The Classical Quarterly (New Series)

Table of Contents - 1980 - Volume 30, Issue 02  

Research Article

Alexander of Aphrodisias on Vision in the Atomists

Ivars Avotinsa1

a1 University of Western Ontario

In discussing the atomists' theory of vision modern accounts have quite neglected to take into account two sections of Alexander of Aphrodisias on this topic. Nearly identical in length and content, they contain objections to the atomist theory of vision by means of the S0009838800042385_inline1 (henceforth ‘idols’). In form they consist of a series of questions purporting to contain atomist doctrine. Each question is followed by objections to its subject-matter. Most of the questions contain doctrine known to us already from other sources.