John Philoponus facts for kids

John Philoponus (born around 490 AD, died around 570 AD) was a smart thinker from the Byzantine Empire. He was a philologist (someone who studies language and literature), a Christian theologian, and a writer of many philosophical and religious books. He was born in Alexandria, a famous city in ancient Egypt.

John Philoponus was known for being a very original thinker. He often disagreed with the popular ideas of his time, especially those from the famous Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato. He questioned old ways of thinking and helped start new ideas in science, like looking at things through experiments.

One of his most important ideas was the "theory of impetus." This was an early version of what we now call inertia. It explains that when you throw something, it keeps moving because it has a kind of energy given to it. This was a big step away from Aristotle's older ideas about how things move.

Later in his life, John Philoponus focused on defending Christian beliefs. He argued against the idea that the world had always existed, which was a common belief among non-Christians. He also wrote about Christology, which is the study of Jesus Christ. After he died, some of his ideas were seen as incorrect by the Church, and he was declared a heretic (someone whose beliefs are considered wrong by religious authorities) in 680–81 AD.

His nickname, Philoponus, means "lover of hard work" or "diligent" in Greek. This name came from a group in Alexandria who were known for debating pagan (non-Christian) philosophers.

Even though his ideas were later condemned, his writings were still very important. Copies of his work were translated into Arabic and studied by many Muslim philosophers. His ideas also influenced thinkers in Europe, like Bonaventure and Jean Buridan, and Jewish scholars like Maimonides. His challenges to Aristotle's physics were especially important for later scientists like Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Galileo Galilei, who even mentioned Philoponus in their own works.

Life and Learning

John Philoponus's early life is not well known, but it's likely he came from a Christian family. He studied at the famous school in Alexandria and started publishing his writings around 510 AD. He was a student of Ammonius Hermiae, a Neoplatonic philosopher.

Challenging Aristotle's Ideas

At first, Philoponus's writings were based on Ammonius's lessons. But soon, he started to develop his own independent thoughts. He wrote commentaries and critiques of Aristotle's works, especially On the Soul and Physics.

In his commentary on Aristotle's Physics, Philoponus became one of the first thinkers to disagree with Aristotle's ideas about how things move. He proposed his "theory of impetus". This theory says that when an object is moved, it gets an "impetus" (a kind of force or energy) that keeps it going. The object stops moving when this impetus runs out. This was a very clever idea and was an early step towards the modern concept of inertia in physics.

Philoponus even used a simple experiment to show Aristotle was wrong. He said:

But this [view of Aristotle] is completely erroneous, and our view may be completely corroborated by actual observation more effectively than by any sort of verbal argument. For if you let fall from the same height two weights, one many times heavier than the other you will see that the ratio of the times required for the motion does not depend [solely] on the weights, but that the difference in time is very small. ... — John Philoponus' refutation of the Aristotelian claim that the elapsed time for a falling body is inversely proportional to its weight

This means he observed that heavy and light objects fall almost at the same speed, which was different from what Aristotle taught.

Historians like Pierre Duhem believe that this idea makes Philoponus one of the "great geniuses of Antiquity" and a "principal precursor to modern science."

Focusing on Christian Beliefs

Around 529 AD, Philoponus wrote a book called On the Eternity of the World Against Proclus. In this book, he systematically argued against the idea that the world had always existed. This idea was a big part of how non-Christians attacked the Christian belief in Creation. Fighting against this idea became a major focus for Philoponus in his writings.

He brought new ideas to scientific thought based on three main points:

• The universe was created by one single God.
• Things in the sky (like stars) and things on Earth follow the same physical laws.
• Stars are not divine or gods themselves.

With these ideas, Philoponus challenged other philosophers, like Simplicius of Cilicia. He questioned Aristotle's views on how the universe works and how things move. He argued that movement could happen even in a void (empty space). He also believed that God created all matter with its physical properties and natural laws, allowing the universe to go from chaos to an organized state. His writings suggest he used methods similar to modern science and even performed real experiments.

Later Theological Works

Because of his strong opinions and challenges to traditional ideas, Philoponus became unpopular with some of his fellow philosophers. Around 530 AD, he seems to have stopped studying philosophy and focused more on theology.

Around 550 AD, he wrote a theological work called On the Creation of the World. This book was a commentary on the Bible's story of creation. In this work, he applied his "theory of impetus" to the movement of planets. This was important because Aristotle had different explanations for how heavenly bodies moved compared to how objects on Earth moved. Philoponus's work was one of the first attempts to create a unified theory of dynamics (how things move) for both Earth and the heavens. He also argued that all material objects were created by God.

Around 553 AD, Philoponus contributed to the Second Council of Constantinople, a big meeting about Christian beliefs. He wrote about Christology, explaining his views on how Jesus Christ was both divine and human. He also wrote about the Trinity (the Christian belief in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Lasting Impact

After his death, John Philoponus's ideas about the Trinity were declared incorrect by the Church. This happened at the Third Council of Constantinople in 680–681 AD. This decision limited how much his ideas spread in the following centuries in the Christian world.

However, his works were translated into Syriac and Arabic, and many of his writings survived and were studied by Arab scholars. Some of his works also continued to circulate in Europe in Greek or Latin versions. His "theory of impetus" was later picked up by Jean Buridan in the 14th century, which was a key step towards modern physics.

Philoponus's ideas about space also influenced later thinkers during the Renaissance. His concept of space as an immaterial, three-dimensional area where objects are located influenced artists and architects like Leon Battista Alberti and scientists like Galileo Galilei.

Main Writings

John Philoponus wrote at least 40 books on many different subjects, including grammar, math, physics, chemistry, and theology. Here are some of his important works:

• Commentary on Aristotle's Physics – In this book, he challenged Aristotle's ideas about time, space, empty space (void), matter, and how things move.
• On the Eternity of the World against Proclus – He argued against the idea that the world had always existed.
• On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle – Another work where he disagreed with Aristotle's ideas about the universe.
• On the Creation of the World – A book explaining the Creation story from the Book of Genesis using philosophical ideas.
• On the Use and Construction of the Astrolabe – This is the oldest surviving Greek book about the astrolabe, a tool used for astronomy.
• Arbiter – A book explaining his philosophical views on Christology.

Understanding His Philosophical Commentaries

Philoponus's early philosophical writings often tried to explain the differences between matter, how things extend in space, where they are, and different kinds of change. For example, in his book On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle, he described Aristotle's ideas about natural philosophy. Both Aristotle and Philoponus agreed that different kinds of changes exist in terms of their form and matter.

Aristotle believed in "places" but didn't think empty space existed. Philoponus took ideas from Plato and Aristotle and developed them further. He tried to combine the idea of a uniform space with Aristotle's system. Philoponus argued that objects themselves need a certain amount of space to exist. Unlike Plato, who believed in non-physical things, Philoponus focused on physical objects, similar to Aristotle.

Philoponus's idea that you could draw identical shapes from any point in space made him seem like a very new and important thinker. This idea influenced later Renaissance scholars, including Gianfranceso Pico della Mirandola and Galileo Galilei. So, Philoponus's idea of perspective showed space as an invisible, three-dimensional area where objects are located.

Theological Writings

Philoponus's main theological work on Christology is called Arbiter. He wrote it shortly before the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD. This work became famous for its ideas about resurrection. Similar to his ideas in Physics, Philoponus stated in Arbiter that our physical bodies, even after they decay, will eventually be brought back into being by God.

See also

In Spanish: Juan Filópono para niños

• Byzantine science