Seriousness and Playfulness in Plotinus' Enneads
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The Pythagoreans in the Light and Shadows of Recent Research
The Pythagoreans in the light and shadows of recent research PAPER PRESENTED AT THE DONNERIAN SYMPOSIUM ON MYSTICISM, SEPTEMBER 7th 1968 By HOLGER THESLEFF It has been said' that "Pythagoras casts a long shadow in the history of Greek thought". Indeed, the shadow both widens and deepens spectacularly in course of time. He has not only been considered—on disputable grounds, as we shall see as the first European mystic. No other personality of the Greco–Roman world (except Christ, and perhaps Alexander the Great) has been credited with such powers and all-round capacities. Since early Impe- rial times he has been represented as a man of divine origin, a saint, a sage, a prophet, and a great magician; a sportsman and an ascetic; a poet and prose- writer; a Dorian nationalist (though an Ionian by birth); an eminent mathe- matician, musician, astronomer, logician, rhetorician, and physician; a world-wide traveller; a founder of a religious sect, an ethical brotherhood, and a political community; a great metaphysician and teacher whose views of the universe, human society and the human soul deeply influenced not only Plato and Aristotle, but Herakleitos, Parmenides, Demokritos and, in short, all prominent thinkers; a preacher of universal tolerance, and—a good hus- band and father. There can be seen occasional signs of a revival of Pythagoreanism at least from the ist century A. D. onwards,2 and some authors of the Imperial age 1 Philip (below), p. 3. 2 If Pseudo-Pythagorica are left out of account, the activity of the Sextii in Rome during the reign of Augustus is the first manifest sign. -
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F. -
Greco-Roman Religions & Philosophies
Greco-Roman Religions & Philosophies The New Testament World – Week 3 Adult Education Greco-Roman Religions Temple – in Greek and Roman was the home of the deity, not a place of worship. Greeks worship with their heads uncovered, Romans were always covered (seeing omens). Dominant tone in the NT is Greco-Roman influence Greek gods & Roman gods – became the same with different names Acts 19 – Diana of the Ephesians Each city/region had a patron god and cult Two categories of Hellenistic religion: (Each had old religion that developed) State religion o Official (polis) o Polytheistic o Had patron god, temples, feasts, priests o Statues of the deity were found throughout the city o Existed for the good of the state, not the individual o Everyone was eligible to perform ritual (not professional priest) o No systematic theology (geographic theology) o The Here and Now – not the afterlife (legal systems) o Mythology focused on the intervention of the gods (Acts 14:11-18) Mystery religion o Personal o Belonged by choice, not birth o Requires initiation o Tendency toward monotheism (or supreme god) o No geographical area, race or tribe o Available to those who swear to keep the mysteries a secret o Included communication with the god(dess) o Deals with the afterlife for the faithful, connected to the underworld o Judaism and Christianity are a mixture of both Combined civil and religious (ethical) law Local Mysteries - Early mysteries were rites to assure fertility, safety, or the like. Panamara o Southwest Asia Minor o Promised only terrestrial benefits. Mother of Gods Cabirir at Samothrace o Non-Hellenistic o Numbers varied o General protective; mostly of seamen. -
Download Date | 6/9/19 10:06 AM Pseudo-Pythagorean Literature 73
Philologus 2019; 163(1): 72–94 Leonid Zhmud* What is Pythagorean in the Pseudo-Pythagorean Literature? https://doi.org/10.1515/phil-2018-0003 Abstract: This paper discusses continuity between ancient Pythagoreanism and the pseudo-Pythagorean writings, which began to appear after the end of the Pythagorean school ca. 350 BC. Relying on a combination of temporal, formal and substantial criteria, I divide Pseudopythagorica into three categories: 1) early Hellenistic writings (late fourth – late second centuries BC) ascribed to Pytha- goras and his family members; 2) philosophical treatises written mostly, yet not exclusively, in pseudo-Doric from the turn of the first century BC under the names of real or fictional Pythagoreans; 3) writings attributed to Pythagoras and his relatives that continued to appear in the late Hellenistic and Imperial periods. I will argue that all three categories of pseudepigrapha contain astonishingly little that is authentically Pythagorean. Keywords: Pythagoreanism, pseudo-Pythagorean writings, Platonism, Aristote- lianism Forgery has been widespread in time and place and varied in its goals and methods, and it can easily be confused with superficially similar activities. A. Grafton Note: An earlier version of this article was presented at the colloquium “Pseudopythagorica: stratégies du faire croire dans la philosophie antique” (Paris, 28 May 2015). I would like to thank Constantinos Macris (CNRS) for his kind invitation. The final version was written during my fellowship at the IAS of Durham University and presented at the B Club, Cambridge, in Mai 2016. I am grateful to Gábor Betegh for inviting me to give a talk and to the audience for the vivid discussion. -
