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1
Pletsch, Alexander. "Plotins Unsterblichkeitslehre und ihre Rezeption bei Porphyrios /." Stuttgart : ibidem-Verl, 2005. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2715452&prov=M&dokv̲ar=1&doke̲xt=htm.
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Eliasson, Erik. "The notion of "that which depends on us" in Plotinus and its background /." Leiden [u.a.] : Brill, 2008. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=016522548&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.
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Edwards, M. J. "Plotinus and the Gnostics." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.381861.
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Caluori, Damian. "Plotinus on the Soul." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491566.
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It is the aim of this thesis to provide a systematic account of Plotinus' theory of the Soul. One main focus is on the so-called hypostasis Soul, an entity which Plotinus introduced into philosophy and which has been hardly considered in the literature up to now. I discuss why Plotinus introduced it, what it is, and what its relation is to individual souls.
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Stamatellos, Giannis. "Plotinus and the presocratics : a comparative philosophical study of presocratic influences in Plotinus' Enneads." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683206.
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Ellis, David. "Providence and Pedagogy in Plotinus:." Thesis, Boston College, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107314.
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Thesis advisor: Gary M. GurtlerThis dissertation examines Plotinus’ pedagogy. I argue that his pedagogy aims at teaching students how to think and be attuned to their own unity, both of which have ethical ramifications. I identify six techniques he uses to achieve these aims: (1) using allusions, (2) leading readers to an impasse (aporia), (3) using and correcting images, (4) self-examination and ongoing criticism, (5) treating opposites dynamically, and (6) thought-experiments. I also explain why and how these techniques are not applied to passive recipients but require their active involvement
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy
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Kimbler, Steven L. "Plotinus and Aquinas on God." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1275619376.
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Ousager, Asger. "Plotinus on selfhood, freedom and politics." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.398174.
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Lorenc, Theodore Eliot. "Soul, logos and subjectivity in Plotinus." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.435359.
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Ueng, Jia-Sheng. "Plotinus on matter and evil : a commentary on Plotinus' Enneads 1.8 'on what are and whence come evils?'." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.333914.
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Bowe, Geoffrey Scott. "Aristotle and Plotinus on being and unity." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0001/NQ42723.pdf.
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Bowe, Geoffrey Scott. "Aristotle and Plotinus on being and unity /." *McMaster only, 1997.
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Hubbard, Lynn Vivien. "Bergson, Plotinus and the harmonics of evolution." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2018. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/33895/.
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This thesis argues that Bergson and Plotinus replicate the Pythagorean tradition by proposing a philosophy of dynamic transformation underpinned by two fundamental and interlinked premises: a universe generated and governed by a natural law of musical harmonics, and the concept of kairos as time signifying the emergence of qualitative change.
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Baracat, Junior Jose Carlos. "Plotino, Eneadas I, II e III; Porfirio, Vida de Plotino : introdução, tradução e notas." [s.n.], 2006. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/269213.
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Orientador : Trajano Augusto Ricca VieiraTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: Compõem esta tese de doutoramento a tradução dos vinte e sete tratados contidos nas Enéadas I, II e lU de Plotino, um estudo introdutório a aspectos estruturais, estilísticos e filosóficos de sua obra, e ainda a tradução da Vida de Platina, biografia redigida por Porfírio, discípulo, amigo e editor de Plotino
Abstract: This monograph is composed of the translation of the twenty seven treatises contained on Plotinus' Enneads I, II and lU, an introductory study on his works' structural, stylistic, and philosophical aspects, and also the translation of Life af Platinus, written by Porphyry, Plotinus' disciple, friend and editor
Doutorado
Doutor em Linguística
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Förstel, Christian. "Marsile Ficin et les Ennéades : la genèse de la traduction et du commentaire de Plotin." Thesis, Paris, EPHE, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016EPHE5023.
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La publication en 1492, par Marsile Ficin, de la première traduction latine des Ennéades et du monumental commentaire qui l’accompagne marque le retour de Plotin en Occident. Le manuscrit de travail de Ficin, le Parisinus graecus 1816 de la Bibliothèque nationale de France nous offre un témoignage exceptionnel concernant les principales étapes philosophiques et historiques qui ont marqué l’élaboration du Plotinus latinus. Les quelque 2500 annotations inscrites par Ficin sur les marges de ce manuscrit qui fut mis à sa disposition par Côme l’Ancien sont ici éditées, traduites et commentées. Cet important apparat exégétique jusque là inédit éclaire les différentes facettes du travail accompli par Ficin durant plusieurs décennies sur le texte très difficile de Plotin : des corrections apportées au texte transmis – une partie de ces interventions ont trouvé leur chemin jusque dans les éditions contemporaines sans toutefois que leur origine ait toujours été reconnue – à la confrontation doctrinale avec le néoplatonisme profondément original de Plotin, le manuscrit met en scène un Ficin soucieux d’intégrer les Ennéades dans sa vision à la fois chrétienne et platonicienne de la concordia philosophorum, mais aussi conscient des aspérités et audaces difficilement récupérables du texte plotinien. Cette lecture ficinienne des Ennéades produit à son tour de multiples échos dans l’oeuvre propre de Ficin et contribue ainsi à irriguer les débats philosophiques de la Renaissance et au-delàThe publication in 1492 of the first Latin translation by Ficino of the Enneads and his monumental accompanying commentary marks the return of Plotinus in the West. Ficino's working manuscript, Par. gr. 1816 of the French Bibliothèque Nationale, offers us exceptional evidence concerning the major philosophical and historical milestones in the elaboration of the Plotinus latinus. The nearly 2,500 annotations written by Ficino in the margins of this manuscript, put at his disposition by Cosimo de' Medici, are here edited, translated and commented upon. This important, previously unpublished exegetical instrument illustrates the various facets of Ficino's work over several decades on Plotinus's very difficult text: through his corrections of the transmitted text – some of these interventions have found their way into contemporary editions though their origin has not always been recognised – in doctrinal confrontation with the profoundly original Platonism of Plotinus, the manuscript reveals a Ficino anxious to integrate the Enneads in his own vision – at once Christian and Platonic – of the concordia philosophorum, whilst at the same time conscious of the sneering and audacity hardly worth saving of the Plotinian text. This Ficinian reading of the Enneads found diverse echoes in Ficino's own work and thus contributed to philosophical debate in the Renaissance and beyond
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Magrin, Sara. "Plotinus' epistemology and his reading of the «theaetetus»." Thesis, McGill University, 2010. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=92197.
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The thesis offers a reconstruction of Plotinus' reading of the Theaetetus, and it presents an account of his epistemology that rests on that reading. It aims to show that Plotinus reads the Theaetetus as containing two anti-sceptical arguments. The first argument is an answer to radical scepticism, namely, to the thesis that nothing is apprehensible and judgement must be suspended on all matters. The second argument is an answer to a more moderate form of scepticism, which does not endorse a universal suspension of judgement, but maintains nonetheless that scientific knowledge is unattainable.The first chapter opens with a reconstruction of Plotinus' reading of Theaet., 151e-184a, where Socrates examines the thesis that knowledge is sensation in light of Protagoras' epistemology. In this chapter it is argued that Plotinus makes a polemical use of the discussion of Protagoras' epistemology. Plotinus takes Plato to show that Protagoras' views imply radical scepticism; and he attack the Stoics' epistemological and ontological commitments by arguing that they imply Protagoras' views, and thus lead to radical scepticism, too.
