The Syntax of Time : The Phenomenology of Time in Greek Physics and Speculative Logic from Iamblichus to Anaximander /
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The fourth century Neoplatonist Iamblichus, interpreting Plotinus on the topic of time, incorporates a 'diagram of time' that bears comparison to the figure of double continuity drawn by Husserl in his studies of time. Using that comparison as a bridge, this book seeks a phenomenological recovery of Greek thought about time. It argues that the feature of motion that the word 'time' designates in Greek differs from what most modern scholarship has assumed, that the very phenomenon of time has been misidentified for centuries. This leads to corrective readings of Plotinus, Aristotle, Parmenides, and Heraclitus, all looking back to the final phrase of the fragment of Anaximander, from which this volume takes its title: "according to the syntax of time.".
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047408390
9789004147126
Plotinus on Beauty : Beauty as Illuminated Unity in Multiplicity /
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"In this book, Ota Gál presents a new analysis of Plotinus' conception of beauty, beginning from a close reading of treatises I.6 and V.8, which link beauty with the unified multiplicity of Intellect. This account is subsequently placed in a hierarchical and structural context in VI.2 and VI.6 and connected to illumination in VI.7, enabling us to determine the meaning of the predicate "beauty" at different ontological levels. For Plotinus, beauty is ultimately the illuminated unity in multiplicity of Intellect, which, as the manifestation of the Good, simultaneously enables the soul's ascent and threatens to bind the soul to itself"--
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004510203
9789004510197
Porphyry Against the Christians /
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This volume is a translation of fragments and testimonia of Porphyry's lost work Against the Christians. The first part of the work examines Author, Title, date of composition, and sources. The second part discusses the structure of Against the Christians. The third part focuses on the religious, philosophical, and cultural background of this text. The fourth section constitutes the translation of the fragments and testimonia of Against the Christians. This work is especially important for historians of religion, philosophy, and Biblical Studies for it is an excellent example of a pagan tradition of scriptural interpretation and criticism of Christianity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047415725
9789004148116
Thinking being : introduction to metaphysics in the classical tradition /
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In Thinking Being , Eric Perl articulates central ideas and arguments regarding the nature of reality in Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and Aquinas. He shows that, throughout this tradition, these ideas proceed from and return to the indissoluble togetherness of thought and being, first clearly expressed by Parmenides. The emphasis throughout is on continuity rather than opposition: Aristotle appears as a follower of Plato in identifying being as intelligible form, and Aquinas as a follower of Plotinus in locating the first principle "beyond being". Hence Neoplatonism, itself a coherent development of Platonic thought, comes to be seen as the mainstream of classical philosophy. Perl's book thus contributes to a revisionist understanding of the fundamental outlines of the western tradition in metaphysics.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004265769 :
1871-188X ;
The teachings of Syrianus on Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides
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Although it has long been established that Syrianus, the teacher of Proclus, was the source of much of his student's metaphysics, it is not known precisely what in Proclus' thought can be attributed to Syrianus. The problem is compounded by the fact that Syrianus wrote very little and there is uncertainty as to whether written commentaries ever existed of his teaching on Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides , the most important sources for Platonic metaphysics. This work attempts to re-construct the major tenets of Syrianus' philosophical teachings on the Timaeus and Parmenides based on the testimonia of Proclus, as found in Proclus' commentaries on Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides and, Damascius, as reported in his On First Principles and commentary on Plato's Parmenides .
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-344) and index. :
9789004201811 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plotinus in dialogue with the Gnostics /
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The point of view put forth in the following pages differs greatly from the common perspective according to which the treatises 30 to 33 constitute a single work, a Großschrift , and this single work, Plotinus' essential response to the Gnostics. Our perspective is that of an ongoing discussions with his "Gnostic"-yet Platonizing-friends, which started early in his writings (at least treatise 6), developed into what we could call a Großzyklus (treatises 27 to 39), and went on in later treatises as well (e. g. 47-48, 51). The prospect of an ongoing discussion with the Gnostics bears an additional virtue, that of allowing for a truly dynamic understanding of the Plotinian corpus.
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1 online resource (viii, 152 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004216396 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The commentary of al-Nayrizi on Books II-IV of Euclid's Elements of Geometry : with a translation of that portion of Book I missing from ms Leiden or. 399.1 but present in the new...
