The topic of this dissertation was Ioannes Philoponus’ accounts of place, void and motion presented in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, IV, 1–9 in three rather controversial parts of the commentary, namely the digressions on place and void (Philop., in Phys., 557.8- 585.4, 675.12- 695.8, CAG XVII) and the corollary on the motion of projectiles, in which Philoponus articulates the impetus theory (Philop., in Phys., 639.3- 642.26).

Research

The topic of this dissertation was Ioannes Philoponus’ accounts of place, void and motion presented in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, IV, 1-9 in three rather controversial parts of the commentary, namely the digressions on place and void (Philop., in Phys., 557.8- 585.4, 675.12- 695.8, CAG XVII) and the corollary on the motion of projectiles, in which Philoponus articulates the impetus theory (Philop., in Phys., 639.3- 642.26). First, the dissertation examined the general form of the commentary (called θεωρία-λέξις ), the relationship of the running commentary with the digressions and the proem of the commentary and its role to the discussion of τόπος in the digressions. Second, the dissertation focused on three issues: first, Philoponus’ criticism against Aristotle, Themistius and the Stoics; second, the “ontology of place” established by Philoponus defining place as a bodiless three-dimensional extension different from the bodies that come to be in it; third, Philoponus’ treatment of the concept of the void as a decisive ingredient of his theory of place and motion.

The dissertation was successfully completed in 2013.