The iInfluence of greek philosophy on the works of Bar Hebraeus

Abstract

Philosophy, as we know it, is not restricted to a person or a place or a time. It is rather free thought under a rigorous system. This system differs with the circumstances, period, place, culture and people. Many would agree that Philosophy was first distinguished from myth or legend when it acquired scientific reasoning. Thus, it gained an ontological status and became an object of quest and fascination of many people. Later, many took the task of disciplining this new faculty and started speculating upon it. Aristotle, however, shone bright – together with Plato – and developed into a prominent figure so as to become ‘the’ teacher of this ‘skill’. He explored nature in all its areas, writing merely about every aspect and manifestation of natural phenomena and those beyond the natural. On the other hand, in the Far East, philosophy was also developing independently: in India, wisdom was sought after, as well as in China. In Persia, the prominent philosophy was imported from the East as well. The Syriacs were the first who were interested in the study of philosophy thus deserving the name “agents of civilization”. They exchanged trade and culture, trading wine, spices and silk from East to West, while bartering philosophy and sciences from West to East. They did this through the translation and commenting of Aristotle’s works. This gave birth to different schools: Edessa, Nisibis, Qenshrin, Harran and Rish’ain, to name a few. These were schools of thought where Ancient Greek philosophy found a space to emerge in Asia Minor, a space that was relatively neutral from a political stance. The works of translations were normally done by the clergy – especially monks in the monasteries – with a theological character and from a theological perspective to meet the needs of the Church. They also valued the medical writings of Galen and Aristotle and used the mathematical and astronomical studies of the ancient Semitic and Greek paganism in a new form.The Syriacs introduced philosophy in the Arabic environment. Even with the spread of Islam in the Near East, Islamic philosophers neither developed their own systems of philosophy nor expanded their philosophical ideas and thoughts. Islamic philosophy is not independent from the Ancient Greek philosophy since the Islamic philosophers were greatly influenced by the works of Aristotle (mainly) – and Plato – and their role was simply that of translations, commentaries and interpretations to which they added their opinions. The Christian Syriacs gained honor in the Persian and Arabic palaces and found a place of refuge at the courts of the kings and sultans.Moreover, philosophy to the Syriacs was rather a means and not an end. This is due to the fact that they were men of religious nature more willingly than scholars of philosophy even though they were interested in education and culture. The first Christian philosophical effort written in Syriac is said to be Bardaysan’s Laws of the Countries . St. Jacob of Edessa is also one early famous figure in the development of Syriac Philosophy . Starting in the middle of the fifth century, the School of Edessa introduced Philosophy in its schooling system. The Syriacs were attached to the philosophical works of John Philoponus , as well as those of Plotinus. In this early period, Hyppas and his two disciples, Kumi and Probus translated the works of Aristotle . Around that time, Severus Sabukht critically exposed Aristotle’s logic. Sergius of Rish’ain is another translator whose translations were faithful and exact: he made the works on Logic, Metaphysics, Natural sciences and Ethics available to the Arabs with a clearer syntax and in a Christian mold. He adapted paganism to faith in one God giving place thus to Christian ideas and monotheistic philosophy. Many other translators worked on making the works of Aristotle available to the Syriacs. Later in the thirteenth century, a prelate (Catholicos or Maphriono) of the Syriac Orthodox Church was a great scholar who tackled many sciences and arts (astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, grammar, languages, rhetoric, poetry, etc…, to name a few) and of course philosophy. His contemporary fellows drew upon his abundant knowledge and rich comprehension and the Syriacs still sing their own praises on his works and writings to this present day. As the late Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum (+1957) writes in his book “The Scattered Pearls”: “I know that Bar Hebraeus read philosophy on his own, [without a tutor] and surrounded the philosophy of Aristotle with delicate care realizing the truth of his teaching” . Bar Hebraeus is said to be the person who concluded the Aristotelian philosophical works, reading them from Greek, the original language in which they were written, and completing them with what he found in Ibn Sina’s Arabic writings. Bar Hebraeus wrote a valuable large philosophical encyclopedia entitled Hewath Hekhmtho (The Butter of Wisdom – known in Latin as Butyrum Sapientiarum) with three volumes containing all of Aristotle’s philosophy. He condensed it in another work Teghrath Teghrotho (The Commerce of Commerce – known in Latin as Mercatura Mercatusarum): in these two books, he sums up the philosophy he read in Aristotle, but he develops two other books on Logic, namely Swod Sophia (The Speech of Wisdom) and Kthobo d’Bobotho (The Pupils of the Eyes). These last two are treatises on the logic and the rational soul. In Swod Sophia, he summarized his Logic, the natural sciences and parts of theology after writing abundantly about these topics in his other works. He wrote it in response to the request of his friends and colleagues in an exact and concise style desiring to read the origins of philosophy in a brief and rigorous way. His “Lamp of the Sanctuaries” and “Book of Rays” are treatises on philosophy and fate. Research on the philosophy of Bar Hebraeus, its origins, background, orientation and aims was never fully conducted; researchers are usually interested either in the Syriac language that Bar Hebraeus uses, or in his theological, religious or spiritual works. In my dissertation project, I’m focusing on his philosophical writings, commenting on them according to their classification following the areas they cover. In other words, I research on Bar Hebareus' metaphysics, ethics, logic, philosophy of science etc... A thorough study of Aristotle’s influence is to be conducted. I aim to present his contributions to philosophy, presenting in a clear way his philosophical views and shows the resemblance and difference between his philosophical work and thought and that of Aristotle.Major sources will be basically the original works of Bar Hebraeus and spesifically (The Speech of Wisdom (Swod Sophia / ܚܐܘܬ ܚܟܡܬܐ, /Butyrum Sapientiae),) and The Pupils of the Eyes (Kthobo d’Bobotho / ܟܬܒܐ ܕܡܘ̈ܫܚܬܐ, Kthobo d-Mushhotho), as saved through various manuscripts. Secondary bibliography will also be used, but only those few books that are considered as the most important and reliable from historical and philosophical point of view. Given all the above mentioned, the following research questions arise: ▪Which are the philosophical works of Bar Hebraeus and what are the philosophical issues he is dealing with?▪How did the influence of Greek philosophy occur? ▪To what extent and in what way did the Aristotelian philosophy influenced Bar Hebraeus’ philosophy?▪How and for what reasons Bar Hebraeus’ philosophy varies from the Aristotelian? In order to answer the above questions, we followed the bibliographic review method. More specifically, we studied the works of Bar Hebraeus from the original text, translated them into English and tried to point out the similarities that are found to references from the Aristotelian philosophy. From this research we hope to shed more light on the philosophical work of this philosopher, whom West either ignores or stands in the theological aspect of its work. Our goal is to show that he was a genuine philosopher, representative of his time, and that his work is discoursing with the Greek and mainly the Aristotelian philosophy, from which he draws in order to form his own, unique philosophical system.

