Eudorus of Alexandria

Eudorus of Alexandria (Greek: Εὔδωρος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, and a representative of Middle Platonism.[1] He attempted to reconstruct Plato's philosophy in terms of Pythagoreanism.[2]

He formulated a teleological principle for Platonism, derived from the Theaetetus: "as much as we can, become like God."[3] In this he believed that he had found an apt definition of the common goal of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato.[4] His metaphysics and cosmology combined Platonist, Pythagorean and Stoic ideas.[4]

He is mentioned by Alexander of Aphrodisias in his commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics.[5] This mention has been often taken as a reference to a former commentary by Eudorus on Aristotle's Metaphysics, although Alexander's text does not really say this.[6] The way Aristotle's texts were available to Eudorus is now an open field for research.[7] Simplicius refers to him as a Peripatetic philosopher, and relates that he had written on the Aristotelian Categories. He was a native of Alexandria, and had, like Aristo of Alexandria, written a work on the Nile.[8]

Notes
  1. "Middle Platonism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  2. George E. Karamanolis, 2006, Plato and Aristotle in agreement?, pages 82-4. Oxford University Press
  3. Plato, Theaetetus, 176b
  4. Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th edition, page 306
  5. Alexander of Aphrodisias, ad Arist. Metaph. p. 59 line 7 Hayduck
  6. Fazzo, Silvia, "The Metaphysics from Aristotle to Alexander of Aphrodisias, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2012, 55: 51-68.
  7. Rashed, Marwan and Auffret Thomas, “Aristote, Métaphysique A 6, 988a 7–14, Eudore d’Alexandrie et l’histoire ancienne du texte de la Métaphysique.” In Chr. Brockmann et al., eds., Handschriften- und Textforschung heute. Zur Überlieferung der griechischen Literatur. Festschrift für Dieter Harlfinger aus Anlass seines 70. Geburtstages, 55–84. Wiesbaden 2014.
  8. Strabo, Geographica, xvii.

Bibliography
  • Bonazzi, Mauro, "Eudorus and early Imperial Platonism", in R.W. Sharples-R. Sorabji (eds.), Greek and Roman Philosophy 100 BC-200 AD, London, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies Supplement 2007, Vol. II, pp. 365–378.
  • Mazzarelli, Claudio. Raccolta e interpretazione delle testimonianze e dei frammenti del medioplatonico Eudoro di Alessandria, in Rivista di Filosofia Neoscolastica, 77 (1985), pp. 197–209 e 535-555 (Greek text of the extant fragments with Italian translation).
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