Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 4, Book 3, Part 2, Proclus on the World Soul

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 4, Book 3, Part 2, Proclus on the World Soul
Author: Proclus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2009-12-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521845960

In the present volume Proclus describes the 'creation' of the soul that animates the entire universe. This is not a literal creation, for Proclus argues that Plato means only to convey the eternal dependence of the World Soul upon higher causes. In his exegesis of Plato's text, Proclus addresses a range of issues in Pythagorean harmonic theory, as well as questions about the way in which the World Soul knows both forms and the visible reality that comprises its body. This part of Proclus' Commentary is particularly responsive to the interpretive tradition that precedes it. As a result, this volume is especially significant for the study of the Platonic tradition from the earliest commentators onwards.

Ten Gifts of the Demiurge

Ten Gifts of the Demiurge
Author: Emilie Kutash
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2013-10-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472519817

Proclus' commentary on Plato's "Timaeus" is perhaps the most important surviving Neoplatonic commentary. In it Proclus contemplates nature's mysterious origins and at the same time employs the deductive rigour required to address perennial philosophical questions. Nature, for him, is both divine and mathematically transparent. He renders theories of Time, Eternity, Providence, Evil, Soul and Intellect and constructs an elaborate ontology that includes mathematics and astronomy. He gives ample play to pagan theology too, frequently lapsing into the arcane language of the "Chaldaean Oracles". "Ten Gifts of the Demiurge" is an essential companion to this rich but complex and densely wrought text, providing an analysis of its arguments and showing that it, like the cosmos Proclus reveres, is a living coherent whole. The book provides aides to understanding Proclus' work within the complex background of Neoplatonic philosophy, familiarising the reader with the political context of the Athenian school, analysing Proclus' key terminology, and giving background to the philosophical arguments and ancient sciences upon which Proclus draws.Above all, it helps the reader appreciate the varicoloured light that Proclus sheds on the secrets of nature.

Proclus' Commentary on Plato's Parmenides

Proclus' Commentary on Plato's Parmenides
Author: Proclus,
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 668
Release: 1992-10-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780691020891

This is the first English translation of Proclus' commentary on Plato's Parmenides. Glenn Morrow's death occurred while he was less than halfway through the translation, which was completed by John Dillon. A major work of the great Neoplatonist philosopher, the commentary is an intellectual tour de force that greatly influenced later medieval and Renaissance thought. As the notes and introductory summaries explain, it comprises a full account of Proclus' own metaphysical system, disguised, as is so much Neoplatonic philosophy, in the form of a commentary.

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 5, Book 4

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 5, Book 4
Author: Proclus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2013-10-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107244323

Proclus' commentary on Plato's dialogue Timaeus is arguably the most important commentary on a text of Plato, offering unparalleled insights into eight centuries of Platonic interpretation. It has had an enormous influence on subsequent Plato scholarship. This edition offers the first new English translation of the work for nearly two centuries, building on significant recent advances in scholarship on Neoplatonic commentators. It provides an invaluable record of early interpretations of Plato's dialogue, while also presenting Proclus' own views on the meaning and significance of Platonic philosophy. The present volume, the fifth in the edition, presents Proclus' commentary on the Timaeus, dealing with Proclus' account of static and flowing time; we see Proclus situating Plato's account of the motions of the stars and planets in relation to the astronomical theories of his day. The volume includes a substantial introduction, as well as notes that will shed new light on the text.

Proclus on Nature

Proclus on Nature
Author: Marije Martijn
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2010-03-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004193251

Of Proclus’ immense philosophical system, the part concerning the natural world may well be the most fascinating. Traditional scholarship tends to downplay that part of Neoplatonism, in favour of idealism, but recently this attitude is changing. This study contributes to that development by showing how Proclus’ natural philosophy relates to theology, while remaining a science in its own right. Starting from his Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, it presents a revision of Proclus’ metaphysics of nature and provides new insight into his surprisingly peripatetic philosophy of science, the role of mathematics, and the nature of discourse in natural philosophy. This book will be of interest both to students of the Platonic tradition, and to historians of natural science, metaphysics and epistemology.

The Teachings of Syrianus on Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides

The Teachings of Syrianus on Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides
Author: Sarah Klitenic Wear
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2011-03-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004192905

This books delves into the major tenets of Syrianus' philosophical teachings on the Timaeus and Parmenides based on the testimonia of Proclus, as found in Proclus' commentaries on Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides, and Damascius, as reported in his On First Principles and commentary on Plato's Parmenides.

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 6, Book 5: Proclus on the Gods of Generation and the Creation of Humans

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus: Volume 6, Book 5: Proclus on the Gods of Generation and the Creation of Humans
Author: Proclus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-07-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781139506793

Proclus' commentary on the dialogue Timaeus by Plato (d.347 BC), written in the fifth century AD, is arguably the most important commentary on a text of Plato, offering unparalleled insights into eight centuries of Platonic interpretation. It has had an enormous influence on subsequent Plato scholarship. This edition nevertheless offers the first new translation of the work for nearly two centuries, building on significant recent advances in scholarship by Neoplatonic commentators. It will provide an invaluable record of early interpretations of Plato's dialogue, while also presenting Proclus' own views on the meaning and significance of Platonic philosophy. The book presents Proclus' unrepentant account of a multitude of divinities involved with the creation of mortal life, the supreme creator's delegation to them of the creation of human life, and the manner in which they took the immortal life principle from him and wove it together with our mortal parts to produce human beings.

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Republic: Volume 1

Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Republic: Volume 1
Author:
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 443
Release: 2020-09-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781316608302

The commentary on Plato's Republic by Proclus (d. 485 CE), which takes the form of a series of essays, is the only sustained treatment of the dialogue to survive from antiquity. This three-volume edition presents the first complete English translation of Proclus' text, together with a general introduction that argues for the unity of Proclus' Commentary and orients the reader to the use that the Neoplatonists made of Plato's Republic in their educational program. Each volume is completed by a Greek word index and an English-Greek glossary that will help non-specialists to track the occurrence of key terms throughout the translated text. The first volume of the edition presents Proclus' essays on the point and purpose of Plato's dialogue, the arguments against Thrasymachus in Book I, the rules for correct poetic depictions of the divine, a series of problems about the status of poetry across all Plato's works, and finally an essay arguing for the fundamental agreement of Plato's philosophy with the divine wisdom of Homer which is, in Proclus' view, allegorically communicated through his poems.