Beschreibung
Oxford, E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1681. Folio. Nice contemporary full calf with five raised bands and single gilt line-decorations to spine. Gilt title-label and gilt lettering to spine. Double blindstamped borders to boards. All edges of boards gilt. A bit of wear to hinges and capitals, but overall very nice. Internally very clean and fresh with only minimal, light occasional browning. With the book-plate of Gaddesden Library to inside of front board. Engraved device to title-page. (14), 312" (4), 88 pp. Rare first edition of the founding work of Western medieval philosophy, the main work by "the one important philosophical thinker to appear in Latin Christendom between Augustine. and Anselm." (Encycl. of Phil.). This magnum opus of medieval thought is considered the "final achievement" of ancient philosophy (Burch: Early Medieval Philosophy, 1951) and is one of the few true defining moments of medieval philosophy. It not only marks the beginning of Western medieval philosophy, it also anticipates German idealism. Kolakowski identifies "De divisione naturae" as the archetype of Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind (see "Main Currents of Marxism"), the Hegelians considered him the father of German idealism, and Hegel states that "Scholastic philosophy is considered to begin with John Scotus Erigena who flourished about the year 860, and who must not be confused with the Duns Scotus of a later date. With him true philosophy first begins, and his philosophy in the main coincides with the idealism of the Neo-Platonists." (From Hegel?s Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Part Two. Philosophy of the Middle Ages). As the dialectical reasoning in the ?De divisione naturae? prefigures Hegel, its theory of place and time as defining structures of the mind anticipates Kant. As Gordon A. Leff also points out, Eriugena stands out as the one original thinker in the period from Boethius to Anselm. He is responsible for a revival of philosophical thought which had remained largely dormant in Western Europe after the death of Boethius and creates the only philosophical system to emerge in more than half a millenia. He is the forerunner to speculative idealism, considered a ?Proclus of the West? (Hauréau, 1872) and the ?Father of Speculative Philosophy? (Huber, 1861). According to The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Eriugena is "the most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period. He is generally recognized to be both the outstanding philosopher (in terms of originality) of the Carolingian era and of the whole period of Latin philosophy stretching from Boethius to Anselm"" Gersh praises his notion of structure, which places him amongst modern writers rather than medieval ones, stating also that "(i)n some respects, Western medieval philosophy can be viewed as beginning with the brilliant and controversial ninth-century thinker JohnScotus Eriugena." (Gersh, p. 125). His magnum opus "synthesizes the philosophical accomplishments of fifteen centuries and appears as the final achievement of ancient philosophy" (Burch). Eriugena became extremely influential throughout the later Middle Ages and directly influenced Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard van Bingen, and Nicolas of Cusa. He also anticipates Thomas Aquinas in saying that one cannot know and believe a thing at the same time, and exercised a direct influence on modern philosophy. After the rediscovery of his magnum opus, which was printed for the first time in 1681 (the present work), his astonishingly modern train of thought and his immensely important philosophical system came to directly influence some of the most important thinkers of the modern era, most significantly probably Hegel. Eriugena is often referred to as ?the Hegel of the 9th century?, and he thus also became a primary influence upon Marx? dialectical form. Schopenhauer stresses the importance of the rediscovery of Eriugena with the present publication and says in Parerga and Paralopomena (vol. I) ? After Scotus. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 60092
Verkäufer kontaktieren
Diesen Artikel melden