The second chapter examines Plotinus' interpretation of the ontology of the Timaeus. In Theaet., 151e-184a Plato shows that Protagoras' epistemology leads to radical scepticism by arguing that it implies an allegedly Heracleitean conception of the sensible world. Plotinus maintains that in the Timaeus Plato offers an alternative to Protagoras' and Heracleitus' ontology. This alternative conception of the sensible world provides some of the premises on which Plotinus builds his interpretation of Theaet., Part I, 184b-187a.
The third chapter reconstructs Plotinus' reading of Theaet., 184b-187a. In this chapter it is argued that Plotinus takes the discussion of sensation at Theaet., 184b-186b 11 to remove the threat to knowledge that is presented by radical scepticism, while he reads Theaet., 186b 11-187a as presenting an argument against the more moderate forms of scepticism described above. The third chapter also offers an overview of Plotinus' reading of the Theaetetus in its entirety and it suggests that this dialogue for Plotinus represents a Platonic exercise in Socratic dialectic that aims to prepare the student for the dialectic of the Sophist.
Cette thèse reconstruit la lecture plotinienne du Thééthète, et elle présente une analyse de l'épistémologie de Plotin qui s'appui sur cette lecture. Le but de ce travail et de montrer que Plotin identifie dans le Thééthète deux arguments contre le scepticisme. Le premier argument est une réponse à une forme de scepticisme radicale, c'est-à-dire à la thèse selon laquelle rien n'est connaissable et le jugement doit être suspendu sur toute chose. Le second argument est une réponse à une forme plus modérée de scepticisme, qui n'appui pas une suspension du jugement universelle, mais maintient quand même qu'on ne peut pas atteindre la connaissance.
Le premier chapitre reconstruit la lecture plotinienne de Theaet., 151e-184a, où Socrate analyse la thèse que la connaissance est sensation à la lumière de l'épistémologie de Protagoras. Dans ce chapitre on observe que Plotin emploie à des fins polémiques la discussion de l'épistémologie de Protagoras. Plotin pense que pour Platon l'épistémologie de Protagoras implique un scepticisme radical, et il attaque l'épistémologie et l'ontologie des stoïciens en essayant de démontrer qu'elles impliquent la position de Protagoras, si bien qu'elles aussi amènent à une forme de scepticisme radical.
Le deuxième chapitre analyse la lecture plotinienne de l'ontologie du Timée. Dans Theaet., 151e-184a, Platon montre que l'épistémologie de Protagoras amène au scepticisme radical en soutenant qu'elle implique une conception du monde sensible de type héraclitéen. Plotin soutient que dans le Timée Platon présente une alternative à l'ontologie de Protagoras et d'Héraclite. Cette nouvelle conception du monde sensible fournit des prémisses sur lesquelles Plotin construit son interprétation de Theaet., 184b-187a.
Le troisième chapitre reconstruit la lecture plotinienne de Theaet., 184b-187a. Dans ce chapitre on suggère que Plotin voit dans Theaet., 184b-186b un argument qui vise à éliminer la menace d'un scepticisme radical, et qu'il voit dans Theaet., 186b 11-187a un argument qui vise à réfuter une forme de scepticisme plus modérée, telle que celle décrite en haute. Le troisième chapitre présente aussi une vision d'ensemble de la lecture que Plotin fait du dialogue et il suggère que ce dialogue pour Plotin représente un exercice de dialectique socratique qui prépare le lecteur à la lecture du Sophiste.
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Carabine, Deirdre. "The ineffable god Apophasis : from Parmenides to Plotinus." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.356888.
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Fadda, Tania. "Présence et sens de kinesis [κίνησις] dans les Ennéades de Plotin." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016GREAP001/document.
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Ma Thèse de Doctorat vise à trouver et à analyser les occurences du mot kinesis, et des expressions similaires, dans les Ennéades de Plotin. La méthode lexicographique m'a permis d'identifier un catalogue d'environ huit-cents occurrences du terme kinesis. J'ai identifié deux domaines systématiques par rapport à l'utilisation de kinesis, l'une concernant la réalité sensible, l'autre la réalité intelligible. Dans la première partie de mon étude je me concentre sur les occurrences de kinesis qui sont liées à la réflexion plotinienne concernant les corps et les âmes qui maintiennent un lien avec eux (âme cosmique et les âmes particulières); dans la deuxième partie, j'analyse la réflexion plotinienne concernant la réalité intelligible, par rapport à laquelle la kinesis est considerée en tant que genre intelligible. Dans la première partie je présente l'analyse des traités: 2 (IV, 7); 3 (III, 1); 8 (IV, 9); 26 (III, 6); 27 (IV, 3); 28 (IV, 4); 29 (IV, 5); 14 (II, 2); 40 (II, 1); 45 (III, 7); 53 (1, 1); dans la deuxième partie, je présente l'analyse des traités dédiés aux “Genres de l'être”, 42-44 (VI, 1-3)My Ph.D. research is aimed at finding and analyzing the occurences of the word kinesis, and similar expressions, in Plotinus' Enneads. The employment of lexicographical method has allowed me to pick up a catalog of around eight hundred occurrences of the term kinesis. I have identified two tematic areas for the use of kinesis, one regarding the sensible reality, the other the intelligible reality. In the first part of my study I focus on kinesis occurrences with reference to the body and to those souls related to the bodies; in the second part I analyze the construction of the intelligible reality in which movement is implicated as a gene. In the first part of my research I present the analysis of the treaties: 2 (IV, 7); 3 (III, 1); 8 (IV, 9); 26 (III, 6); 27 (IV, 3); 28 (IV, 4); 29 (IV, 5); 14 (II, 2); 40 (II, 1); 45 (III, 7); 53 (1, 1); in the second part I present the analysis of Plotinus' treaties dedicated to the “Genera of Being”, 42-44 (VI, 1-3)
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Mattei, Sofia. "La materia e il vuoto una nuova lettura della úle tõn gignoménon di Plotino /." Roma : Edizioni dell'Ateneo, 2004. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/57361078.html.
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Remes, Mari Paulina. "Plotinus' philosophy of the self : unity, reason and awareness." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.270930.
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Banner, Nicholas. "The power of the unsaid : philosophic silence in Plotinus." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/11861.
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This thesis examines the theme of secrecy and silence in the philosophy of Plotinus. This philosopher is known for the innovative use he made of Platonic and Aristotelean materials in constructing a thought-world which posits a totally transcendent first principle, the one or the good, from which all other entities are derived. The Plotinian one is ineffable by its very nature, and Plotinus expounds at length the claim that it cannot be comprehended, either by speech or thought. The paradox of a philosopher writing extensive discourses about a reality which is said to be ineffable is the main topic of this thesis, which seeks to answer the question: what is Plotinus doing when he tells us that he cannot, or will not, reveal the nature of the one? Partial answers to this question have been given in previous scholarship through study of the philosophic background which led Plotinus to posit such an ineffable reality, and through analysis of the arguments in which he upholds the doctrine of the one’s ineffability. Building on this body of work, this thesis gives a more compre- hensive answer to this question by analysing the tropes of silence and secrecy which were developed in Middle Platonism, derived especially from Plato’s writings, and by locating Plotinus in a broader philosophic tradition which interpreted canonical thinkers as esoteric writers. In this way, the thesis provides a historical context for Plotinus’ treatment of the ineffable one. Plotinus’ discourse of ineffability is present- ed not just as a response to purely philosophical issues, but also an enactment of a tradition of philosophic silence, which determined in part how a Platonist philoso- pher articulated in written form ideas about concealment and the limits of discourse. Through a combination of close reading of a number of Plotinian texts and full dis- cussion of the wider context, this thesis aims to integrate analytical and cultural approaches to Plotinus’ philosophy. It aims also to bring out the significance of the theme of philosophical silence for late antique philosophy both as a discipline and as a socially-embedded part of Græco-Roman civilisation.
