Publication Details
Foreword to translation of Michael Psellos’ commentary on chapters 1–3 of the book II of Aristotle’s “Physics”
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Title in the language of publication: | Предисловие к переводу комментария Михаила Пселла на 1–3 главы II книги «Физики» Аристотеля |
Author: |
Maria Varlamova
PhD in Philosophy, research fellow at the Research and Education Center for Religion, Philosophy, and Culture Studies at St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Address: 67 Bolshaya Morskaia str., Saint-Petersburg, 190000, Russia.
E-mail: boat.mary@gmail.com
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Issue: |
P. 287–296.
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Language: | Russian |
Document type: | Research Article (introdaction) |
Acknowledgments: | The present study is a part of the project № 17-03-00329, “Nature and movement in the ‘Commentary on the Physics of Aristotle’ by Michael Psellos. Study of the influence of the late antique tradition, of the correlation between physics and the Orthodox theology, and of the reception in the later Peripatetic physics”, implemented with a financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. |
Abstract
The present article forestalls a publication of commented translation of Michael Psellos’ commentary on chapters 1–3 of the book II of Aristotle’s “Physics” into Russian. In the article, the problematic issues are briefly outlined, which were treated by Aristotle in the first three chapters of the second book of “Physics” and were examined by Psellos in his commentary, as follows: definition of nature and natural things, matter, form and purpose as causes of natural movement, comparison of natural and artificial things, comparison of physical and mathematical knowledge, consideration of common and particular causes. The translation is performed on the basis of the text of Psellos’ commentary on “Physics” of Aristotle in the critical edition by L. Benakis: Michael Psellos. Kommentar zur Physik des Aristoteles. Einleitung, text, indices von Linos G. Benakis. Athenis: Akademia Atheniensis, 2008 (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi. Commentaria in Aristotelem Byzantina. Vol. 5). S. 63–83; the text of Aristotle’s “Physics” in the edition by W. D. Ross: Aristotelis Physica. Edited by W. D. Ross. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950; and also the Russian translation of “Physics” by V. P. Karpov: Aristotle. Works in 4 vol. Vol 3. Moscow: “Mysl” (“Philosophical heritage” series. Vol. 83). P. 59–262. In writing the notes to the translation, following treatises of Aristotle were involved: “Physics”, “Metaphysics”, “Prior Analytics”, “Posterior Analytics”, “On the Soul”, “Meteorology”, “Nicomachean Ethics”, as well as commentaries of Simplicius and John Philoponus on Aristotle’s “Physics”, Themistius’ paraphrase of Aristotle’s “Physics”, Plato’s “Parmenides”, Demosthenes’ “On the Crown”, L. Benakis’ notes to the edition of Psellos’ commentary and Benakis’ articles dedicated to this commentary. In the course of preparing the notes for translation, the prime task was in denoting the intercrossings of the commentary by Psellos with those by Simplicius and John Philoponus, as well as with Themistius’ paraphrase, and placing the Psellos’ commentary within the context of the late Antiquity commentary tradition whereon Psellos relied in his own text. The translation has been performed by T. A. Shchukin under the editorship of M. N. Varlamova and the notes has been written by M. N. Varlamova.
Keywords
Michael Psellos, Physics, Aristotle, Byzantium, commentaries on Aristotle, matter, form, purpose, causes of natural movement.
References
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© Maria Varlamova, 2018