Later Platonists and their Heirs among Christians, Jews, and Muslims /
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Later Platonists and their Heirs among Christians, Jews and Muslims offers a thought-provoking exploration of the reception of Platonism among communities of faith from early Christianity to the sixteenth century, from the Byzantine East to the Latin West. Rare emphasis is placed on the importance of Platonic thought and its diffusion in late antique and medieval Syria, Armenia, and Georgia but also among Arab and Jewish intellectuals from the seventh century onwards. As such, the volume makes a statement against the separation of Neoplatonic philosophy from Christianity and the other Abrahamic faiths, since all four traditions promoted a life of virtue and goodness despite operating under different divine auspices. The volume seeks to establish paths of transmission and modes of adaptation across times and places.
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1 online resource :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004450264
9789004527850
John Philoponus' new definition of prime matter : aspects of its background in Neoplatonism and the ancient commentary tradition /
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This study provides the first full discussion of Philoponus' excursus on matter in contra Proclum XI. 1-8 which sets out the innovative definition of prime matter as three-dimensional extension. The author argues that Philoponus' definition was motivated primarily by philosophical problems in Neoplatonism. Philoponus employs the explanation of growth, the interpretation of Aristotle's category theory and the notions of formlessness and potentiality to substantiate his definition. To conclude, the book offers an assessment of the significance of Philoponus' innovation. It is demonstrated for the first time that Plotinus' view of matter exerted considerable influence on both Philoponus and Simplicius. Moreover, the structure of Syrianus' and Proclus' metaphysics prepared the way for Philoponus' account of prime matter.
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Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--1995 under title: Philoponus' notion of prime matter. :
1 online resource (xxiii, 339 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-316) and indexes. :
9789004320932 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
La démonologie platonicienne : histoire de la notion de daimōn de Platon aux derniers néoplatoniciens /
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This book, a history of a religious category of ancient philosophy, is the first synthesis on the notion of daimōn in the Platonic tradition. Platonic demonology is a body of doctrine that constantly reorganized and redefined itself, from the Old Academy to the last Neoplatonists, by reinterpreting Plato's texts concerning demons. The present work illuminates the modus operandi of this exegesis by analysing the relationship between demonology and, respectively, cosmology, the philosophical hermeneutics of religion, and theories of the soul. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the attempts to rationalize and to define the religious phenomenon in Late Antiquity. Histoire d'une catégorie religieuse de la philosophie ancienne, ce livre représente la première synthèse sur la notion de daimōn dans la tradition platonicienne. La démonologie platonicienne constitue un corps doctrinal qui se réorganise et se redéfinit constamment, de l'Ancienne Académie aux derniers néoplatoniciens, par la réinterprétation des textes de Platon relatifs aux démons. L'objectif du présent travail est d'éclairer le modus operandi de cette exégèse à partir de l'analyse des relations de la démonologie avec la cosmologie, avec l'herméneutique philosophique de la religion et avec les théories de l'âme. Cette étude est susceptible de servir à une meilleure compréhension des tentatives de rationalisation et de définition du phénomène religieux dans l'Antiquité tardive.
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Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--École pratique des hautes études de Paris, 2010. :
1 online resource (x, 404 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [333]-366) and indexes. :
9789004224018 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Gnosticism, Platonism and the late ancient world : essays in honour of John D. Turner /
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This Festschrift honors the life and work of John D. Turner (Charles J. Mach University Professor of Classics and History at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln) on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Professor Turner's work has been of profound importance for the study of the interaction between Greek philosophy and Gnosticism in late antiquity. This volume contains essays by international scholars on a broad range of topics that deal with Sethian, Valentinian and other early Christian thought, as well as with Platonism and Neoplatonism, and offer a variety of perspectives spanning intellectual history, Greek and Coptic philology, and the study of religions.
