Reading Plato in Antiquity

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

Reading Plato in Antiquity

Harold Tarrant, Dirk Baltzly (eds.), London: Bloomsbury, 2006

Description

This important collection of original essays is the first to concentrate on how the ancients responded to the challenge of reading and interpreting Plato, primarily between 100 BC and AD 600. It incorporates the fruits of recent research into late antique philosophy, in particular its approach to hermeneutic problems. While a number of prominent figures, including Apuleius, Galen, Plotinus, Porphyry and Iamblichus, receive detailed attention, several essays concentrate on the important figure of Proclus who provides the theme for the jacket of this book, with his characterisation of the true interpreters of Plato’s philosophy as a chorus of Bacchants. The essays appear in the chronological order of their focal interpreters, giving a sense of the development of Platonist exegesis in this period. Reflecting their devotion to a common theme, the essays have been selected and are presented with a composite bibliography and indices.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction, Harold Tarrant & Dirk Baltzly
1. Platonic interpretation and eclectic theory, Harold Tarrant
2. Pedantry and pedestrianism? Some reflections on the Middle Platonic commentary tradition , John Dillon
3. Apuleius on the Platonic gods, John F. Finamore
4. ‘Plato will tell you’: Galen’s use of the Phaedrus in De Placitis Hippocratis et Platonis IX, Julius Rocca
5. Platonists on the origin of evil, John Phillips
6. The species infima as the infinite: Timaeus 39e7-9 Parmenides 144b4-c1 and Philebus 16e1-2 in Plotinus Ennead VI.2.22 73, Atsushi Sumi
7. The doctrine of the degrees of virtues in the Neoplatonists: an analysis of Porphyry’s Sentence , its antecedents, and its heritage, Luc Brisson
8. The mathematics of justice, Hayden W. Ausland
9. A historical cycle of hermeneutics in Proclus’ Platonic Theology, Tim Buckley
10. Proclus as a reader of Plato’s Timaeus, John J. Cleary
11. The eikôs mythos in Proclus’ commentary on the Timaeus, Marije Martijn
12. Pathways to purification: the cathartic virtues in the Neoplatonic commentary tradition, Dirk Baltzly
13. The transformation of Plato and Aristotle, Richard Sorabji
14. The harmony of Plato and Aristotle according to Neoplatonism, Lloyd P. Gerson
15. Reading Proclus Diadochus in Byzantium, Ken Parry
Bibliography
Indices
Index Locorum
Index of Ancient Names
Index of Modern Names
Index of Selected Topics

Link

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/reading-plato-in-antiquity-9780715634554/

The Relationship Between Neoplatonism and Christianity 

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

The Relationship Between Neoplatonism and Christianity 

Thomas Finan, Vincent Twomey (ed,), Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1995

Description

This book is devoted to the papers read at the first patristic conference held in Ireland. The theme was the relationship between Neoplatonism and Christianity, a topic that in recent scholarship has been the centre of controversy. The main lines of that controversy are discussed by James McEvoy, Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy in Louvain, in a refreshingly new way that throws unexpected light on the complex topic and shows its relevance for today. John Dillon, Professor of Greek, Trinity College Dublin, examines the influence of Platonism on Plotinus and Origen in order to demonstrate the originality of the Christian philosopher. One of the foremost experts on Eriugina, Dermot Moran, Professor of Philosophy, University College Dublin, discusses the influence of Origen on the great Irish mediaeval scholar. The difficulty of speaking about God is explored by Fran O’Rourke, Lecturer in Philosophy, University College Dublin, on the basis of the speculations of Pseudo-Dionysius. The incomprehensibility of God in the writings of Gregory of Nyssa is discussed with great originality by the Newman Scholar, Deirdre Carabine. Original also is the contribution of Thomas O’Loughlin who examines the little known interest of St Augustine in astrology and the part it played in his conversion. Augustine is likewise the subject of the noteworthy contribution by Eoin Cassidy, lecturer, Mater Dei Iinstitute, Dublin, to the debate about the nature of friendship and the recovery of classical themes in the writings of the Bishop of Hippo.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

John J. O’Meara – Foreword

Thomas Finan, Vincent Twomey – Introduction

John Dillon – Origen and Plotinus: The Platonic Influence on Early Christianity

Dermot Moran – Origen and Eriugena: Aspects of Christian Gnosis

Fran O’Rourke – Being and Non-Being in the Pseudo-Dionysius

Deirdre Carabine – Gregory of Nyssa on the Incompreensibility of God

Thomas O’Loughlin – The Libri Philosophorum and Augustine’s Conversions

Eoin Cassidy – The Recovery of the Classical Ideal of Friendship in Augustine’s Portrayal of Caritas

Thomas Finan – Modes of Vision in St. Augustine: De Genesi ad litteram XII

James J. McEvoy – Neoplatonism and Christianity: Influence, Syncretism or discernment?

