

Greig, J., “Proclus on the Two Causal Models for the One’s Production of Being: Reconciling the Relation of the Henads and the Limit/Unlimited”, in The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 14, p. 1-26.

– (with John Whitty), “Review of J. Zachhuber, The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)”, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 72(3–4), p. 320–323.

– “Review of Cosmology and Politics in Plato’s Later Works by Dominic O’Meara”, in Review of Metaphysics 74(2), p. 399–400.

Malgieri, M.E., “L’essere e la volonta creatrice. La quarta proposizione del De causis nel commento dello Pseudo-Adamo di Bocfeld“, in Quaestio 19, p. 341-362.

– “Le idee divine nella Scolastica francescana del XIII e XIV secolo”, in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 113, p. 611-628.

2019

Calma, D., “Sine secundaria. Thomas d’Aquin, Siger de Brabant et les débats sur l’occasionalisme”, in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates, Leiden / Boston, Brill, p. 1-13.
– “Notes on the Western Scholarly Networks”, in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates, Leiden / Boston, Brill, p. 268-300.

King, E., “Eriugenism in Berthold of Moosburg’s Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli”, in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates, Leiden / Boston, Brill, p. 394-437.

Malgieri, M.E., “Citing the Book of Causes, IV: Henry of Ghent and His (?) Questions on the Metaphysics”, in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates, Leiden / Boston, Brill, p. 209-250.

Székely, I., “The Liber de causis in Some Central European Quodlibets”, in D. Calma (ed.), Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes. Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates, Leiden / Boston, Brill, p. 301-323.

2018

Calma, D., “Jean de Maisonneuve et les débuts de l’albertisme tardif : les commentaires à la Métaphysique”, in Przeglad Tomistyczny (The Annual Review of the Thomistic Institute), 2018 (XXIV), Special Issue Festschrift Zénon Kaluza, p. 255-287.

Székely, I., “Pratiques intellectuelles à l’Université de Prague au XV e siècle.Notes sur un Quodlibet de Jan Arsen de Langenfeld (c. 1400)”,  in Przeglad Tomistyczny (The Annual Review of the Thomistic Institute), 2018 (XXIV), Special Issue – Festschrift Zénon Kaluza, p. 227-254.

“Philosophy at the Crossroads of Civilisation”, interview with Joe Humphreys for UCD Today 2018 Winter, p. 9.

Media

Prof Cecilia Martini Bonadeo (University of Padova), Prof Michael Chase (CNRS, Paris / University of Victoria), Prof Damien Janos (University of Montréal) discuss the latest work of Prof Olga L. Lizzini (University Aix-Marseille / University of Geneva): the Italian translation with a dense introduction of the Treatise on Unity by the 10th-c. Christian Arab author Yahya ibn ‘Adi – with an introduction by Prof Dragos Calma (University College Dublin), and remarks by Prof Peter Adamson (University of Munchen) and Dr Maria Evelina Malgieri (University College Dublin). Zoom meeting organised by Dragos Calma and hosted by University College Dublin on 12 March 2021.

Dr Charlotte Denoël (BnF, Paris), “Image and Text in Ademar of Chabannes’ Booklet: a Pedagogical Tool and an Insight on Ademar’s Visual Culture” (on Zoom, 11 February 2021).

 

Dr Denoël is Chief Curator, Head of medieval service, Manuscripts Department at the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France). Dr Denoël’s current research project is the study of book illumination in France during the tenth and eleventh centuries seeks to present the diverse products of this time of intense creativity, in order to create both the first comprehensive study of illuminated manuscripts of this period and a robust, analytic historiography to frame their place in art history.

Dr Adrian Papahagi (University “Babes-Bolyai” Cluj-Napoca), “Hic magis philosophice quam catholice loquitur: Latin and Vernacular Traditions of Boethius’ De Consolatione Philosophiae in the Early Middle Ages” (February 5, 2021, on Zoom).

 

 

Boethius’ De consolatione Philosophiae, written in 524 and rediscovered in the last decades of the eighth century, was immensely popular in the Early Middle Ages. This presentation explores the Carolingian, Ottonian and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of the Consolatio, the nature of their glosses and commentaries, as well as the Old English and Old High German translations made around 900 viz. around 1000, in an attempt to understand how several Neoplatonic elements of Boethius’ doctrine were received.