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1 online resource (li, 701 pages) : portrait. :
"Bibliography of John D. Turner"--p. xliii-li.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004254763 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Platonisms : ancient, modern, and postmodern /
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The present volume argues that Plato and Platonism should be understood not as a series of determinate doctrines or philosophical facts to be pinned down once and for all, but rather as an inexhaustible mine of possible trajectories. The book examines in this light different strands of Platonic thinking from the dialogues themselves through later Antiquity and the Medieval World into Modernity and Post-Modernity with new essays ranging from Descartes, Kant, Hegel, and Natorp to Yeats, Levinas and Derrida. And also suggests the possibility of reading the dialogues and the whole tradition resonating in and through them in new, unexpected ways.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-271) and index. :
9789047420163 :
1871-188X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Neuplatonisches Gedankengut in den "Homilien über die Seligpreisungen" Gregors von Nyssa /
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This volume thoroughly analyses the Neoplatonic sources and background of Gregory of Nyssa's eight Homilies on the Beatitudes according to the most preeminent themes: human virtue, knowledge of God and Self, negative theology, God's sublimity, ἀπάθεια and ὁμοιώσις, the mutual relationship of the virtues, the Logos as physician, the essence of beauty, the contemplation of the universe, unification. The study complements the first commentary of the homilies published in Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae volume 52 and provides a deep and rich mine of specialised knowledge in a field that is particularly important for the understanding of Gregory's thought.
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1 online resource (xvii, 234 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-192) and indexes. :
9789047413776 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Iamblichus and the foundations of late platonism /
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Iamblichus of Chalcis (c. 240-c. 325 C.E.), successor to Plotinus and Porphyry, gave new life to Neoplatonism with his many philosophical and religious refinements. Once regarded as a religio-magical quack, Iamblichus is now seen as a philosophical innovator who harmonized not only Platonic philosophy with religious ritual but also Platonism with the ancient philosophical and religious tradition. Building on recent scholarship on Iamblichean philosophy, the ten papers in this volume explore various aspects of Iamblichus' oeuvre. These papers help show that Iamblichus re-invented Neoplatonism and made it the major school of philosophy for centuries after his death.
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Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004230118 :
1871-188X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Reading Proclus and the Book of causes : Western scholarly networks and debates /
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Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, published in three volumes, is a fresh, comprehensive understanding of Proclus' legacy in the Hellenic, Byzantine, Islamic, Latin and Hebrew traditions. The history of the Book of Causes, an Islamic adaptation of mainly Proclus' Elements of Theology and Plotinus' Enneads , is reconsidered on the basis of newly discovered manuscripts. This first volume enriches our understanding of the diverse reception of Proclus' Elements of Theology and of the Book of Causes in the Western tradition where universities and religious schools offered unparalleled conditions of diffusion. The volume sheds light on overlooked authors, texts, literary genres and libraries from all major European universities from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
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"The majority of contributions reunited in this volume were first presented during the first of the three sessions of the conference "Les Elements de theologie et le Livre des causes du Ve au XVIIe siecle". It took place at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes, Paris, on 13-14 November 2015. The second took place on 12-13t February 2016, and the third on 14-15-16 April 2016." :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004395114 :
1871-188x ;
Porphyry's On the cave of the nymphs in its intellectual context /
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Neoplatonic allegorical interpretation expounds how literary texts present philosophical ideas in an enigmatic and coded form, offering an alternative path to the divine truths. The Neoplatonist Porphyry's On the Cave of the Nymphs is one of the most significant allegorical interpretation handed down to us from Antiquity. This monograph, exclusively dedicated to the analysis of On the Cave of Nymphs, demonstrates that Porphyry interprets Homer's verse from Odyssey 13.102-112 to convey his philosophical thoughts, particularly on the material world, relationship between soul and body and the salvation of the soul through the doctrines of Plato and Plotinus. The Homeric cave of the nymphs with two gates is a station where the souls descend into genesis and ascend to the intelligible realm. Porphyry associates Odysseus' long wanderings with the journey of the soul and its salvation from the irrational to rational through escape from all toils of the material world.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004408272
The libraries of the Neoplatonists : proceedings of the meeting of the European Science Foundation Network "Late antiquity and Arabic thought : patterns in the constitution of Eur...
