Plotinus (204-70) is the founder of Neoplatonism and its most significant thinker. He shaped late antique philosophy and significantly influenced the entire metaphysical tradition of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and German Idealism. In this volume, Jens Halfwassen presents Plotinus' life and work, as well as the most important aspects of his historical influence. Issues of key importance for the Neoplatonists-such as the interaction between Being and Thought, the ascent of the soul, and the interpretation of Plato's theory of (...) principles-are explained in detail in the course of outlining the Neoplatonic metaphysical system. The introduction outlines Halfwassen's significant contribution to the study of Plotinus, paying particular attention to the differences between the current German and Anglophone approaches to the Platonic tradition. (shrink)

English summary: The connection between the soul and the material world played an important role in Neoplatonic thought. Generally, this connection prompted questions like: How should one think about the effect of the soul on the material and conversely, of matter on the soul? How is evil to be understood? Does the soul beget evil through itself or is it drawn to evil from the matter? How is the connection between the Logos, as the principle structure of the soul, as (...) well as the principle means by which the material world is organized, understandable? And what role does the intellect play in the fabric of matter and soul, which Plato already confirmed as a divine thought? These and other questions are followed up from a historical-systematic perspective in the essays collected in this volume, contributed by internationally renowned scholars of Neoplatonism. German description: Die Beziehung zwischen Seele und Materie spielt eine bedeutende Rolle im Denken des Neuplatonismus. Allerdings wirft diese Beziehung eine ganze Reihe von Fragen auf: Wie muss die Wirkung der Seele auf die Materie und umgekehrt der Materie auf die Seele gedacht werden? Wie ist das Bose zu verstehen? Bringt die Seele das Bose durch sich selbst hervor oder wird sie von der Materie zum Bosen angezogen? Wie lasst sich der Zusammenhang begreifen, durch den der Logos als das Strukturprinzip der Seele die Welt ordnet? Und welche Rolle spielt im Gefuge von Materie und Seele der Geist, den bereits Platon als ein gottliches Denken bestimmt hat? Diesen und anderen Fragen wird in den hier versammelten Aufsatzen aus historisch-systematischer Perspektive von international renommierten Neuplatonismusforschern nachgegangen. (shrink)

Der Vorsokratiker Xenophanes von Kolophon aus dem 6. vorchristlichen Jahrhundert gilt als der Begründer eines philosophischen Monotheismus, der unabhängig vom Monotheismus der hebräischen Bibel aus dem Denken entstand. Aber war Xenophanes wirklich Monotheist? Diese Frage soll im Folgenden beantwortet werden. Dazu ist aber vorab der Begriff des ‚Monotheismus‘zu klären.

Aufstieg zum Einen - das ist das Zentrum der Philosophie Plotins und des von ihm ausgehenden Neuplatonismus. Dass solcher Aufstieg zum Einen aber auch schon bei Platon eine zentrale Rolle spielt, gehört zu den wichtigsten Einsichten der neueren Platonforschung. Das vorliegende Buch zieht daraus die Konsequenz und bestimmt das Verhältnis zwischen Platon und dem Neuplatonismus neu. Es verbindet die erste umfassende Darstellung von Plotins Theorie des Absoluten mit einer Rekonstruktion von Platons Henologie. Dabei arbeitet es die enge Verbindung beider heraus (...) und macht zugleich die bleibende philosophische Relevanz des Themas deutlich. (shrink)

Einleitung Erstes Kapitel. Die Bedeutung des Neuplatonismus für Hegels Denkentwicklung. § 1. Erste Begegnungen - § 2. Eusebios und der Mittelplatonismus - § 3. Spuren mittel- und neuplatonischer Metaphysik in Hegels Frankfurter Schriften - § 4. Die Bedeutung des Neuplatonismus für Hegels Jenaer Grundlegung seiner Dialektik Zweites Kapitel. Die geschichtliche und systematische Ortsbestimmung des Neuplatonismus in Hegels Philosophie des absoluten Geistes. § 1. Die Geschichte der Philosophie als das Zu-sich-Kommen des absoluten Geistes - § 2. Der Neuplatonismus als Intellektualsystem und (...) Vollendung der antiken Philosophie - § 3. Neuplatonismus und Christentum: Trinität als Struktur des absoluten Geistes - § 4. Neuplatonismus und griechische Religion: Metaphysik und Mythos Drittes Kapitel. Der Neuplatonismus und seine Quellen in Hegels Sicht: Spekulative Synthese von Platonismus, Aristotelismus und Pythagoreismus. § 1. Der synthetische Charakter des Neuplatonismus - § 2. Die Trinität im Pythagoreismus: Die spekulative Idee des Absoluten in Platons Prinzipienlehre - § 3. Die einfache Idee des Geistes bei Platon: Hegels spekulative Deutung des Timaios - § 4. Der platonische Charakter des Neuplatonismus aus den Perspektiven Hegels und der neueren Forschung Viertes Kapitel. Die Metaphysik des Einen bei Plotin und ihre Deutung durch Hegel. § 1. Philosophie als Transzendieren: Der dialektische Aufstieg zum Einen - § 2. Das Eine selbst als absolute Transzendenz bei Plotin und seine Umdeutung bei Hegel - § 3. Hegels Auseinandersetzung mit der negativen Theologie Fünftes Kapitel. Konstitution und Struktur der Noushypostase bei Plotin und ihre Deutung durch Hegel. § 1. Die Paradoxie des absoluten Ursprungs - § 2. Der Urakt des Denkens: Die Konstitution des Nous - § 3. Der Nous als einheitliche Fülle der Ideen - § 4. Die triadische Einheit des Sich-Denkens bei Plotin und bei Hegel Sechstes Kapitel. Dialektik und Triadik: Hegel und Proklos. § 1. Die Philosophie des Proklo. (shrink)