Pythagorean Teachings Across the Centuries
Pythagorean Teachings across the Centuries Angela Tripodi, adapted and expanded by the Rosicrucian Research Library Staff and Friends he school of Pythagoras has been defined by Vincenzo Capparelli and by several Tother authors, as the “Greatest school of Wisdom of the West.” It has had profound influence across time and has contributed to providing the coordination needed to combine the search for mystical truth with a clear methodology of wisdom. Even if the inheritance of the Pythagorean tradition cannot be fully grasped, due to its initiatory character, The last-remaining column of the temple dedicated to Hera which required a severe selection process and Lacinia in Crotona, Italy. Photo by Sandro Baldi. involved the obligation of absolute silence of teachings until the very last degrees. The from its Neophyte members, it is still possible few initiates able to enter the last doorway to relive the outlines of the sacred knowledge obeyed the sacred promise of absolute silence. in the teachings. Several sources need to be This norm of silence was the secret of the consulted in order to retrace the spread of school and is mentioned in several sources. this inspired wisdom whose light reached It also implies that all especially profound far from its original source. According to information and teachings were hidden, the information transmitted by Porphyry, not only from outsiders, but also from the Iamblichus, and in part by Diogenes Laertius, participants of the lower degrees. when the school at Crotona1 was destroyed, As is well known, the school had its many essential concepts were lost forever. -
12. Heraclitus' Ethics
12. Heraclitus’ Ethics David Sider Investigations into Heraclitus’ ethics are scarce on the ground. It is not that, apart from some that have been been overlooked because they are universally considered spurious, his several comments that touch upon human behavior have been ignored—there are too few fragments for any to go uncommented for long—but that they seem isolated and not obviously calling out to be made part of a systematic theory of eth- ical behavior. Furthermore, it has to be said that some of these scarce attempts to study Heraclitus’ ethics are disappointing.1 Nor does the subject of ethics as such receive much attention in more comprehensive treatments. It is true that ethics is discussed elsewhere in the huge Hera- clitus bibliography, but rarely head-on as a subject to be investigated and analyzed in its own right.2 Two noteworthy contributions to the liter- 1 Thus, A. N. Zoumpos, “Das ‘ethische Urteil’ bei Heraklit,” Platon 11 (1959) 420–423, raises the Aristotelian distinction between a-priori and a-posteriori reasoning, only to find that this does not apply to Heraclitus, which does not get us very far: “Kurz gesagt nimmt Herakleitos das ‘ethische Urteil’ als Produkt des ‘Göttlichen Logos’ an, das naturgemäss also in Voraus in den Menschen vor- hande ist.” (One could compare Anaxagoras’ Nous, which also shows up in an- imals.) Zoumpos relies too heavily on Plato for his understanding of Heraclitus, especially those passages in the Cratylus and Theaetetus that characterize him pri- marily as one relying on a theory of flux to explain his epistemological con- cerns. -
1 UNIT 4 NEOPLATONISM Contents 4. 0. Objectives 4. 1. Introduction 4. 2
UNIT 4 NEOPLATONISM Contents 4. 0. Objectives 4. 1. Introduction 4. 2. The Life and Writings of Plotinus 4. 3. The Philosophy of Plotinus 4. 4. Neoplatonism after Plotinus 4. 5. Let Us Sum Up 4. 6. Key Words 4. 7. Further Readings and References 4. 8. Answers to Check Your Progress 4.0. OBJECTIVES The originality of Plotinus lies basically in the elaboration of a harmonious system out of the main insights that he took from his predecessors. After the death of Plotinus, Neoplatonism continued to flourish in the Syrian School especially, in the School of Athens, in the School at Pergamum and in the Alexandrian school. The influences of Platonism can be seen in the early Christian theologians like St. Augustine. In this unit we shall briefly examine • the life and writings of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism, • the central themes of his philosophical system, • the earlier philosophies from which his system borrows ideas • some philosophical problems of the system and • The post-Plotinian developments of the system in various Schools of the ancient world. 4.1. INTRODUCTION Neoplatonism was the last flowering of the Greek thought in late antiquity. Its birth place was Alexandria, that great city which was founded by Alexander the Great in Egypt and which became a major centre of intellectual activity of the ancient world. Situated at the intersection between the East and the West, Alexandria became the crucible in which the Eastern religious and mystical tendencies freely intermingled with Greek philosophical thought. This cross-cultural fecundation had given birth to Jewish Hellenistic philosophy (founded by Philo) and Neopythagoreanism. -
