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Forms, Souls, and Embryos allows readers coming from different
backgrounds to appreciate the depth and originality with which the
Neoplatonists engaged with and responded to a number of
philosophical questions central to human reproduction, including:
What is the causal explanation of the embryo's formation? How and
to what extent are Platonic Forms involved? In what sense is a
fetus 'alive,' and when does it become a human being? Where does
the embryo's soul come from, and how is it connected to its body?
This is the first full-length study in English of this fascinating
subject, and is a must-read for anyone interested in Neoplatonism
or the history of medicine and embryology.
Forms, Souls, and Embryos allows readers coming from different
backgrounds to appreciate the depth and originality with which the
Neoplatonists engaged with and responded to a number of
philosophical questions central to human reproduction, including:
What is the causal explanation of the embryo's formation? How and
to what extent are Platonic Forms involved? In what sense is a
fetus 'alive,' and when does it become a human being? Where does
the embryo's soul come from, and how is it connected to its body?
This is the first full-length study in English of this fascinating
subject, and is a must-read for anyone interested in Neoplatonism
or the history of medicine and embryology.
Plotinus stands at a crossroads in ancient philosophy, between the
more than 600 years of philosophy that came before him and the new
Platonic tradition. He was the first and perhaps the greatest
systematizer of Plato's thought, and all later students of Plato in
the following centuries approached Plato through him. This
Companion from a new generation of ancient philosophy scholars
reflects the current state of research on Plotinus, with chapters
on topics including mathematics, fate and determinism, happiness,
the theory of forms, categories of reality, matter and evil, and
Plotinus' legacy. The volume offers an accessible overview of the
thought of one of the pivotal figures in the history of philosophy,
and reveals his importance as a thinker whose impact goes far
beyond his importance as an interpreter of Plato.
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Plotinus: The Enneads (Paperback)
Lloyd P. Gerson; Translated by George Boys-Stones, John M Dillon, R.A.H. King, Andrew Smith, …
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R1,630
Discovery Miles 16 300
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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The Enneads by Plotinus is a work which is central to the history
of philosophy in late antiquity. This volume is the first complete
edition of the Enneads in English for over seventy-five years, and
also includes Porphyry's Life of Plotinus. Led by Lloyd P. Gerson,
a team of experts present up-to-date translations which are based
on the best available text, the editio minor of Henry and Schwyzer
and its corrections. The translations are consistent in their
vocabulary, making the volume ideal for the study of Plotinus'
philosophical arguments. They also offer extensive annotation to
assist the reader, together with cross-references and citations
which will enable users more easily to navigate the texts. This
monumental edition will be invaluable for scholars of Plotinus with
or without ancient Greek, as well as for students of the Platonic
tradition.
The two texts translated in this volume of the Ancient Commentators
on Aristotle series both compare the happiness of the practical
life, which is subject to the hazards of fortune, with the
happiness of the life of philosophical contemplation, which is
subject to fewer needs. The first is Michael of Ephesus'
12th-century commentary on Book 10 of Aristotle's Nicomachean
Ethics, written (alongside his commentaries on Books 5 and 9) to
fill gaps in the Neoplatonists' commentaries from the 6th century.
He recognizes that lives of practicality and philosophy may be
combined, and gives his own account of the superiority of the
contemplative. The second is Themistius' text On Virtue, written in
the 4th century AD. He was an important teacher and commentator on
Aristotle, an orator and leading civil servant in Constantinople.
His philosophical oration is here argued to be written in support
of the Emperor Julian's insistence against the misuse of free
speech by a Cynic Heraclius, who had satirised him. Julian had
previously criticised Themistius but here he combines his political
and philosophical roles in seeking to mend relations with his
former pupil.
Plotinus stands at a crossroads in ancient philosophy, between the
more than 600 years of philosophy that came before him and the new
Platonic tradition. He was the first and perhaps the greatest
systematizer of Plato's thought, and all later students of Plato in
the following centuries approached Plato through him. This
Companion from a new generation of ancient philosophy scholars
reflects the current state of research on Plotinus, with chapters
on topics including mathematics, fate and determinism, happiness,
the theory of forms, categories of reality, matter and evil, and
Plotinus' legacy. The volume offers an accessible overview of the
thought of one of the pivotal figures in the history of philosophy,
and reveals his importance as a thinker whose impact goes far
beyond his importance as an interpreter of Plato.
|
Plotinus: The Enneads (Hardcover)
Lloyd P. Gerson; Translated by George Boys-Stones, John M Dillon, R.A.H. King, Andrew Smith, …
|
R5,551
Discovery Miles 55 510
|
Ships in 10 - 15 working days
|
The Enneads by Plotinus is a work which is central to the history
of philosophy in late antiquity. This volume is the first complete
edition of the Enneads in English for over seventy-five years, and
also includes Porphyry's Life of Plotinus. Led by Lloyd P. Gerson,
a team of experts present up-to-date translations which are based
on the best available text, the editio minor of Henry and Schwyzer
and its corrections. The translations are consistent in their
vocabulary, making the volume ideal for the study of Plotinus'
philosophical arguments. They also offer extensive annotation to
assist the reader, together with cross-references and citations
which will enable users more easily to navigate the texts. This
monumental edition will be invaluable for scholars of Plotinus with
or without ancient Greek, as well as for students of the Platonic
tradition.
