Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

Profil

• Ancient Philosophy and Science Network

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DAAD Zeitraum: 11/2010 - 05/2014 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• EXC 264/1: Physics and Metaphysics of Space: The Ontology of Space (TP D-II-1)

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DFG Exzellenzinitiative Cluster Zeitraum: 11/2007 - 10/2012 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• EXC 264/2: Philosophie der Antike (TP D-0)

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DFG Exzellenzinitiative Cluster Zeitraum: 11/2012 - 10/2017 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• EXC 264/2: Theoretische Konzepte des Raums und räumlicher Objekte (TP D-3-1)

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DFG Exzellenzinitiative Cluster Zeitraum: 11/2012 - 10/2017 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• Graduiertenschule für antike Philosophie / Graduate School of Ancient Philosophy

  Quelle ↗

  Zeitraum: 01/2008 - 12/2013 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• GRK 1939/1: Philosophie, Wissenschaft und die Wissenschaften: Der Dialog zwischen Formen und Modellen des Wissens im antiken griechischen, römischen und arabischen Denken

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DFG Graduiertenkolleg Zeitraum: 10/2014 - 12/2019 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• GRK 1939/2: Philosophie, Wissenschaft und die Wissenschaften: Der Dialog zwischen Formen und Modellen des Wissens im antiken griechischen, römischen und arabischen Denken

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DFG Graduiertenkolleg Zeitraum: 04/2019 - 06/2024 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• GRK 1939: Philosophie, Wissenschaft und die Wissenschaften: Der Dialog zwischen Formen und Modellen des Wissens im antiken griechischen, römischen und arabischen Denken

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DFG Graduiertenkolleg Zeitraum: 10/2014 - 06/2024 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• Studierenden-Konferenz: Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (Veranstaltung: 14.-18.4.2012, Berlin)

  Quelle ↗

  Förderer: DAAD Zeitraum: 04/2012 - 04/2012 Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

• École pratique des hautes études

  P

  16 Treffer53.5%
  • HERALDic Identity in Context. Datengetriebene Erforschung von Identitäten und dem Wechselverhältnis zwischen Gruppe und Individuum in heraldischer Kommunikation unter Verwendung einer Ontologie (Königreich Frankreich und Heiliges Römisches Reich, 12. bis 16. Jahrhundert).
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    53.5%

• Science & Startups Berlin

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  12 Treffer52.9%
  • Zuwendung im Rahmen des Programms „exist – Existenzgründungen aus der Wissenschaft“ aus dem Bundeshaushalt, Einzelplan 09, Kapitel 02, Titel 68607, Haushaltsjahr 2026, sowie aus Mitteln des Europäischen Strukturfonds (hier Euro-päischer Sozialfonds Plus – ESF Plus) Förderperiode 2021-2027 – Kofinanzierung für das Vorhaben: „exist Women“
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    52.9%

• Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin

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  26 Treffer52.1%
  • SFB 1315/2: Mechanismen und Störungen der Gedächtniskonsolidierung: Von Synapsen zur Systemebene
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    52.1%
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    49.0%

• Nauči me

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  5 Treffer51.6%
  • Digitalising Mobility and International Networks With Open Education (DIONE)
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    51.6%

• Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

  PT

  8 Treffer51.6%
  • EXC 1027: Bild Wissen Gestaltung. Ein Interdisziplinäres Labor
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    51.6%

• Magwel NV

  PT

  16 Treffer50.7%
  • EU: Simulation in Multiscale Physical and Biological Systems (STIMULATE)
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    50.7%

• International Business Machines Corporation Research GmbH

  PT

  36 Treffer50.7%
  • EU: Simulation in Multiscale Physical and Biological Systems (STIMULATE)
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    50.7%
  • EU: Bottom-Up Generation of atomicalLy Precise syntheTIc 2D MATerials for High Performance in Energy and Electronic Applications – A Multi-Site Innovative Training Action (ULTIMATE)
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    47.6%

