Neoplatonic Philosophy

by Dillon, John M.; Gerson, Lloyd P.

• ISBN13: 9780872207073
• ISBN10: 0872207072
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-01
• Publisher: Hackett Pub Co Inc

Summary

The most comprehensive collection of Neoplatonic writings available in English, this volume provides translations of the central texts of four major figures of the Neoplatonic tradition: Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus. The general Introduction gives an overview of the period and takes a brief but revealing look at the history of ancient philosophy from the viewpoint of the Neoplatonists. Historical background -- essential for understanding these powerful, difficult, and sometimes obscure thinkers -- is provided in extensive footnotes, which also include cross-references to other works relevant to particular passages.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	xiii
Principal Texts Used in This Anthology	xxiii
Plotinus
Enneads
On What Is the Living Being and What Is the Human Being (complete)	1	(11)
On Happiness	12	(6)
§§1--4
On Beauty (complete)	18	(12)
On What Evils Are and Where They Come From	30	(5)
§§1--5
On Nature and Contemplation and on the One (complete)	35	(14)
On the Immortality of the Soul	49	(7)
§§1; 9--15
On the Descent of the Soul Into Bodies (complete)	56	(10)
On the Three Principal Hypostases (complete)	66	(17)
On the Generation and Order of the Things That Come after the First (complete)	83	(3)
On the Knowing Hypostases and on That Which Is Transcendent	86	(19)
§§1--9; 13--17
That the Intelligibles Are Not Outside the Intellect, and on the Good	105	(4)
§§1--2
On the Presence of Being, One and the Same Simultaneously Existing Everywhere as a Whole---Part One	109	(13)
§§1--11
How the Multitude of Ideas Came to Exist, and On the One	122	(37)
§§1--23; 37--42
On the Free Will and the Volition of the One	159	(19)
§§1--8; 12--16
Porphyry
Launching-Points to the Intelligible	178	(17)
§§10, 11, 13, 16, 22, 25, 26, 32, 41, 43, 44
Inquiries Into Various Topics	195	(4)
Frs. 259, 261
On the Return of the Soul	199	(3)
Frs. 284, 285, 287, 300
The History of Philosophy	202	(3)
Frs. 220--223
Commentary on Parmenides	205	(7)
Frs. IV, V, VI
Commentary on Timaeus	212	(2)
Fr. LXXIX
Commentary on Categories	214	(3)
On Principles	217	(1)
Fr. 232
From Damascius On Principles (De Principiis)	217	(1)
Fr. 367
From Iamblichus On the Soul (De Anima)	218	(3)
§§6, 17, 23, 37
Iamblichus
On the Mysteries of the Egyptians	221	(20)
Book 11--3; 10; Book II 2; 11; Book III 25; Book V 26; Book VII 4--5; Book VIII 2; Book X 1--8
On the Soul (De Anima)	241	(3)
§§7, 18, 19, 37, 38
Letter to Macedonius, On Fate	244	(4)
Frs. 1--7
Commentary on Parmenides	248	(1)
Fr. 2B
Commentary on Timaeus	249	(7)
Frs. 7, 29, 50, 53, 54, 81, 87
Commentary on Phaedrus	256	(1)
Fr. 6
Commentary on Philebus	257	(1)
Frs. 4, 7
From Proclus' Commentary on Parmenides	258	(1)
From Proclus' Platonic Theology	259	(1)
From Damascius' On Principles (De Principiis)	260	(2)
From Pseudo-Simplicius' Commentary on the Soul De Anima	262	(2)
Proclus
Elements of Theology	264	(16)
Props. 1, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 25, 35, 41, 53, 57, 64, 67, 123, 186, 187, 194, 195, 211
Platonic Theology	280	(12)
11--3
Commentary on Parmenides	292	(39)
Book I 617--659
Book VI 1043--1051
Commentary on Timaeus	331	(13)
Prologue
Book I 4--9, 24
Book II 276, 30--277, 14
Book III 234, 8--235, 9
Commentary on Book I of Euclid's Elements	344	(1)
The Nature and Origin of Evil	345	(15)
§§1--5; 8--9; 30--33; 36--37; 51
Glossary	360