In chapters 12-18 of Against Proclus, Philoponus continues to do
battle against Proclus' arguments for the beginninglessness and
everlastingness of the ordered universe. In this final section
there are three notable issues under discussion. The first concerns
the composition of the heavens and its manner of movement.
Philoponus argues against the Aristotelian thesis that there is a
fifth heavenly body that has a natural circular motion. He
concludes that even though the celestial region is composed of fire
and the other three elements, it can move in a circle by the agency
of its soul, and that this circular motion is not compromised in
any way by the innate natural motion of the fire.Chapter 16
contains an extended discussion of the will of God and His relation
to particulars. Here Philoponus addresses issues that become
central to medieval philosophical and theological discussions,
including the unity, timelessness and indivisibility of God's will.
Finally, throughout these seven chapters Philoponus is engaged in a
detailed exegesis of Plato's Timaeus which aims to settle a number
of familiar interpretive problems, notably how we should understand
the pre-cosmic state of disorderly motion, and the statement that
the visible cosmos is an image of the paradigm. Philoponus'
exegetical concerns culminate in chapter 18 with an extensive
discussion of Plato's attitude to poetry and myth.
Concerning embryos, Porphyry takes an original view on issues that
had been left undecided by his teacher Plotinus and earlier by the
doctor Galen. What role is played in the development of the embryo
by the souls or the natures of the father, of the mother, of the
embryo, or of the whole world? Porphyry's detailed answer, in
contrast to Aristotle's, gives a significant role to the soul and
to the nature of the mother, without, however, abandoning
Aristotle's view that the mother supplies no seed. In the fragments
of "On What is in Our Power," "Porphyry" discusses Plato's idea
that we choose each of our incarnations, and so are responsible for
what happens in our lives.This volume contains an English
translation of the two commentaries, as well as extensive notes, an
introduction and a bibliography.
Concerning embryos, Porphyry takes an original view on issues that
had been left undecided by his teacher Plotinus and earlier by the
doctor Galen. What role is played in the development of the embryo
by the souls or the natures of the father, of the mother, of the
embryo, or of the whole world? Porphyry's detailed answer, in
contrast to Aristotle's, gives a significant role to the soul and
to the nature of the mother, without, however, abandoning
Aristotle's view that the mother supplies no seed. In the fragments
of On What is in Our Power, "Porphyry" discusses Plato's idea that
we choose each of our incarnations, and so are responsible for what
happens in our lives. This volume contains an English translation
of the two commentaries, as well as extensive notes, an
introduction and a bibliography.
In Ennead II.1 (40) Plotinus is primarily concerned to argue for
the everlastingness of the universe, the heavens, and the heavenly
bodies as individual substances. Here he must grapple both with the
philosophical issue of personal identity through time and with the
rich tradition of cosmology which pitted the Platonists against the
Aristotelians and Stoics. What results is a historically informed
cosmological sketch explaining the constitution of the heavens as
well as sublunar and celestial motion. This book contains an
extensive introduction aimed at providing the necessary background
in Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic cosmology, the text itself,
and a line-by-line commentary designed to elucidate its
philosophical, philological and historical details.
The two texts translated in this volume of the Ancient Commentators
on Aristotle series both compare the happiness of the practical
life, which is subject to the hazards of fortune, with the
happiness of the life of philosophical contemplation, which is
subject to fewer needs. The first is Michael of Ephesus'
12th-century commentary on Book 10 of Aristotle's Nicomachean
Ethics, written (alongside his commentaries on Books 5 and 9) to
fill gaps in the Neoplatonists' commentaries from the 6th century.
He recognizes that lives of practicality and philosophy may be
combined, and gives his own account of the superiority of the
contemplative. The second is Themistius' text On Virtue, written in
the 4th century AD. He was an important teacher and commentator on
Aristotle, an orator and leading civil servant in Constantinople.
His philosophical oration is here argued to be written in support
of the Emperor Julian's insistence against the misuse of free
speech by a Cynic Heraclius, who had satirised him. Julian had
previously criticised Themistius but here he combines his political
and philosophical roles in seeking to mend relations with his
former pupil.
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