Original scientific paper

Platonism in Herman Dalmatin’s De essentiis. Towards the Question on the Sources of Herman’s Philosophy

Erna Banić-Pajnić ; Institute for Philosophy, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Due to specifically formulated topic related to the work of Hermannus Dalmata De essentiis, first the question of methodological character seems to impose itself in the elaboration of this topic. The question is whether the analytical approach, which consists of the attempt to single out one layer of Herman’s philosophical thought, in this case the “Platonic” one, is an adequate approach to Herman’s work, carrying in mind the basic character and fundamental intention of his work, which is essentially a synthesis. The next question is whether it is possible at all to extract from De essentiis one particular layer of Herman’s thought with regard to the fact that in his work the elements of different traditions of thought are combined into a single coherent interpretation of the world. It is most closely related to one of the key features of the medieval reception of ancient philosophers – most of them, including Plato, are in fact known to the early middle age thinkers indirectly, through paraphrases, interpretations and quotations. Therefore, in our paper we primarily examine the way in which the philosophy of Plato could be and really was transmitted to Herman, whereby we emphasize the fact that, so far, all sources of Herman’s philosophy, especially Arabic, have not yet been sufficiently explored. Although Herman declared himself as a follower of Plato, the elements of Aristotle’s philosophy in his work (also mediated to him by the Arab authors), primarily thanks to the work of R. Lemay on Abu Ma’shar’s influence on Herman’s work, are explored to a greater extent than those of Plato’s philosophy. Therefore, in this paper we examine primarily the fundamental suppositions of “Platonism” in Herman’s work; first of all the main features of philosophical thinking of the representatives of the school of Chartres, with whom Herman was closely related, are briefly elaborated. The knowledge of Plato’s oeuvre, first of all through Calcidius’s translation and commentary of Timaeus, the impact of which in De essentiis is undeniable, must be brought in connexion with this school. Besides this translation of Timaeus, Western world in early 12th century knew Plato’s philosophy through some quotations in Cicero, Macrobius, Martianus Capella, Augustine and Boethius. This was so called Plato Latinus. But there are some other possible sources of Herman’s “Platonism” or more specifically, Neoplatonism, which are mentioned in our paper (so called Plato Arabus). We especially stress the importance of the question about Herman’s knowledge of the Theologia Aristotelis, one of the most important and influential work produced in al-Kindi’s translator school, which is actually the translation – paraphrasis of Plotin’s Enneads IV–VI. Through the analysis of the work De essentiis we are then trying to determine the basic characteristics of Herman “Platonism”. This analysis shows clearly that, not only in certain attitudes, but viewed as a whole, Herman’s work is basically of Neoplatonic character. In this regard, summarizing the main theses of Theologia Aristotelis, we are trying to answer the question in which way this writing, for a long time ascribed to Aristotle, could affect Herman’s attitudes of Neoplatonic inspiration in De essentiis. Based on a review of the fundamental features of Herman’s “Platonism” or, more precisely, “Neoplatonism”, in the final part of our paper we come to the conclusion that his philosophy in many of its features can be truly considered a forerunner of Renaissance Neoplatonism. So with Herman’s example too we can confirm the thesis of Raymond Klibansky of the continuity of medieval and Renaissance Neoplatonism.

Keywords

Hermannus Dalmata/Herman Dalmatin; Plato Arabus; Plato Latinus; Neoplatonism; De essentiis; Theologia Aristotelis

Hrčak ID:

158722

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/158722

Publication date:

17.6.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 1.770 *