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Lacroix, Francis. "Plotin. Traité 6 (IV 8) Sur la descente de l’âme dans les corps : introduction, traduction et commentaire." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PSLEP037.
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La thèse vise à introduire, traduire et commenter le traité 6 (IV 8) Sur la descente de l’âme dans les corps de Plotin. L’introduction tente de remettre le traité dans le contexte historique dans lequel Plotin évoluait, à savoir un monde romain où le christianisme émergeait, mais celui-ci étant encore instable, plusieurs sectes s’immiscent dans les débats métaphysiques de l’époque. Parmi ces hérésies chrétiennes se retrouvent plusieurs groupuscules que l’on rassemble sous l’appellation « gnostiques », avec qui Plotin a assurément échangé pendant qu’il enseignait à Rome, puisqu’il a rédigé un traité qui s’efforce de les réfuter (33 [II 9], Contre les gnostiques). Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons donc à déterminer l’apport des gnostiques dans le traité 6 (IV 8), notamment en lien avec l’idée principale que Plotin avance, nommément la théorie de la non-descente partielle de l’âme. Pour ce faire, nous présentons d’abord la mystique plotinienne de l’Intellect, puisque le traité débute sur cet aspect primordial pour comprendre la doctrine stipulée par le philosophe. Ensuite, nous abordons les points les plus importants dans la conception plotinienne de l'âme, ce qui nous permet de mieux comprendre la vision générale du philosophe. Cette introduction se penche finalement sur les sources de Plotin dans le traité 6 (IV 8), mais aussi dans tous ses premiers écrits, pour ainsi établir une corrélation avec certains textes gnostiques, principalement ceux appartenant à la tradition séthienne platonisante. La traduction qui s’ensuit permet donc de jeter un regard plus juste sur le texte grec, puisque nous avons préalablement déterminé à qui s’adressait Plotin dans son traité. Le commentaire élaboré couvre enfin la totalité des huit chapitres et explique le texte ligne par ligne en insistant sur les liens qui peuvent être faits avec les différents courants de penséeThe thesis aims to introduce, translate in French and comment Plotinus’s treatise 6 (IV 8) On the Descent of Soul into Bodies. The introduction elaborates on the historical context in which Plotinus was teaching, namely a Roman Empire overruned by an emergent christianism, yet instable, since many sectaries interfered in the metaphysical debates in vigour at the moment. Among these Christian heresies can be found a plethor of groupuscules reassembled under the aegis of the name « Gnostics », with whom Plotinus assuredly debated while he was teaching at Rome, since he dedicated a treatise to refute them (33 [II 9] Against the Gnostics). Therefore, this thesis endeavours to determinate the Gnostic contribution to treatise 6 (IV 8) with a particular focus on the main theme that Plotinus put forward, namely the theory of the partial non-descent of the soul. To do so, we firstly present the plotinian mystic of the Intellect, since the treatise begins with this primordial aspect for the understanding of the neoplatonician doctrine. Secondly, we then address the principal points of Plotinus’s psychology, which allows us to grasp a general view of the neoplatonician conception. Thirdly, we finally examine Plotinus’s sources not only in treatise 6 (IV 8), but also in all his first writings, so that we can put them in relation with some Gnostics texts, especially with those called the platonizing sethians. Thus, the following translation is more accurate in regards of the Greek text, as beforehand we identified the interlocutors of Plotinus in his treatise. Finally, the elaborated commentary which covers the whole eight chapters provides a line-by-line explanation focusing on the link between this very treatise and the other currents of thought
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Song, Euree. "Aufstieg und Abstieg der Seele Diesseitigkeit und Jenseitigkeit in Plotins Ethik der Sorge." Göttingen Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007. http://d-nb.info/995973628/04.
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Tavoularis, Stylianos. "Hegel, Plotinus and Jacobi: idealism and two varieties of mysticism." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.485070.
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In this thesis I investigate Hegel's idealism and Plotinus' and Jacobi' varieties of mysticism. My intention was to examine Hegel's reception of Plotinus and discover whether it is textually accurate in relation to the texts from Plotinus' Enneads. I discovered that Hegel's interpretation is not consistent with the Plotinian texts and I concluded that Hegel misinterpreted Plotinus despite his commitment in the Introduction to the Lectures on the History ofPhilosophy not to attribute to earlier philosophers what's not historically reported about their philosophies. In part this misinterpretation is explained by the fact that Hegel also committed himself in the Introduction to avoid historicism as well as one-sided critical accounts. I also discovered that Hegel had also a more specific hermeneutical intention as regards his treatment of Plotinus, which was to protect him from the charge ofbeing a mystic. Plotinus was vulnerable to this charge -as Hegel explains- because of the doctrine ofthe 'ecstasy', the alleged ineffability ofhis absolute and finally because of his representational rather than philosophical language. Hegel's defence suggests that Plotinus was not a mystic at all but rather that he should be view as anticipating Hegel's cardinal doctrine ofReason, which is in-and-for itself. My next intention was to explain Hegel's bias behind his misinterpretation ofPlotinus and I discovered that Hegel had been defending Plotinus precisely on the same core issues that he had been criticising his contemporary self-proclaimed mystic, F. H. Jacobi. Thus I provided a general account of Jacobi and then Hegel's critique of Jacobi to demonstrate the dangerous similarities between Plotinus and Jacobi. Finally I have suggested an alternative way to distinguish between Plotinus and Jacobi, which however distinguishes between two varieties of mysticism rather than idealism and mysticism as Hegel intended his distinction between Plotinus and Jacobi to be.
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Gallego, Roberto de Almeida. "O uno e os éons: A soteriologia em plotino e em sua polêmica antignóstica." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2006. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/2009.