• NVIDIA GmbH

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  15 Treffer50.7%
  • EU: Simulation in Multiscale Physical and Biological Systems (STIMULATE)
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    50.7%

• Silicolife LDA

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  2 Treffer50.6%
  • Systematic Models for Biological Systems Engineering Training Network
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    50.6%

• Insilico Biotechnology AG

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  2 Treffer50.6%
  • Systematic Models for Biological Systems Engineering Training Network
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    50.6%

• Doing and Being

  2009

  171 Zitationen · DOI

  Abstract Doing and Being confronts the problem of how to understand two central concepts of Aristotle's philosophy: energeia and dunamis. While these terms seem ambiguous between actuality/potentiality and activity/capacity, Aristotle did not intend them to be so. Through a careful and detailed reading of Metaphysics Theta, the author argues that we can solve the problem by rejecting both ‘actuality’ and ‘activity’ as translations of energeia, and by working out an analogical conception of energeia. This approach enables the author to discern a hitherto unnoticed connection between Plato's Sophist and Aristotle's Metaphysics Theta, and to give satisfying interpretations of the major claims that Aristotle makes in Metaphysics Theta, the claim that energeia is prior in being to capacity (Theta 8), and the claim that any eternal principle must be perfectly good (Theta 9).

• Doing and being : an interpretation of Aristotle's Metaphysics theta

  2009

  57 Zitationen · DOI

  'Doing and Being' confronts the problem of how to understand two central concepts of Aristotle's philosophy: energeia and dunamis. These terms seem ambiguous between actuality/potentiality and activity/capacity, but Aristotle did not intend this.

• Counting the Unmoved Movers: Astronomy and Explanation in Aristotles Metaphysics XII.8

  2003

  Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie · 24 Zitationen · DOI

  Article Counting the Unmoved Movers: Astronomy and Explanation in Aristotles Metaphysics XII.8 was published on March 12, 2003 in the journal Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (volume 85, issue 1).

• Potentiality and the Matter of Composite Substance

  2006

  Phronesis · 8 Zitationen · DOI

  Abstract The paper examines the connection between Aristotle's theory of generated substance and his notion of potentiality in Metaphysics Θ.7. Aristotle insists that the matter of a substance is not what that substance is, against a competing view that was widely held both in his day and now. He coined the term thaten (εκεíνινOν) in order to make this point. The term highlights a systematic correspondence between the metaphysics of matter and of quality: the relationship between a thing and its matter is like the relationship between a quali fied thing and the relevant quality. It is argued that Aristotle's view about the matter of particular substances is connected with his view about ultimate matter. His conception of the matter of particular substances allows him to block an argument, from Plato's Timaeus, that ultimate matter must be something imperceptible and lacking all perceptible qualities. Aristotle uses the term thaten to introduce an alternative conception of ultimate matter on which ultimate matter might well be an ordinary perceptible kind of thing.

• Colloquium 7: Philosophy, Virtue, and Immortality in Plato’s Phaedo1

  2011

  Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy · 5 Zitationen · DOI

• Akt und Potenz

  2021

  J.B. Metzler eBooks · 1 Zitationen · DOI

  Die Erklärung der Begriffe ›Akt‹ und ›Potenz‹ erfordert es, zunächst den sprachlichen Hintergrund dieser Begriffe zu erörtern. Es handelt sich dabei nämlich um Ausnahmen in Aristoteles’ Philosophie. Während er sich meistens des Wortschatzes der natürlichen Sprache bedient, oder bisweilen termini technici von seinen Vorgängern übernimmt, sind energeia (Akt) und entelecheia (Wirklichkeit) höchstwahrscheinlich neu erfundene Wörter (sie kommen zumindest in keinem überlieferten Text vor Aristoteles vor).

