Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the authors
OK
Damascius' Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles (AAR Religions in Translation) 1st Edition
Purchase options and add-ons
The Problems and Solutions exhibits a thorough?going critique of Proclean metaphysics, starting with the principle that all that exists proceeds from a single cause, proceeding to critique the Proclean triadic view of procession and reversion, and severely undermining the status of intellectual reversion in establishing being as the intelligible object. Damascius investigates the internal contradictions lurking within the theory of descent as a whole, showing that similarity of cause and effect is vitiated in the case of processions where one order (e.g. intellect) gives rise to an entirely different order (e.g. soul).
Neoplatonism as a speculative metaphysics posits the One as the exotic or extopic explanans for plurality, conceived as immediate, present to hand, and therefore requiring explanation. Damascius shifts the perspective of his metaphysics: he struggles to create a metaphysical discourse that accommodates, insofar as language is sufficient, the ultimate principle of reality. After all, how coherent is a metaphysical system that bases itself on the Ineffable as a first principle? Instead of creating an objective ontology, Damascius writes ever mindful of the limitations of dialectic, and of the pitfalls and snares inherent in the very structure of metaphysical discourse.
- ISBN-100195150295
- ISBN-13978-0195150292
- Edition1st
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication dateOctober 28, 2010
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions9.4 x 1.7 x 6.5 inches
- Print length560 pages
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
Review
--Kevin Corrigan, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Emory University
"Professor Rappe brings Damascius' metaphysics closer to Greek-less readers than ever before, and Problems and Solutions will appeal to those tired of the over-confident tones of other Neoplatonists. After a sensitive introduction culminating with important material on Chaldaean and Orphic traditions, her labors have produced a translation with an effective balance of accuracy and readability, supported by scholarly notes as appropriate."
-- Harold Tarrant, Professor of Classics, University of Newcastle, Australia.
Book Description
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Oxford University Press; 1st edition (October 28, 2010)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 560 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0195150295
- ISBN-13 : 978-0195150292
- Item Weight : 2.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.4 x 1.7 x 6.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #861,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,022 in Religious Studies (Books)
- #1,314 in Religion & Philosophy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star5 star75%25%0%0%0%75%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star4 star75%25%0%0%0%25%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star3 star75%25%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star2 star75%25%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star1 star75%25%0%0%0%0%
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2016The illustrious Damascius headed the Athenian Academy after his beloved teacher Isodore's term as scholarch. During Damascius' tenure as Successor of Plato, the Academy witnessed the closing of its doors by Justinian (ca. 529 AD). Justinian's zeal for one empire and one religion mirrored the policy of Constantine, of course, without the later's penchant for universal toleration. Consequently, the Emperor himself assumed the role of champion and defender of Byzantine Orthodoxy and would scare tolerate any rival theologies whether Christian or “pagan” in his domain. Hence, the ousting of Philosophy from her native seat in Athens was equivalent to the ousting of any newfangled Christian heresy: any and all doctrines in conflict with Orthodoxy were, by imperial policy, rendered equally illicit. So rather than languish away in the shadow of the once glorious Academy, Damascius and company (presumably 7 others), ostensibly headed East in exile to the realm of king Chosroes II, where they found at least some favor in the Persian court at Ctesiphon. From that point on, Philosophy underwent a metamorphosis whose first flowering is the works of Simplicius and Olympiodorus among the “pagans,” Dionysius the Areopagite, John Philoponus and St Maximus the Confessor among the Christians and also in the works of the Muslim philosophers of the late 7th and early 8th centuries AD.
Now Damascius' 'On First Principles' mimics Plotinus' use of question and answer (aporia) and his formal, scholastic style of discourse. The work itself is a virtual summa of neo-Platonic metaphysics in the mould of such thinkers as Iamblichus and Proclus; this work aims, broadly speaking, to reach the logical conclusion of their work and even expand upon their system with great subtlety. For instance, Damascius' Ineffable transcends Iamblichus' One and thus introduces a principle above the Iamblichean One. Broadly speaking, 'On First Principles,' in this late-Platonic context, is considered to be the fullest expression of Plato's 'Parmenides.' Plato's classic Nine Hypotheses are, therefore, construed to demonstrate how the manifestation of all being emanates from the One, which is the hyparxis of Being to non-being, which is the One's and hence Being's lowest terminus. No less integral to this lengthy treatise is Damascius' ability to fit the Chaldean Oracles and the Orphic Hymns to harmonize with the principal doctrines of neo-Platonic metaphysics, psychology, epistemology and metaphysics. Ultimately, Damascius' synthesis of inspired sacred literature (oracular and poetic) with the main tenets of Platonism, gives this work a theological and mystic character and brings life to an otherwise droll and lifeless exercise in dialectic. The spirit of Philsophia was still yet alive in Damacius works.
Applause must be handed to professor Rappe for her work in writing a brilliant, informative intro on the life and works of Damascius while also giving us a fine translation with exhaustive annotations. The book is highly recommended and is well worth the price tag.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2014Metaphysics from a time and a Sage when it reflected reality and was not just speculation.
Here are the heads from the first chapters:
PART ONE. ON THE INEFFABLE
SECTION I. ON THE INEFFABLE, 65
Chapter 1. On the Ineffable and Its Relationship to All Things, 65
Chapter 2. The Transcendence of the Ineffable, 68
Chapter 3. Our Affinity with the Ineffable, 70
Chapter 4. Speculation Concerning the Ineffable, 71
Chapter 5. On Plato and the Language of Metaphysics, 72
Chapter 6. That the One Is Unknowable, 74
Chapter 7. On the Complete Overturning of All Discourse Concerning the Ineffable, 76
Chapter 8. Three Questions Concerning the Ineffable qua Its Status as First Principle, 81
- Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2011An incredibly important text, that last of which was written before Justinian 1 closed the doors of the Academy around 529 A.D. We may well consider this book the last punch thrown by philosophical classicism before Christianity took over in Western Europe. Oddly enough, it is amazing how much neo-platonic thought actually survived by being integrated into Medieval Christian thought, considering the amazingly brilliant battle that took place for about for about 400+ years determining whether or not the west would be culturally ruled by Hellenistic philosophy or Christian theology. It is amazing to read the works of various authors, Christian or not, leading up to this critical time period. From Plotinus to Proclus to Damascius, and from Origen to Augustine to Pseudo-Dionysius; we see how conflicting thoughts developed and evolved by integrating with each other, even though, ultimately; Christianity emerged the victor in an ongoing cultural war that determined the entirety of Western culture up until present day.
Top reviews from other countries
- Stefano La SalviaReviewed in Italy on April 18, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars A new beginning
This book is fundamental for everyone whp is interested about Neoplatonic school, specifically to the last period before beeing closef from Emperor Justine. It is important for the deconstruction of most of prejudices about western philosophy, which is thought incapable of mystical approach and only to be analytical. The language and the argument are understable for non-native speakers also.