Link

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-ecclesiastical-history/article/abs/relationship-between-neoplatonism-and-christianity-the-patristic-symposium-proceedings-of-the-first-patristic-conference-at-maynooth-1990-edited-by-finan-thomas-and-twomey-vincent-pp-vii-170-blackrock-co-dublin-four-courts-press-1993-25-1-85182-090-6/B68CDA9900045B9193E714E0A2BA5D1E

Platonisms: Ancient, Modern, and Postmodern

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

Platonisms: Ancient, Modern, and Postmodern

Kevin Corrigan and John D. Turner (Editors), Leiden: Brill, 2007, 279 p.
Description
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.
(Text from the publisher)
Table of contents

Preliminary Material – K. Corrigan and J.D. Turner

Introduction. Plato And Platonisms – Kevin Corrigan and John D. Turner

The Individual Contributions To The Volume – K. Corrigan and J.D. Turner

Platonic Dialectic: The Path And The Goal – T .A Szlezák

What Is A God According To Plato? – Luc Brisson

Victorinus, Parmenides Commentaries And The Platonizing Sethian Treatises – John D. Turner

Proclus And The Ancients – Steven Strange

Virtue, Marriage, And Parenthood In Simplicius’ Commentary On Epictetus’ ‘Encheiridion’ – G. Reydams-Schils

How To Apply The Modern Concepts Of Mathesis Universalis And Scientia Universalis To Ancient Philosophy, Aristotle, Platonisms, Gilbert Of Poitiers, And Descartes – Gerald Bechtle

Real Atheism And Cambridge Platonism: Men Of Latitude, Polemics, And The Great Dead Philosophers – Douglas Hedley

The Language Of Metaphysics Ancient And Modern – Robert Berchman

The Platonic Forms As Gesetze: Could Paul Natorp Have Been Right? – John Dillon

Crying In Plato’S Teeth—W.B. Yeats And Platonic Inspiration – Anthony Cuda

The Face Of The Other: A Comparison Between The Thought Of Emmanuel Levinas, Plato, And Plotinus – Kevin Corrigan

Derrida Reads (Neo-) Platonism – Stephen Gersh

Bibliography – K. Corrigan and J.D. Turner

General Index – K. Corrigan and J.D. Turner

Link

https://brill.com/view/title/12036

Neoplatonism After Derrida

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

Neoplatonism After Derrida: Parallelograms

Stephen Gersh, Leiden: Brill, 2006

Description

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.

(Text by the author)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter One Derrida reads (Neo-) Platonism

Chapter Two What is Called “Negative Theology?”

Chapter Three Margins of Augustine

Chapter Four Remains to be Thought

4.1 Of the Abyss

4.2 From Ontology to Erasure

4.3 Of the Secret

Bibliography

Derridean Concordance

Index of Names

Index of Terms and Concepts

Link

https://brill.com/view/title/12753

The Syntax of Time

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

The Syntax of Time

The Phenomenology of Time in Greek Physics and Speculative

Logic from Iamblichus to Anaximander

Peter Manchester, Leiden: Brill, 2005

Description

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. »

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

 

