The Dialogue On Aristotle Categories by Porphyry as a Platonic Dialogue

Oksana Goncharko,Dmitry Goncharko

doi:10.25205/1995-4328-2019-13-1-83-93

Oksana Goncharko, Dmitry Goncharko

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https://doi.org/10.25205/1995-4328-2019-13-1-83-93

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Abstract

The paper focuses on interactive dialogue-form strategies in the framework of the late antique Greek and early Byzantine logical traditions. The dialogue by Porphyry On Aristotle Categories is a perfect example of the Neoplatonic approach to build logic in a Plato style. The main protagonistresses of the dialogue are The Question and The Answer, who act as collocutors do in traditional Platonic dialogues. It is proposed to consider the dialogue in the context of three perspectives: in accordance with the tradition of the Platonic dialogue; in the light of Aristotle’s education system; in its relation to the late antique and medieval Greek logical dialogue experiments.

Highlights

84 Porphyry’s On Aristotle Categories as a dialogue the Categories
In addition to the well-known treatise Isagoge by Porphyry one can find a commentaries on the Categories (Busse 1887), composed in the form of questions and answers (Εἰτὰ Ἀριστοτέλου Κατηγορίακατὰ πεῦσιν καὶ ἀπόκρισιν), where the “participants” or “actors” of the dialogue are the Question (ἡ Ἐρώτησι) and the Answer (ἡ Ἀπόκρισι)
It is proposed in this paper to focus on the Platonic genre characteristics and the Platonic themes in the dialogue On Aristotle Categories presented by Porphyry to initiate the study of the categories as the beginning of any other logical studies

Summary

Introduction

84 Porphyry’s On Aristotle Categories as a dialogue the Categories. In addition to the well-known treatise Isagoge by Porphyry one can find a commentaries on the Categories (Busse 1887), composed in the form of questions and answers (Εἰτὰ Ἀριστοτέλου Κατηγορίακατὰ πεῦσιν καὶ ἀπόκρισιν), where the “participants” or “actors” of the dialogue are the Question (ἡ Ἐρώτησι) and the Answer (ἡ Ἀπόκρισι). 86 Porphyry’s On Aristotle Categories as a dialogue considering the things (τὰ πράγματα) it is impossible to talk about the properties of the words, which is the real object of the treatise: “Because what produces homonymy in words is not the character of the expression itself (ὁ χαρακτὴρ τῆλέξεω), but rather things are found to be different and in no way have anything in common yet acquire one and the same expression as their name”

Results

Conclusion