: 1 online resource. : Includes bibliographical references and indexes. : 9789047419471 : 0079-1687 ; : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plotinus on Love: An Introduction to His Metaphysics through the Concept of Eros /
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Plotinus' metaphysics is often portrayed as comprising two movements: the derivation of all reality from a single source, the One, and the return of the individual soul to it. Alberto Bertozzi argues that love is the origin, culmination, and regulative force of this double movement. The One is both the self-loving source of the derivation and articulation of all reality in levels of unity and love and the ultimate goal of the longing of the soul, whose return to its source is a gradual transformation of the love it originally received from the One. Touching on virtually all major concepts of Plotinus' philosophy, Plotinus on Love is at once an investigation of a lesser-studied Plotinian theme and an introduction to his metaphysics.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004441026
9789004441002
Feder, Tafel, Mensch : Al-ʿĀmirīs Kitāb al-Fuṣūl fī l-Maʿālim al-ilāhīya und die arabische Proklos-Rezeption im 10. Jh. /
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This volume deals with the philosopher Abū l-Ḥasan al-ʽĀmirī (died 992) and his reception of Neoplatonism, focusing on his Kitāb al-Fuṣūl fī l-maʽālim al-ilāhīya , the Chapters on Metaphysical Topics (Arabic text with German translation). The Chapters on Metaphysical Topics paraphrase sections of the Elements of Theology by the Neoplatonist Proclus (died 485) and are therefore part of the Arabic Procliana. The commentary analyses al-ʽĀmirī's combination of Greek philosophy with Islamic theology, especially the harmonization of philosophical and Qur'anic terminology (universal Intellect is the Pen, universal Soul the Tablet) and man's position between the two worlds. On the basis of a textual comparison between al-ʽĀmirī's work, the Greek text of Proclus and the Arabic writings of the Liber de Causis -tradition, the book argues for the existence of a "Ur- Liber de causis ".
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A revision of the editor's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2004. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047410300
9789004152557
Philosophy of Dionysius the Areopagite : an introduction to the structure and the content of the treatise On the Divine Names /
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This book proposes a reading of Dionysius the Areopagite's longest and most important treatise 'On the Divine Names' from a philosophical point of view, rather than from a theological point of view which dominates the secondary literature. More in particular, it proposes an interpretation of the puzzling structure of the treatise which takes its starting point from earlier interpretations of medieval and modern scholars. The new reading of Dionysius' main text achieves more coherence than they did precisely because of the philosophical angle, which is meant to serve as a complement, not an alternative, to theological and historical interpretations. Thus the book can be read as an introduction to the philosophy of Dionyius as it shows how the author makes original moves in introducing the Christian concepts of peace and creation as philosophical concepts in a Platonic framework.
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1 online resource (xvi, 212 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-204) and indexes. :
9789047409441 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Pleasure and the good life : Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists /
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This volume deals with the general theory of pleasure of Plato and his successors. The first part describes the two paradigms between which all theories of pleasure oscillate: Plato's definition of pleasure as the repletion of a lack, and Aristotle's view that pleasure is the perfect performance of an activity. After an excursus on Epicureans and Stoics, the book concentrates on Neoplatonism, opposing the 'standard Neoplatonic view' of Plotinus and Proclus to the original viewpoint of Damascius' commentary on Plato's Philebus . The volume sheds light on the discussion between hedonists and anti-hedonists, by concentrating on the 'crucial point' at which any philosophical analysis of the good life (hedonistic or other) ought to argue that the life of the philosopher is the most desirable, and thus truly pleasurable, life.
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1 online resource (x, 207 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-194) and indexes. :
9789004321106 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plotinus and the moving image /
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Plotinus and the Moving Image offers the first philosophical discussion on Plotinus' philosophy and film. It discusses Plotinian concepts like \'the One\' in a cinematic context and relates Plotinus' theory of time as a transitory intelligible movement of the soul to Bergson's and Deleuze's time-image. Film is a unique medium for a rapprochement of our modern consciousness with the thought of Plotinus. The Neoplatonic vestige is particularly worth exploring in the context of the newly emerging "Cinema of Contemplation." Plotinus' search for the \'intelligible\' that can be grasped neither by sense perception nor by merely logical abstractions leads to a fluent way of seeing. Parallels that had so far never been discussed are made plausible. This book is a milestone in the philosophy of film. Contributors are: Cameron Barrows, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, Michelle Phillips Buchberger, Steve Choe, Stephen Clark, Vincenzo Lomuscio, Tony Partridge, Daniel Regnier, Giannis Stamatellos, Enrico Terrone, Sebastian F. Moro Tornese and Panayiota Vassilopoulou.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004357167 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.