Plato On God As Nous

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Plato On God As Nous

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Author : Stephen Philip Menn
language : en
Publisher: Journal on the History of Phil
Release Date : 1995

Plato On God As Nous written by Stephen Philip Menn and has been published by Journal on the History of Phil this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1995 with Philosophy categories.

This book is the first sustained modern investigation of Plato's theology. A central thesis of the book is that Plato had a theology--not just a mythology for the ideal city, not just the theory of forms or the theory of cosmic souls, but also, irreducible to any of these, an account of God as Nous (Reason), the source of rational order both to souls and the world of bodies. The understanding of God as Reason, and of the world as governed directly or indirectly by Reason, is worked out in the dialogues of Plato's last period, the Statesman, Philebus, Timaeus, and Laws. These dialogues offer a strategy for explaining the physical world that goes beyond anything in the middle dialogues, and gives the best starting point for understanding the cosmologies and theologies of Aristotle, the Stoics, and later ancient thinkers. Menn focuses on the Timaeus as Plato's most sustained effort to provide what (according to the Phaedo) Anaxagoras had failed to deliver: an explanation of the world through Reason, showing that things are as they are because it is best, or because it best serves the order of the world as a whole. Anaxagoras was disappointed because he explained things through their material constituents, without explaining why the constituents are ordered as they are; but the theory of forms has the same defect, since itcannot explain why different parts of the universe participate in different forms according to a particular order. The Timaeus and other late dialogues attempt to supply the missing explanation of the ordering of the physical world. These dialogues do not retreat from the middle dialogue theory of forms, nor do they escape into an esoteric theory of numbers; but they add to the middle dialogues an analysis of the principles necessary to account for the existence and partial intelligibility of the sensible world--not only forms and a material substance but also Nous and souls. Although the demiurge of the Timaeus (and his counterpart the Nous of Philebus) is represented as a cause both to souls and bodies, most scholars have been reluctant to identify the demiurge as a being separate from and superior to souls, because they think that both the meaning of the Greek word nous and Plato's own statements require that Nous iseither a kind of soul (mind or rational soul) or something inseparable from souls (rational mental activity). Reexamining the linguistic evidence and the Platonic texts, Menn argues that nous can mean something separate from souls, namely the virtue of rationality or intelligence that souls participate in. Menn argues that Anaxagoras' Nous should be construed as such a virtue; then he examines what status this virtue has in the context of the Platonic theory of forms, and how itis a cause both to souls and to bodies. Soul plays a crucial role in mediating the causality of Nous and introducing rational order into the world of bodies, but neither soul in general nor the world-soul in particular can be identified with Nous. Menn stresses the pre-Socratic context for the cosmology and theology of Plato's late dialogues; he argues for the importance of Diogenes of Appolonia in particular, and he reconstructs a possible new fragment of Diogenes from the Timaeus and from the Hippocratic treatise On Breaths. In the Timaeus and other late dialogues Plato attempts to do better than his predecessors by standards implicit in Socrates' critique of Anaxagoras in the Phaedo, but what Plato offers remains consciously provisional. Aristotle argues that the Timaeus remains liable to some of the same criticisms that Socrates had leveled against Anaxagoras, and Aristotle's own cosmology and theology take up Plato's challenge to carry out Anaxagoras' promise of an explanation of the world through Nous, and attempt to improve on the Timaeus asPlato had improved on Anaxagoras. In this way the Timaeus serves as an essential starting point, not onlyfor those later ancient philosophers who took it as an authoritative statement on the world and on God but also for those who took it as a challenge to do better.

God And Forms In Plato

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Author : Richard D. Mohr
language : en
Publisher: Parmenides Publishing
Release Date : 2005-12-01

God And Forms In Plato written by Richard D. Mohr and has been published by Parmenides Publishing this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2005-12-01 with Philosophy categories.

This book is a collection of dovetailing essays which together interpret and assess the chief arguments and texts which make up Plato's cosmology. Arguments in the Timaeus, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, and Laws X are analyzed with an eye to problems which affect the wider understanding of Plato's metaphysics, theology, epistemology, psychology, and physics. New interpretations are given to Plato's views on the role and characteristics of his craftsman God, the nature and status of Forms, the nature of time and eternity, the status and nature of space and the phenomenal realm, and the nature of and relations between reason, souls, bodies, and motion.

Plato S Gods

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Author : Gerd Van Riel
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2016-04-22

Plato S Gods written by Gerd Van Riel and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-04-22 with Religion categories.