On the Greek Origins of the Concepts Incorporeality and Immateriality Renehan, R Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1980; 21, 2; Periodicals Archive Online Pg
On the Greek Origins of the Concepts Incorporeality and Immateriality Renehan, R Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1980; 21, 2; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 105 On the Greek Origins of the Concepts Incorporeality and Immateriality R. Renehan EW CONCEPTS have been more influential, for better or F worse, in the history of Western philosophy and theology than those of incorporeal beings and immaterial essences. Their importance for the particular directions which European thought long took in pondering such problems as the nature of deity, soul, intellect, in short, of ultimate reality, is not easily exag gerated. Despite this, there still exists much confusion about the historical origins of the concepts 'incorporeality' and 'immateri ality', and even an occasional failure to grasp the strict implications of these terms. To give some examples: Etienne Drioton, writing about the be liefs of the ancient Egyptians on the afterlife, has made the follow ing observations: "Besides body, [the Egyptians] attributed two elements to man, more or less ghostly and independent of matter: the 'ba' which can apparently be rendered exactly by 'soul' and which they used to represent as a bird with human head; and the 'ka' in which some Egyptologists have seen an immaterial reflec tion of man's body, a 'double' ... Whatever the truth may be, death was definitely regarded by the Egyptians as being the separa tion of the spiritual and corporeal elements of man.... The first element in their belief, and presumably the most ancient, was that the immaterial principle of man, his spirit, continued to live in close connection with the corpse and even depending on it."l The anachronisms here are glaring. -
Research and Experiment in Early Greek Thought by Tyler Mayo A
Research and Experiment in Early Greek Thought by Tyler Mayo A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Classical Studies) in the University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Professor Francesca Schironi, Chair Professor Sara Ahbel-Rappe Professor Richard Janko Associate Professor Ian Moyer Tyler Edward Mayo [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2442-7127 To my mother and father ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, ad consuetudinem maiorum, I would like to begin by acknowledging and expressing my gratitude to the members of my committee: Professors Richard Janko, Ian Moyer, and Sara Abhel-Rappe. Their suggestions and criticisms helped me to rethink some, and alter other, points within this dissertation to its improvement, and saved me from numerous errors within the text, many of which surely still lurk within these pages and are my responsibility alone. However, I owe a special debt to my chair, Francesca Schironi, whose support not only made this dissertation possible, but who acted as a mentor throughout my entire time at Michigan. Her honesty and counsel were always welcome, and her careful philology can be seen within these pages, although I fear only as an imperfect reflection. Outside Angell Hall, others made my studies in Ann Arbor possible. The Posch family— John, Dyanna, Isabel, and most recently, Jude—acted as a family away from home, not least for their generous hospitality in boarding me. I shall always remember and cherish their ξενία. My wife Liz is certainly owed a place of honor in the beginning of this dissertation. Her support was essential in its creation as in all other things. -
|||GET||| Hellenistic Philosophy 2Nd Edition
HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY 2ND EDITION DOWNLOAD FREE Brad Inwood | 9781603848787 | | | | | Hellenistic Philosophy Copyright A. Seller rating : This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers. Add to cart Buy Now. Your Review. Beautifully lucid. Academic Scepticism: Arcesilaus and Carneades. Logic and Theory of Knowledge. Hellenistic Philosophy 2nd edition matter Bibliography. These works, in the form they have come down to us, occupy four volumes of the Loeb Classical Library. Long, A. Epicurus and Epicureanism 3. The polemic of Plutarch. This new edition of Hellenistic Philosophy —including nearly pages of additional material—offers the first English translation of the account of Stoic ethics by Arius Didymus, substantial new sources on Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Scepticism, expanded representation of Plutarch and Cicero, and a fuller presentation of papyrological evidence. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition. Item Price:. Visit the Australia site. Phaedo of Elis Menedemus Asclepiades of Phlius. Metaphysics Epistemology Logic Ethics Aesthetics. Eclecticism was a system of philosophy which adopted no single set of doctrines but selected from existing philosophical beliefs those doctrines that seemed most reasonable. Chapter DOI Academic skepticism is the period of ancient Platonism dating from around BC, when Arcesilaus became head of the Platonic Academyuntil around 90 BC, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, although individual philosophers, such as Favorinus and his teacher Plutarch continued to defend Academic skepticism after this date. Later Developments in Hellenistic Philosophy 6. Hellenistic Philosophy is a thorough introduction to the three schools of philosophy which dominated the Hellenistic era: Stoicism, Epicureanism and Scepticism. As New. They advocated examination of the world to understand the ultimate foundation of things. -
Illinois Classical Studies
11 Plutarch and Platonist Orthodoxy* JOHN DILLON The question of the place of Plutarch within the Platonic School is still a live one, but it has changed its nature somewhat in recent years, especially in view of the successful demolition of the Platonic Academy as an institution in his day,^ and the inevitable fall-out from that in terms of positing a coherent doctrinal tradition within Platonism. The removal of the actual institution which might maintain (or propound) orthodoxy does not in itself, it would seem, dispose of the general concept of a Platonic orthodoxy, the alternatives to which are necessarily "heresy" or "eclecticism." Plutarch in his day has been accused of both of these deviations. The concept of orthodoxy itself, then, and the standing of Plutarch within the Platonic School, both still merit examination. Plutarch's position in the Platonist tradition cannot be properly evaluated, however, it seems to me, so long as the notion of an "orthodox" Platonism is maintained, whether propounded by an official Platonic Academy, or not. Heinrich Dorrie, in an article published in 1971,^before Lynch and Glucker had published their books (with which, however, he would not necessarily have agreed), ^ distorts the position of Plutarch by postulating something that he calls "Schulplatonismus," which he sees represented by such figures as Taurus in Athens, and Albinus in Smyrna (Plutarch's teacher Ammonius he is not too sure about, op. cit. p. 36, n. 1). But in fact we have no indication that there was in Athens at this time—let This article originated in a talk to be given to the Pluurch Conference held in Athens in June 1987, but not delivered then. -
Neoplatonism and Christianity
JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF tEbe 1victoria J nstitutt OR tlbtlo~opbtcal ~octttp of d?rtat Jllrttain VOL. LXXXVII 1955 LONDON: PUBLISHED BY THE INSTITUTE, 22 DINGWALL ROAD, CROYDON, SURREY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 928TH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE AT THE CAXTON HALL WESTMINSTER, S.W. 1 ON MONDAY, 14th MARCH, 1955 Rev. S. Clive Thexton, M.Th., in the Chair NEOPLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY By the Rev. Principal PHILIPS. WATSON, M.A., B.D. THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE 22 DINGWALL ROAD, CROYDON, SURREY NEOPLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY By the Rev. Principal PHILIP S. WATSON, M.A., B.D. SYNOPSIS I. Neoplatonism flourished from about A.D. 245 to 529. It influenced Christian thought directly through St. Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius, indirectly through Muslim philosophy. Renascence " Platonism" was thoroughly Neoplatonic-as was also the "Christian Platonism" of the second century, which resulted from the same general movement of thought as Neoplatonism. II. The presupposition of Neoplatonism is the "Alexandrian world scheme ", in which there is a descending scale of existence from God to matter, and an ascending movement of the soul from the ·material world to God. In Neoplatonism the descending scale comprises the Divine Triad of the One, the Intelligible World and the World-Soul, and also the sense-world, formed by Soul out of Matter. Matter is the principle of evil, and salvation consists in flight from the world, the mystical ascent of the soul through purification and illumination to union with God. III. Christianity and Neoplatonism are basically incompatible. Christi anity thinks of evil, not as matter, but as the devil, to whom man has fallen victim.