Proclus and the Statesman Myth

Indexación: Revista UNAB.En el mito del Político (268d8-274d) Platón nos presenta dos humanidades primitivas: la de la de Edad de Oro, en la que reina Crono, y la que vive al comienzo del reinado de Zeus. En el siglo V D.C., Proclo interpreta este mito de una manera no literal, estableciendo una comparación entre la demiurgia del Timeo y la de Crono. El relato disocia, situándolos en tiempos diferentes, dos estados que, de hecho, coexistían en nuestro universo, donde el reino de Crono, considerado como el dialéctico supremo que representa la culminación del orden intelectual de los dioses, corresponde al mundo inteligible, y el reino de Zeus, representante de la razón operativa en el mundo físico, al ámbito de lo sensible.In the Statesman’s myth (268d8-274d), Plato features two primitive human races: that of the Golden Age, under Cronus reigns, and that which lives at the beginning of the reign of Zeus. In the fifth century AD, Proclus interprets this myth in a non-literal way, establishing a comparison between Timaeus’ demiourgia and that of Cronus. His narrative dissociates two states —placing them at different times—, which, in fact, coexisted in our universe, where Cronus’ realm, considered the supreme dialectic representing the culmination of the intellectual order of the gods, corresponds to the intelligible world; while Zeus’ realm, representative of the operative reason in the physical world, corresponds to the sensible domain.http://revistahumanidades.unab.cl//wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Art%C3%ADculo.-Proclo.-Zamora.pd

Proclus on the Atlantis Story

This paper explores the central thesis of the story of Atlantis put forward by Proclus in his Commentary on Plato's Timaeus. For Proclus, who interprets this story eight centuries after his invention by Plato, the Atlantean account does not constitute the “birth of fiction”, nor a historical novel composed in order to critize the politics of his time, but a total historical account, “entirely true”. The conflict between ancient Athens, the city of Athena, and Atlantis, dedicated to Poseidon, exposes an episode of the constitution of the cosmos of which the history of humanity is a part. Therefore, the story of Atlantis is a representation of the new creation or second demiurgy.This paper benefited from the support of two Spanish R&D projects: Acis&Galatea H2015/HUM-3362 (Community of Madrid) and HAR2017-83613- C2-2-P (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness), and is part of the activities of the UAM Research Group: “Influences of Greek Ethics on Contemporary Philosophy” (Ref. F-055

Atenas-Alejandría

The Athens of the second half of the V century B.C. probably expresses the best conception of active citizenship, but in this city-state, women, slaves and metics were excluded from citizenship. For its part, Alexandria, the lighthouse city founded by Alexander the Great, arises in Egypt, takes root in ancient Athens, but goes through the collapse of the polis and the emergence of cosmopolitanism, setting a new world order, technological and cultura

Derveni theogony and Plotinian genealogy

La teogonía de Derveni construye un relato complejo sobre la organización del mundo y el poder divino desde el comienzo de los tiempos. El último rey divino, el dios supremo del universo, Zeus, que también es su demiurgo, devora el falo de su padre, Urano, para poder así regresar él mismo a una generación anterior a la primera, dando inicio bajo su reinado a un nuevo ciclo cósmico. Para Plotino, la castración de Urano representa la transcendencia del Uno-Bien respecto a la Inteligencia, simbolizada por Crono; y el Alma, Zeus, que escapa a la voracidad de su padre, constituye el primer dios demiurgo, cuya función es la de servir de mediador entre lo inteligible y el mundo sensibleDerveni theogony constructs a complex narrative about the organization of the world and the divine power from the beginning of time. The last divine king, the supreme god of the universe, Zeus, who is also his demiurge, devours the phallus of his father, Uranus, in order to return himself to a generation before the first, giving birth under his reign to the beginning of a new cosmic cycle. For Plotinus, the castration of Uranus represents the transcendence of the One-Good with regard to Intelligence, symbolized by Kronos; and the Soul, Zeus, who escapes from the voracity of his father, is the first demiurge god, whose function is to serve as mediator between the intelligible and the sensible worl

The Christ-Logos question in Amelius

The main thesis of Christians, according to which Jesus is the divine Logos, the Son of God, is unacceptably illogical for Plotinus closest disciples. The irrationality of Christian doctrine lies in having identified a unique, personal and corporal individual with the divine principle. Such a statement implies identifying God himself with something passive and irrational, which is inadmissible to Amelius and Porphyry. Amelius helps Plotinus to answer the Gnostic Christians attending the school of Plotinus. In his Praeparatio Evangelica (XI.19.1–8) Eusebius refers to Amelius’ comment to the prologue to the Gospel of John. Unlike Numenius, for whom the demiurgic intellect, compared to Zeus, is the second cause of what comes to be, for Amelius, this second cause is the logos, which is the formal cause (kath’ hon), the efficient cause (di’ hou) and the material cause (en hôi) of what comes to be. Amelius links this conception of logos – which is being, life and thought – with Heraclitus (DK 22 B1) and with the prologue to the Gospel of John. Likewise, Amelius, based on the interpretation of Timaeus (39e7–9), established a triad of the demiurgic intellects (= the three Kings of the apocryphal Second Letter). In his Neoplatonic rereading, the logos of the beginning of the fourth Gospel has a very similar function to that performed by the world soul. On the one hand, it is the supreme cause of all the things which come to be, and, on the other hand, redirects its energy towards the superior god from which it comesThis paper benefited from the support of two Spanish R&D projects: Acis&Galatea H2015/HUM-3362 and HAR2017-83613-C2-2-P, and is part of the activities of the UAM Research Group: “Influences of Greek Ethics on Contemporary Philosophy” (Ref. F-055

