Byzantine philosophy

« important and most prolific of the Byzantine polymaths, Ioannes Italos, Theodoros of Smyrna, Eustratios of Nicaea and Michael of Ephesos.

The last two are better known as commentators on Aristotle.

The general outlook of the pre-eminent philosophers of this period, and the particular tendencies in their work, display the basic characteristics of Byzantine philosophy but with some distinctive features, such as an even stronger leaning towards the classical models of Greek philosophy and attempts to pursue a more autonomous line of inquiry into problems of knowledge, the natural world and human nature. The temporary conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Latin crusaders in 1204 shifted the centre of Byzantine intellectual life away from Constantinople.

The flowering of literature and learning in at Nicaea, in Asia Minor, and the presence there of excellent teachers and writers of philosophy such as Nikephoros Blemmydes and Theodoros II Laskaris led to the emergence of generations of scholars well versed in philosophy and science. These men produced an impressive body of original work, especially in astronomy, during the politically troubled but culturally brilliant Paleologan period (1261-1453), the final two centuries of the Byzantine Empire. Outstanding among this group were Theodoros Metochites, Nikephoros Gregoras, Theodoros Choumnos, Georgios Pachymeres, Maximos Planoudes, Gennadios-Scholarios and Bessarion. This splendid renaissance which coincided with the end of the empire also spread from the capital to other centres such as Thessalonika and Mystras.

Thessalonika was associated with the fourteenth-century Hesychast movement of Gregorios Palamas and his followers, a movement that had a considerable impact on Byzantine philosophy and also, more importantly, on the survival of Orthodoxy as a source and driving force of spirituality in the ensuing centuries of Turkish supremacy throughout the Balkans.

Mystras, in the Peloponnese, was the home of the last great philosopher and perhaps the most original thinker of Byzantium, Georgios Gemistos-Plethon. The awareness of Greek national identity had been cultivated, to a greater or lesser extent in earlier centuries but especially in the Palaeologan period, along with the development of Byzantine humanism.

This movement had many features in common with the Italian humanism of the Renaissance.

In particular, they shared a belief in the value and utility of the ancient Greek civilization with all its achievements, in the sciences no less than in other fields ( Humanism, Renaissance ).

There was a great surge of interest in the sciences, particularly mathematics and astronomy, and a number of major writers on these subjects emerged.

Many works were also written on natural phenomena and cosmology. 2 The basic tenets of philosophical thought in Byzantium The basic tenets that consistently characterized Byzantine philosophical thought throughout its history are first, the personal hypostasis of God as the principle not only of substance but also of being; second, the creation of the world by God and the temporal finitude of the universe; third, the continuous process of creation and the purpose behind it; and fourth, the character of the perceptible world as 'the realization in time of that which is perceptible. »