In existographies, Simplicius (c.490-560) was a Greek pagan philosopher and Aristotelian commentator, noted for []
Quotes | On
The following are quotes on Simplicius:
“In fragment 71b, Simplicius says that although Democritus appeared (edokei) to have made use of ‘chance’ in his account of the formation of the worlds, in his more detailed discussion (entois merikoterois) he says that chance is not the cause of anything. That suggests that he merely seemed to ascribe cosmogony to chance, perhaps by speaking of it as a chance occurrence in the sense of an occurrence whose cause is unknown.”
— C. Taylor (1999), Commentary on Atomists’ Fragments [1]
Quotes | By
The following are quotes by Simplicius:
“The words ‘the ancient theory that denies chance’ [by Aristotle] seem to refer to Democritus; for although he appears to have made use of chance in his theory of the formation of the worlds, in his more detailed discussions he says that ‘chance is not the cause of anything’, but refers everything to other causes, e.g. the cause of finding treasure is digging or planting the olive, or of the bald man’s fracturing his skull is the eagle’s having dropped the tortoise to break its shell.”
— Simplicius (c.530), Fragment 71b; in: Commentary on Physics (196a14-15; 330.14-20) [1]
References
1. Taylor, C.C.W. (1999). The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus: Fragments: a Text and Translation with a Commentary by C.C.W. Taylor (Simplicius quote, 71b-c, pg. 92; §:Chance and Necessity, pgs. 188-95, discussion, pg. 190; about, pg. 264). University of Toronto Press.
External links
● Simplicius of Cilicia – Wikipedia.
