Platonist Philosophy 80 BC to AD 250: An Introduction and Collection of Sources in Translation (Cambridge Source Books in Post-hellenistic Philosophy)

'Middle' Platonism has some claim to be the single most influential philosophical movement of the last two thousand years, as the common background to 'Neoplatonism' and the early development of Christian theology. This book breaks with the tradition of considering it primarily in terms of its sources, instead putting its contemporary philosophical engagements front and centre to reconstruct its philosophical motivations and activity across the full range of its interests. The volume explores the ideas at the heart of Platonist philosophy in this period and includes a comprehensive selection of primary sources, a significant number of which appear in English translation for the first time, along with dedicated guides to the questions that have been, and might be, asked about the movement. The result is a tool intended to help bring the study of Middle Platonism into mainstream discussions of ancient philosophy. Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Series page 4 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 14 List of Abbreviations 15 Introduction: Studying Middle Platonism 17 0.1 Post-Hellenistic Philosophy 17 0.2 Middle Platonism as a New Movement 18 0.2.1 Roots in the Later Academy...? 18 0.2.2 ...or Part of a ‘Perennial Tradition’? 20 0.3 Dramatis Personae 22 0.4 Using this Volume 26 0.4.1 Commentary and Notes 26 0.4.2 The Texts 27 0.4.3 Allusions to Plato (and Others) 28 Notes and Further Reading 28 Chapter 1 Plato’s Authority and the History of Philosophy 40 1.1 Plato as an Authority 40 1.2 Plato and the History of Philosophy 42 1.2.1 Disagreeing with Plato 42 1.2.2 Methodological Implications 44 1.2.3 Non-exclusive Authority 46 1.2.4 Plato’s Sources 47 Notes and Further Reading 49 Texts 54 Chapter 2 Making Sense of the Dialogues 66 2.1 Cacophony to Polyphony 66 2.2 Exegetical Principles 67 2.2.1 Sources for Plato’s Views 67 2.2.2 Critical Axioms 68 2.2.3 Textual Criticism 69 2.2.4 Literary Criticism 70 2.3 Organising the Dialogues 71 2.4 Reading Practice 72 Notes and Further Reading 73 Texts 84 I Cosmology 97 Chapter 3 Causal Principles for a Non-materialist Cosmology 99 3.1 A Return to Non-material Causes 99 3.2 The Limits of Materialism 99 3.3 Matter vs Body, and the Efficacy of the Non-material 102 Notes and Further Reading 104 Texts 108 Chapter 4 The Debate over Matter and the Problem of Evil 119 4.1 So What Is Matter? 119 4.1.1 Model 1: Something and Nothing. Eudorus, Moderatus and Others 119 4.1.2 Model 2: Pure Receptivity? E.g. Dercyllides, Alcinous, Maximus 121 4.1.3 Model 3: Raw Mobility. E.g. Plutarch, Atticus, Numenius 122 4.2 The Problem of Evil 123 4.3 The ‘Suitability’ of Matter for Form 125 Notes and Further Reading 127 Texts 133 Chapter 5 Paradigm Forms 141 5.1 Introduction 141 5.2 The Need for Transcendent Forms 141 5.2.1 The Challenge 141 5.2.2 The Response 142 5.3 Puzzles about the Forms 143 5.3.1 The Third Man 144 5.3.2 The Scope of Forms 146 Notes and Further Reading 149 Texts 154 Chapter 6 The Creator God 163 6.1 Introduction 163 6.2 Descriptions of God 164 6.2.1 God as One/Good/Beauty 164 6.2.2 God as Intellect 165 6.3 God’s Relationship to the (Other) Forms 166 6.3.1 Position 1: Forms Prior to God? 166 6.3.2 Position 2: Forms Contained in God? (E.g. Alcinous) 167 6.3.3 Position 3: Forms Posterior to God? 168 6.3.3.1 Plutarch, Atticus and Others 169 6.3.3.2 Longinus 170 6.3.3.3 Forms as the Life of God 171 6.3.4 Position 4: Forms Posterior to One God and Contained in Another (e.g. Numenius) 172 6.3.5 Philo of Alexandria 174 6.4 God and Religion 176 Notes and Further Reading 176 Texts 185 Chapter 7 Theories of Creation 200 7.1 Introduction 200 7.2 Created Time 200 7.3 Creation 202 7.3.1 The Case for Sempiternalism 202 7.3.2 The Case for Temporal Creation 203 7.3.3 Temporal Creation and Pre-Cosmic ‘Time’ 206 7.4 Creation and Providence 207 7.5 Elements of a Cosmos 208 7.5.1 Elements and Qualities 209 7.5.2 ‘Natural Place’, and More than One Cosmos? 