The so-called eighth
Stromateus (‘liber logicus’) by Clement of Alexandria (d. before 221 C.E.) is an understudied source for ancient philosophy, particularly the tradition of the Aristotelian methodology of science, scepticism, and the theories of causation. A series of
capitula dealing with inquiry and demonstration, it bears but few traces of Christian interests.
In this volume, Matyáš Havrda provides a new edition, translation, and lemmatic commentary of the text. The vexing question of the origin of this material and its place within Clement’s
oeuvre is also addressed. Defending the view of ‘liber logicus’ as a collection of excerpts made or adopted by Clement for his own (apologetic and exegetical) use, Havrda argues that its source could be Galen’s lost treatise
On Demonstration.
Matyáš Havrda, Ph.D. (2000), Charles University Prague, is a senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has published studies on Clement of Alexandria and Galen and edited the collection of essays
The Seventh Book of The Stromateis (Brill, 2012).
“this is a truly excellent monograph, which should bring an obscure text to the greater readership it deserves. Havrda’s important work shows how vital it is for those interested in ancient medicine to examine Christian texts as well, which often contain testimony of philosophical and scientific theory otherwise lost.” - Dawn LaValle Norman,
Magdalen College, University of Oxford, in:
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2017.09.38
"Havrda's study is a work of consummate erudition, published at an apposite moment for patristics, ancient philosophy, and potentially early imperial literary scholarship---though his own weight of attention and interest is clearly pointed toward the philosophical tradition." - Jane Heath,
University of Durham, in:
The Expository Times 129(10)
"Matyáš Havrda [...] hat ein gehaltvolles Buch vorgelegt, das nicht nur für Studien zu Clemens von Alexandrien wichtig sein wird, sondern darüber hinaus für die Erforschung der Philosophie- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte des 2. und 3. Jh.s insgesamt von Belang ist. [...] Der V[erfasser] hat damit ein sehr wertvolles Arbeitsintrument bereitgestellt, das allen, die mit dieser Materie zu tun haben, hoch willkommen sein wird." - Dietmar Wyrwa,
Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, in:
Theologische Literaturzeitung 145 (2020) 1/2
Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction. The Riddle of the ‘Eighth
Stromateus’: Questions and Solutions
Ancient and Byzantine Testimonies
Composition and Contents
Modern Interpretations
Liber logicus
The So-Called Eighth Stromateus
(‘Liber logicus’) by Clement of Alexandria: Greek Text, Translation, and Commentary Prefatory Note to the Greek Text and Translation
Greek Text and Translation
Commentary
(i) 1, 1–2, 5: ‘Seek and You Will Find’
(ii) 3, 1–(iii) 8, 3: Teaching on Demonstration
(iii) 8, 4–(v) 15, 1: Method of Discovery
(v) 15, 2–16 3: Suspension of Judgement i
(vi) 17, 1–21, 6: Division and Definition
(vii) 22, 1–4: Suspension of Judgement ii
(viii) 23, 1–24, 9: Categories
(ix) 25, 1–33, 9: Causes
Bibliography
Index of Modern Authors
Index of Subjects and Names
Index of Sources
Those interested in the reception history of Aristotelian logic (particularly the theory of demonstration, division, definition, and the ‘categories’), Pyrrhonism, ancient theories of causation (Stoic, Peripatetic, medical), and Galenic methodology.