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Atticus Aristotle Biography & Facts

Atticus (fl. c. 175 AD) was an ancient Platonic philosopher who lived in the second century of the Christian era, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius. His lifetime fell into the epoch of Middle Platonism, of which he was one of the most notable representatives. Atticus was vehemently anti-Peripatetic. From the writings of Atticus, which have only been handed down in fragmentary form, it can be seen that he was conservative and wanted to purge what he saw as the original teachings of Plato from the intrusion of elements of Aristotelianism. As an interpreter of Plato, Atticus thought philologically and advocated a literal, not metaphorical, interpretation of the Plato's doctrine of creation. Atticus' position represents a version of Platonism according to which deviation from the literal word of the master means irredeemable heretical opposition. His work was a polemic, possibly originating from his position as the first holder of the Platonic philosophy chair at Athens under Marcus Aurelius. Atticus insisted that Aristotle was an atheist, that he denied the existence of the soul, and that he rejected divine providence. This led him to believe that the world had a beginning in time. With this rejection of the eternity of the world and also with his understanding of the Demiurge and the theory of forms, as well as his anti-Aristotelian attitude, Atticus represented a decidedly opposed position to views that later became part of the core of the ideas of Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity. He exerted a large degree of influence on later Neoplatonists, most of whom disputed his philosophical ideas, as well as influencing many Christian philosophers, who often saw his ideas as more compatible with theirs. Life Very little is known about the life of Atticus. In the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea, Atticus' philosophical activity is mentioned in a brief entry from the year 176. Since 176 was the year in which Emperor Marcus Aurelius established four philosophical chairs in Athens, the date may indicate a connection with this edict; Atticus hay have been the first to hold the chair of Platonic philosophy. Among his students was Harpocration of Argos. Works Much that is known of him comes from the fragments of his book preserved in Eusebius' Preparatio Evangelica. However, some of them are extensive and give a detailed impression of his positions. Most of the fragments come from Atticus' commentary on Plato's dialogue Timaeus; the longest, which take up by far the most space in the critical edition, are taken from his treatise Against Those Who Want to Explain Plato's Teachings by Aristotle's. He also wrote a commentary on Plato's dialogue Phaedrus. Whether he also wrote a treatise on the soul (or on the world soul) is uncertain. According to George Karamanolis, the hypothesis that he also commented on Aristotle's categories that has been put forth by some scholars is unlikely. As a commentator, Atticus was primarily a conscientious philologist; he stuck strictly to the wording of the commented text, instead of starting from his own philosophical speculations. Philosophy Critique of Aristotelianism A primary concern of Atticus is a clear demarcation between Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. He emphatically opposes attempts to construct a harmony between Plato and Aristotle and to interpret Plato's works with the help of Aristotelian teachings. He considered Aristotle's approaches to be wrong, and believed that Aristotle systematically created his philosophy as a counter-concept to Platonism. One accusation he directed against Aristotle is that he violated the rules of nature observation, because he disregarded the principle that the observer of nature does not have to establish laws, but should investigate the laws given by nature. The Aristotelian theory of the celestial bodies contradicts the observable phenomena and thus does not fulfill the task of explaining the phenomena. Ontology and theology Atticus regards the Demiurge, the creator of the world in Plato's Timaeus, as the supreme god. Ontologically, he sees the Demiurge as the supreme first principle; he identifies the Demiurge with the Platonic Form of the Good, the good in itself, which appears as the supreme deity in Plato's Republic. In doing so, he follows the conservative direction in Middle Platonism, which is also represented by Albinus, and contradicts the view of the prominent Middle Platonist and Neopythagorean Numenius. Numenius, like the later Neoplatonists Plotinus and Proclus, had understood the Demiurge as a separate entity, one subordinate to "The Good". According to the common view of the Middle Platonists, the Demiurge creates the world by looking at the archetypes (ideas) of things. Atticus shares this view but, unlike most Middle Platonists, does not assume that the world of ideas resides in the intellect (nous) of the Demiurge. Rather, he assigns it a separate existence outside of the nous, on the level of the soul. A feature of Atticus' theology is that it does not share the otherwise dominant belief among ancient Platonists that the supreme deity, because of its perfection, necessarily knows no change over time. The god of Atticus considers, plans, waits, decides and takes personal care of the things he has created. This idea of God is therefore closer to that of popular religion (and Christianity) than the conventional theology of the Platonists. It is a counter-model to the teachings of Aristotle and Epicurus, which Atticus fought against, which postulate no divine providence dealing with individual destinies, rather, Providence is one of the doctrines that Atticus most emphatically defends. Creation of the world In the highly debated question of whether or not the account of the creation of the world in Plato's Timaeus is to be understood in the sense of a temporal beginning of the world, Atticus advocates a temporal beginning. In accordance with his general philological way of thinking, he prefers a literal understanding of the text. With this interpretation he turns against the position of numerous Platonists, according to whom the cosmos must be eternal for philosophical reasons and therefore Plato's statements about creation are to be understood metaphorically. According to the metaphorical interpretation, Plato does not mean an act of creation at a specific point in time, but only wants to express a timeless dependency of the eternally existing world on the equally eternal deity. Atticus, on the other hand, believes that, according to Plato's teaching, there was a time before the Demiurge created the world. In this he sees no contradiction to his conviction that being a Demiurge consists of creation. He thinks that the demiurge, before he created the world as an image, had already created and preserved its archetype. As the everlasting cause of the archetypal world of ideas, the demiurge was never idle, which would be incompatible with his nature. Atticus ascribes no agency to the.... Discover the Atticus Aristotle popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Atticus Aristotle books.