One of the main problems of Plato's unwritten doctrine has to do with whether his theory of principles has a strictly dualistic or rather a more monistic character. The thesis of this essay is that Plato combines monism and dualism in a particular fashion. Both the dialogues and the testimony of the unwritten doctrine reveal that in Plato's metaphysics the One is the genuinely absolute principle; Plato's second principle, the Many, is not a second absolute - otherwise it would dissolve (...) the very concept of the absolute. Instead, Plato conceives the principle of multiplicity itself as a unity, therefore as in some - in any event ineffable - way as being derived or having emanated from the absolute One. The One itself is wholly transcendent and thus ineffable, knowable neither by reason nor by intellective intuition. Nonetheless, being and knowledge are constituted by the coordination of the One and the Many, for which reason the latter is a principle. Hence, Plato's metaphysics combine a monistic ascent to the absolute with a dualistic derivation of being, a combination made necessary because the One transcends not only all being, but also all knowledge. (shrink)

One of the main problems of Plato's unwritten doctrine has to do with whether his theory of principles has a strictly dualistic or rather a more monistic character. The thesis of this essay is that Plato combines monism and dualism in a particular fashion. Both the dialogues and the testimony of the unwritten doctrine reveal that in Plato's metaphysics the One is the genuinely absolute principle; Plato's second principle, the Many, is not a second absolute - otherwise it would dissolve (...) the very concept of the absolute. Instead, Plato conceives the principle of multiplicity itself as a unity, therefore as in some - in any event ineffable - way as being derived or having emanated from the absolute One. The One itself is wholly transcendent and thus ineffable, knowable neither by reason nor by intellective intuition. Nonetheless, being and knowledge are constituted by the coordination of the One and the Many, for which reason the latter is a principle. Hence, Plato's metaphysics combine a monistic ascent to the absolute with a dualistic derivation of being, a combination made necessary because the One transcends not only all being, but also all knowledge. (shrink)

Aristotle construed metaphysics primarily in terms of ontology, whereas Plato had developed a different approach to the philosophy of principles. The main task of the metaphysical theory of principles is the quest for the absolute. For Plato, however, the absolute is the one; and this idea – most influentially advocated by Plotinus – is the foundation of a tradition that construes metaphysics mainly in terms of henology. The central aspects of this doctrine are the idea of the transcendence of the (...) absolute one, the perspective of negative theology, and – in Plotinus – a genuinely philosophical kind of mysticism. (shrink)

Aristotle construed metaphysics primarily in terms of ontology, whereas Plato had developed a different approach to the philosophy of principles. The main task of the metaphysical theory of principles is the quest for the absolute. For Plato, however, the absolute is the one; and this idea - most influentially advocated by Plotinus - is the foundation of a tradition that construes metaphysics mainly in terms of henology. The central aspects of this doctrine are the idea of the transcendence of the (...) absolute one, the perspective of negative theology, and - in Plotinus - a genuinely philosophical kind of mysticism. (shrink)

Transcendent thinking as a basic feature of metaphysical philosophy has always claimed to be more than a mere cognition of reality in terms of its phenomena. Transcendent philosophy intends to consider reality from the perspective of a fundamental ground transcending the reality ordered by that ground. Plato, who created the very notion of philosophy, described the love of wisdom as an ascent to the absolutely transcendent One and Good, which he believed to be the principle and source of all being. (...) Plotinus both took over and renewed the Platonic view of philosophy as transcendent thinking. In his view, the philosopher can only relate to that principle which transcends even thinking itself by practicing a mystical philosophy and thereby leaving behind his own dialectical thinking. (shrink)