• Faking Wisdom

  2020

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 1 Zitationen · DOI

  In the <italic>Sophist</italic>, Plato makes the Eleatic Visitor define sophistic as an expertise (τέχνη‎), in stark contrast to the account of sophistic in the <italic>Gorgias</italic>. This paper focuses on the almost entirely overlooked problem of what it could mean for sophistic to be an expertise. Sophistic, in the <italic>Sophist</italic>, is the ability to appear wise (without being so). This paper argues that sophistic counts as an expertise because the sophist can explain the causes of sophistic success and failure in terms of a true but incomplete account of wisdom as irrefutability. The account of wisdom as irrefutability is true, but it turns out that irrefutability, too, can be real or merely apparent. The full account of wisdom must include an account of true, by contrast with merely apparent, refutation. The knowledge of true refutation turns out to be identical with the knowledge of forms and their exclusion relations. Recent arguments of Lesley Brown’s that sophistic is not, by Plato’s own criteria, an expertise, are rebutted. The paper’s positive account of sophistic as an expertise relies on the distinction between likenesses (proportion-preserving copies) or appearances (proportion-distorting copies). This distinction, which has no parallel in earlier dialogues, makes it possible to see how there can be an expertise of producing merely apparent <italic>F</italic>s without knowledge of what is really <italic>F</italic>.

• Badness as Posteriority to Capacity in <i>Metaphysics</i> Theta 9

  2018

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 1 Zitationen · DOI

  A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

• Activity, actuality, and analogy: Comments on Aryeh Kosman, <i>The Activity of Being: An Essay on Aristotle's Ontology</i>

  2018

  European Journal of Philosophy · 1 Zitationen · DOI

• Comments on <i>Aristotle's Modal Syllogistic</i>

  2015

  Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 1 Zitationen · DOI

• VIII—The Best City in Plato’s<i>Republic</i>: Is It possible?

  2023

  Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society · DOI

  Abstract This paper argues that there are three distinct senses of possibility at play in the Republic’s discussion of whether the best city is possible: natural possibility, possibility for existing cities, and ideal possibility. It is argued that Socrates makes different claims about each of the three political proposals in Book v. (1) Women guardians are argued to be naturally possible. (2) Socrates considers it an open question whether the common family of guardians (the so-called ‘community of women and children’) is naturally possible. He argues, however, that it is ideally possible. (3) The philosopher-king is claimed to be possible in the strongest sense: it is not only naturally possible, it is also possible for existing cities. It is for this reason that the common family of guardians is ideally possible. This clarifies the sense in which the best city is best.

• Form/Materie

  2021

  J.B. Metzler eBooks · DOI

  Die Begriffe ›Form‹ und ›Materie‹ kommen bei Aristoteles zunächst in seiner Analyse der Veränderung vor. In Physik I 7 beispielsweise erläutert Aristoteles die verschiedenen Sinne, in denen man sagen kann, dass etwas zu etwas wird. Er unterscheidet zwischen einfacher und komplexer Rede: Wenn X Y wird, können X und Y mit je einem Wort bezeichnet warden (z. B. ›der Mensch wird gebildet‹) oder mit einem aus mindestens zwei Wörtern bestehenden Ausdruck (z. B. ›der ungebildete Mensch wird ein gebildeter Mensch‹).

• Parts, Wholes, and Quantity in Euclid’s Elements

  2016

  Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin) · DOI

  This paper develops a novel methodology, combining history of mathematics, philology, philosophy of mathematics, and logic. We develop a formal logical treatment of Euclid’s Elements , in which set theory plays no role, but the logic of part and whole does. We first consider a controversy about the nature of Euclid’s Elements Book II. For Euclid, the part-whole relation plays roles that are now played by arithmetic operations. This shows one crucial limitation of the controversial interpretation of this text as geometrical algebra. Returning to the beginning, we present a formal language for stating Propositions 1 through 10 (omitting 7) and proofs of them. Surprisingly, this has never been done (except for one recent approach, which differs from ours in an essential way). We conclude by sketching several significant ways in which this project can be further developed

