From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPoiētikos concerns producing or bringing something about.
- In StobaeusThe report under Pythagoras’s name couples the productive cause with the formal cause and identifies this side with intellect or god.
- In this edition“Productive” suits causal contrasts; “active” may suit a direct opposition to passive.
- A place to beginProductive and formal causation are aligned with intellect.
- English renderings
- productive; active; capable of making
Meaning
Poiētikos concerns producing or bringing something about. In causal explanations it marks the agent’s role rather than merely the possession of an activity.
Use in the book
The report under Pythagoras’s name couples the productive cause with the formal cause and identifies this side with intellect or god. The receptive and material side is distinguished from it. The contrast explains complementary causal roles; it does not require every instance of making to be divine creation.
Places to read
- I.10.12.10Productive and formal causation are aligned with intellect.
- I.10.12.5The silversmith illustrates the acting cause required alongside material.
Translation in this edition
“Productive” suits causal contrasts; “active” may suit a direct opposition to passive. “Poetic” would mislead in these passages.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 123–125. The silver-cup example is the reporter’s criticism of a purely material explanation, not a quotation from Anaximenes.