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The aim of the present study is to explore the issue of salvation as proposed by Plotinus who was both a philosopher and a mystic, and the most noteworthy representative of the last period of Greek philosophy and also the experience of gnosis, an important religious movement that reached its climax in the first centuries of the Christian Era. Initially, the study sought to contextualize this theme within the historical framework in which the socalled Plotinus s antignostic polemic occurred, namely, during the Late Antiquity, when the notion prevailed that the earthly existence replete with suffering and privation would have to be transcended. The human being was but a stranger in the world that surrounded them and, therefore, should return to their spiritual homeland, their true ancestry. It was within this historical context that Plotinus s and the Gnostics doctrine on salvation took place. Although they converged on some of its aspects, there existed a profound divergence of views between them. This study also sought to outline the fundamental concepts behind confront systems. With regard to the Gnostics, the Sethian school was analyzed since it formulated two Gnostic treatises contained in the so-called Nag Hammadi Library , which were acknowledged and criticized by Plotinus: the Zostrianus and Allogenes. In addition, the study went on to examine the theme of salvation vis a vis the theories of cosmogony/cosmology, anthropogony/anthropology, and ethics of the Plotinian and Gnostic systems, especially the Sethian Gnostic texts. Lastly, the study focused on the salvationary aspects of both traditions, the role ascribed to man in the redemption process, and also the scope of salvation. As the basis for research, works by Brazilian and foreign commentators were resorted to, as well as primary sources such as Plotinus s Enneads and the Gnostic treatises held in the Nag Hammadi Library , mainly the aforementioned Zostrianus and Allogenes. The reason for undertaking this research lies in the fact that in Brazil there are few studies about the relationship between Plotinus and the Gnostics, and there are even fewer studies conducted in the spectrum of their soteriology. Therefore, the present research hopes to arouse the interest of Brazilians for the study of philosophical and religious construction addressing the fundamental issues of the human soul
O presente trabalho tem, como objetivo, estudar a problemática da salvação em Plotino - a um só tempo filósofo e místico, e o mais notável representante do último período da filosofia grega - e a gnose, um importante movimento religioso que conheceu o seu ápice nos primeiros séculos da era cristã. Inicialmente, buscou-se contextualizar tal temática no cenário histórico em que se deu a denominada polêmica antignóstica de Plotino , isto é, a Antiguidade Tardia, na qual prevaleceu a percepção de que a existência terrena, repleta de sofrimentos e carências, haveria de ser transcendida. O ser humano, um estrangeiro no mundo, deveria retornar à sua pátria espiritual, sua verdadeira origem. É, neste quadro histórico, que tem lugar a proposta de Plotino, bem como a dos gnósticos, acerca da salvação, que, embora se mostrem convergentes em alguns aspectos, divergem, profundamente, em outros. Em seguida, tratou-se de alinhavar os traços fundamentais dos sistemas em confronto, sendo que, com relação aos gnósticos, privilegiou-se a escola sethiana, autora de dois tratados, constantes da chamada Biblioteca de Nag Hammadi , conhecidos e criticados por Plotino: o Zostrianos e o Alógenes. Na seqüência, cuidou-se de examinar o tema da salvação à luz da cosmogonia/cosmologia, antropogonia/antropologia e ética, dos sistemas plotiniano e gnóstico, particularmente o gnóstico sethiano. Por último, enfocou-se o procedimento salvífico das duas tradições cotejadas, assim como o papel reservado ao homem no processo de redenção e, ainda, a abrangência da salvação. Recorreu-se, para a realização da pesquisa, a comentaristas nacionais e estrangeiros, bem como, na medida do possível, às fontes primárias, quais sejam, as Enéadas de Plotino e os tratados gnósticos, contidos na referida Biblioteca de Nag Hammadi , em especial os já mencionados Zostrianos e Alógenes. A justificativa para este trabalho reside no fato de que, no Brasil, não há muitos estudos acerca da relação entre Plotino e os gnósticos, e menos ainda, no campo específico das soteriologias respectivas. Desta forma, a pesquisa espera estimular, em nosso país, o interesse pelo estudo das construções filosófico-religiosas apontadas, que lidam com problemas fundamentais da alma humana
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Seniw, Thomas. "Plotinus, the term and the way : theory of art and beauty." Thesis, McGill University, 2004. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=79978.
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Ammonius Saccas instructs Plotinus towards a synthesis of ancient Greek philosophy. A brief introduction to the historical Plotinus is offered. The Hypostases: The One or Supreme Reality, the Divine Mind, Nous, and the Universal Soul, Logos, are discussed in the context of Plato's eternal ideas, Beauty, Truth and Good.An examination of the dialogue Plotinus has with art and beauty is offered. The relationship between Plato's divine intelligibles and art is discussed in context of the treatise On Beauty. The intelligible beauty of ideas, cosmos, nature and art are examined in context of the treatise On Intellectual Beauty. Plotinian theory of art is summarized.
Plotinus advances an "iconic" dialectic that serves his theological theory of art. The more important critical issues that arise from his description of the realm of art are addressed. Plotinian mysticism, and the subject of matter and form, identity and difference, is discussed. The opposing ways of the "picture" and the "word" are briefly summarized.
The appearance of theos is an event of hierophany . The meaning of art points towards the object of our ultimate concern. A Plotinian studio program for the painter concludes the thesis.
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Thomas, Anthony J. IV. "BEAUTY SPEAKING: BEAUTY AND LANGUAGE IN PLOTINUS AND AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO." UKnowledge, 2015. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/mcllc_etds/3.
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Much has been said about the influence of Plotinus, the Platonist philosopher, on the ideas of Augustine of Hippo, the Western Church Father whose writings had the largest impact on Western Europe in the Middle Ages. This thesis considers both writers’ ideas concerning matter, evil, and language. It then considers the way in which these writers’ ideas influenced their style of writing in the Enneads and the Confessions. Plotinus’ more straightforward negative attitude towards the material word and its relationship to the One ultimately makes his writing more academic and less emotionally powerful. Augustine’s more complicated understanding of the material world and its relationship to God results in a more mystical and more emotionally powerful style, which derives its effectiveness especially from its use of antithesis and the first and second person.
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Hoffman, Dylan Kirk. "Jung and Plotinus| The Shadow of Metaphysics, the Metaphysics of Shadow." Thesis, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10242189.
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This study provides a comparative analysis, using dialectical hermeneutics, of the philosophy of Plotinus and the depth psychology of C. G. Jung. While coming from different historical contexts, they each address the nature of unconsciousness, or the unconscious. This study concentrates in particular on one archetypal aspect of the unconscious that Jung calls the shadow. According to Jung, the shadow is a psychological dynamic that both hides from our awareness certain aspects or depths of our own inner reality, and also, when recognized, mediates our initial confrontation with those fuller realities. The first aim of this study is to analyze Jung’s view of the psyche, through the lens of shadow, to reveal the shadow in Jung’s work, examining how he denies or disavows metaphysical reality as a legitimate domain of depth psychological inquiry. Secondly, the biographical and historical backgrounds to this shadow are explored, and the potential consequences of it are discussed. Finally, Plotinus’ ancient perspective on unconsciousness and what he understands as the metaphysics of shadow are brought into dialogue with Jung. The goal is to address the shadow in Jung’s work—what his view of depth psychology denies to depth psychology, offering another way of understanding the psyche, and the shadow in particular, that includes metaphysical reality as a legitimate domain of depth psychological experience and analysis.
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Martino, Gabriel. "Filosofía y exégesis en las Enéadas. Las alas del alma plotiniana en su lectura del Fedro platónico." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú - Departamento de Humanidades, 2014. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/113151.