Chapter One –Two-Dimensional Time in Husserl and Iamblichus

The Problem of the Flowing of Time

The Flux of Consciousness

The Transparency of the Flux

Time-Framing in Locke and Hume

The Dimensions of Transparency

Two-Dimensional Time in Husserl

The Figure of Double Continuity

The Double Intentionality of Disclosure Space

Two-Dimensional Time in Iamblichus

Time as the Sphere of the All

Chapter Two – Time and the Soul in Plotinus

Two-Dimensional Time in Neoplatonism

The Schema of Participation

The Silence of Time in Plotinus

Chapter Three – Everywhere Now: Physical Time in Aristotle

Soul and the Surface of Exoteric Time

The Spanning of Motion

The Scaling of Spans

The Unit of Disclosure Space

The Soul of Physical Time

Chapter Four – Parmenides: Time as the Now

Parmenides Thinks about Time

Signpost 1: Being Ungenerated and Unperishing

Signpost 2: Whole; Signpost 4: The Coherent One

Signpost 3: Now is All at Once and Entirely Total

Conclusion

Chapter Five – Heraclitus and the Need for Time

Review: The Path to Heraclitus

From Husserl to Heraclitus via Iamblichus

Time in Heraclitus: The Circular Joining of ἀεὶ and αἰών

Heraclitus as a Gloss on Anaximander

Appendix 1 – Physical Lectures on Time by Aristotle: A MinimalTranslation

Appendix 2 – Fragment 8 of the Poem of Parmenides: Text and Translation

Bibliography

Index

Link

https://brill.com/view/title/12021

Porphyry Against the Christians

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

Porphyry Against the Christians 

Robert M. Berchman, Leiden: Brill, 2005

Description

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.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Chapter One Author, Title, Date of Composition, Sources, Geographical Provenance  p. 1-6

Chapter Two Structure, Genre, and Taxonomy. p. 7-16

Chapter Three Chapter Three Religious and Philosophical Elements  p. 17-71

Chapter Four Cultural Background p. 72-117

Chapter Five Fragments, Orthography and Languages. p.118-121

Chapter Seven Fragments, Translation, and Exegetical Notes  p. 123-221

Link

https://brill.com/view/title/12202?contents=toc-44457

Recognising the Margins

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

Recognising the Margins

Developments in Biblical and Theological Studies 

Werner Jeanrond,‎ Andrew D. H. Mayes (ed), New York: Columbia University Press, 2007

Description

Eighteen scholars from Ireland and from many parts of the world contribute eighteen significant articles under four headings: Biblical Themes, Theological Themes, Cultural Themes and Ethical Themes. The contributors are Joseph Blenkinsopp, Martin Hengel, A. D. H. Mayes, Stephen D. Moore, Ellen J. van Wolde, John Dillon, James P. Mackey, John D’Arcy May, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Werner G. Jeanrond, Karl-Josef Kuschel, Enda McDonagh, Felix Wilfred, Nigel Biggar, Stephen J. Duffy, Maureen Junker-Kenny, Dietmar Mieth and Elaine M. Wainwright. These essays are published to mark the occasion of Seán Freyne’s 70th birthday in 2005.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Preface

I. Biblical themes

1. Who is the teacher in Isa 30:20 who will no longer remain hidden? – Joseph Blenkinsopp

2. The messianic secret in Mark -​ Martin Hengel

3. The Exodus as an ideology of the marginalised -​ A. D. H. Mayes

4. Mark and empire -​ Stephen D. Moore

5. Crossing border : speaking about the beginning in Genesis 1 and John 1 -​ Ellen J. van Wolde.

II. Theological Themes

6. « The eye of the soul » : the doctrine of the higher consciousness in the neoplatonic and sufic traditions -​ John Dillon

7. The lapses in Christian theology at the end of the second millennium – James P. Mackey

8. Rootedness : reflections on land and belonging -​ John D’Arcy May

9. An other name for G*d -​ Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza.

III. Cultural Themes

10. The future of Christianity in Europe – Werner G. Jeanrond

11. Interreligious dialogue and global ethic in an age of globalisation -​ Karl-Josef Kuschel

12. Theatre, tragedy and theology -​ Enda McDonagh

13. The Galileans of the south : the untouchables at the margins -​ Felix Wilfred.

IV. Ethical Themes

14. Specifying the Meaning: Jesus, the New Testament and violence -​ Nigel Biggar

15. The quest for freedom in a culture of choice -​ Stephen J. Duffy

16. Virtues and the God who makes everything new -​ Maureen Junker-Kenny

17. The role and backgrounds of religious, ethical, legal and social issues in the progress of science – Dietmar Mieth

18. « It is part of a process, it is part of a pilgrimage » : text in context and conflict -​ Elaine M. Wainwright.