• D-II-1 The Ontology of Space

  2011

  ETopoi

  (a) Topics and Objectives. Research Group D-II-1 investigates the metaphysics of space – in contrast to D-II-2 (»Place, Space, and Motion«), which focuses on the role of space in physical theory. The group’s work gives special emphasis to knowledge of space and its relationship to knowledge of the physical world generally. A central concern has been the relationship between space and bodies. One question concerns the way in which bodies (on some views) exclude one another from the regions of space they occupy. Is this phenomenon grounded in the physical, causally relevant properties of physical bodies, or rather in the metaphysical relationship between bodies and their locations or spatial extension? Plato’s Timaeus, with its pioneering and immensely influential theory of geometric elementary bodies, provides a particularly interesting test case for this question. An additional objective is to clarify Aristotle’s understanding of the metaphysics of bodies. There are numerous passages in Aristotle which contain remarks on the topic, but there are also numerous puzzles and difficulties about how to interpret those passages in a satisfying and coherent way. Moreover, a clearer understanding the metaphysics of bodies will enable a new understanding of various topics within Aristotle’s metaphysics. Especially important is the way the unity of sensible substances is related to their topological connectedness. Our third goal is to clarify the relationship between ancient geometrical and physical conceptions of body and of bodily limits by focusing on Sextus Empiricus’ parallel treatments in Against the Physicists and Against the Geometers. Alongside these topics concerning space and body, the group is researching the relationship in Aristotle between change, potentiality, and place. Our goal is to clarify the relationship between the ontological status of places and the ontological status of change. This involves a reconsideration of Aristotle’s definition of change and his classification of changes. (b) Methods. The group applies interdisciplinary methods – in particular ones drawn from philosophy, classical philology, and the history of science – to a variety of texts. The group engages in the reconstruction and critical interpretation of rational philosophical arguments. But such reconstructions are not the exclusive province of philosophers, and require expertise from classics about language, texts, and contexts, as well as expertise from the history of science about contemporary science, the development of particular scientific concepts, and the historiography of scientific concepts (e.g., how to think about the continuity and discontinuity of the concept of »space« across radically different cultural and intellectual contexts). (c) Status of Discussion. The group’s work has led to a highly productive focus, in several projects, on the relationship between space and body. This development has resulted from and led to further exchanges within the group, and connects much of the group’s work with a wider trend in ancient philosophy which deals with ancient concepts of body. Keywords: Ontology • Space • Knowledge • Body • Extension • Boundaries • Impenetrability • Continuity • Motion • Potentiality • Colocation • Place • Skepticism

• The Ontology of Space

  2011

  Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin) · DOI

  (a) Topics and Objectives. Research Group D-II-1 investigates the metaphysics of space – in contrast to D-II-2 (»Place, Space, and Motion«), which focuses on the role of space in physical theory. The group’s work gives special emphasis to knowledge of space and its relationship to knowledge of the physical world generally. A central concern has been the relationship between space and bodies. One question concerns the way in which bodies (on some views) exclude one another from the regions of space they occupy. Is this phenomenon grounded in the physical, causally relevant properties of physical bodies, or rather in the metaphysical relationship between bodies and their locations or spatial extension? Plato’s Timaeus, with its pioneering and immensely influential theory of geometric elementary bodies, provides a particularly interesting test case for this question. An additional objective is to clarify Aristotle’s understanding of the metaphysics of bodies. There are numerous passages in Aristotle which contain remarks on the topic, but there are also numerous puzzles and difficulties about how to interpret those passages in a satisfying and coherent way. Moreover, a clearer understanding the metaphysics of bodies will enable a new understanding of various topics within Aristotle’s metaphysics. Especially important is the way the unity of sensible substances is related to their topological connectedness. Our third goal is to clarify the relationship between ancient geometrical and physical conceptions of body and of bodily limits by focusing on Sextus Empiricus’ parallel treatments in Against the Physicists and Against the Geometers. Alongside these topics concerning space and body, the group is researching the relationship in Aristotle between change, potentiality, and place. Our goal is to clarify the relationship between the ontological status of places and the ontological status of change. This involves a reconsideration of Aristotle’s definition of change and his classification of changes. (b) Methods. The group applies interdisciplinary methods – in particular ones drawn from philosophy, classical philology, and the history of science – to a variety of texts. The group engages in the reconstruction and critical interpretation of rational philosophical arguments. But such reconstructions are not the exclusive province of philosophers, and require expertise from classics about language, texts, and contexts, as well as expertise from the history of science about contemporary science, the development of particular scientific concepts, and the historiography of scientific concepts (e.g., how to think about the continuity and discontinuity of the concept of »space« across radically different cultural and intellectual contexts). (c) Status of Discussion. The group’s work has led to a highly productive focus, in several projects, on the relationship between space and body. This development has resulted from and led to further exchanges within the group, and connects much of the group’s work with a wider trend in ancient philosophy which deals with ancient concepts of body.

