The longevity of Aristotelian natural science consists not so much in the fact that Aristotle’s solutions to puzzles were accepted by generations of philosophers, but by the fact that the presuppositions that made these puzzles look puzzling were. In what follows I consider some Neoplatonic responses to two puzzles that Aristotle poses in De Caelo Book 2, Chapter 12. Both Proclus and Simplicius rejected Aristotle’s solutions to the puzzles he posed. In one case, but not in the other, they also reassessed the relative importance of the presuppositions that created the puzzle.
History
Publication title
Apeiron: a journal of ancient philosophy and science
Volume
48
Issue
4
Pagination
483-501
ISSN
0003-6390
Department/School
School of Humanities
Publisher
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Place of publication
Germany
Rights statement
Copyright 2015 De Gruyter
Repository Status
Open
Socio-economic Objectives
Expanding knowledge in philosophy and religious studies