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Philosophy and Exegesis in the Enneads. The Wings of the Plotinean Soul in his reading of Plato’s Phaedrus”. In the present paper, we examine the role exegesis plays in the philosophy of the Enneads and, in particular, the way in which Plotinus interprets Plato. With this purpose we analyze, in the first place, some revealing passages of Porphyrius’ Life of Plotinus in order to understand, on the one hand, how late Greek thinkers conceived the exegetic endeavour and, on the other hand, the way in which plotinian philosophy was considered by his contemporaries. In the second section of this work, we examine the treatise IV 8 of the Enneads and try to show some peculiar aspects of Plotinus’ exegetic procedure as well as of his reading of Plato’s Phaedrus.En el presente artículo, examinamos el papel de la exégesis en la constitución de la filosofía eneádica y, en particular, el carácter de la interpretación plotiniana de Platón. Para ello, en primer lugar, recurrimos al análisis de algunos pasajes reveladores de la Vida de Plotino porfiriana que nos permiten comprender, por una parte, la manera en que los tardoantiguos concebían la tarea exegética y, por otra, el modo en que la filosofía de Plotino era valorada por sus contemporáneos. A su vez, en la segunda sección del trabajo, nos abocamos al examen del tratado IV 8 de las Enéadas e intentamos poner de manifiesto algunos aspectos puntuales del proceder exegético plotiniano y del modo en que el neoplatónico lee el Fedro de Platón.
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Dugas, Alex T. "Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Philosophy of Beauty of Plotinus and St. Augustine." Athenaeum of Ohio / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=athe1526051732407169.
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Pletsch, Alexander. "Plotins Unsterblichkeitslehre und ihre Rezeption bei Porphyrios." Stuttgart Ibidem-Verl, 2002. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2715452&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Eliasson, Erik. "The notion of that which depends on us in Plotinus and its background /." Uppsala : Department of Philosophy, Uppsala University, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-5969.
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Ipgrave, Michael. "Trinity and inter-faith dialogue : plenitude and plurality." Thesis, Durham University, 1999. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1138/.
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Cooper, Elisabeth Jane. "Is Rational Mysticism Compatible with Feminism? A critical examination of Plotinus and Kashani." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Philosophy, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/901.
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Plotinus (3rd century C.E.) and Afdal al-Din Kashani (12th century C.E.) each posit that the highest human goal is to become aware of the ultimate unity of reality. Both are rational mystics, and each describes a rigorous moral and intellectual training through which alone a human can achieve the goal. Seldom studied as a field in itself, rational mysticism offers a vision of philosophy that combines reason, intuition, virtuous practice, and mystical awareness. The relatively young discipline of feminist philosophy is both a response to what its practitioners see as male prejudice in past and present philosophical theories and an attempt to forge new, inclusive theories. Plato and Aristotle, among others, are called to account for their alleged contributions to the philosophically common representation of women as less rational than men, and to the development of philosophical and theological paradigms reflecting a male perspective. Since Plotinus and Kashani both owe much to Plato and Aristotle, including significant elements of how they conceptualise human nature and the nature of ultimate reality, it might be expected that they would incur the same criticisms. So far, however, little feminist attention as such has been paid to Plotinus and the rational mystics of the Islamic tradition, and almost none to Kashani. My examination of these two figures is an attempt to rectify this neglect. In addition, for the first time in a feminist historical critique of this kind, a diversity of feminist perspectives is taken into account. Thus, the question 'Is rational mysticism compatible with feminism?' will be seen to yield a somewhat different answer according to which group of feminists is in view. In offering a revisionist interpretation of Plotinus and Kashani, I aim first to establish which of their theses are consistent with feminist theses; second, to determine whether the consistency of theses is significantly affected, in Kashani's case, by the additional influence of Islamic religion; and third, to identify which group or sub-group of feminists could find in rational mysticism resources for reconstructive work in philosophy. I thereby aim to enrich the understanding of both rational mysticism and feminism.
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Vasilakis, Dimitrios. "Neoplatonic love : the metaphysics of Eros in Plotinus, Proclus and the Pseudo-Dionysius." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2014. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/neoplatonic-love(1546794b-ed80-4748-9781-03037d251a76).html.
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This thesis examines the notion of Love (Eros) in key texts of the Neoplatonic philosophers Plotinus (204/5–270 C.E), Proclus (c.412–485 C.E.) and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (late 5th-early 6th cent.). In the first chapter I discuss Plotinus’ treatise devoted to Love (Enneads,III.5) and I attempt to show the ontological importance of Eros within the Plotinian system. For Plotinus for an entity (say Soul) to be/exist is to be erotic, i.e. be directed to the intelligible realm. Hence, one of the conclusions is that Love implies deficiency, and, thus, it takes place in a vertical scheme, where an inferior entity has eros for its higher progenitor. If this is so, then Proclus apparently diverges greatly from Plotinus, because in his Commentary on the First Alcibiades Proclus clearly states that inferior entities have reversive (/upwards) eros for their superiors, whereas the latter have providential (/downwards) eros for their inferiors. Thus, the project of my second chapter is to analyze Proclus’ position and show that in fact he does not diverge much from Plotinus; the former only explicates something that is already implicit in the latter. The first part of my discussion emphasizes the ethical aspect, whereas the second deals with the metaphysical aspect. Finally, in the third chapter I examine pseudo-Dionysius’ treatment of God as Eros in his work On the Divine Names. One motivation was the verdict of a number of old scholars that the Areopagite is a plagiarizer of Proclus. Still, the examination of Eros is a characteristic case, where one can ascertain Dionysius’ similarities and divergences from Proclus. Supported by recent literature, we can suggest that Dionysius uses more of a Proclean language (cf. providential and reversive eros), rather than Proclean positions, owing to ontological presuppositions that differentiate the Neoplatonic philosopher from the Church Father. Proclus forms the bridge between pagan Neoplatonism (Plotinus) and Christian philosophy (pseudo-Dionysius).
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Sen, Joseph. "The soul, its powers and possibilities in Plotinus and some post-Aristotelian philosophers." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.300426.
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Collette, Bernard. "Hénologie et idée de système chez Plotin: étude sur les fondements et la nature de la détermination du réel." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211113.
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Mon travail a pour objet l’étude de l’idée de système telle qu’elle est pratiquée par Plotin et l’analyse du type de détermination hénologique que sous-entend une telle idée. Pour ce faire, j’ai axé mes recherches sur trois pôles :premièrement, sur le rôle que joue l’indétermination dans la constitution du système de l’être ;deuxièmement, sur le nombre comme manifestation de la détermination du réel ;troisièmement, sur la présence de l’indétermination dans le système de l’être. Mes recherches montrent qu’il existe une perméabilité du système de l’être relativement à la double indétermination qui l’entoure, à savoir celle de l’Un et celle de la matière dernière. Cette perméabilité est ce qui assure au système une vitalité interne, vitalité dont témoigne le double mouvement de procession et de conversion qui le caractérise./My work’s object is the study of the idea of system which is practised by Plotinus and the kind of henological determination implied by this idea. In that perspective, my researches are shared out in three mains subjects :firstly, the function of the indetermination in the constitution of being’s system ;second, the number as expression of the determination of reality ;third, the presence of the external indetermination inside the being’s system. My researches show the existence of a system’s permeability with regard to the double indetermination which surrounds it, namely those of the One and of the ultimate Matter. This permeability ensure a vitality to the system, vitality of which the double movement of procession and conversion testifies.
Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation philosophie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Eichenlaub, Constance. "The practice of inner sense : redirection in an age of negative aesthetics /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6664.
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Tonti, Silvia L. "Plotins Begriff der "intelligiblen Materie" als Umdeutung des platonischen Begriffs der Andersheit." Würzburg Königshausen & Neumann, 2008. http://d-nb.info/99184498X/04.
