Philosophic Silence and the ‘One' in Plotinus
Philosophic Silence and the ‘One' in Plotinus
Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of Late Antiquity, discusses at length a first principle of reality - the One - which, he tells us, cannot be expressed in words or grasped in thought. How and why, then, does Plotinus write about it at all? This book explores this act of writing the unwritable. Seeking to explain what seems to be an insoluble paradox in the very practice of late Platonist writing, it examines not only the philosophical concerns involved, but the cultural and rhetorical aspects of the question. The discussion outlines an ancient practice of ‛philosophical silence' which determined the themes and tropes of public secrecy appropriate to Late Platonist philosophy. Through philosophic silence, public secrecy and silence flow into one another, and the unsaid space of the text becomes an initiatory secret. Understanding this mode of discourse allows us to resolve many apparent contradictions in Plotinus' thought.
- Approaches the use of themes of silence and secrecy in Plotinus in a way which accounts for their social and rhetorical, as well as their philosophical, significance
- Utilises methodologies from a number of fields, including classics, history of religions, and philosophy
- Constructs a model of a mode of discourse - philosophic silence - which determined in part the ways in which Platonist philosophers were expected to engage in public secrecy
Reviews & endorsements
'… an admirably scholarly account of the cultural and philosophical context of Plotinus's works, … strongly recommended to all with an interest in late antique reasoning and philosophy.' Journal of the History of Philosophy
'Banners book enriches the steadily growing Literature on Plotin's theology. It should turn out as the author hoped. Both for 'beginners' and for specialists as profitable reading prove.' Benedikt Kramer, Plekos
Product details
No date availableAdobe eBook Reader
9781108688741
0 pages
Table of Contents
- Part I. The Cultural Roots of Platonist Philosophic Silence:
- 1. De philosophorum Graecorum silentio mystico: preliminaries
- 2. The silent philosopher
- 3. Perennial wisdom and Platonist tradition
- 4. Plotinus and 'the Ancients': tradition, truth and transcendence
- Part II. The Transcendent Absolute, the Ineffable and Plotinian Poetics of Transcendence:
- 5. The development of the Transcendent Absolute in the Middle Platonist milieu
- 6. The Transcendent Absolute and the ineffability of reality in Plotinus
- 7. The poetics of transcendence in Plotinus.