Link

https://www.worldcat.org/title/recognising-the-margins-developments-in-biblical-and-theological-studies-essays-in-honour-of-sean-freyne/oclc/84899066

The passionate intellect : essays on the transformation of classical traditions : presented to Professor I.G. Kidd 

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

The passionate intellect 

Essays on the transformation of classical traditions,

presented to Professor I.G. Kidd 

Ayres, Lewis., Kidd, I. G., London: Transaction publishing, 1995

Description

Ian Kidd, of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, has long been known as a world-class scholar of ancient philosophy and of Posidonius, in particular. Through his long struggle with the fragments of Posidonius, Kidd has done more than any other scholar of ancient philosophy to dispel the myth of « Pan-Posidonianism. » He has presented a clearer picture of the Posidonius to whom we may have access. The bulk of this volume is built around the theme of Kidd’s own inaugural lecture at St. Andrews, « The Passionate Intellect. » Many of the contributions follow this theme through by examining how individual people and texts influenced the direction of various traditions. Many of the papers naturally concentrate on ancient philosophy and its legacy. Others deal with ancient literary theory, history, poetry, and drama. Most of the papers deal with their subjects at some length and are significant contributions in their own right.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Bibliography of I.G. Kidd

Greeks and the Passionate Intellect – Ian Kidd

  1. Poetic Rhythms in the Myth of the Soul – Kenneth J. Dover
  2. Plato, Imagination and Romanticism – S. Halliwell
  3. Tradition and Innovation in the Transformation of Socrates’ Divine Sign – Mark Joyal
  4. [actual symbol not reproducible] in Plato’s Cratylus – David B. Robinson
  5. Counting Plato’s Principles – R. W. Sharples
  6. Pindar and the Victory Ode – Chris Carey
  7. Euripides: Ion and Phoenissae – Elizabeth M. Craik
  8. Roman Mind and the Power of Fiction – J. S. Richardson
  9. Did Thucydides Write for Readers or Hearers? – Shigetake Yaginuma
  10. Aenesidemus versus Pyrrho: Il fuoco scalda « per natura » (Sextus M. VIII 215 e XI 69) – Fernanda Decleva Caizzi
  11. Theophrastus, no. 84 FHS&G: There’s Nothing New Here! – William W. Fortenbaugh
  12. Alexandria, Syene, Meroe: Symmetry in Eratosthenes’ Measurement of the World – A. S. Gratwick
  13. Seneca’s Natural Questions – Changing Readerships – Harry M. Hine
  14. Crates of Mallos, Dionysius Thrax and the Tradition of Stoic Grammatical Theory – Richard Janko
  15. Aenesidemus and the Academics – Jaap Mansfeld
  16. Pathology of Ps.-Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine – Robin Waterfield
  17. Discipline of Self-knowledge in Augustine’s De trinitate Book X – Lewis Ayres
  18. Melanchthon’s First Manual on Rhetorical Categories in Criticism of the Bible – C. J. Classen
  19. « A Kind of Warmth »: Some Reflections on the Concept of « Grace » in the Neoplatonic Tradition – John Dillon
  20. Ausonius at Prayer – R. P. H. Green
  21. Philosophy of the Codification of Law in Fifth Century Constantinople and Victorian Edinburgh – Jill Harries

Link

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-review/article/abs/kidd-festschrift-l-ayres-ed-the-passionate-intellect-essays-on-the-transformation-of-classical-traditions-presented-to-professor-i-gkidd-rutgers-university-studies-in-classical-humanities-7-pp-xvi376-new-brunswick-london-transaction-publishers-1995-cased-4994/F68EB8878D863F6D932585365C4F6511 

Reading Plotinus: A Practical Introduction to Neoplatonism

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

Reading Plotinus

A Practical Introduction to Neoplatonism

Kevin Corrigan, West Lafayette: Perdue University Press, 2004

Description

This book provides a practical reading guide to the thought of Plotinus, the great philosopher who was born in Alexandria in the third century a.d., lived in Rome and wrote in Greek. Deeply immersed in earlier Greek philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle, Plotinus’ thought was to have an immense influence upon the theology and philosophy of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, as well as to bear a deep resonance with the major forms of Eastern mystical thought, particularly Buddhism and Hinduism. At the same time, Plotinus’ philosophy remains unique in its own right. Corrigan’s work presents, in an accessible and yet authoritative way, three treatises translated in full, as well as several other major passages representative of the wide range of thought to be found in Plotinus’ Enneads. There is extensive and detailed commentary accompanying each translation, which helps the reader to work his or her way through Plotinus’ often highly compressed thought. The concluding chapter draws together the practical and theoretical significance of Plotinus’ writings and situates them in an accessible manner for both first-time reader and scholar alike within the subsequent vast history of Neoplatonism which extends through the Mediaeval and Renaissance worlds and right into modern times. This book is intended to be of use for anyone who wants to read and understand Plotinus, non-specialists and specialists, and it will be particularly helpful for students and scholars of philosophy, history of ideas, aesthetic theory, and literature and religious thought, both Western and Eastern.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

