Did God Care? : Providence, Dualism, and Will in Later Greek and Early Christian Philosophy /
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Is God involved? Why do bad things happen to good people? What is up to us? These questions were explored in Mediterranean antiquity with reference to 'providence' ( pronoia ). In Did God Care? Dylan Burns offers the first comprehensive survey of providence in ancient philosophy that brings together the most important Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac sources, from Plato to Plotinus and the Gnostics. Burns demonstrates how the philosophical problems encompassed by providence transformed in the first centuries CE, yielding influential notions about divine care, evil, creation, omniscience, fate, and free will that remain with us today. These transformations were not independent developments of 'Pagan philosophy' and 'Christian theology,' but include fruits of mutually influential engagement between Hellenic and Christian philosophers.
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1 online resource. :
9789004432994
9789004432970
Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, Volume 2 : Translations and Acculturations /
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Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes , published in three volumes, is a fresh, comprehensive understanding of the history of Neoplatonism from the 9th to the 16th century. The impact of the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes is reconsidered on the basis of newly discovered manuscripts and evidences. This second volume revises widely accepted hypotheses about the reception of the Proclus' text in Byzantium and the Caucasus, and about the context that made possible the composition of the Book of Causes and its translations into Latin and Hebrew. The contributions offer a unique, comparative perspective on the various ways a pagan author was acculturated to the Abrahamic traditions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004440685
9789004345119
Women and the Female in Neoplatonism /
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Sosipatra, Hypatia, Macrina: some of the most famous female philosophers of antiquity were connected to Neoplatonism. But what does it mean to be a woman philosopher in late antiquity? How is the inclusive nature of the Neoplatonic schools connected to their ethical, political, and metaphysical ideas? What role does the religious dimension of late Neoplatonism and the role of women as priestesses play in understanding Neoplatonic women philosophers? This book offers thirteen essays that examine women and the female in Neoplatonism from a variety of perspectives, paying particular attention to the interactions between the metaphysics, psychology, and ethics.
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This book explores the various ways, ranging over psychology, political philosophy and metaphysics, that both historical women and various conceptualizations of the female help shape Neoplatonism, one of the most influential philosophical schools of late antiquity, at various levels. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004517646
9789004510463
Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, Volume 3 : On Causes and the Noetic Triad /
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Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes , published in three volumes, is a fresh, comprehensive understanding of the history of Neoplatonism from the 9th to the 16th century. This third volume gathers contributions on key concepts of the Platonic tradition (Proclus, Plotinus, Porphyry or Sallustius) inherited and reinterpreted by Arabic (e.g. Avicenna, the Book of Causes), Byzantine (e.g. Maximus the Confessor, Ioane Petritsi) and Latin authors (e.g. Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Berthold of Moosburg, Marsilio Ficino etc.). Two major themes are presently studied: causality (in respect to the One, the henads, the self-constituted substances and the first being) and the noetic triad (being-life-intellect).
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004501331
9789004501324
Women and the Female in Neoplatonism /
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Sosipatra, Hypatia, Macrina: some of the most famous female philosophers of antiquity were connected to Neoplatonism. But what does it mean to be a woman philosopher in late antiquity? How is the inclusive nature of the Neoplatonic schools connected to their ethical, political, and metaphysical ideas? What role does the religious dimension of late Neoplatonism and the role of women as priestesses play in understanding Neoplatonic women philosophers? This book offers thirteen essays that examine women and the female in Neoplatonism from a variety of perspectives, paying particular attention to the interactions between the metaphysics, psychology, and ethics.
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This book explores the various ways, ranging over psychology, political philosophy and metaphysics, that both historical women and various conceptualizations of the female help shape Neoplatonism, one of the most influential philosophical schools of late antiquity, at various levels. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004517646
9789004510463
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.
