Modern study of philosophy in Byzantium may be described as in its infancy. Mudi basic work has yet to be done before our knowledge can be called adequate. Many Byzantine philosophical texts are still not available in critical editions which include not only a reUable Greek text but also discussion of authorship and precise information concerning the writer’s ancient sources (two matters of special importance in assessing a Byzantine philosophical text). Modern translations and commentaries are hardly ever available. Satisfactory monographs on individual philosophers are generally lacking, as in the case, for example, of perhaps the most prominent Byzantine philosopher, Michael Psellos, whose work remains largely unpublished. For many periods of Byzantine history little is known of the concrete conditions in which philosophy was taught or of the broader intellectual and social contexts for philosophical reflection. Various factors have contributed to the neglect of this field of study. Byzantine philosophers have tended to be seen as (mere) scholars transmitting and glossing ancient philosophical texts. A restrictive modern view of philosophy has also meant that for a long time only ‘classical’ Greek philosophy was taken seriously and the philosophies of the Hellenistic period and of Late Antiquity (Neoplatonism, the starting-point of Byzantine philosophy) were largely neglected. A further factor is the impression of some subordination of philosophy to Christian theology, if not confusion, although this factor, relevant also for the medieval West, did not prevent the very much greater development of the modern
Study of philosophy in medieval western Europe. Byzantine philosophical texts could thus be left to modern theologians whose interests might not be primarily philosophical or indeed historical. Finally, the emphasis in Byzantine studies has tended to lie elsewhere, in disciplines such as art, archaeology, or institutional and social history. This situation is now changing. Adequate critical editions of texts are appearing regularly, in particular in the series Corpus philosophorum Medii Aevi— Philosophi Byzantini and in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana; there are some detailed investigations of the teaching of philosophy in Byzantium and of its intellectual and social context (Lemerle 1971; Podskalsky 1977); some studies have shown in specific areas that Byzantine thinkers make original philosophical contributions (lerodiakonou 2002; Cacouros and Congourdeau 2006). The recent development of the study of philosophy in the Hellenistic and Late Antique periods will also help to increase understanding of Byzantine philosophers.
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