Abbreviations

List of Enneads

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: An Overview of Plotinus’ Thought

Texts

  1. The hypostases and our relation to them: V, 1 (10) 10-12
  2. Tracing degrees of unity back to the One. The nature of body, soul, and intellect, and the return to the One: VI, 9 (9) 1-3
  3. The derivation of everything (from intellect to matter): IV, 8(6); V, 2(11) 1,3-28
  4. The nature of intellect and soul, and soul’s relation to bodies: IV, 1 (21)
  5. World soul and individual souls: IV, 3 (27) 6
  6. The descent and fall of soul: IV, 8 (5) 5
  7. Matter: II, 5 (25) 5
  8. Bodiliness: II, 7 (37) 3
  9. Soul-body: The human being here: VI, 7 (38) 4-5
  10. Eternity and time: III, 7 (45) 11

Commentary

1.1 The hypostases

1.2 Free spontaneous creativity: The One

1.3 The derivation of all things: Procession and conversion

1.4 The return to union

1.5 Intellect

1.6 Soul and the sensible world

1.7 The World soul and individual souls

1.8 Soul-body

1.9 Providence, freedom, and matter

1.10 The generation of matter

1.11 The descent and fall of soul

1.12 Nature, contemplation, eternity, and time

1.13 Plotinus, the reader

Chapter 2: Plotinus’ Anthropology

Text

I, 1 (53): What Is the Living Creature and What Is the Human Being?

Commentary

2.1 Introduction

2.2 What does Plotinus mean by the impassibility or unaffectedness of soul? (I, 1 [53] 2 and III 6 [26])

2.3 Do “we” really perceive and do we perceive directly or mediately? (I, 1 (53) 3-7 and other texts)

2.4 Do we perceive things or our impressions of things?

2.5 How do the affections fit into the overall picture?

2.6 Soul-body and beyond (I, 1, 4-7)

Chapter 3: The range of Plotinus’ thought: From nature and contemplation to the One

Text

III, 8 (30): On Nature and Contemplation and the One

Commentary

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Play

3.3 Contemplation, action and production: The problem

3.4 An animated, freely dependent world (1, 11 ff.)

3.5 Activity ( energeia ) and power ( dynamis )

3.6 Nature (III, 8, 2)

3.7 Logos and Zogo/’-brothers (III, 8, 2, 27-35)

3.8 Matter: From Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics to Plotinus

3.9 Logos and action, a way of understanding Neoplatonic contemplative production (III, 8, 3)

3.10 The silent speech of nature (III, 8, 4)

3.11 Synaesthesis (III, 4, 15 ff.)

3.12 The nature of images and productive art: Plato and Plotinus (III, 8, 4, 39 ff.)

3.13 The problem of degrees of reality: Filling and being filled (III, 8, 4-5)

3.14 The landscape of soul (III, 8, 5)

3.15 Love and beauty (III, 8, 5, 34 ff.)

3.16 Walk-about, bending back, and trust (III, 8, 6)

3.17 The dialectic of play and seriousness: From the inertia of indifference to kinship of soul (III, 8, 6, 15 ff.)

3.18 Plotinus’ theory of creation in context (III, 8, 7, 1-15)

3.19 The problem of intellect (III, 8, 8)

3.20 Four puzzles: From the drunken circle to haphazard heap (III, 8, 8, 30-48)

3.21 The problem of substance in the Enneads

3.22 Speaking about the One: The character of a simplicity beyond intellect

3.23 Infinity and number (III, 8, 9, 1-6)

3.24 Neither intellect nor intelligible object nor ignorant (III, 8, 9, 6-16)

3.25 Simple, instantaneous awareness (III, 8, 9, 16-24)

3.26 Sound and omnipresence (III, 8, 9, 24-29)

3.27 A “backward” intellect (III, 8, 9, 29 ff.)

3.28 A power for all things (III, 8, 10, 1-26)

3.29 Negative theology and dialectic (III, 8, 10, 26-35)

3.30 The simplicity and playfulness of the image (III, 8, 11)

3.31 Conclusion: Some answers to frequently asked questions about Plotinian Neoplatonism

Chapter 4: A world of beauty, from beautiful things to intelligible shapelessness