Laimė ir gyvenimo homonimija Plotino filosofijoje

This article analyses the Plotinian reconsideration of the link between the definition of happiness and the homonymy of life. To safeguard Platonism, Plotinus inverts the Aristotelian discussions of homonymy and its metaphysical implications, and presents the prior-posterior relationship in terms of progressive degradation. Happiness does not consist of “life” in general (understood in a univocal sense) nor of the “rational life” (understood as the sum of genus and specific difference); rather, it consists of the life that is situated in the ontologically first and most perfect degree, which is the life that pertains to intelligence and is consubstantial with it, and of which the other lives are progressively degraded derivations. The man who possesses the first and perfect life of the intelligible in actuality, like the gods, can be considered happy.Straipsnyje analizuojamas Plotino atsigrįžimas į ryšį tarp laimės apibrėžimo ir gyvenimo homonimijos. Kad išsaugotų platonizmą, Plotinas apverčia aristoteliškąjį svarstymą apie homonimiją bei jos metafizines implikacijas ir teigia pirmesnio–paskesnio santykį, reiškiantį progresyvią degradaciją. Laimė jam nėra nei „gyvenimas“ bendrąja prasme (suprantamas vienareikšmiškai), nei „racionalus gyvenimas“ (suprantamas kaip giminės ir rūšinio skirtumo suma); veikiau laimė – tai gyvenimas, pasiekęs ontologiškai pirmą ir aukščiausią laipsnį, tai yra gyvenimas, derantis protui, konsubstantyvus jam, visi kiti gyvenimai yra tik progresyviai degraduojantys jo vediniai. Žmogus, gyvenantis pirmąjį – tobulą proto gyvenimą aktualybėje, gali būti laikomas laimingu, kaip dievai

Neoplatonic Exegesis of Hermaic Chain: Some reflections

In his exposition of the philosophical history of Neoplatonist School in Athens, Damascius attempts to prove that Isidore's soul was part of the Hermaic chain to which Proclus also belonged. According to Marinus (V. Procl. 28), Proclus had the revelation of this very fact and had learned from a dream that he possessed the soul of the Pythagorean Nicomachus of Gerasa. In the 4th and 6th centuries the expression “pattern of Hermes Logios” is transmitted through the various links of the Neoplatonic chain, Julian (Or. 7.237c), Proclus (in Parm. I.618), Damascius (V. Isid. Fr. 16) and Olympiodorus (in Gorg. 41.10.16–22; in Alc. 190.14–191.2). The formula that Aelius Aristides (Or. III.663) dedicates to the praise of Demosthenes, the best of Greek orators, arises in the context of an opposition between rhetoric and philosophy, and appears transferred and transmuted in the texts of the Neoplatonic schools to a philosophical context that defends an exegetical mode of teaching. Demosthenes, through his admirer Aristides, exerts an influence on Neoplatonism, introducing Hermes as the key piece that strengthens the chain of reason and eloquence. Hermes, the “eloquent” god or “friend of discourses”, transmits divine authority through the word of the exegete: an exceptional philosopher, a model of virtue to strive to rise t

Pseudo-platonic immortality: Axiochus and its posterity in humanism

The aim of this article is to trace the influence of Axiochus, an apocryphal text attributed to Plato, on Humanism. The dialogue, which belongs to the literary genre of “consolation”, addresses the theme of contempt of death and the immortality of the soul. The jurist Pedro Díaz de Toledo (1410/15 – 1466) translated it into Spanish in 1444 from a Latin version entitled De morte contemnenda, which Cencio de’ Rustici had translated eight years earlier, probably from the Greek codex provided by Joannes Chrysoloras, the Vaticanus gr. 1031. For his part, the humanist Beatus Rhenanus (1485 – 1547), the owner of five editions, revised and corrected in detail the text of a translation by Rudolf Agricola, proposing a number of amendments and changes that would appear in the Basel edition printed by Adam Petri in 151

What is that which is always becoming, and what is that which always is?

This paper explores the Neoplatonic interpretations of the distinction that Plato draws at the beginning of Timaeus (27d6 - 28a1) between "that which always is and has no becoming" and "that which is always becoming but never is". Philoponus tries to show that Plato understands "generated" in the sense of "generated in time", rejecting Aristotle's incompatible thesis. According to the Neoplatonic reading that Plotinus inaugurates, and Porphyry subsequently develops, "generated" (γϵνητóν) has two meanings: to depend on a cause and to exist by virtue of a composition. The first meaning is assigned to the incorporeal - the Intelligence and the Soul; the two meanings, on the other hand, are assigned to bodies. The Intelligence depends on a cause, the One-Good; and, in turn, the Soul depends on a cause, the Intelligence. These realities are not in the range of "that which is always generated and never is", but of "that which always is and is not generated", i.e. of "that which is without ceasing to be".This paper benefited from the support of two Spanish R&D projects: HAR2017-83613-C2-2-P and H2019/HUM-5714, and is part of the activities of the UAM Research Group: Influences of Greek Ethics on Contemporary Philosophy (Ref. F-055

The status of sexuality in neoplatonism

The stereotype of “Platonic love” that developed during the Renaissance implies a type of relationship, between two people of the opposite gender, which does not involve sexual activity. A new examination of certain relevant texts by Neoplatonists such as Plotinus, Porphyry, Hierocles, Hermias, Proclus and Olympiodorus, written during the period of Late Antiquity, establish that the question of sexuality is present in the very architecture of their systems, thus maintaining a coherent approach over time. “Mixed love”, tending towards the sexual union that enables the conception of children, is morally good. Through an exegesis of the Symposium, Phaedrus and First Alcibiades, each of these Neoplatonic philosophers explores sexuality through the prisms of cosmology, ethics and political theory