Diels, Herman

Born in a Protestant family. His father was a school teacher, then the head of the station in Wiesbaden . Herman received a general education in a gymnasium for teachers. In April 1867 he entered the University of Berlin , but the next year he transferred to the University of Bonn ^[3] . There, Diels studied with philologist G. Uzener . In 1870 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the ancient physician Galen ("De Galeni historia philosopha"). On July 17, 1873, Diels married Berthe Dubel (1847-1919) ^[4] . They had three sons, who also went on a scientific path: the botanist Ludwig Dils , the Nobel Prize in chemistry Otto Diels and the Slavist Paul Diels ^[5] .

After graduating from Bonn University, Dils went on a scientific trip to Italy, where he worked in the libraries of Rome, Milan, and Florence. Upon return, 1872-1877. taught in high schools first in Flensburg, then in Hamburg. Since October 1877, he headed the commission (at the Prussian Academy of Sciences) for the publication of a corpus of comments on the works of Aristotle in Greek.

Since 1882, an extraordinary professor, since 1886 an ordinary professor of classical philology at the University of Berlin. In 1905-1906 - rector.

Since 1881, a full member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In the years 1895-1920. Secretary of the Philosophical and Historical Class of the Academy.

He was in correspondence with Hermann Uzener , von Wilamowitz-Mellendorf and other figures of culture and science.

In the nineteenth century, the ideal of an objective history of philosophy suggested that it was possible to restore events to the way they were. Antique authors did not turn to their predecessors in order to expound the “history of philosophy”, but in order to develop their views on this basis. As a result, many variants and traditions of the interpretation of the teachings of an ancient author arose. For the same reason, even that, as a rule, standard material that was part of the anthology was edited and changed. Herman Diels proposed the so-called “ doxography ” genre.

This was a diagram explaining the process of transmission of evidence of the oldest period of Greek natural philosophy (the so-called “physicists”), which is still considered generally correct. Namely, in his work Doxographi graeci , published in 1879 , Diels tried to restore the source that underlies the entire subsequent tradition, which he called doxographic. The neologism “doxography” (statement of opinions) was proposed in order to distinguish these evidence from the biographies (biographies) of individual philosophers and various statements of school philosophy (“succession of philosophers”), which were very popular in antiquity. According to the presentation of Diels (and his teacher Uzener), antique doxography goes back to the work of the follower of Aristotle Theophrastus , who in sixteen books presented the views of “physicists”, arranging them in schools and following the thematic principle. According to Diels, this work was subsequently reduced and supplemented by new Hellenistic sources and became very widespread, being, for example, a source for such distant authors as Sextus Empiricus and Tertullian . This hypothetical work, called Diels Vetusta placita , is now lost, however, in the first century BC. e. it was once again reduced and supplemented by new data by a certain unknown Aetius , whose name is mentioned three times by the Christian author Theodorite . It was this text - and this was the main hypothesis of Doxographi graeci - that served as the source for the author of the meeting of physicists ( Placita ), which was attributed to Plutarch , and the first book of the anthology of Stobei ( Eclogae physicae ). In addition, the work of the Pseudo-Plutarch was used in De historia philosophica , a rather fragmented treatise, the authorship of which is attributed to Galen . A comparison of these texts, which Diels does, allows us to conclude that they really go back to the same source and, in addition, the Eclogues of Stobei, which are generally much more fragmented than the Pseudo-Plutarch treatise, contain additional sections that indicate independence these authors apart. An important additional source is also the treatise of Theodoret Healing of Hellenic ailments ( Graecarum affectionum curatio ), in which, in fact, the source is indicated - Aetius.

As a result of this reconstruction, the main doxographic tradition is built, going back to Theophrastus. It turns out that the same source was used by such authors as Hippolytus of Rome , another Pseudo-Plutarch, author of Stromat , fragments of which were preserved by Eusebius, and (partly) Diogenes of Laertius , whose work is a whimsical combination of doxographic and biographical genres.

Of the works of the pre-Socratics, only quotations contained in the texts of later authors, as well as references and descriptions of lost works, have been preserved. Since the middle of the XIX century, attempts have been made to create a code of fragments and evidence for at least the most important authors - such as Heraclitus, Democritus, etc. The first attempt to give a set of fragments of all the ancient philosophers was made by F.V.A. Mullah. However, Diels's first work in 1903, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker , a monumental work by Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, was a qualitatively different level.

The book has become a standard reference and reference book for philosophers, philologists and historians of ancient culture. Its popularity was such that every five or six years the guidebook leaves a new edition, revised and supplemented. Until the end of his days, Diels did not stop working on this meeting. Starting from the 5th edition, published in 1934-1937. (after Diels' death) the editing of Fragments was undertaken by his student Walter Krantz .