 

Adrian Papahagi has a PhD in Medieval Studies (Sorbonne), and is currently an associate professor at the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania. His publications include studies on Boethius’ fortune in the Early Middle Ages (Boethiana Mediaevalia, Bucharest, 2010), an exploration of fate and providence in Old English literature (Wyrd, Cluj, 2014), and a census of Western medieval manuscripts in Romania (Manuscrisele medievale occidentale din România: Census, Iași, 2018, with AC Dincă, and A. Mârza).

Dr Dragos Calma (UCD) interview (in Romanian!) about Neoplatonism in the Abrahamic traditions at Radio Guerrilla.

Dr Odile Gilon (Université libre de Bruxelles), “The Quaestiones super Librum de causis assigned to Roger Bacon” (June 30, 2020 – via Zoom)

Dr Maria Evelina Malgieri (University College Dublin), “Universale latissimae universalitatis: the Origin of Creation in Albert the Great” (October 21, 2020 – via Zoom)

Prof Dominique Poirel (IRHT – France),  “Déchiffrer, critiquer et interpréter: le travail de première main sur les sources manuscrites d’après un commentaire inconnu sur le Pater” (October 15, 2020 – via Zoom)

 

Dominique Poirel provides, in English, a masterful analysis of the commentary on “Our Father” preserved in an exceptional manuscript: MS Paris, BnF,  NAL 3245.  He presents and explains all indices that point toward one very probable author: Saint Francis of Assisi.

 

This superb argumentation exemplifies the methodological discussion introducing the paper.

 

“In order to answer a question, we must forget it. We will find it at the end of our research”, he concludes.

Rodrigo Ballon Villanueva (University of Lugano), “Unveiling Apokatastasis? Eriugena’s Eschatology and Essential Causality” (October 14, 2020 – via Zoom)

The doctrine of apokatastasis is one of the most distinctive and important notions of the Carolingian philosopher John Scotus Eriugena. The Irishman can be regarded, without hesitation, as the greatest medieval proponent of this eschatological view. In recent years, the centrality of the topic has been recognised and has attracted the attention of several scholars, who, in turn, tend to see it as a consequence of Eriugena’s Origenism. However, despite the clear intention of Eriugena to find support for his view in the works of Patristic authors, the truth is that he develops a peculiar understanding of the eschatological events. The present paper argues that Eriugena’s doctrine of apokatastasis is an essential aspect of his metaphysics that needs to be understood in relation with his overlooked theory of causa essentialis. 

Socrates-Athanasios Kiosoglou (KU-Leuven), “The Theory of Στοιχείωσις”, (July 23, 2020 – via Zoom)

Proclus’ Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements constitutes not only a systematic commentary on the Elements, but also a very rich source of metho-dological precepts about the proper writing and construction of a good Στοιχείωσις. By its very nature, a Στοιχείωσις is written for uninitiated students and novices, not for experts. Its purpose lies exactly in guiding learners of limited knowledge and familiarise them with the most basic and fundamental doctrinal assumptions of an epistemic domain. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Commentary on Euclid (and notably the Prologues) is probably the only lengthy extant exposition of the main characteristics of the literary genre of Στοιχείωσις. The second Prologue includes the most essential, indispensable and probably interdisciplinary features of the style, that is, the features shared by all Στοιχειώσεις, regardless of their particular content and the domain they belong. The best way to capture Στοιχείωσις in another language is not Elements (like Dodds) or Elementa (like Patrizius, the Renaissance translator), but Elementatio (like Moerbeka, the Medieval translator) or Grundlegung (recalling Kant’s Gundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten).

Ezequiel Luduña (University of Buenos Aires), “The Intratrinitarian dynamics of Berthold of Moosburg’s Expositio Procli” (June 10, 2020 – via Zoom)

Berthold of Moosburg’s Expositio Procliis considered the most important testimony of the interest in Proclus’ thought during the 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West known to date. Berthold brings into the Latin Tradition some doctrinal elements from Pagan Neoplatonism that conflict with basic tenets established by the philosophical milieu within which he writes. The most important has to do with the transcendence of the Principle. According to Berthold, the prime unumis beyond the intellectual realm. However, there are certain passages of theExpositio, where Berthold writes about the natura intelectualisof the Principle, that suggest that his attitude was not as bold as the other remarks about transcendence might imply. It is in this sense, when describing the prime unum as a natura intellectualis, that he includes the absolute One among those principles that are per se subsistentes(i.e. authypostata) and indicates that its processus originalisis nothing else than the Intratrinitarian processions.  

