The Medieval Latin Reception of the Pseudo-Aristotelian 'On Indivisible Lines': Reassessing the State of the Art
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Abstract
This article deals with the first Latin reception of Pseudo-Aristotle’s On Indivisible Lines and its impact on the medieval debate about the continuum. Robert Grosseteste’s and Albert the Great’s references to this pseudo-Aristotelian text show that it could be regarded as a source for where to find information about the indivisibilist tenet, as well as an expansion of Aristotle’s anti-atomistic critiques scattered throughout his authentic works. The use of On Indivisible Lines made by Henry of Harclay and Adam of Wodeham confirms this trend: the reading of this text could be twofold according to the tenet defended. While Henry argues against Pseudo-Aristotle to defend indivisibilism, Adam expands on pseudo-Aristotelian arguments to show the incongruities implied by indivisibilism.
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References
Manuscripts
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, E 71 Sup.
Primary Sources
Adam of Wodeham, Tractatus de indivisibilibus, edited and translated by R. Wood (Dordrech, Boston and London: 1988).
Albert the Great, Scientia libri De lineis indivisibilibus, in Albert the Great, Physica, edited by P. Hossfeld (Alberti Magni Opera Omnia IV, 1).
Henry of Harclay, Ordinary Questions, edited by M. G. Henninger, translated by R. Edwards and M. G. Henninger (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008).
Iohannis Philoponus, In Aristotelis libros de generatione et corruptione commentaria, edited by H. Vitelli, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 14.2 (Berlin: Reimer 1897).
Pseudo-Aristotle, De lineis insecabilibus, translated by H. H. Joachim, in The Works of Aristotle, edited by W. D. Ross (Oxford: Clarendon 1913).
Pseudo-Aristotele, De lineis insecabilibus, edited and translated by M. Timpanaro Cardini (Milan and Varese: Istituto Editoriale Cisalpino 1970).
Pseudo-Aristote, Problèmes mécaniques. Des lignes insécables, translated by M. Federspiel and M. Decorps-Foulquier (Paris: Les Belles Lettres 2017).
Pseudo-Aristote, Περὶ ἀτόμων γραμμῶν, in Cédric Hugonnet, “Édition, traduction et commentaire du Περὶ ἀτόμων γραμμῶν du Pseudo-Aristote” (Université d’Aix-Marseille: unpublished PhD thesis 2014).
Robert Grosseteste, De luce, edited by C. Panti, (Pisa: Pisa University Press 2011).
Simplicius, In Aristotelis quattuor libros de caelo commentaria, edited by J. L. Heiberg, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graecam 7 (Berlin: Reimer 1894).
Simplicius, Commentaria in quatuor libros De coelo Aristotelis (Venice: apud Hieronimum Scotum 1563).
Thomas Aquinas, In libros Aristotelis de caelo et mundo, Leonine Commission (Rome: Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide 1886).
Secondary Sources
Burnett Charles, “Translating from Arabic into Latin in the Middle Ages: Theory, Practice, and Criticism”, in Éditer, traduire, interpreter: essais de methodologie philosophique, edited by S. G. Lofts, P. W. Rosemann et al. (Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions de l’Institut supérieur de philosophie 1997), 55–78.
Dionisotti Anna C., “On the Greek Studies of Robert Grosseteste”, in The Uses of Greek and Latin: Historical Essays, edited by A. C. Dionisotti, A. Grafton and J. Kraye (London: The Warburg Institut 1988), 19-39.
Franceschini Ezio, “Roberto Grossatesta, vescovo di Lincoln e le sue traduzioni latine”, reprinted in Ezio Franceschini, Scritti di filologia Latina medievale, 2 vols., (Padova: Antenore 1976), II, 409-544.
Grellard Christophe and Robert Aurélien, Atomism in Late Medieval Philosophy and Theology (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009).
Hasper Pieter Sjoerd, “Aristotle’s Diagnosis of Atomism”, Apeiron 39 (2006): 121-155.
Lewis Neil, “Robert Grosseteste and the Continuum”, in Albertus Magnus and the Beginning of the Medieval Reception of Aristotle in the Latin West. From Richardus Rufus to Franciscus de Mayronis, edited by L. Honnefelder, R. Wood, M. Dreyer and M.-A. Aris, (Münster: Aschendorff 2005), 159–187.
Mansion Auguste, “Quelques travaux récents sur les versions latines des Éthiques et d’autres ouvrages d’Aristote”, Revue néo-scolastique de philosophie 39 (1936): 78-94.
McEvoy James, “Robert Grosseteste” (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000).