• Place, Space, and Motion

  2011

  Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin) · DOI

  (a) Topics and Goals. The Junior Research Group »Place, Space and Motion« investigates the role of spatial concepts in physical theories in the millennium from Plato (4th century BCE) through Philoponus and Simplicius (6th century CE). In particular, we examine the explicit theoretical views of ancient physicists and philosophers concerning space, the spatial features of bodies, and the existence of isomorphisms among space, change, and time. Projects are devoted to issues in Plato’s Timaeus and Aristotle’s Physics, and to the interwoven reception of these texts in Middle Platonism and Late Platonism. We trace the evolving answers given to such central questions as whether space is metaphysically basic or is rather dependent upon bodies or even non-spatial entities (such as souls); the possibility of empty space; the causal role of space in nature; how spatial structures make certain kinds of change possible or necessary. The group aims to produce a series of essays and commentaries examining key texts of Plato and Aristotle and tracing the reception and transformation of their views in Middle- and Late Platonism. (b) Methods. The group engages in close reading and interpretation of ancient texts, with the aim of constructing a history of engagement with the questions indicated above. The main areas of expertise brought to bear on the relevant texts lie in classical philology, history of ideas, history of science, and systematic philosophy. In a weekly research seminar, individual research projects and results are presented in detail and discussed in the light of these varied disciplines and skill sets. (c) State of Discussion. Relevant texts are interpreted both internally and in the light of their relationships with earlier sources and later readings. In this way a narrative is emerging of development and interrelationship among ancient theories of space – a narrative with some shape and coherence, but without the suppression of details and uncertainties. The group is also beginning to pay more attention to epistemological issues, concerning the sources of theoretical knowledge about space, and the evolving standards of argument, justification, and presentation of such knowledge.

• D-II-2 Place, Space, and Motion

  2011

  ETopoi

  (a) Topics and Goals. The Junior Research Group »Place, Space and Motion« investigates the role of spatial concepts in physical theories in the millennium from Plato (4th century BCE) through Philoponus and Simplicius (6th century CE). In particular, we examine the explicit theoretical views of ancient physicists and philosophers concerning space, the spatial features of bodies, and the existence of isomorphisms among space, change, and time. Projects are devoted to issues in Plato’s Timaeus and Aristotle’s Physics, and to the interwoven reception of these texts in Middle Platonism and Late Platonism. We trace the evolving answers given to such central questions as whether space is metaphysically basic or is rather dependent upon bodies or even non-spatial entities (such as souls); the possibility of empty space; the causal role of space in nature; how spatial structures make certain kinds of change possible or necessary. The group aims to produce a series of essays and commentaries examining key texts of Plato and Aristotle and tracing the reception and transformation of their views in Middle- and Late Platonism. (b) Methods. The group engages in close reading and interpretation of ancient texts, with the aim of constructing a history of engagement with the questions indicated above. The main areas of expertise brought to bear on the relevant texts lie in classical philology, history of ideas, history of science, and systematic philosophy. In a weekly research seminar, individual research projects and results are presented in detail and discussed in the light of these varied disciplines and skill sets. (c) State of Discussion. Relevant texts are interpreted both internally and in the light of their relationships with earlier sources and later readings. In this way a narrative is emerging of development and interrelationship among ancient theories of space – a narrative with some shape and coherence, but without the suppression of details and uncertainties. The group is also beginning to pay more attention to epistemological issues, concerning the sources of theoretical knowledge about space, and the evolving standards of argument, justification, and presentation of such knowledge. Keywords: Physics • Topology • Continuity • Matter • Void • Plato’s Timaeus • Neoplatonism • Aristotelian • Commentary