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Santos, Vanessa Alves de Lacerda. "Ulisses e Narciso: as faces da alma humana atrav?s do discurso m?tico nas En?adas de Plotino." Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 2012. http://repositorio.ufrn.br:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/16512.
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This dissertation, witch studies the myth in Plotinus, attempts to set an approach to the comprehension of the mythic discourse as image related to the ethical process in the Enneads. In order to achieve it, the analysis of the mythic narrative will be employed in the philosophical context that has as a starting point a revisit of the platonic poetic conception. As central questions the notable mythological figures of Narcissus and Ulysses will be utilized to put into context the notion of the Plotinian soul and its endeavor of returning to the originary unity. Therefore, by following the course of both figures in their respective narratives, it conceives a possible relation of ascension and fall of the soul. The first part of this study intends to show Plato s interpretation on the myth and Plotinus standpoint in regard to it. Moreover, it observes Plato s criticism on poetry in the context of the Greek Paideia and the notion of the myth as image of the henological structure in Plotinus, who perceives in the myth its exemplifying nature. The second part attempts to structure Plotinus philosophy, contrasting Henology and Ontology, therefore exposing the three hypostases and the comprehension of the intelligible. The third part endeavors to display the sense of the myth, the idea of the myth as image in Plotinus and the roles of the mythical figures in the Enneads
Esta disserta??o busca elaborar uma trajet?ria que indique a vis?o do discurso m?tico enquanto imagem relacionada ao processo ?tico nas En?adas de Plotino. Para tanto se utiliza da an?lise da narrativa m?tica dentro do contexto filos?fico que toma como ponto de partida uma releitura da concep??o po?tica plat?nica. Parte deste trabalho se ocupa em mostrar a interpreta??o de Plat?o a respeito do mito e a posi??o de Plotino em rela??o ? vis?o plat?nica, observando a cr?tica de Plat?o ? poesia no contexto da paid?ia grega e a no??o do mito como imagem da estrutura henol?gica em Plotino. Ademais, estrutura a filosofia de Plotino, tra?ando um paralelo entre Henologia e Ontologia, expondo as tr?s hip?stases e a compreens?o do intelig?vel. Duas figuras mitol?gicas, a saber, Narciso e Ulisses, servem aqui como guias para contextualiza??o da no??o de alma plotiniana e sua tarefa de retorno ? unidade origin?ria. ? percorrendo o caminho feito por essas figuras que este trabalho observa em Ulisses e Narciso a representa??o simb?lica da ascens?o e da queda da alma no esquema filos?fico disposto nas En?adas
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Rossi-Keen, Pamela M. "A disposition of transcendence : Christian platonism and personalism as prolegomena for approaching art and life /." View abstract, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3266066.
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Cain, Steven Robert. "The Standing of the Soul: The Search for a Middle Being between God and Matter in the De Statu Animae of Claudianus Mamertus." Thesis, Boston College, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:105066.
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Thesis advisor: Stephen BrownThis thesis is intended as a complement to Fr. Ernest Fortin’s Christianisme et culture philosophique. In that work, he examined the De statu animae of Claudianus Mamertus and its affinity to the thought of the Neoplatonic philosophers (especially Porphyry) in order to make its doctrine more clear. But he also looked at it to see the greatness of philosophical spirit that its author possessed, a remarkable spirit considering the time in which he wrote. Though Fr. Fortin’s work is quite thorough, there are some aspects of the De statu animae that are treated only slightly or not at all. This thesis aims at filling out some of them. The thesis first considers the difficulty of the philosophical question discussed in the work: the incorporeality of the human soul. Among the many difficulties which this question raises is one raised by Faustus of Riez, against whom Claudianus is writing, namely, that of conceiving an incorporeal creature without confounding it with God. It then considers the historical context, both political and philosophical, in which Claudianus lived and wrote. In particular, it brings out the influence of the Emperor Julian in his efforts to replace Christianity with pagan philosophy (especially as influenced by Porphyry and Iamblichus), and his connection with the intellectual life in Gaul. This it does to put into relief the magnanimity of a Christian writer who could look to the philosophy that most influenced the most ardent opponents of Christianity and see in it an ally rather than an enemy. Faustus regarded the philosophers as enemies because he thought them, in their reasonings, to have raised the soul to the dignity of its Creator. Of the philosophers open to this charge of impiety, it is, perhaps, most aptly laid upon the Platonists. A tendency in this direction appears in Plato, and reaches something of an apex in the thought of Plotinus. In Plato’s writings, it appears especially in the Phaedo, which Claudinaus quotes at length in the Second Book. The thesis looks at this dialogue to bring into relief this tendency in the work, and then compares it to Ennead V.1 to show that Plotinus takes the considerations in that dialogue and follows them out to show the kinship between the soul and the divine. Against this background, there are a couple of aspects of De statu animae that emerge. The first is the importance of seeing the soul as a middle being between God and bodily creatures. The second is the importance of seeing the soul as the imago Dei. Claudianus, in spite of his rhetoric, saw the seriousness of the difficulty raised by Faustus, and his work can be read, especially in the First Book, as an attempt to raise the mind of the reader from the fleshy world of sensation to the more beautiful, true, and good world of the spirit. The thesis argues that though the work is polemical, and so formed somewhat in the order of Faustus’s own arguments, Claudianus has worked that order to his own end; this can be seen in his use of the word status. This word is taken from Faustus, who uses it in his letter to name the nature of the soul. Claudianus, without leaving behind that sense, uses it to bring out the importance of understanding the soul’s nature through understanding its standing in the order of beings. His arguments are meant to help the reader to do just that. He first establishes that the world would be more perfect if there were an incorporeal creature, then he argues that there is in fact such a creature, and finally how it is possible for there to be such a creature. In doing so, he relies on ideas of the Neoplatonists, and especially Iamblichus, who looked at the soul as a middle being in order to see it as, one the one hand, less than the beings of the intelligible order, and yet superior to those of the sensible order. It is in this notion of the soul as a middle being that Claudianus finds an account for the changeableness of the soul without relying on matter. To show this, he invokes a distinction among motions: stable, in time, and in time and place. The first belongs to God, the second to the soul, and the last to bodies. This distinction arises from the fact that God is above all the categories of Aristotle, bodies are subject to them all, but the soul is subject only to some. In this way, the soul can be seen to undergo qualitative change, or changes in its affections, without suffering change in place. Thus, though not a body, it is nevertheless subject to change of some sort. And so, though superior to bodies, it falls short of the perfection of its Creator. But running throughout this discussion is the notion of image. And at the end of the book, its importance emerges. When Claudianus turns to a consideration of our act of knowing, the nature of the soul becomes more clear. When the soul turns its attention from bodies to look at itself, what it sees is an image of God, Who is incorporeal. And so, it sees, if it can free itself from the seductions of the images of bodies it has drawn in through the senses, that it is incorporeal. Here he reveals to the reader more fully what he has been trying to do. He has been working to turn the eye of the mind from the world of sensation to look at itself in itself, for if it does this, it will see itself as the imago Dei, and thus incorporeal. In this last aspect of the work especially, we can see the influence of Iamblichus, who, as Carlos Steel has shown, came to conceive of the soul as the image of Intellect precisely to establish it as a middle being between Intellect and the material world. It is an image so that it can be both like and unlike its exemplar. It understands (or more precisely, reasons) and so is like Intellect. But it does so by introducing order into its thoughts so that though always thinking (like Intellect), it moves from one thought to the next. Thus, it introduces time into the world. In this way, it departs from Intellect and becomes subject to change, though not in place. Claudianus recognizes in this a way of conceiving of the soul as incorporeal, therefore like God, and yet subject to change in time, therefore unlike Him, and so a creature. And so he comes to see the soul, in its essence to be the image of its Creator. Claudianus, in his refutation of Faustus, has raised the minds of his readers to lofty heights. Following the teachings of the Platonists, to whom his friend Sidonius likens him in everything except his garb, he has purged his mind from the entrapments of the corporeal world, has raised it to the pure world of being, and found himself a part of it. But those he has followed had been, either directly or indirectly, ardent foes of the faith which he professed and to which he had given his life. Porphyry had composed a work attacking Christianity; and Iamblichus, through his disciples, had inspired Julian with a devotion to the pagan gods that led him to attack the Church both in his writings and in his political endeavors. But unlike Faustus and others like him, he saw a harmony between his faith and his philosophy that gave him confidence that the natural light of reason and the light of revelation could work together to unite his soul to its Beginning, which is also his End
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy
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Dastagir, Md Golam. "A study of Avicenna's concept of the soul in relation to those of Aristotle and Plotinus." Thesis, University of Hull, 1997. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:10466.
