Simplicius on the planets and their motions
Subtitle: in defense of a heresy
By: by Alan C. Bowen
Contributors: Simplicius, of Cilicia
Series: Philosophia antiqua -- 133
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 329
ISBN-13: 9789004227088; 9789004241718
Subjects: Early works to 1800; Planetary theory; Astronomy
Other titles: On the planets and their motions
Description: "Though the digression closing Simplicius' commentary on Aristotle's De caelo 2.12 has long been misread as a history of early Greek planetary theory, it is in fact a creative reading of Aristotle to maintain the authority of the De caelo as a sacred text in Late Platonism and to refute the polemic mounted by the Christian, John Philoponus. This book shows that the critical question forced on Simplicius was whether his school's acceptance of Ptolemy's planetary hypotheses entailed a rejection of Aristotle's argument that the heavens are made of a special matter that moves by nature in a circle about the center of the cosmos and, thus, a repudiation of the thesis that the cosmos is uncreated and everlasting."--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes an English translation of sections 2.10 to 2.12 of Simplicius' Aristotelis De caelo commentaria--Pages [97]-177.

Includes bibliographical references (page [299]-311) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: The Argument. Introduction ; The Heresy of Non-Homocentric Aetherial Motion ; The Heretical Rejection of All Hypotheses ; Simplicius, the Apologist ; Simplicius, the Historian ; Conclusion.; title: Translation. In de caelo 2.10 The proportionality of the planetary speeds ; In de caelo 2.11 The sphericity of the wandering stars ; In de caelo 2.12 The proportionality of the planetary motions ; Figures.; title: Comments. In de caelo 2.10 ; In de caelo 2.11 ; In de caelo 2.12.