On Aristotle's "On the Heavens 1.10 12"

by Simplicius, R.J. Hankinson (Translator)

In these three chapters of On the Heavens, Aristotle argues that the universe in ungenerated and indestructible. In Simplicius's commentary there is a battle between the Neoplatonist Simplicius and the Aristotelian Alexander, whose lost commentary on Aristotle's On the Heavens Simplicius partly preserves.
Simplicius's rival, the Christian Philoponus, had conducted a parallel battle in his Against Proclus, but had taken the side of Alexander against Proclus and other Platonists, arguing that Plato's Timaeus gives a beginning to the universe. Simplicius takes the Platonist side, denying that Plato intended a beginning. The origin to which Plato refers is, according to Simplicius, not a temporal origin, but the divine cause that produces the world without beginning.

Genres: Philosophy

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Simplicius of Cilicia (/sɪmˈplɪʃiəs/; Greek: Σιμπλίκιος; c. 490 – c. 560) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists.