Apeiron: A Preliminary Understanding

Kočandrle, Radim; Couprie, Dirk L.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-49754-9_2

Radim Kočandrle³ &
Dirk L. Couprie⁴

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Philosophy ((BRIEFSPHILOSOPH))

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Abstract

In the fifty-four pages of the first chapter of his book Infinity in the Presocratics, Sweeney discusses “twenty-three noteworthy studies on Anaximander’s to apeiron”.

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Notes

1.
Sweeney (1972, 49).
2.
Sweeney (1972, 50).
3.
Mansfeld’s magnificent study (Mansfeld 2010), despite its title “Bothering the Infinite: Anaximander in the Nineteenth Century and Beyond”, focuses on (mainly one line, which he calls the ‘mystical, of) the interpretation of Anaximander’s fragment, rather than on the interpretation of ἄπειρον itself.
4.
Cf. Kahn (1994, 231–233). See also LSJ, s.v. ἄπειρος; ἀπείρων.
5.
Aristotle, Phys. 204a2–7 . Translation Wicksteed and Cornford (1957).
6.
Aristotle, Phys. 204a14 . Translations Wicksteed and Cornford (1957) and LSJ, s.v. ἀδιέξοδος. Kahn (1994), 233, reads ἀδιεξίτητος, which is used in Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.470 and 9.471 .
7.
Kahn (1994, 233 and note 1).
8.
Cf. Guthrie (1985, 85).
9.
Cf. KRS (2007, 109–110).
10.
Cf. Gottschalk (1965, 53).
11.
McDiarmid (1953, 86, 132–133).
12.
Kahn (1994, 233).
13.
Cf. Graham (2006, 31 and 34), our italics.
14.
Aristotle, Phys. 203b6–28 = DK 12A15 = Gr Axr16 = TP2 Ar2.
15.
Aristotle, ibidem, translation slightly adapted.
16.
Cf. Heidel (1912, 228).
17.
Cf. Burnet (1930, 53, 58).
18.
Cf. Jaeger (1947, 24).
19.
Cf. Cornford (1952, 171).
20.
Cf. Guthrie (1985, 85).
21.
Kahn (1994, 233–237).
22.
Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.155.30 = DK 59B2 = Gr Axg11. Translation slightly adapted.
23.
Bicknell (1966, 44 and 37–38).
24.
Cf. Graham (2006, 30).
25.
Guthrie (1985, 86).
26.
Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.24.26 = DK 13A5 = Gr Axs3 = TP2 Ar163 = TP2 As133, translation slightly adapted. A similar text in Simplicius, In Arist. De caelo 7.615.8–21 = TP2 Ar192, not in DK and Gr.
27.
See Introduction, note 4.
28.
See Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.27.2–23 = DK 59A41 = Gr Axg32 = TP2 Ar164 and 9.154.14–23 = DK 12A9a = Gr Axr15 = TP2 Ar170. We will discuss these passages in Chap. 4 more thoroughly.
29.
See Dührsen (2013, 274–277).
30.
Cf. Gotschalk (1965, 51–52), Dancy (1989, 170–172).
31.
Gottschalk (1965, 51).
32.
Dancy (1989, 170).
33.
Cf. Teichmüller (1874, 57).
34.
Dancy (1989, n. 158, 159, 161).
35.
Graham (2006, 30).
36.
Cf. Guthrie (1985, 86 and 120).
37.
Aristotle, Phys. 187a12–23 = DK 12A9 and 12A16 = Gr Axr13 = TP2 Ar1. The first sentence does not appear in DK.
38.
Cf. Cherniss (1935, 375–379).
39.
Cf. Vlastos (1947, 172); in Furley and Allen (1970, 79).
40.
Stokes (1976, 12).
41.
Hippolytus, Ref. I.6.1 = DK 12A11 = DK 12B2 = Gr Axr10 = TP2 Ar75.
42.
Aristotle, Phys. 203b14–16 = DK 12A15 = DK 12B3 = Gr Axr16 = TP2 Ar2.
43.
Pseudo-Plutarch, Strom. 2 = DK 12A10 = Gr Axr19 = TP2 Ar101; translation slightly adapted.
44.
Cf. Aristotle, Phys. 204b22 = DK 12A16 = Gr Axr17 = TP2 Ar3; Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.479.33 = TP2 Ar176, not in DK and Gr.; Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.24.13 = DK 12A9 = Gr Axr9 = TP2 Ar163. These texts will be discussed in the following chapter.
