Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature
Title | Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature PDF eBook |
Author | James Wilberding |
Publisher | |
Pages | 276 |
Release | 2012-04-05 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN |
This volume dispels the idea that Platonism was an otherworldly enterprise which neglected the study of the natural world. Leading scholars examine how the Platonists of late antiquity sought to understand and explain natural phenomena: their essays offer a new understanding of the metaphysics of Platonism, and its place in the history of science.
Mind in Nature
Title | Mind in Nature PDF eBook |
Author | Maria-Teresa Teixeira |
Publisher | Cambridge Scholars Publishing |
Pages | 242 |
Release | 2021-01-27 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 1527565157 |
This collection of essays written by leading Whitehead scholars bridges two important philosophical movements in Western philosophy separated by many centuries: Neo-Platonism and Process Philosophy. It focuses on a variety of topics, which can be found in both theories, including creativity, temporality, holism, potentiality, causality, evolution, organism, and multiplicities. They all concur with an integral, natural worldview, showing that wholeness, complexity, and indivisibility are prevalent in Nature. All in all, it brings together Neo-Platonism and Process Philosophy through the impact the former had on the latter. This volume shows that process philosophy can contribute to an integral worldview as it draws on ancient philosophy, setting new paradigms for novel approaches to nature, science and metaphysics.
Physics and Philosophy of Nature in Greek Neoplatonism
Title | Physics and Philosophy of Nature in Greek Neoplatonism PDF eBook |
Author | Riccardo Chiaradonna |
Publisher | BRILL |
Pages | 328 |
Release | 2009-03-25 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9047427262 |
Traditional scholarship has generally neglected the philosophy of nature in Greek Neoplatonism. In the last few decades, however, this attitude has changed radically. Natural philosophy has increasingly been regarded as a crucial aspect of late antique thought. Furthermore, several studies have outlined the impressive historical legacy of Neoplatonic physics. Building on this new interest, the ten papers published here concentrate on Neoplatonic philosophy of nature from Plotinus to Simplicius, and on its main conceptual features and its relation to the previous philosophical and scientific traditions. The papers were presented at a conference sponsored by the European Science Foundation in Castelvecchio Pascoli in June 2006. This volume makes an important contribution to the understanding of Greek Neoplatonism and its historical significance.
Neoplatonism and Nature
Title | Neoplatonism and Nature PDF eBook |
Author | Michael F. Wagner |
Publisher | SUNY Press |
Pages | 350 |
Release | 2002-01-01 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780791452721 |
Original essays by leading scholars on Plotinus' philosophy of nature.
Neo-Platonism
Title | Neo-Platonism PDF eBook |
Author | Richard T. Wallis |
Publisher | Scribner Book Company |
Pages | 234 |
Release | 1972 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN |
Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy
Title | Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy PDF eBook |
Author | Paulos Gregorios |
Publisher | SUNY Press |
Pages | 282 |
Release | 2002-01-01 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780791452745 |
Explores connections between Neoplatonism and Indian philosophy.
Freedom and Responsibility in Neoplatonist Thought
Title | Freedom and Responsibility in Neoplatonist Thought PDF eBook |
Author | Ursula Coope |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 288 |
Release | 2020-04-16 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0192558285 |
The Neoplatonists have a perfectionist view of freedom: an entity is free to the extent that it succeeds in making itself good. Free entities are wholly in control of themselves—they are self-determining, self-constituting, and self-knowing. Neoplatonist philosophers argue that such freedom is only possible for non-bodily things. The human soul is free insofar as it rises above bodily things and engages in intellection, but when it turns its desires to bodily things, it is drawn under the sway of fate and becomes enslaved. Ursula Coope discusses this notion of freedom and its relation to questions about responsibility. She explains the important role of notions of self-reflexivity in Neoplatonist accounts of both freedom and responsibility. In Part I, Coope sets out the puzzles Neoplatonist philosophers face about freedom and responsibility and explains how these puzzles arise from earlier discussions. Part II explores the metaphysical underpinnings of the Neoplatonist notion of freedom (concentrating especially on the views of Plotinus and Proclus). In what sense, if any, is the ultimate first principle of everything (the One) free? If everything else is under this ultimate first principle, how can anything other than the One be free? What is the connection between freedom and nonbodiliness? Finally, Coope considers in Part III questions about responsibility, arising from this perfectionist view of freedom. Why are human beings responsible for their behaviour, in a way that other animals are not? If we are enslaved when we act viciously, how can we be to blame for our vicious actions and choices?