Dr William Duba (University of Fribourg), “Fragmentarium and Fragmentology” (June 16, 2020 – via Zoom)

A concise and clear presentation of the project Fragmentarium (https://fragmentarium.ms/) studying fragments of medieval manuscripts, and further theoretical considerations establishing a new discipline: fragmentology.

Dr Joshua Robinson (Dumbartoan Oaks Library, Harvard University), “The Themes of Divine Motion and Fecundity (γονιμότης) in Nicholas of Methone’s Refutation of Proclus, and their Patristic and Neopythagorean (?) Precedents” (May 13, 2020 – via Zoom)

What are the fundamental principles that guide Nicholas of Methone’s response to Proclus in his mid-12th-century Refutation of the Elements of Theology? As a general answer, one might simply say “Christian doctrine.” But a close reading of the Refutation reveals two distinctive emphases, the ideas of divine fecundity and divine motion. These ideas are rooted in Gregory of Nazianzus and Dionysius the Areopagite, and are creatively combined and deployed by Nicholas in ways that suggest further debts to John of Scythopolis, Maximos the Confessor, and John of Damascus. For Nicholas, the Trinity is understood in terms of a transcendent fecundity and motion that is the source and paradigm of all creaturely fecundity and motion. In contrast to the unmoved mover of classical philosophy, for Nicholas God as Trinity is understood as “self-moved,” the very model and source of that self-motion in creatures that is rational freedom. If we consider the key text of Gregory of Nazianzus in which Nicholas grounds his position, “the Monad, moved to Dyad and at Triad came to a halt,” we find suggestions that this statement in turn probably has connections to neo-Pythagorean currents of thought, appropriated by Gregory to make a Trinitarian point.

Dr Jonathan Greig (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna), “Nicholas of Methone and Aquinas on Participation in Proclus’ Elements of Theology Prop. 23: Common and Contrasting Critical Readings” (May 6, 2020 – via Zoom).

One of Proclus’ more well-known positions is his view of participation, encapsulated in the Elements of Theology, Prop. 23, where participation results in three terms: the unparticipated, participated, and participant. For Proclus this necessitates a distinction between the One, as first cause, and the Henads, as mediators of the One’s causality—and thus as a plurality of gods. For the Christian inheritors of Proclus and his model of participation, this of course represents a problem. This paper compares the approach of two medieval Christian commentators on Proclus: the 12th-cent. Byzantine, Nicholas of Methone, and the 13th-cent. Latin scholastic, Thomas Aquinas. Drawing from their common source in Ps.-Dionysius, the two take divergent approaches in their notion of participation. While both do away with Proclus’ separately participated—i.e. the gods—both still accept the notion of participation as mediated, but in differing ways: for Nicholas the participated is subsumed into God, so that God is directly participated, albeit under specific aspects; for Thomas, the participated is subsumed into the level of creatures, so that God is indirectly participated in virtue of created, mediated properties immanent in creatures. 

Marc Geoffroy, “Aristotélisation de la gnoséologie néoplatonicienne dans le Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khair” [16 April 2016, Paris, EPHE]

mark geoffrey.png

Marc Geoffroy (1965-2018), during a conference held in Paris, delivered an exceptional paper on the transformation of Proclus’ Elements of Theology into Kalām fī maḥd al-khair (Liber de causis). He explained the relationship between proposition 123 of the Elements of Theology and proposition V(VI) of the Book of Causes, stressing the variety of philosophical sources used (notably Aristotle’s De anima and De sensu et sensato) and, in a Muʻtazilite milieu, the vocabulary recalling the Qurʾān. Unfortunately, the written text of this paper could not be found. Marc Geoffroy agreed to be part of the NeoplAT project and produce a running commentary on the Book of Causes, notably on its various philosophical and theological sources.

Paper introduced by Richard Taylor, and discussed (in order) by Philippe Hoffmann, (unrecognizable), Michael Chase, Richard Taylor.

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© 2019 by Scotus Archiv. © Pictures by Laurin Beißel.

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