Text

V, 8 (31): On the Intelligible Beauty Commentary

4.1 Introduction: The importance and major issues of V, 8

4.2 What does “the beautiful” mean?

4.3 Why is good proportion and structure not “the beautiful”?

4.4 Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

4.5 What is the beauty of art? (V, 8, 1-2)

4.6 Why is intelligible beauty bound up with the perception of natural things? (V, 8, 2)

4.7 How are beauty, science, and wisdom related?

4.8 The Form of the beautiful?

4.9 Intelligible beauty and concrete physical things (V, 8, 4-8)

4.10 Elements of a reflexive aesthetic theory (V, 8, 1-11)

4.11 How does evil fit into this picture? (V, 8, 11)

4.12 The limitations of beauty: What role does the One play?

Chapter 5: Conclusion: Assessment and Afterlife

5.1 Assessment

5.2 Afterlife

Appendix A: Some key passages from Plato and Aristotle

Appendix B: Suggestions for further reading

Bibliography

Index of Names

Index of Subjects

Abbreviations

Link

http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/titles/format/9781557532343

The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity

Publié le par Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete

The Making of Fornication

Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in

Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity

Kathy L. Gaca, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003

Description

This provocative work provides a radical reassessment of the emergence and nature of Christian sexual morality, the dominant moral paradigm in Western society since late antiquity. While many scholars, including Michel Foucault, have found the basis of early Christian sexual restrictions in Greek ethics and political philosophy, Kathy L. Gaca demonstrates on compelling new grounds that it is misguided to regard Greek ethics and political theory—with their proposed reforms of eroticism, the family, and civic order—as the foundation of Christian sexual austerity. Rather, in this thoroughly informed and wide-ranging study, Gaca shows that early Christian goals to eradicate fornication were derived from the sexual rules and poetic norms of the Septuagint, or Greek Bible, and that early Christian writers adapted these rules and norms in ways that reveal fascinating insights into the distinctive and largely non-philosophical character of Christian sexual morality. Writing with an authoritative command of both Greek philosophy and early Christian writings, Gaca investigates Plato, the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, Philo of Alexandria, the apostle Paul, and the patristic Christians Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, and Epiphanes, freshly elucidating their ideas on sexual reform with precision, depth, and originality. Early Christian writers, she demonstrates, transformed all that they borrowed from Greek ethics and political philosophy to launch innovative programs against fornication that were inimical to Greek cultural mores, popular and philosophical alike. The Septuagint’s mandate to worship the Lord alone among all gods led to a Christian program to revolutionize Gentile sexual practices, only for early Christians to find this virtually impossible to carry out without going to extremes of sexual renunciation. Knowledgeable and wide-ranging, this work of intellectual history and ethics cogently demonstrates why early Christian sexual restrictions took such repressive ascetic forms and cast a sobering light on what Christian sexual morality has meant for religious pluralism in Western culture, especially among women as its bearers.

(Text by the author)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1. Introduction: Ancient Greek Sexual Blueprints for Social Order

Part I. Greek Philosophical Sexual Reforms
2. Desire’s Hunger and Plato the Regulator
3. Crafting Eros through the Stoic Logos of Nature
4. The Reproductive Technology of the Pythagoreans

Part II. Greek Biblical Sexual Rules and Their Reworking by Paul and Philo
5. Rival Plans for God’s Sexual Program in the Pentateuch and Paul
6. From the Prophets to Paul: Converting Whore Culture into the Lord’s Veiled Bride
7. Philo’s Reproductive City of God

Part III. Patristic Transformations of the Philosophical, Pauline, and Philonic Rules
8. Driving Aphrodite from the World: Tatian and His Encratite Argument
9. Prophylactic Grace in Clement’s Emergent Church Sexual Ethic
10. The Fornicating Justice of Epiphanes
11. Conclusion: The Demise of Greek Eros and Reproduction

Bibliography
Index

Link

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