Mercken Henry P. F., “Robert Grosseteste’s Method of Translating: A Medieval Word Processing Program?”, in Tradition et traduction. Les textes philosophiques et scientifiques grecs au Moyen Âge Latin. Hommage à Fernand Bossier, edited by R. Beyers, J. Brams et al. (Leuven: Leuven University Press 1999), 323-337.
Murdoch John, “Henry of Harclay and the Infinite”, in Studi sul XIV secolo in memoria di Anneliese Maier, edited by A. Maierù and A. Paravicini Bagliani, (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura 1981), 219-261.
Murdoch John, “Geometry and the Continuum in the Fourteenth Century: A Philosophical Analysis of Thomas Bradwardine’s Tractatus de continuo”, PhD diss., University of Winsconsin 1957.
Panti Cecilia, “La moltiplicazione infinita della luce e la sua funzione nel De luce di Roberto Grossatesta”, in Immagini della luce. Dimensioni di una metafora assoluta, edited by S. Lavecchia, (Rome: Mimesis 2019), 97-122.
Robert Aurélien, “Atomisme pythagoricien et espace géométrique”, in Lieu, éspace, mouvement: physique, métaphysique et cosmologie (XII – XVI siècles). Actes du Colloque International Université de Fribourg (Suisse), 12-14 mars 2015, edited by T. Suarez Nani, O. Ribordy, and A. Petagine, (Turnhout: Brepols 2017), 181-206.
Solère Jean-Luc, “Scotus Geometres. The Longevity of Duns Scotus’s Geometric Arguments Against Indivisibilism”, in Scotism Through the Centuries: Proceedings of ‘The Quadruple Congress’ on John Duns Scotus, edited by M. Dreyer, E. Mehl, and M. Vollet (Munich: Franciscan Institue Publications2013), 139-154.
Sylla Edith D., “God, Indivisibles, and Logic in the Later Middle Ages: Adam Wodeham’s Response to Henry of Harclay”, Medieval Philosophy and Theology 7 (1998): 69-87.
Thomson Harrison, “A note on Grosseteste’s Work of Translation”, Journal of Theological Studies 34 (1933): 48-52.
Thomson Harrison, The Writing of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop pf Lincoln (1235-1253) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1940), 67-68.
Trifogli Cecilia, “Duns Scotus and the Medieval Debate about the Continuum”, Medioevo, 29 (2004): 233-266.
Twetten David, Baldner Steven and Snyder Steven C., “Albert’s Physics”, in A Companion to Albert the Great, edited by I. M. Resnick, (Leiden and Boston: Brill 2013), 173-221.
Williams Steven J., “Defining the Corpus Aristotelicum: Scholastic Awareness of Aristotelian Spuria in the High Middle Ages”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 58 (1995): 29-51.
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, E 71 Sup.
Primary Sources
Adam of Wodeham, Tractatus de indivisibilibus, edited and translated by R. Wood (Dordrech, Boston and London: 1988).
Albert the Great, Scientia libri De lineis indivisibilibus, in Albert the Great, Physica, edited by P. Hossfeld (Alberti Magni Opera Omnia IV, 1).
Henry of Harclay, Ordinary Questions, edited by M. G. Henninger, translated by R. Edwards and M. G. Henninger (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008).
Iohannis Philoponus, In Aristotelis libros de generatione et corruptione commentaria, edited by H. Vitelli, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 14.2 (Berlin: Reimer 1897).
Pseudo-Aristotle, De lineis insecabilibus, translated by H. H. Joachim, in The Works of Aristotle, edited by W. D. Ross (Oxford: Clarendon 1913).
Pseudo-Aristotele, De lineis insecabilibus, edited and translated by M. Timpanaro Cardini (Milan and Varese: Istituto Editoriale Cisalpino 1970).
Pseudo-Aristote, Problèmes mécaniques. Des lignes insécables, translated by M. Federspiel and M. Decorps-Foulquier (Paris: Les Belles Lettres 2017).
Pseudo-Aristote, Περὶ ἀτόμων γραμμῶν, in Cédric Hugonnet, “Édition, traduction et commentaire du Περὶ ἀτόμων γραμμῶν du Pseudo-Aristote” (Université d’Aix-Marseille: unpublished PhD thesis 2014).
Robert Grosseteste, De luce, edited by C. Panti, (Pisa: Pisa University Press 2011).
Simplicius, In Aristotelis quattuor libros de caelo commentaria, edited by J. L. Heiberg, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graecam 7 (Berlin: Reimer 1894).
Simplicius, Commentaria in quatuor libros De coelo Aristotelis (Venice: apud Hieronimum Scotum 1563).
