Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the notion of participation in selected texts of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's The Divine Names. This topic is significant in two ways. First, it contributes to a more adequate understanding of the basic metaphysical issue of the one and the many. Second, this notion greatly influenced later thinkers; in fact, thirteenth-century Christian thinkers of the West constantly referred to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius. These writings appear to borrow greatly from Proclus and were channels through which pagan Neoplatonism unobtrusively entered and profoundly affected the development of Western thought. ;The dissertation is divided into four parts: the introduction, seven chapters in which key texts on participation are analysed, a summary and a conclusion, and a selected bibliography. ; The introduction establishes the importance of the notion of participation for Dionysius, raises the problems of who Dionysius was and when he wrote his philosophical-theological treatises, provides a survey of secondary literature on Dionysius' notion of participation, and presents the methodology to be used in the remainder of the study. ; The largest section of the dissertation consists of seven chapters in which several key texts on participation are examined. The analyses of these texts proceed as follows. First, each chapter begins with a presentation of the context in which the text occurs; that is, the issues, problems, etc., with which Dionysius is concerned in passages prior to the key text are outlined. Second, the key text is translated or paraphrased. Third, the text is commented on. These comments are based also on supplementary texts of Dionysius and on relevant passages from Plato, Plotinus, Proclus and other Neoplatonists. Fourth, each chapter ends with a summary and a conclusion. ; The summary and conclusion outlines the factors involved in the notion of participation, provides an overview of the Dionysian Weltanschuung, and re-examines the problem of Dionysius' identity. Accordingly, the exegesis of the key texts had disclosed that for Dionysius, participation involves these aspects: the process of participation can be expressed through the Procline notion of wholes; the three factors of participation are the unparticipated, the participated perfection, and the participants; participation is of two sorts, ontological and noetic; participation can be expressed through an analogy with light; participation is a process through which a creature is unified and so becomes godlike. ;Furthermore, the analysis of Dionysius' notion of participation discloses that his universe is composed of several hierarchies, which are linked to the Good through participation. In fact, participation provides a dynamic link between a creature and its cause and is operative throughout the Dionysian universe. This universe, however, is not static and lifeless, for contained therein are noetic beings , who are responsible for their own coming-to-be-real. Consequently, by increasing their participation in the Good's gifts through knowledge, they increase their unity and reality and ultimately can become one with God Himself