Isagoge
by Porphyry · Εἰσαγωγή
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 270
- Era
- Roman Empire
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 20 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendIntroduction, translated by Jonathan BarnesOxford University Press, 2003A modern translation with a commentary longer than the text, in the Clarendon Later Ancient Philosophers series.
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A short introduction to Aristotle's Categories written by Plotinus's pupil Porphyry for a Roman senator. It explains the five predicables, genus, species, difference, property and accident, and how each is defined and related to the others. Porphyry raises but declines to answer whether genera and species exist in reality or only in the mind, the question that became the medieval problem of universals. Translated by Boethius, it opened the study of logic in every medieval school.
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The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Isagoge are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.