• Themen

  2011

  J.B. Metzler eBooks · DOI

  Die Erklärung der Begriffe ›Akt‹ und ›Potenz‹ erfordert es, zunächst den sprachlichen Hintergrund dieser Begriffe zu erörtern. Es handelt sich dabei nämlich um Ausnahmen in Aristoteles' Philosophie. Während er sich meistens des Wortschatzes der natürlichen Sprache bedient, oder bisweilen termini technici von seinen Vorgängern übernimmt, sind energeia (Akt) und entelecheia (Wirklichkeit) höchstwahrscheinlich neu erfundene Wörter (sie kommen zumindest in keinem überlieferten Text von Aristoteles vor). Auch ›Potenz‹ (dynamis) wurde vor Aristoteles noch nicht in der Weise verwendet, dass es dem Begriff ›Akt‹ (energeia) entgegengesetzt wird. Dynamis war bereits vor Aristoteles ein gebräuchliches griechisches Wort, welches schon damals eine wichtige Stellung in den hippokratischen Schriften und in Platons Dialogen eingenommen hatte. Jedoch bedeutete das Wort dynamis vor Aristoteles ›Vermögen‹, ›Fähigkeit‹, ›Macht‹ oder ›Kraft‹, und sein Gegenteil ›Unfähigkeit‹ oder ›Machtlosigkeit‹. Zusätzlich verkompliziert sich die Situation dadurch, dass dynamis von Aristoteles nicht nur ›Akt‹ (energeia), sondern auch einem anderen, neu erfundenen Wort, nämlich ›Vollständigkeit‹ bzw. auch ›Wirklichkeit‹ (entelecheia), entgegengesetzt wird.

• 12 Being‐in‐Capacity and Matter (Theta 7)

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract This chapter continues the discussion of Theta 7, focusing on matter in connection with being-in-incapacity. The passage deals with two connected issues: the way in which a composite substance is related to its own matter, and the question of what the ultimate matter underlying all natural changes must be like. The chapter shows how Aristotle's adjectival conception of matter helps make possible his claim that there are composite substances. Against the background of the rival conception of matter, we will be able to understand both the internal coherence of this text and its philosophical significance.

• 5 Powers and Possibilities: The Megarics (Theta 3)

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract This chapter analyzes the third chapter of Metaphysics Theta, where Aristotle discusses the view of ‘certain people; for instance the Megarics’. Aristotle says that these people espouse a view about ‘can’ statements that sounds bizarre on first hearing: something can do something only when it is engaged in doing it. Aristotle does not explain why they held their view. And one wonders why Aristotle bothers to respond to the view, given that he himself says that it is easy to see that intolerable consequences follow from it (1046b32-3). It is argued that Aristotle was interested the vagueness of ‘can’ statements: he wanted to use the Megarics as a foil in order to clarify and make more precise what it takes to have the power to do something. The Megarics failed to distinguish between the conditions under which a thing has a power and the conditions under which a power is exercised. A further important theme is thereby sounded: the relationship between powers and their exercise, which is intimately connected with the relationship between capacities and their energeiai.

