István Perczel

From among the Neoplatonist philosophers, Proclus Diadochus (412-485) and, from among his works, the Elements of Theology exerted the greatest influence on Christian, Muslim and Jewish philosophy. Apparently, after the closure of the Athenian Neoplatonis school in 529, the Elements was used as a compendium of metaphysics. Byzantine Christian Platonist theological speculation also used the logical structure of the Elements. This had triggered, in the 12th century, a Refutation of the Elements by Nicholas of Methone, wherein he explained why this piece of pagan metaphysics cannot be applied to Christian theology. Also in the twelfth century, the Elements were translated into Georgian by Ionne Petritsi, who added lengthy commentaries. During my proposed stay at IAS CEU, taking advantage of the presence of Levan Gigineishvili, a world expert on Petritsi, I would work on a comparative study of the Elements, Nicholas of Methone and Petritsi, in order to clarify the use of the Elements in the Byzantine philosophical curricula.