John Philoponus
Byzantine philologist and philosopher
- Lived
- 490–570
- Country
- Byzantine Empire
Updated September 2026
About John Philoponus
John Philoponus, also known as John the Grammarian or John of Alexandria, was a Greek-speaking philologist, Aristotelian commentator and Christian theologian from Alexandria, Byzantine Egypt, who authored a number of philosophical treatises and theological works. John Philoponus broke from the Aristotelian–Neoplatonic tradition, questioning methodology and eventually leading to empiricism in the natural sciences. He was one of the first to propose a "theory of impetus" similar to the modern concept of inertia over Aristotelian dynamics. He is also the historical founder of what is now called the Kalam cosmological argument.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.