45.
Finkelberg (1993, 255, 254, and 253).
46.
Burkert (1963, 118–119).
47.
Cf. Burkert (1963, esp. 115). See also: West (1971, 91).
48.
Cf. Fehling (1994, passim).
49.
Cf. Lebedev (1978).
50.
Asmis (1981, 279 and 283).
51.
Asmis (1981, 284). For similar formulations, see also pp. 295–279.
52.
Conche (1991, 81).
53.
Conche (1991, 82 and 128).
54.
Conche (1991, 138).
55.
Cf. Conche (1991, 142–143).
56.
Cf. Couprie (2011, 90–91), Dancy (1989, 171–172), Gottschalk (1965, 51–52), Graham (2006, 29–30), KRS (2007, 109–111).
57.
Aetius, Plac. I.3.3 = DK 12A14 = Gr Axr18 = TP2 Ar53 = Eusebius, Praep. evan. 14.14.2 = TP2 Ar103; cf. Stobaeus, Anthol. 1.1.29b = TP2 Ar143, see Dox 277.
58.
DL II.1 = DK 12A1 = Gr Axr1 = TP2 Ar92. Translation slightly adapted.
59.
Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.149.15–17 = TP2 Ar168, not in DK and Gr; our translation.
60.
Cf. DL II.2 = DK 12A1 = Gr Axr1 = TP Ar92.
61.
Cf. Blanck (1997).
62.
It would be interesting to consider in this context the use of the article in archaic Greek in general, as, for instance, in Snell (1955, Chap. 12, 299 ff). Here, however, we confine ourselves to the question whether Anaximander did use ἄπειρον only as a predicate and not in the substantive form τὸ ἄπειρον.
63.
See, e.g., Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.140.34 = DK 29B1 = Gr Zno7; 9.140.27 = DK 29B3 = Gr Zno13; 9.29.22–26 ; 9.109.20–25 = DK 30B2 = Gr Mls10; 9.109.31 = DK 30B3 = Gr Mls11; 9.110.3 = DK 30B4 = Gr Mls12; 9.111.18 = DK 30B7 = Gr Mls15; Simplicius, In Arist. De caelo 7.557.16 = DK 30B6 = Gr Mls14.
64.
See DL VIII.85 = DK 44B1 = Gr Phs7; Stobaeus, Anthol. 1.21.7a = DK44B 2 = Gr Phs8; 1.21.7d = DK44B6 = Gr Phs11.
65.
Cf. Aetius, Plac. I.3.10 = DK 44A9 = Gr Phs9.
66.
Cf. Aristotle, Met. 986a24 = DK 58B5, not in Gr.
67.
Cf. Aristotle, Phys. 203a3–18 .
68.
Cf. Plato, Philb. 17e3–5 .
69.
Cf. Aristotle, Phys. 207a21–23 .
70.
Cf. Lebedev (1978, I, 43–44).
71.
Cherniss (1951, 325).
72.
Cf. Guthrie (1985, 79). See also Lebedev (1978, I, 44–45).
73.
Cf. LSJ, lemmata ἄπειρος and πεῖρα.
74.
Tannery (1904).
75.
Cf. Drozdek (2008, 19).
76.
Tannery (1904, 707).
77.
Tumarkin (1943, 56–8).
78.
Tumarkin (1943, 56, n. 1).
79.
Tumarkin (1943, 56).
80.
Lumpe (1952, 38).
81.
Tannery (1904, 704) even suggests that the two words might have the same root, although he admits it is less probable.
82.
Cf. Kahn (1994, 168).
83.
Tannery (1904, 706–7).
84.
Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.24.13–25.1 = DK 13A5 = Gr Axs3 = TP2 Ar163.
85.
Simplicius, In Arist. Phys. 9.154.14–23 = DK 12A9a = Gr Axr15 = TP2 Ar170.
86.
Kahn (1994, 232) (our italics).
87.
Kahn (1994, 234).
88.
Kahn (1994, 237), our italics.
89.
West (1971, 78 and 79).
90.
Freeman (1966, 56), our italics.
91.
Graham (2006, 31 and 34), our italics.

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Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Radim Kočandrle
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Dirk L. Couprie

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Kočandrle, R., Couprie, D.L. (2017). Apeiron: A Preliminary Understanding. In: Apeiron . SpringerBriefs in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49754-9_2

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49754-9_2
Published: 04 January 2017
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