The Dialogue Xenedemos, or Voices, by Theodore Prodromos

Abstract

This paper offers the first critical edition of the dialogue Xenedemos, or Voices, by Theodore Prodromos (c. 1100-1170), together with an English translation and commentary. This work is dedicated to an analysis of the definitions of the five voices from Porphyry’s Isagoge. The publication of this good-humored scholarly text will allow for a better understanding of the development of logic studies in the 12th century, and also gives further insight into the nature of the tendencies within Byzantine intellectual circles of that period.

The Dialogue On Aristotle Categories by Porphyry as a Platonic Dialogue

“…In addition to the well-known treatise Isagoge by Porphyry one can also find a commentaries on the Categories (Busse 1887), composed in the form of questions and answers (Εἰ̋ τὰ̋ Ἀριστοτέλου̋ Κατηγορία̋ κατὰ πεῦσιν καὶ ἀπόκρισιν), where the "participants" or "actors" of the dialogue are the Question (ἡ Ἐρώτησι̋) and the Answer (ἡ Ἀπόκρισι̋). Among the Medieval dialogue experiments undertaken to teach logic, the dialogue Xenedemos, or Voices (Ξενέδημο̋ ἢ Φωναί) by Theodoros Prodromos (Spyridonova, Kurbanov, Goncharko 2017) deserves special attention as an interesting "dialectical" and ironical text dealing with the logical definitions of the five predicables of Porphyry. It could be argued that the five parts of this dialogue present five logical puzzles based on the text of the Isagoge, which could be regarded as a helpful tool for a better understanding and an active and creative studying of the Porphyrian introductory text.…”