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Here is a battle royal between the Neoplatonist Simplicius and the Aristotelian Alexander on the origins, if any, of the universe. A parallel battle had already been conducted by Philoponus and Proclus, arguing that Plato's "Timaeus" gives a beginning to the universe. Simplicius denies this.

Philoponus was a brilliant Christian philosopher, steeped in Neoplatanism, who turned the pagans' ideas against them. Here he attacks the devout Athenian pagan philosopher, Proclus, defending the Christian view that the universe had a beginning against Proclus' arguments to the contrary.

Michael of Ephesus' commentary on Aristotle's On the Generation of Animals is the earliest surviving, and perhaps first, commentary on this foundational zoological treatise. Composed in the 12th century as part of the Aristotelian revival which took place under the patronage of Constantinople's Anna Comnena, this commentary represents the state of the art of Byzantine and ancient scholarship on the philosophical questions concerning the origins and development of life. Translated here for the first time into a modern language, Michael's commentary on Books I-II of Aristotle's On the Generation of Animals focuses on Aristotle's core philosophical commitments concerning animal generation: the parts of animals responsible for reproduction, the contributions of males and females, the role of nature and the divine, the creation of different kinds of soul, and the stages of embryonic development. Throughout the commentary, Michael offers unique and insightful readings of Aristotle's text and records the opinions of his predecessors and contemporaries on questions of biology. The treatise is vital reading for those studying Aristotle's biology as well as the Byzantine renaissance of biological inquiry.

This is the first translation into English of the commentary of the sixth-century philosopher Philoponus on Aristotle's Physics Book 4, chapters 6-9. In this section of his commentary, Philoponus attacks Aristotle's views on void (or vacuum) and motion.

This translation into English of part of the commentary of the sixth-century philosopher Philoponus on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics deals with the important topic of explanation though scientific demonstration.

Boethius (c 480-c. 525) wrote his highly influential second commentary on Aristotle's On Interpretation in Latin, but using the style of the Greek commentaries on Aristotle. This title reveals to us how On Interpretation was understood not only by himself, but also by some of the best Greek interpreters, especially Alexander and Porphyry.

Argues for the Christian view that matter can be created by God out of nothing.

This is the first complete translation into a modern language of the first part of the pagan Neoplatonist Simplicius of Cilicia's commentary on Aristotle's argument that the world neither came to be nor will perish.

A volume in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, a pathbreaking enterprise which for the first time translates the commentaries of the Neoplatonic commentators on the works of Aristotle into English.

Supporting the twelve volumes of translation of Simplicius' great commentary on Aristotle's Physics, all published by Bloomsbury in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, between 1992 and 2021, this volume presents a general introduction to the commentary. It covers the philosophical aims of Simplicius' commentaries on the Physics and the related text On the Heaven; Simplicius' methods and his use of earlier sources; and key themes and comparison with Philoponus' commentary on the same text.Simplicius treats the Physics as a universal study of the principles of all natural things underlying the account of the cosmos in On the Heaven. In both treatises, he responds at every stage to the now lost Peripatetic commentaries of Alexander of Aphrodisias, which set Aristotle in opposition to Plato and to earlier thinkers such as Parmenides, Empedocles and Anaxagoras. On each passage, Simplicius after going through Alexander's commentary raises difficulties for the text of Aristotle as interpreted by Alexander. Then, after making observations about details of the text, and often going back to a direct reading of the older philosophers (for whom he is now often our main source, as he is for Alexander's commentary), he proposes his own solution to the difficulties, introduced with a modest 'perhaps', which reads Aristotle as in harmony with Plato and earlier thinkers.

This series translates the 15,000 pages of philosophical writings by the ancient Greek commentators on Aristotle, written mainly between 200 and 600 AD. Now translated into English, these works include introductions, notes and comprehensive indexes, filling a gap in the history of European thought.

This commentary records, through notes taken by Hermias, Syrianus' seminar on Plato's Phaedrus, one of the world's most influential celebrations of erotic beauty and love. It is the only Neoplatonic commentary on Plato's Phaedrus to have survived in its entirety. Further interest comes from the recorded interventions by Syrianus' pupils - including those by Proclus, his eventual successor as head of the Athenian school, who went on to teach Hermias' father, Ammonius. The second of two volumes of Hermias' commentary, the chapters translated here begin with a discussion of how the discarnate soul is visualised as a winged chariot team whose charioteer may gain some glimpse of beauty itself, which can explain subsequent erotic longing. This volume provides a translation is accompanied by explanatory notes, an introduction detailing the significance and context of the treatise and a scholarly apparatus including multiple indexes, glossaries and a bibliography.