Description
Book SynopsisThe Introduction to philosophy written by Porphyry at the end of the second century AD is the most successful work of its kind ever to have been published. It was translated into most respectable languages, and for a millennium and a half every student of philosophy read it as his first text in the subject. Porphyry''s aim was modest: he intended to explain the meaning of five terms, ''genus'', ''species'', ''difference'', ''property'', and ''accident'' - terms which he took to be important to Aristotelian logic and metaphysics, and hence to philosophy in general. Thus in principle the Introduction is simple and elementary. In fact, there are sometimes difficulties and doubts on the surface of the text - and beneath the surface there are frequent depths or profundities. The work raises, directly or indirectly, a number of perennial philosophical questions. In addition, the Introduction became, in Boethius''s Latin translation, the point of reference for one of the longest-lasting of ph
Trade Review...it should soon become essential reading for every scholar in medieval and renaissance studies. * Alan R. Perreiah, Transcendent Philosophy *
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION ; TRANSLATION ; COMMENTARY