Until now, fragments of texts of the pre-Socratics have been customarily quoted in the designation DK (Diels-Kranz), where each author is assigned a certain number according to the chronological order, also, in addition to the ordinal number for each author, his collection of texts is divided into three groups, marked in alphabetical order:

A. testimonia : ancient testimonies of the life of the philosopher and his doctrine;

B. ipsissima verba : exact words of the quoted (literally, words of the most quoted) philosopher, "fragments";

C. imitations : works that use this author as a model to follow.

So, for example, since Protagoras is the eightieth author in the collection of Diels-Kranz, the third testimony of his generally very short biography, transmitted by Hesychius, will be quoted as follows: DK 80 A3 .

Criticism

Although Diels was well aware that isolated fragments of an ancient author should be considered in the context in which they reached us, the structure of his collection completely destroys this connection. Subsequent works, such as K. Freeman, Ancilla to the Presocratic Philosophers (Oxford, 1948) reinforce this trend. Diels arranged the fragments and evidence in chronological order, following successio and ignoring the thematic principle that his main source, the Pseudo-Plutarch, dating back to Theophrastus, followed. Particularly affected are evidence that speaks of more than one particular philosopher, but discusses a particular tradition or compares different thinkers. Questions faded into the background on the basis on which this or that statement was attributed to one or another author, as well as the problem of the reliability and correctness of the information that our testimonies deliver to us.

• Doxographi Graeci. - Berolini, 1879;
  • Doxographi Graeci. - [3 Aufl.l] - V., 1958. - (in Russian lane. - Antique technique. - M.- L., 1934).
  • Doxographi Graeci / coll., Rec., Prolegomenis indicibusque instruxit Hermannus Diels. Nachdruck der 4. Auflage von 1965: de Gruyter, Berlin 1979, ISBN 3-11-001373-8
• Simplicii in Aristotelis Physicorum libros quattuor priores [-posteriores]. "Bd 1-2, 1892-95;
• Parmenides, 1897;
• Herakleitos, 1901;
• Poetae philosophi, 1902;
• Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Bd 1-3. - 9 Aufi. - 1903. - (a partial translation into Russian by A. Makovelsky with a number of introductory articles written by a translator was published under the title “Dosocratics.” Parts 1-3. — Kazan, 1914-19);
  • Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. 3 Bände., Nachdruck der 6. verbesserten Auflage von 1951/52: Weidmann, Zürich 1996, herausgegeben von Walter Kranz, ISBN 3-296-12201-X , ISBN 3-296-12202-8 und ISBN 3-296-12203- 6
• Lukrezstudien // Sitzungsber. d. Preuß. Akad. d. Wiss. in Berlin. Philos. histor. Klasse. - 1918-1922;
• Lucretius Carus. De rerum natura. - Bd 1-2, 1923-24. - (text and translation);

Russian translations

• Diels G. Antique Technique / Per. and note. M.E. Sergeenko and P.P. Zabarinsky; Ed. and with the foreword. S. I. Kovaleva; Design A.A. Tolokonnikova. - M .; L .: ONTI; GTTI , 1934 .-- 216 p.
• Diels G. Amazing cars of antiquity. Technique and technology of Antiquity. - M .: Veche, 2018 .-- 240 p. - (Secrets. Riddles. Sensations). - ISBN 978-5-4484-0133-6 .

• Diels G. Antique technique. M.-L., 1934.
• Diels // Philosophical Encyclopedia: in 5 vol. T. 2.: Disjunction - Comic / Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences; Scientific Council: A. P. Alexandrov [et al.]. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1962. - S. 13;
• Diels / I. A. Mikhailov // New Philosophical Encyclopedia : in 4 volumes / before. scientific ed. Council V. S. Styopin . - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - M .: Thought , 2010 .-- 2816 p.
• Zhmud L. Ya. Rewriting doxography: Herman Diels and his critics // Historical and Philosophical Yearbook, 2002. - M., 2003. S. 5–33.
• O'Brien D. Hermann Diels on the Presocratics: Empedocles'double destruction of the cosmos (Aetius II 4.8) // Phronesis 45, I (2000).
• Buganov R. B. Diels // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2007. - T. XIV. - S. 700-701. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-024-0 .
• Wilamowitz-Moellendorff LU Diels // Sitzungsber. d. Preufi. Akad. d. Wiss. in Berlin. - 1922;
• Arnim H. Diels // Almanach d. Wiener Akad. d. Wiss. - 1923. - No. 73;
• Kern O.N. Diels und Carl Robert. Ein biograph. - Versuch. - Lpz., 1927 (there is a bibliography of Diels' works);
• Zhebelev S. A. German Diels. Obituary // Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1928.

• Profile Diels German Alexander on the official website of the RAS
• Diels // Philosophical Encyclopedia