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Project

Axiomatic-deductive method and more geometrico presentation in Proclus

The modern tradition of writing philosophical treatises “in the manner of the geometers” (cf., e.g., Spinoza) has an ancient pedigree. The earliest example is held to be Proclus’ Elements of Theology, modelling itself after Euclid’s Elements. Our hypothesis is that Proclus also drew inspiration from an earlier text in which the geometric method had already been applied to philosophy, notably Aristotle’s Phys. VI. The argumentative structure of this text was itself, so we claim, modeled on pre-Euclidean geometry. An analysis of Proclus’ Elements of Physics will prove that Proclus realised that Aristotle made use of basically the same argumentative model as Euclid. Thus we can reconstruct for the first time the “pre-history” of the application of the so-called geometrical method in philosophy.
Date:1 Oct 2019 →  30 Sep 2023
Keywords:Axiomatic-deductive method, More geometrico, Proclus, Aristotle, Euclid, Platonism
Disciplines:History of philosophy