Στο πλαίσιο της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής εξετάζεται το φιλοσοφικό έργο του Σύρου φιλοσόφου Bar Hebraeus και ειδικότερα όπως αυτή διαμορφώθηκε υπό την επίδραση της ελληνικής και δη της αριστοτελικής φιλοσοφίας. Η διατριβή διακρίνεται σε έξι κεφάλαια. Στο πρώτο γίνεται αναφορά στην προσωπικότητα του φιλοσόφου και δίνονται στοιχεία για τη ζωή του, από τα πρώτα παιδικά του χρόνια έως την εποχή συγγραφής των έργων του. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο δίνεται μια σύντομη εικόνα του πολιτικού και πολιτιστικού πλαισίου στο οποίο εντάσσεται. Το 13ο αιώνα στη Μέση Ανατολή τα πιο σημαντικά γεγονότα αφορούν τις Σταυροφορίες, την επικράτηση των Μογγόλων και τη μετάβαση από το χαλιφάτο των Αγιουβιδών στην κυριαρχία των Μαμελουκών. Το τρίτο κεφάλαιο είναι αφιερωμένο στο έργο Kthobo d-Bobotho και διακρινεται σε επτά μέρη, όπου εξετάζονται ζητήματα Λογικής και αναδύονται ομοιότητας του έργου με αριστοτελικά έργα, όπως οι Κατηγορίαί, τα Αναλυτικά, τα Τοπικά κ.ά. Το τέταρτο κεφάλαιο εστιάζεται στο έργο Kthobo da-Swod Sophia. Το έργο επικεντρώνεται σε θέματα Λογικής, Φυσικής φιλοσοφίας και Μεταφυσικής. Το πέμπτο κεφάλαιο αναφέρεται στο έργο Hewath Hekhmtho. Το έκτο και τελευταίο κεφάλαιο είναι μια απόπειρα σύγκρισης των έργων Bobotho and Hewath Hekhmtho. Η διατριβή κλείνει με τις συμπερασματικές διαπιστώσεις και παρουσίαση της χρησιμοποιηθείσας βιβλιογραφίας.