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The Commentary of al-Nayrizi (circa 920) on Euclid's Elements of Geometry occupies an important place both in the history of mathematics and of philosophy, particularly Islamic philosophy. It is a compilation of original work by al-Nayrizi and of translations and commentaries made by others, such as Heron. It is the most influential Arabic mathematical manuscript in existence and a principle vehicle whereby mathematics was reborn in the Latin West. Furthermore, the Commentary on Euclid by the Platonic philosopher Simplicius, entirely reproduced by al-Nayrizi, and nowhere else extant, is essential to the study of the attempt to prove Euclid's Fifth Postulate from the preceding four. Al-Nayrizi was one of the two main sources from which Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), the Doctor Universalis, learned mathematics. This work presents an annotated English translation of Books II-IV and of a hitherto lost portion of Book I.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-212) and index. :
9789047444411 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Übersetzungen der Elementatio Theologica des Proklos und ihre Bedeutung für den Proklostext /
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The present book presents for the first time a detailed study of selected passages of the most important Georgian translation of a text of Greek philosophy: the translation of Proklos' Elementatio Theologica by the most eminent philosopher of the Georgian middle ages, Ioane Petrizi, who not only translated Proklos' text, but also provided it with an extensive commentary. The book discusses the paragraphs which are also extant in an Arabic translation of the early 9th century. The main scope of the book is to establish the relevance of the Georgian and Arabic translations for the history of the constitution of the text, but it provides also important insights in Petrizi's method of translation and the philosophical significance of his commentary.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047430506 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies on Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus : collected essays on ancient philosophy of John Cleary /
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John J. Cleary (1949-2009) was an internationally recognised authority in many aspects of ancient philosophy. As well as penetrating and original studies of Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus, he was particularly interested in the philosophy of mathematics, and ancient theories of education. The essays included in this collection display Cleary's range of expertise and originality of approach. Cleary was especially attentive to the problems involved in the interpretation of a philosophical text: in his reading of Plato he recognised the special status of dialogue as a privileged mode of philosophical writing. His underlying concern was the open-ended character of philosophy itself, to be pursued with intellectual rigour and respect both for the question and one's interlocutor. These collected essays are representative of John Cleary's philosophical life's work.
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Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2013). :
1 online resource (xxix, 609 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004247840 :
1871-188X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plutarch in the religious and philosophical discourse of late antiquity /
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The works of Plutarch, notably his Moralia , provide us with exceptional evidence to reconstruct the spiritual and intellectual atmosphere of the first centuries CE. As a priest of Apollo at Delphi, Plutarch was a first range witness of ancient religious experience; as a Middle Platonist, he was also actively involved in the developments of the philosophical school. Besides, he also provided a more detached point of view both regarding numerous religious practices and currents that were permeating the building of ancient pagan religion and the philosophical views of other schools. His combining the insider and the sensitive observer's perspectives make Plutarch a crucial starting point for the understanding of the religious and philosophical discourse of Late Antiquity.
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Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 3, 2012).
Papers from the XI Congress of the International Plutarch Society held June 2010. :
1 online resource (xv, 304 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004236851 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Models of Desire in Graeco-Arabic Philosophy : From Plotinus to Ibn Ṭufayl /
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This study argues that late ancient Greek and medieval Islamic philosophers interpret human desire along two frameworks in reaction to Aristotle's philosophy. The investigation of the model dichotomy unfolds historically from the philosophy of Plotinus through the Graeco-Arabic translation movement in 8th-10th century Baghdad to 12th century al-Andalus with the philosophy of Ibn Bāǧǧa and Ibn Ṭufayl. Diverging on desire's inherent or non-inherent relation to the desiring subject, the two models reveal that the desire's role can orient opposed accounts of human perfection: logically-structured demonstrative knowledge versus an ineffable witnessing of the truth. Understanding desire along these models, philosophers incorporated supra-rational aspects into philosophical accounts of the human being.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004460843
9789004460836
Studies in Hermias' commentary on Plato's Phaedrus /
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"Studies in Hermias' Commentary on Plato's Phaedrus is a collection of twelve essays that consider aspects of Hermias' philosophy, including his notions of the soul, logic, and method of exegesis. The essays also consider Hermias' work in the tradition of Neoplatonism, particularly in relation to the thought of Iamblichus and Proclus. The collection grapples with the question of the originality of Hermias' commentary-the only extant work of Hermias-which is a series of lectures notes of his teacher, Syrianus".