• 7 The Exercise of Powers (Theta 5)

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract This chapter analyzes Theta 5, where Aristotle resumes the topic of rational powers that is so important in Theta 2. While Theta 2 had set out his fundamental conception of rational powers, Theta 5 goes on to make a substantial claim about them: in any exercise of a rational power, something else is in control of it. The picture of animate powers that emerges is this: if a power is not innate, and hence must be acquired, then it is acquired by engaging in the action that it is a power for. Sometimes, the resulting power is a habit. Sometimes, the resulting power is rational; that is, a power that consists in rational comprehension. Theta 2 has already argued that rational powers are of opposites. Theta 5 argues on this basis for a further claim about these powers: there is something else in control of them.

• 1 Peace between the Gods and Giants

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract The ninth book of Aristotle's Metaphysics — Book Theta — develops a theory of causal powers, and then distinguishes two ways of being: being-in-capacity and being-in-energeia (where energeia is, as a first gloss, the exercise of a capacity). The discussion culminates in a challenging and controversial claim: energeia has priority in being over capacity (dunamis). This chapter attempts to explain this claim: its meaning, its justification, and its philosophical import.

• 10 Interlude: The<i>Energeia‐Kinēsis</i>Distinction (Theta 6)

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract This chapter comments briefly on a remarkable passage: 1048b18-35. The passage distinguishes two kinds of actions (praxeis): some are changes (kinēseis), others are energeia. It manages to have both of the following distinctions: it is one of the most discussed, and most often presupposed, passages in Aristotle, but it is also one of the greatest textual cruxes in the Aristotelian corpus. Ryle took the Passage to have anticipated his own views about the logic of verbs such as ‘see’. This has spurred extensive discussion. Yet some manuscripts of the Metaphysics omit the passage entirely. Even the manuscripts that do contain the passage have it in a very corrupt form.

• 2 The Introduction to<i>Metaphysics</i>Theta (Theta 1)

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract This chapter considers how Metaphysics Theta presents its own project. Two topics are of special importance. First, it has been thought that Book Theta is to be read as a continuation or completion of Book Eta, which immediately precedes it. It is argued that this is a mistake. Second, Aristotle sketches a complex and indirect strategy for his discussion, a strategy that he does in fact pursue. This strategy needs to be clearly understood.

• 9 Being‐in‐<i>Energeia</i>(Theta 6)

  2009

  DOI

  Abstract This chapter analyzes the passage of greatest importance for any interpretation of the notion of energeia: Theta 6. It is there, and only there in the entire extant corpus, that Aristotle undertakes to say as fully and clearly as he can what energeia is. The text is divided into three parts: (1) the introductory lines; (2) a preliminary set of remarks about energeia, which contrast it with being-incapacity; and (3) a set of analogous cases of energeia. The chapter treats (3) in two stages. For in (3), Aristotle not only makes his best attempt to help us understand energeia, he also tells us that there is no explicit definition of energeia to be given. All we can do is to grasp energeia by considering the analogy among the various cases of energeia. In order to understand this claim about the semantics of ‘energeia’, analogy is discussed followed by the analogous cases.

• Freie Universität Berlin

  GRK 1939/2: Philosophie, Wissenschaft und die Wissenschaften: Der Dialog zwischen Formen und Modellen des Wissens im antiken griechischen, römischen und arabischen Denken

  university

• Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte

  GRK 1939/2: Philosophie, Wissenschaft und die Wissenschaften: Der Dialog zwischen Formen und Modellen des Wissens im antiken griechischen, römischen und arabischen Denken

  other

Name

Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere

Titel

Prof. Dr.

Fakultät

Philosophische Fakultät

Institut

Institut für Philosophie

Arbeitsgruppe

Antike Philosophie und Wissensgeschichte

Telefon

+49 30 2093- 98081

HU-FIS-Profil

Quelle ↗

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26.4.2026, 01:02:29