Der ontologische Gottesbeweis, den zuerst Anselm von Canterbury in seinem Proslogion entwickelt, setzt einen spezifischen Begriff von Sein als Fülle voraus, ohne den er unverständlich bleibt. Dieser Seinsbegriff entstammt dem antiken Platonismus. Erst Platon faßt den Begriff des Seins so, daß er in einem ontologischen Komparativ wahres oder vollkommenes Sein vom uneigentlichen Sein unterscheidet. Plotin entwickelt daraus einen Begriff vom Sein als absoluter Fülle, in dem die beiden Bedeutungen des vollkommenen und des notwendigen Seins, die, wie Henrich gezeigt hat, für (...) den ontologischen Gottesbeweis maßgeblich sind, auf konsistente Weise vereinigt sind. Bei Plotin ist dieses absolute Sein der sich selbst als Inbegriff der Ideen denkende Nous, von dem er das Absolute als Überseiendes unterscheidet. Boethius vermittelt Plotins Begriff des absoluten Seins an Anselm, und zwar als Begriff von Gott, d.h. so gefaßt, daß das vollkommene Sein zugleich das Absolute ist. Index dieses Seinsbegriffs ist der bei Plotin, Boethius und Anselm jeweils übereinstimmende Begriff der Ewigkeit als teillos vollendeter Einheit und Ganzheit. (shrink)

What is the relationship between the world and logic, between intuition and language, between objects and their quantitative determinations? Rationalists, on the one hand, hold that the world is structured in a rational way. Representationalists, on the other hand, assume that language, logic, and mathematics are only the means to order and describe the intuitively given world. In World and Logic, Jens Lemanski takes up three surprising arguments from Arthur Schopenhauer’s hitherto undiscovered Berlin Lectures, which concern the philosophy of (...) language, logic, and mathematics. Based on these arguments, Lemanski develops a new position entitled ‘rational representationalism’: the world is always structured by human beings according to linguistic, logical, and mathematical principles, but the basic vocabulary of these structural descriptions already contains metaphors taken from the world around us. (shrink)

This paper analyses a hitherto unknown technique of using logic diagrams to create argument maps in eristic dialectics. The method was invented in the 1810s and -20s by Arthur Schopenhauer, who is considered the originator of modern eristic. This technique of Schopenhauer could be interesting for several branches of research in the field of argumentation: Firstly, for the field of argument mapping, since here a hitherto unknown diagrammatic technique is shown in order to visualise possible situations of arguments in a (...) dialogical controversy. Secondly, the art of controversy or eristic, since the diagrams do not analyse the truth of judgements and the validity of inferences, but the persuasiveness of arguments in a dialogue. (shrink)

Eristic has been studied more and more intensively in recent years in philosophy, law, communication theory, logic, proof theory, and A.I. Nevertheless, the modern origins of eristic, which almost all current researchers see in the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, are considered to be a theory of the illegitimate use of logical and rhetorical devices. Thus, eristic seems to violate the norms of discourse ethics. In this paper, I argue that this interpretation of eristic is based on prejudices that contradict the original (...) intention of modern eristic. Eristic is not an art of being right or winning an argument, but an art of protecting oneself from the one who deliberately violates norms of discourse ethics to gain argumentative acceptance. For this reason, eristic must be seen as a discipline of Enlightenment philosophy and a correlate of discourse ethics. Especially in the age of alternative facts and post-factual politics, this makes eristic a valuable discipline. (shrink)

This paper presents an analysis of Seneca's 58th letter to Lucilius and Porphyry's Isagoge, which were the origin of the tree diagrams that became popular in philosophy and logic from the early Middle Ages onwards. These diagrams visualise the extent to which a concept can be understood as a category, genus, species or individual and what the method of dihairesis (division) means. The paper explores the dissimilarities between Seneca's and Porphyry's tree structures, scrutinising them through the perspective of modern graph (...) theory. Although traditional trees can be interpreted in a modern way, their terms and definitions defy modern standardisation. These distinctions are not only useful for differentiating between Seneca's and Porphyry's trees, but also for comprehending the evolution of this philosophical tradition. Thus the paper highlights the continued significance of these tree diagrams in analysing concepts and categories in philosophy and structuring objects and information in modern fields such as artificial intelligence, computer science, bioinformatics, graph theory, and many more. (shrink)

Reism or concretism are the labels for a position in ontology and semantics that is represented by various philosophers. As Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz and Jan Woleński have shown, there are two dimensions with which the abstract expression of reism can be made concrete: The ontological dimension of reism says that only things exist; the semantic dimension of reism says that all concepts must be reduced to concrete terms in order to be meaningful. In this paper we argue for the following two (...) theses: (1) Arthur Schopenhauer has advocated a reistic philosophy of language which says that all concepts must ultimately be based on concrete intuition in order to be meaningful. (2) In his semantics, Schopenhauer developed a theory of logic diagrams that can be interpreted by modern means in order to concretize the abstract position of reism. Thus we are not only enhancing Jan Woleński’s list of well-known reists, but we are also adding a diagrammatic dimension to concretism, represented by Schopenhauer. (shrink)