This book presents a comprehensive study into Plato's theological doctrines, offering an important re-valuation of the status of Plato's gods and the relation between metaphysics and theology according to Plato. Starting from an examination of Plato's views of religion and the relation between religion and morality, Gerd Van Riel investigates Plato's innovative ways of speaking about the gods. This theology displays a number of diverging tendencies - viewing the gods as perfect moral actors, as cosmological principles or as celestial bodies whilst remaining true to traditional anthropomorphic representations. Plato's views are shown to be unified by the emphasis on the goodness of the gods in both their cosmological and their moral functions. Van Riel shows that recent interpretations of Plato's theology are thoroughly metaphysical, starting from aristotelian patterns. A new reading of the basic texts leads to the conclusion that in Plato the gods aren't metaphysical principles but souls who transmit the metaphysical order to sensible reality. The metaphysical principles play the role of a fated order to which the gods have to comply. This book will be invaluable to readers interested in philosophical theology and intellectual history.

Plato S Gods

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Author : Gerd Van Riel
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2016-04-22

Plato S Gods written by Gerd Van Riel and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-04-22 with Religion categories.

This book presents a comprehensive study into Plato's theological doctrines, offering an important re-valuation of the status of Plato's gods and the relation between metaphysics and theology according to Plato. Starting from an examination of Plato's views of religion and the relation between religion and morality, Gerd Van Riel investigates Plato's innovative ways of speaking about the gods. This theology displays a number of diverging tendencies - viewing the gods as perfect moral actors, as cosmological principles or as celestial bodies whilst remaining true to traditional anthropomorphic representations. Plato's views are shown to be unified by the emphasis on the goodness of the gods in both their cosmological and their moral functions. Van Riel shows that recent interpretations of Plato's theology are thoroughly metaphysical, starting from aristotelian patterns. A new reading of the basic texts leads to the conclusion that in Plato the gods aren't metaphysical principles but souls who transmit the metaphysical order to sensible reality. The metaphysical principles play the role of a fated order to which the gods have to comply. This book will be invaluable to readers interested in philosophical theology and intellectual history.

The Doctrine Of The Imitation Of God In Plato

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Author : Culbert Gerow Rutenber
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 1946

The Doctrine Of The Imitation Of God In Plato written by Culbert Gerow Rutenber and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1946 with Ethics categories.

Descartes And Augustine

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Author : Stephen Menn
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2002-01-28

Descartes And Augustine written by Stephen Menn and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2002-01-28 with Biography & Autobiography categories.

This book is a systematic study of Descartes' relation to Augustine. It offers a complete reevaluation of Descartes' thought and as such will be of major importance to all historians of medieval, neo-Platonic, or early modern philosophy. Stephen Menn demonstrates that Descartes uses Augustine's central ideas as a point of departure for a critique of medieval Aristotelian physics, which he replaces with a new, mechanistic anti-Aristotelian physics. Special features of the book include a reading of the Meditations, a comprehensive historical and philosophical introduction to Augustine's thought, a detailed account of Plotinus, and a contextualization of Descartes' mature philosophical project which explores both the framework within which it evolved and the early writings, to show how the collapse of the early project drove Descartes to the writings of Augustine.

Timaeus And Critias

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Author : Plato
language : en
Publisher: 1st World Publishing
Release Date : 1929

Timaeus And Critias written by Plato and has been published by 1st World Publishing this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1929 with categories.

The Cambridge Companion To Ancient Ethics

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Author : Lorelle D. Semley
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2017-07-27

The Cambridge Companion To Ancient Ethics written by Lorelle D. Semley and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-07-27 with History categories.

A comprehensive and up-to-date exploration of ancient Greek ethical thought, investigating the figures, movements, and themes of this branch of philosophy.

Deification In Classical Greek Philosophy And The Bible

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Author : James Bernard Murphy
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2024-06-30

Deification In Classical Greek Philosophy And The Bible written by James Bernard Murphy and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-06-30 with Philosophy categories.

The goal of human life, according to Plato, Aristotle, and the Bible, is to become as much like god as possible. This book, written in vivid and lucid English, illuminates Greek philosophy by showing how it grows out of ancient Greek religion and how it compares to biblical religion.

Aristotle On Religion

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Author : Mor Segev
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2017-11-02

Aristotle On Religion written by Mor Segev and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-11-02 with Philosophy categories.

Provides a comprehensive account of the socio-political role Aristotle attributes to traditional religion, despite rejecting its content.