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7.28. My son is writing a paper on Philoponus and his early criticisms of Aristotle and the Platonic ideals of philosophy. Is there any information on the Internet about this subject?

This is an ideal question to ask the Wide Area Information Service (WAIS) because it's very specific and there happens to be a public WAIS database that includes a considerable amount of information on philosophical issues of this nature.

There is actually some quite valuable information on this subject available in the WAIS system. Let's take a look. The first step is to search through the "directory-of-servers." I'll use the keywords aristotle midieval philosophy and see what I get. 

  #    Score     Source                       Title
 Lines
001:   [1000] (directory-of-se)  bryn-mawr-medieval-review
150
002:   [ 458] (directory-of-se)  ANU-AustPhilosophyForum-L
86
003:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  ANU-Asian-Religions
93
004:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  ANU-Coombspapers-Index
99
005:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  ANU-Taoism-Listserv
69
006:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  ANU-Theses-Abstracts
93
007:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  ANU-ZenBuddhism-Calendar
81
008:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  ASK-SISY-Software-Information
34
009:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  earlym-l
36
010:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  nonmono.bib
54
011:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  rec.music.early
36
012:   [ 250] (directory-of-se)  sci
17
The first source looks likely, so I'll choose it by typing u for use it, and s to go to the database sources page. I then use = to unmark all databases, and then press the Spacebar to select the Bryn Mawr Medieval Review. I can now search for a more specific citation: philoponus aristotle philosophy, and here are the results: 
#    Score     Source                       Title
Lines
001:   [1000] (           bmmr)  93.10.5, Philoponus on Arist. Phys. II
118
002:   [ 212] (           bmmr)   93.8.6, O'Meara, Plotinus:  Introductio
95
003:   [  91] (           bmmr)  93.8.2:  Meynell, Grace, Politics and De
285
004:   [  91] (           bmmr)  94.1.5, Relihan, Ancient Menippean Satir
165
005:   [  75] (           bmmr)   93.8.8, Riddle, Contraception and Abort
180
006:   [  75] (           bmmr)   93.8.10, Moorhead, Theoderic in Italy
122
007:   [  75] (           bmmr)  93.10
136
008:   [  75] (           bmmr)  93.12.6, Walsh, ed., Love Lyrics from th
316
009:   [  75] (           bmmr)  94.4.2, Camille, Image on the Edge (II)
163
010:   [  75] (           bmmr)  94.4.4, Hamilton, Heresy and Mysticism
153
The first looks like it's a terrific match, so let's have a look by pressing Return. It is indeed excellent and right on target. 
93.10.5, Philoponus on Arist. Phys. II

Philoponus, John  On Aristotle's Physics 2
Translated by A.R. Lacey. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Pp. 241. $41.50 (hb.). ISBN 0-8014-2815-7.
     Reviewed by Patricia K. Curd -- Purdue University

     Ancient commentaries provide modern readers with windows on both the

subject of the commentary and the philosophical world of the author. From

this commentary on Book 2 of the Physics we learn about Aristotle and about

the philosophical issues that exercised Philoponus himself. Thus we see 
Philoponus comparing (and perhaps trying to reconcile) Plato and Aristotle,

we hear echoes of Stoicism, and we find the work as a whole suffused with

Philoponus' Neoplatonist arguments and assumptions. Internal evidence
suggests 
that Philoponus was at work on his commentary in 517; it has recently been

argued that the work was revised after 529, after Philoponus' conversion to

Christianity.<<1>> A.R. Lacey claims that there are no traces of
Philoponus' 
later views in the commentary on Book 2 (but note for instance, the comments

about Philoponus' use of the difficult KATADU/W  at 197,34 and 308,23), and
he 
remains agnostic about the exact date of composition.
The document continues, but this is enough for now.

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