The First Principle in Late Neoplatonism

A Study of the One's Causality in Proclus and Damascius
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-43905-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 156, 346 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 725 g

Reihe: Philosophia Antiqua

In The First Principle, Jonathan Greig examines the philosophical theology of the two Neoplatonists, Proclus and Damascius (5th–6th centuries A.D.), on the One as the first cause. Both philosophers address a tension in the Neoplatonic tradition: namely that the One was seen as absolutely transcendent, yet it was also seen as intimately related to other things as the source of their unity and being. Proclus’ solution is to posit intermediate causes after the One, while Damascius posits a distinct principle, the ‘Ineffable’, above the One. This book provides a new, thorough study of the theories of causation that lead each to their respective position and reveals crucial insights involved in a rigorous negative theology employed in metaphysics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Greig, Jonathan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Antike Philosophie

Über Autor(innen)

Jonathan Greig, Ph.D. (LMU Munich, 2018), is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Institute for Medieval Research). He has published on Neoplatonic metaphysics and its reception in early and late Byzantine philosophy/theology.