Thomas Aquinas, In libros Aristotelis de caelo et mundo, Leonine Commission (Rome: Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide 1886).
Secondary Sources
Burnett Charles, “Translating from Arabic into Latin in the Middle Ages: Theory, Practice, and Criticism”, in Éditer, traduire, interpreter: essais de methodologie philosophique, edited by S. G. Lofts, P. W. Rosemann et al. (Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions de l’Institut supérieur de philosophie 1997), 55–78.
Dionisotti Anna C., “On the Greek Studies of Robert Grosseteste”, in The Uses of Greek and Latin: Historical Essays, edited by A. C. Dionisotti, A. Grafton and J. Kraye (London: The Warburg Institut 1988), 19-39.
Franceschini Ezio, “Roberto Grossatesta, vescovo di Lincoln e le sue traduzioni latine”, reprinted in Ezio Franceschini, Scritti di filologia Latina medievale, 2 vols., (Padova: Antenore 1976), II, 409-544.
Grellard Christophe and Robert Aurélien, Atomism in Late Medieval Philosophy and Theology (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009).
Hasper Pieter Sjoerd, “Aristotle’s Diagnosis of Atomism”, Apeiron 39 (2006): 121-155.
Lewis Neil, “Robert Grosseteste and the Continuum”, in Albertus Magnus and the Beginning of the Medieval Reception of Aristotle in the Latin West. From Richardus Rufus to Franciscus de Mayronis, edited by L. Honnefelder, R. Wood, M. Dreyer and M.-A. Aris, (Münster: Aschendorff 2005), 159–187.
Mansion Auguste, “Quelques travaux récents sur les versions latines des Éthiques et d’autres ouvrages d’Aristote”, Revue néo-scolastique de philosophie 39 (1936): 78-94.
McEvoy James, “Robert Grosseteste” (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000).
Mercken Henry P. F., “Robert Grosseteste’s Method of Translating: A Medieval Word Processing Program?”, in Tradition et traduction. Les textes philosophiques et scientifiques grecs au Moyen Âge Latin. Hommage à Fernand Bossier, edited by R. Beyers, J. Brams et al. (Leuven: Leuven University Press 1999), 323-337.
Murdoch John, “Henry of Harclay and the Infinite”, in Studi sul XIV secolo in memoria di Anneliese Maier, edited by A. Maierù and A. Paravicini Bagliani, (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura 1981), 219-261.
Murdoch John, “Geometry and the Continuum in the Fourteenth Century: A Philosophical Analysis of Thomas Bradwardine’s Tractatus de continuo”, PhD diss., University of Winsconsin 1957.
Panti Cecilia, “La moltiplicazione infinita della luce e la sua funzione nel De luce di Roberto Grossatesta”, in Immagini della luce. Dimensioni di una metafora assoluta, edited by S. Lavecchia, (Rome: Mimesis 2019), 97-122.
Robert Aurélien, “Atomisme pythagoricien et espace géométrique”, in Lieu, éspace, mouvement: physique, métaphysique et cosmologie (XII – XVI siècles). Actes du Colloque International Université de Fribourg (Suisse), 12-14 mars 2015, edited by T. Suarez Nani, O. Ribordy, and A. Petagine, (Turnhout: Brepols 2017), 181-206.
Solère Jean-Luc, “Scotus Geometres. The Longevity of Duns Scotus’s Geometric Arguments Against Indivisibilism”, in Scotism Through the Centuries: Proceedings of ‘The Quadruple Congress’ on John Duns Scotus, edited by M. Dreyer, E. Mehl, and M. Vollet (Munich: Franciscan Institue Publications2013), 139-154.
Sylla Edith D., “God, Indivisibles, and Logic in the Later Middle Ages: Adam Wodeham’s Response to Henry of Harclay”, Medieval Philosophy and Theology 7 (1998): 69-87.
Thomson Harrison, “A note on Grosseteste’s Work of Translation”, Journal of Theological Studies 34 (1933): 48-52.
Thomson Harrison, The Writing of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop pf Lincoln (1235-1253) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1940), 67-68.
Trifogli Cecilia, “Duns Scotus and the Medieval Debate about the Continuum”, Medioevo, 29 (2004): 233-266.
Twetten David, Baldner Steven and Snyder Steven C., “Albert’s Physics”, in A Companion to Albert the Great, edited by I. M. Resnick, (Leiden and Boston: Brill 2013), 173-221.
Williams Steven J., “Defining the Corpus Aristotelicum: Scholastic Awareness of Aristotelian Spuria in the High Middle Ages”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 58 (1995): 29-51.