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Initially attracted to Aristotelianism, Avicenna touched on almost all aspects of Aristotle's philosophy. One of them is the problem of the soul (nafs), of which his accounts reflect both Aristotle's and Plotinus's views. Avicenna's psychological accounts begin with the Aristotelian definition of the soul. With Aristotle he seems to accept the entelecheia view of the soul, which holds that the soul is an actualisation of the body having life in it, that the soul has no activity independently of the body. But he also accepts the immortality of the soul, which seems to be a non-Aristotelian trait. These two views seem to be divergent and contrary. Since Avicenna seems to accept these two apparently contrary views, it is a concern whether he maintains consistency in his system. In order to explore this, we shall take up a reconciliation methodology, focusing on the hypothesis that he combines aspects or elements from the two divergent philosophical systems so as to produce an overall position which can be regarded as consistent. Like Aristotle, A vicenna, while talking about the vegetative and animal souls, holds a functionalist view of the soul, that the soul acts in association with the body; thus properly using the Aristotelian entelecheia formula. But he also holds the immortality of the rational soul, which he sees as a substance capable of subsisting by itself and functioning independently of the body, which suggests he cannot properly apply here the entelecheia doctrine. The thesis investigates how A vicenna understands and applies Aristotle's entelecheia doctrine, and distinguishes his accounts of the non-rational souls (plant and animal) from those of the rational soul (human). A vicenna is seen to have understood the Aristotelian entelecheia doctrine in two different senses in order to hold two different views of the soul-as form and as substance. This thesis examines how he begins with the Aristotelian definition and framework of the soul and slips away from the fundamental themes of Aristotelianism, and accepts certain elements of neo-Platonism by tracing as many divergences and analogies as possible between Avicenna's concepts and those of Aristotle and Plotinus. The thesis also explores whether Avicenna, by modifying the Aristotelian sense of the entelecheia doctrine, can derive substantial arguments for the immortality of the soul from the Aristotelian tradition. We endeavour to show that although there is a tendency to attribute the view of the immortality of the soul to Aristotle, it is inconsistentent, given the orthodox Aristotelian platform of the entelecheia doctrine, to hold the two views, which are in fact divergent. Avicenna, although he modifies the entelecheia doctrine in order to accommodate the immortality view of the rational soul and attributes it to some extent to Aristotle's philosophy, does not, indeed, find convincing argumentation in the Peripatetic tradition; rather, his arguments, we shall show, are derived from neo-Platonism, mainly from Plotinus. This involves him in reconciling both views, selecting the elements that best suit his overall position, and evidently in doing so he sets himself astray from the mainstreams of both Aristotelianism and neo-Platonism.
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Jurasz, Izabela. "Plotin, les gnostiques et les chrétiens : un débat autour du concept de premier principe." Thesis, Paris 4, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PA040202.
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Dans le Traité 33 (II 9), Plotin se dresse contre les « gnostiques » : ceux qui disent que le démiurge et le monde sont mauvais. Ses critiques sont précédées par une introduction qui résume sa doctrine de l’Un-Bien et de l’Intellect. Dans le premier chapitre du Traité 33, à partir des thèses de ses adversaires, Plotin construit une série de propositions concernant les réalités premières – leur nombre, leur nature et leurs actions. Il dénonce les erreurs de chaque proposition, comme conduisant à la construction d’un univers des intelligibles défectueux, ignorants et impuissants. La thèse porte sur la place de la métaphysique de Plotin dans sa polémique antignostique. Les arguments qui introduisent cette polémique sont construits de manière à pouvoir rejoindre les principales conceptions du principe premier : celles proposées par les principales écoles philosophiques et celles qui ont été élaborées par les différents courants du gnosticisme et du christianisme. Plotin s’intéresse à ces doctrines nouvelles, émergentes en marge des écoles philosophiques. Le rapport entre Plotin et le christianisme est l’objet de notre attention. La perspective métaphysique permet d’examiner tous les courants doctrinaux du christianisme primitif. Une partie de la critique plotinienne va à l’encontre des efforts des chrétiens à respecter les exigences du monothéisme par rapport à l’idée d’un « autre Dieu ». À leur opposé se situent les gnostiques qui proposent une multiplication des entités issues du premier principe. Ainsi, la conception plotinienne du principe transcendant, après lequel viennent les hypostases ayant rang de principes, répond aux interrogations de ses nombreux adversairesIn Treatise 33 (II 9), Plotinus stands against the “Gnostics”: those who consider the demiurge and the cosmos to be evil. His criticisms are preceded by an introduction summarizing the Plotinian doctrine of the supreme principle – the One. In the first chapter of Treatise 33, based on the theses of his opponents, Plotinus constructs a series of propositions concerning the first realities - their number, their nature and their activities. He denounces the errors of each proposition as leading to the construction of a universe of defective, ignorant and helpless intelligibles. This thesis deals with the place of the metaphysics of Plotinus in his anti-Gnostic polemics. The arguments constituting these polemics are constructed to fit within the principal conceptions of the first principle - not only those proposed by the main philosophical schools, but especially those designed within different currents of Gnosticism and of Christianity. Plotinus is interested in these new doctrines emerging on the margins of the established philosophical schools. The object of our attention is the relationship between Plotinus and Christianity. The metaphysical perspective enables us to examine all the doctrinal currents of primitive Christianity. Part of Plotinian criticism may go against the efforts of Christian writers to respect the demands of monotheism in relation to the idea of "another God". At their opposite are the Gnostics, who propose multiplication of entities derived from the first principle, the Pleroma. Thus, the Plotinian conception of the supreme principle, after which come the hypostases having the rank of principles, answers the questions posed by his adversaries
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Guertin, Frank John. "Thomas Traherne in tradition : an analysis of Platonist cognition through the writings of Plotinus, Ficino, Traherne, and Hobbes." Thesis, Durham University, 2017. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12260/.
