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Conventional wisdom suggests that the Platonist philosophers of Late Antiquity, from Plotinus (third century) to the sixth-century schools in Athens and Alexandria, neglected the political dimension of their Platonic heritage in their concentration on an otherworldly life. Dominic O'Meara presents a revelatory reappraisal of these thinkers, arguing that their otherworldliness involved rather than excluded political ideas, and he proposes for the first time a reconstruction of their political philosophy, their conception of the function, structure, and contents of political science, and its relation to political virtue and to the divinization of soul and state. Among the topics discussed by O...
This is the ideal introduction to the thought of the third-century AD writer Plotinus, one of the greatest of ancient philosophers, now enjoying a major revival of interest. Dominic O'Meara has tailored the book carefully to the requirements of students: he writes clearly and authoritatively, assumes no knowledge of Greek or expertise in ancient philosophy, stays close to the texts, and relates Plotinus's ideas to modern philosophical concerns.
The Pythagorean idea that number is the key to understanding reality inspired Neoplatonist philosophers in the fourth and fifth centuries to develop theories in physics and metaphysics based on mathematical models. The theories produced by this revived interest in Pythagoreanism were to become influential in medieval and early modern philosophy, and this book makes use of some newly-discovered evidence to examine for the first time the development of those theories.
This book relates Plato's cosmology to his political philosophy by means of new interpretations of his Timaeus, Statesman, and Laws.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the Platonist philosophers of Late Antiquity, from Plotinus (third century) to the sixth-century schools in Athens and Alexandria, neglected the political dimension of their Platonic heritage in their concentration on an otherworldly life. Dominic O'Meara presents a revelatory reappraisal of these thinkers, arguing that their otherworldliness involved rather than excluded political ideas, and he proposes for the first time a reconstruction of their political philosophy, their conception of the function, structure, and contents of political science, and its relation to political virtue and to the divinization of soul and state. Among the topics discussed by O...
In this volume, the relationships between two of the most vital currents in Western thought are examined by a group of nineteen internationally known specialists in a variety of disciplines—classics, patristics, philosophy, theology, history of ideas, and literature. The contributing scholars discuss Neoplatonic theories about God, creation, man, and salvation, in relation to the ways in which they were adopted, adapted, or rejected by major Christian thinkers of five periods: Patristic, Later Greek and Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern. Contributors include G.-H. Allard, A. Hilary Armstrong, Elizabeth Bieman, Linos Benakis, Henry Blumenthal, Mary T. Clark, Norris Clarke, John Dillon, Cornelio Fabro, John N. Findlay, Maurice de Gandillac, Edward P. Mahoney, Bernard McGinn, Dominic J. O'Meara, John J. O'Meara, Jean Pépin, Mary Carman Rose, Henri-Dominique Saffrey, Charles B. Schmitt, and Gérard Verbeke.
This collection of papers is devoted to the significance of particular formal and literary aspects of the Platonic dialogues.
The Pythagorean idea that number is the key to understanding reality inspired Neoplatonist philosophers in the fourth and fifth centuries to develop theories in physics and metaphysics based on mathematical models. The theories produced by this revived interest in Pythagoreanism were to becomeinfluential in medieval and early modern philosophy, and this book makes use of some newly-discovered evidence to examine for the first time the development of those theories.
Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which ancient readers responded to Plato, as philosopher, as author, and more generally as a central figure in the intellectual heritage of Classical Greece, from his death in the fourth century BCE until the Platonist and Aristotelian commentators in the sixth century CE. The volume is divided into three sections: ‘Early Developments in Reception’ (four chapters); ‘Early Imperial Reception’ (nine chapters); and ‘Early Christianity and Late Antique Platonism’ (eighteen chapters). Sectional introductions cover matters of importance that could not easily be covered in dedicated chapters. The book demonstrates the great variety of approaches to and interpretations of Plato among even his most dedicated ancient readers, offering some salutary lessons for his modern readers too.
Die einzelnen Beiträge dieses Bandes sind unterschiedlichen Formen der Wiederbelebung des Platonismus innerhalb der antiken Philosophie gewidmet. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit ist den Themen der Einheit und der Schönheit, des Geistes und der Erkenntnis, der Seele und des Leibes, der Tugend und des Glücks sowie der politischen und der religiösen Dimension des platonischen Denkens gewidmet. Ausgehend von Platon und Aristoteles werden die Verwandlungsformen von Platonismus, insbesondere bei den Neuplatonikern Plotin, Porphyrios, Jamblich, Themistios, Proklos und Marinos sowie bei den christlichen Autoren Augustin, Boethius und Dionysios Areopagites untersucht. Die Autoren des Bandes knüpfen dabei in vielfältiger Weise an die Arbeiten von Dominic J. O’Meara an. Die Weiterführung seiner Ansätze rückt insbesondere die spätplatonische Ethik in ein neues Licht. Die jeweiligen Studien tragen darüber hinaus zur Erforschung der vielfältigen Bezüge der Platoniker aufeinander sowie auf andere Denker bei. Das Buch macht in seiner ganzen Breite das Erneuerungs- und Verwandlungspotenzial des antiken Platonismus deutlich.