Order from disorder : Proclus' doctrine of evil and its roots in ancient platonism /
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This study places the doctrine of evil of the Neoplatonist Proclus in its proper context, the exegetical tradition as it developed within the various schools of ancient Platonism, from Middle Platonism to early Neoplatonism. With regard to the evil of the body, there are chapters on the various interpretations of Plato's notion of a pre-cosmic disorderly motion as the source of corporeal evil and on the role of what Platonists referred to as an irrational Nature in the origin of that motion. As for evil of the soul, there are chapters dealing with the concept of an evil World Soul and with the view that the evil that is ascribed to the human soul is a form of psychological weakness.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-276) and index. :
9789047421122 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
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
Neoplatonism after Derrida : Parallelograms /
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This volume deals with the relation between Jacques Derrida's writing and Neoplatonism (ancient, patristic, medieval). Starting from the undeniable fact of Derrida's continuous engagement with this tradition, the present study deals not only with the actual reading of the Neoplatonists by Derrida ("Derrida after Neoplatonism") but also with a hypothetical reading of Derrida by Neoplatonism ("Neoplatonism after Derrida"). Thus, the intended audience is both philologists and philosophers interested in the encounter of ancient and contemporary thought. Separate chapters are devoted to a general study of Neoplatonism and Deconstruction, commentaries on three Derridean texts in which their 'Neoplatonic' implications are developed, and a treatment of the problem of non-discursive thought in which all Neoplatonic and Derridean perspectives are transcended.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047409694
9789004151550
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 ;
Being different : more Neoplatonism after Derrida /
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Having now benefited from viable editions and studies of many of the most important authors within the Neoplatonic tradition of western philosophy, it is time for us to read these materials more actively in terms of the philosophical developments of the late twentieth century that provide the greatest opportunities for intertextual exploration. The hermeneutical project that beckons was begun in Stephen Gersh's Neoplatonism after Derrida: Parallelograms (Brill, 2006) and is raised to a higher power in his present volume. Here a new course is charted in the reading of such ancient authors as Proclus, Damascius, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Meister Eckhart through a critical engagement with the deconstructions of pagan and Christian Neoplatonic texts in the writings of Jacques Derrida.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004261648 :
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.
The enigmatic reality of time : Aristotle, Plotinus, and today /
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The nature and existence of time is a fascinating and puzzling feature of human life and awareness. This book integrates interdisciplinary work and approaches from such fields as physics, psychology, biology, phenomenology, and technology studies with philosophical analyses and considerations to explain a number of facets of the perennnial question of time's nature and existence, both in contemporary and in its initial classical Greek context; and it then explores and explains two of the most influential investigations of time in classical Western thought: Aristotle's, as presented in his Physics , and the (neo)Platonist Plotinus' in his treatise On Time and Eternity . Original interpretative perspectives are argued in both cases, and special attention is paid to Plotinus as partly responding to and critiquing Aristotle's account.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [365]-371) and index. :
9789047443605 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Neoplatonic demons and angels.
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Neoplatonic Demons and Angels is a collection of eleven studies which examine, in chronological order, the place reserved for angels and demons not only by the main Neoplatonic philosophers (Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus), but also in Gnosticism, the Chaldaean Oracles, Christian Neoplatonism, especially by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. This volume originates from a panel held at the 2014 ISNS meeting in Lisbon, but is supplemented by a number of invited papers.
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1 online resource (ix, 294 pages) :
9789004374980 :
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.
The afterlife of the Platonic soul : reflections of Platonic psychology in the monotheistic religions /
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Plato's doctrine of the soul, its immaterial nature, its parts or faculties, and its fate after death (and before birth) came to have an enormous influence on the great religious traditions that sprang up in late antiquity, beginning with Judaism (in the person of Philo of Alexandria), and continuing with Christianity, from St. Paul on through the Alexandrian and Cappadocian Fathers to Byzantium, and finally with Islamic thinkers from Al-kindi on. This volume, while not aspiring to completeness, attempts to provide insights into how members of each of these traditions adapted Platonist doctrines to their own particular needs, with varying degrees of creativity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047429678 :
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.
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