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Since the initial discovery of Traherne at the turn of the twentieth century, studies of his work have often neglected theological and philosophical analyses. Early caricatures of Traherne as a proto-Romantic have also colored his reception as a serious theologian. By placing the critical emphasis on the literary dynamics within the corpus, the intellectual history influencing Traherne and the construction of his ideas has subsequently been lightly addressed in scholarship over the years. This dissertation presents Traherne as a sophisticated thinker who draws on the resources of Christian Platonism in an effort to create a philosophy for life. The argument puts him in dialogue with three other writers he knew well: Plotinus, Marsilio Ficino, and Thomas Hobbes. Plotinus and Ficino help locate the Platonist philosophical stream Traherne participates in. Thomas Hobbes helps illuminate the nascent empiricism indicative of the early modern period, a mechanical philosophy Traherne critiques in various ways. With all four voices engaged, the topics of evil, soul, sense, and memory are investigated in order to reveal the textures of a Trahernian anthropology. A portrait then emerges where Traherne opens up, for the reader, possibilities of transformation arising from ordinary experience. The argument ultimately provides a re-interpretation of innocence in view of Traherne’s Christian Platonism, showing how the concept of innocence works as a Platonic call to transformation and originary wholeness.
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Ando, Tomoko. "La nostalgie dans l'œuvre d'Albert Camus." Thesis, Paris 4, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014PA040071.
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Au début des Carnets, exprimant ce qui le pousse à créer, Albert Camus mentionne « la nostalgie d’une pauvreté perdue ». Une nostalgie ambiguë, qui ne signifie pas un simple regret du temps perdu, mais qui se relève du « sentiment bizarre » que le fils porte à sa mère silencieuse. Elle consiste en réalité dans l’aspiration douloureuse à la tendresse, qui est liée intrinsèquement à la misère de l’existence que l’auteur a vécue dans son enfance. Dans le but de raconter son passé, il élabore sa nostalgie comme essence de sa sensibilité. Signe de complexité, une telle captivité comporte de plus le regret et la mauvaise conscience à l’égard du milieu pauvre qu’il a quitté. Quoique paraissant ambiguë, le nom de nostalgie est juste, s’agissant de la quête de l’identité au fond : dans la sensibilité déchirée s’inscrit la recherche inassouvissable d’une véritable origine de l’être. D’où le fait que, dans le contexte existentiel, la notion del’absurde s’établit sur la sensibilité nostalgique : l’homme se trouve déchiré entre sa condition limitée et son aspiration à une vie de plénitude. Il choisit de tenir sa nostalgie déchirante comme le fond de son être, son axe de vie et sa raison de vivre. Pour l’homme absurde, la création littéraire n’est pas une option, mais la volonté de lucidité et de liberté, en vue de « donner aux couleurs le pouvoir d’exprimer le vide ». L’oeuvre figure la dialectique de la présence et de l’absence, ce qu’expriment par moyens divers les romans camusiens. Enfin, le dernier Camus exprime la nostalgie de la patrie en tant que quête consciente de sonorigine, du « soleil enfoui », qui l’attire et le dirige, qu’il connaît depuis toujoursIn the beginning of Carnets, Albert Camus mentions “the nostalgia for a lost poverty” as he expresses what drives him to create. Ambiguous nostalgia, which does not mean a simple regret of lost time, concerns the “strange feeling” that the son carries toward his silent mother. In reality, it consists in the painful aspiration for tenderness, which is intrinsically bound up with the misery that the author has experienced in his childhood. In order to tell his past, he elaborates his nostalgia as the essence of his sensitivity. And as a signof its complexity, such captivity includes a regret and a sense of guilt towards the poor environment which he left behind. Despite its ambiguity, the name of nostalgia is just because it concerns the quest for identity: in the torn sensitivity, there is an insatiable quest for a true source of being. Therefore, in the existential context, the concept of the absurd is established upon the nostalgic sensibility: human beings are torn between their limited condition and their desire for a full life. They choose to hold their torn nostalgia astheir existential foundation, their life axis and their raison d’être. For the absurd man, literary creation is not an option. It embodies the will of lucidity and liberty, in order to “give power of expressing vacuum to colors”. The dialectic of presence and absence is represented in the novels of Camus in various ways. In his later years, Camus expresses nostalgia for the homeland, consciously searching for his origin; the quest after his “buried sun”. He has always known this “buried sun” which had been attracting him as his guidance
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Vassilopoulou, Panayiota. "Creation, generation, metamorphosis : a study of the creative activity of soul in Plotinus' Enneads IV.3[27].9-14." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.436256.
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Yhap, Jennifer L. "Plotinus on the soul as substance and act: A study on the possibility of a scientific knowledge of sensible reality." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/8648.
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The thesis argues for the admission of the scientific knowledge of the sensible reality in the Plotinian philosophy. As such, the thesis is a study in the metaphysics of knowledge. The thesis is constructed in three parts. The first part is dialectical in nature; that is, it is a reasoning which starts from a given, commonly held position in order to elucidate the relative strengths and weaknesses thereof. The point of departure is the test of Enneads V,1 (10),3 on the acts and passions of Soul. The second part is demonstrative in nature; that is, it is a reasoning which is meant to be conclusive of the thesis based upon rational and exegetical deductions. This part of the thesis is based on a study of the test of Enneads III,5 (50). Proceeding, the thesis identifies the mythological figure of Divine Aphrodite with Divine Soul and studies the nature of a priori knowledge. Following, the thesis identifies the mythological figure of Worldly Aphrodite with Mixed Soul and studies the nature of a posteriori knowledge. This section of the thesis includes five steps. The first step introduces the notions of knowledge of the particular and knowledge of the universal common to Aristotle and Neoplatonism. The second step situates the nature of reason to be potential within the historical context of Alexander of Aphrodisias, an Aristotelian well known to Plotinus. The third step posits the difference between potential or implicit knowledge and actual or explicit knowledge consequent to the application of the universal to the particular. The fourth step concerns the teaching on genus and species. Finally the fifth step concerns the subsumptive knowledge of Mixed Soul and the role of the abstract universal in Plotinian philosophy. The third part is apologetic in nature; that is, a defence of the thesis against forseeable objections. A first objection concerns the status of opinative knowledge in the Plotinian philosophy. The second objection concerns the Soul's knowledge in contradistinction to Intellect's knowledge.
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Yhap, Jennifer. "Plotinus on the soul as substance and act, a study on the possibility of a scientific knowledge of sensible reality." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0021/NQ28386.pdf.
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DeBord, Charles Eugene. "Two responses to a moment in the question of transcendence: a study of first boundaries in Plotinean and Kabbalistic cosmogonical metaphysics." Thesis, Texas A&M University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/445.
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This thesis contrasts the Plotinean attitude towards transcendence at the cosmological level with that of certain Kabbalistic authors of the 13th-17th century. Special emphasis is placed on the different approaches taken by each of the two sides to addressing the origin of otherness. Following a brief introduction to the notion of the question of transcendence, the first major part (chapter II) is dedicated to an exploration of the Plotinean conception of metaphysical "descent" from the One to subsequent hypostases. The second major part (chapter III) focuses on Kabbalistic conceptions of the descent from the indefinite infinite to the finite (limited) realm. Finally, I attempt to illustrate the questions and concerns common to each of the two cosmologies. In so doing, I make use of semiotic concepts to clarify the contrast between the two models.