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-213) and index. :
9789004414310
Plato's Timaeus and the missing fourth guest : finding the harmony of the spheres /
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In Plato's Timaeus and the Missing Fourth Guest , Donna M. Altimari Adler proposes a new Timaeus scale structure. She finds the harmonic cosmos in Plato's text, mathematically, regarding it as a number generator. Plato's primary number sequence, she argues, yields a matrix defining a sophisticated harmony of the spheres. She stresses the Decad as the pattern governing both human perception and the generation of all things, in the text, including the World Soul and musical scale symbolizing it. She precisely identifies Plato's \'fabric\' and its locus of severance and solves other thorny problems of interpretation, e.g., properly naming the sets of three and four bands, born of splitting the band of difference, and explaining their differing motions and speeds.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004389922
Collected Papers (1962-1999) /
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The papers collected in this volume deal mainly with ancient Greek or Roman philosophy. They range chronologically from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD, and in them the evidence is fully presented and discussed. They are concerned mainly with the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Early Academy, the Platonic and Aristotelian traditions, especially as represented by Neoplatonism. In addition, there are a few more general articles. The first deals with the saying "Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas" and studies the different forms of this proverb from the time of Plato and Aristotle to Cervantes in the 17th century. Another one discusses the rather complex transmission of Plato's alleged epitaph. A third one deals in detail with an incomplete but interesting allegorical interpretation of Heliodorus' Aethiopica .
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004453289
9789004123045
Proclus' hymns : essays, translations, commentary /
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This book studies the hymns composed by the Neoplatonist Proclus in the context of his philosophy. Its main claim is that the hymns should be understood in the context of theurgy, the ritual art adopted by the Neoplatonists in order to obtain mystical experiences. The first part of the book consists of a series of essays which discuss the relation of the hymns to Proclus' Neoplatonism, his theory of poetry, and especially to theurgy. The second part offers translations of the individual hymns together with a detailed commentary. This study will be of special interest to those working in the field of Neoplatonism and a helpful guide to scholars of Late Antique poetry and religion who wish to explore these intriguing, yet at times obscure poems.
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1 online resource (xi, 341 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-324) and indexes. :
9789047401032 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
And they shall be one flesh : on the language of mystical union in Judaism /
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In "And They Shall Be One Flesh": On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism , Adam Afterman offers an extensive study of mystical union and embodiment in Judaism. Afterman argues that Philo was the first to articulate the notion of unio mystica in Judaism and is the source of the henōsis mysticism in the later Neoplatonic tradition. The study provides a detailed analysis of the Jewish medieval trends that developed different forms of mystical union and mystical embodiment through the divine name and spirit. The book argues that the development of unitive mysticism in Judaism is the fruit of the creative synthesis of rabbinic Judaism and Hellenistic and Arab philosophy, and a natural outcome of the theological articulation of the idea of monotheism itself.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004328730 :
1873-9008 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Promoting a New Kind of Education: Greek and Roman Philosophical Protreptic /
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Authors of Greek and Roman philosophical protreptics imitate a kind of exhortation initially associated with Socrates, creating a thread of typically protreptic intertextuality that classifies protreptic as a genre of philosophical literature. Tracing this intertextuality from the Socratic authors to Boethius, the book shows how Greek and Roman protreptics define philosophy as a revisionary form of education, articulate the ultimate goals of this education, and associate their authors and audiences with philosophy as a new discursive practice and a new way of living. These texts constitute the first chapter in the history of educational revision and thus offer thoughts that continue to inform every debate on educational goals.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004467248
9789004467231
Iamblichus' de anima.
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Iamblichus (245-325), successor to Plotinus and Porphyry, brought a new religiosity to Neoplatonism. His theory of the soul is at the heart of his philosophical system. For Iamblichus, the human soul is so far inferior to the divine that its salvation depends not on philosophy alone (as it did for Plotinus) but on the aid of the gods and other divinities. This edition of the fragments of Iamblichus' major work on the soul, De Anima , is accompanied by the first English translation of the work and a commentary which explains the philosophical background and Iamblichus' doctrine of the soul. Included too are excerpts from the Pseudo-Simplicius and Priscianus (also translated with commentary) that shed further light on Iamblichus' treatise.
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1 online resource (xi, 298 pages) :
9789047401421 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Origen : cosmology and ontology of time /
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Origen's Cosmology and Ontology of Time constitute a major catalyst and a massive transformation in the development of Christian doctrine. The author challenges the widespread impression about this theology being bowled head over heels by its encounter with Platonism, Gnosticism, or Neoplatonism, and casts new light on Origen's grasp of the relation between Hellenism, Hebrew thought and Christianity. Against all ancient and modern accounts, the ingrained claim that Origen sustained the theory of a beginningless world is disconfirmed. He is argued to be the anticipator and forerunner of critical notions, with his innovations never having been superseded. While some of the accounts afforded by subsequent Christian writers were more extended, they were not fuller. Of them, Augustine just fell short of even accurately echoing this Theory of Time, since he introduced affinity with Platonism at points where Origen had instituted a radical dissimilarity. With his background fruitfully brought into the study of these questions, Origen's propositions are genuine innovations, not mere advances, however massive.
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1 online resource (xiii, 417 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-392) and indexes. :
9789047417637 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.