210 Notes and Further Reading 211 Texts 214 Chapter 8 World Soul and Nature 228 8.1 Introduction 228 8.2 World Soul as Distributory Mechanism 229 8.3 World Soul and Cosmic Movement 231 8.4 World Soul Extends through the Cosmos but Governs from the Heavens 233 8.5 The Constitution of the World Soul 234 8.5.1 Mathematical Substance 234 8.5.1.1 Arithmetical 234 8.5.1.2 Geometrical 235 8.5.2 Physical Substance 236 8.5.2.1 Problems with the Mathematical Theories 236 8.5.2.2 Plutarch 236 8.5.2.2.1 Forms and World Soul. 237 8.5.2.2.2 Forms in the World Soul Are Universals. 238 8.5.3 The Case of Numenius 240 Notes and Further Reading 242 Excursus: Defining Natural Species 247 Notes and Further Reading 250 Texts 253 Chapter 9 Individual Souls and Their Faculties 266 9.1 Introduction 266 9.2 The Role of Individual Soul 267 9.2.1 The Soul as Cosmological Instrument 267 9.2.2 Autonomous Agency: A Teleological Imperative 268 9.2.3 Composition 269 9.3 Individual Soul and Cognitive Activity 272 9.3.1 Perception and Memory 272 9.3.2 Reason 273 9.4 Individual Soul and Practical Action 274 9.5 Embodiment of the Soul: Counting Its Parts 276 9.6 Immortality 278 Notes and Further Reading 279 Texts 284 Chapter 10 Living Beings: Gods, Daimons, Humans, Animals, Plants 304 10.1 Introduction 304 10.2 A Cosmos Full of Life 304 10.2.1 Typology 304 10.2.2 Celestial Gods 305 10.2.3 Daimons 307 10.2.4 Animals Aquatic and Terrestrial 308 10.2.5 Plants 309 10.3 Descent 310 Notes and Further Reading 311 Texts 317 Chapter 11 Providence 339 11.1 Introduction 339 11.2 ‘Caring’ and Benefiting 339 11.2.1 Platonists vs Aristotelians 339 11.2.2 Aristotelian Providence: Only as Far as the Moon 341 11.2.3 Platonist Providence: World Soul and Daimons 342 11.2.4 And Humans? 344 11.3 Does God ‘Really’...? 345 11.3.1 Does God ‘Really’ Care? 345 11.3.2 Does God ‘Really’ Think? 346 11.4 Providence and Theodicy 347 Notes and Further Reading 348 Texts 350 Chapter 12 Fate 360 12.1 Introduction 360 12.2 Individual Responsibility 360 12.2.1 The Problems with Stoicism 360 12.2.2 The Limits of Divine Control 361 12.2.3 Human Autonomy 363 12.2.4 ‘Hypothetical’ Fate 365 12.3 Cyclical Recurrence 366 12.4 The Myth of Er: the Soul’s Choice of Life 367 Notes and Further Reading 369 Texts 373 II Dialectic 381 Chapter 13 Epistemology 383 13.1 Introduction 383 13.2 Shortcomings of Empiricism 383 13.3 Theory 1: Anon. in Tht. and Alcinous 386 13.3.1 Knowledge and the Criterion 386 13.3.2 Knowledge and Recollection 387 13.4 Theory 2: Plutarch, Celsus, Numenius 390 13.4.1 Forms and Recollection 390 13.4.2 Forms and Empirical Cognition 391 Notes and Further Reading 392 Texts 398 Chapter 14 Logic 410 14.1 Introduction 410 14.2 Branches of dialectic 410 14.3 Syllogistic 411 14.3.1 Categorical and Hypothetical Syllogisms 411 14.3.2 The Mixed Syllogism and Stoic Logic 414 14.3.3 Hypothetical and Mixed Syllogism in Apuleius 417 14.3.4 The Limits of Syllogistic 419 14.4 Collection, Division, Definition 420 14.5 Induction 422 14.6 Analysis 423 Notes and Further Reading 424 Texts 428 Chapter 15 Aristotle’s Categories: Ontology and Linguistics 434 15.1 Introduction 434 15.2 The Categories as Ontology 435 15.3 A Debate over Meaning 439 Notes and Further Reading 442 Texts 447 Chapter 16 The Hierarchy of Sciences 453 16.1 Introduction 453 16.2 Dialectic; the Mathematical Sciences 453 16.3 The Empirical Sciences 455 16.4 The Mimetic Arts 458 Notes and Further Reading 459 Texts 463 III Ethics 473 Chapter 17 The Goal: Virtue and the Ideal Life 475 17.1 Ethics as the Science of Life 475 17.2 The End 476 17.2.1 Definition of the End 476 17.2.2 The Contemplative and the Practical Life 477 17.3 Types of ‘Good’ 478 17.4 Perfect vs Imperfect Virtues 479 Notes and further reading 481 Texts 485 Chapter 18 Ethical Virtue and the Management of the Passions 495 18.1 Introduction: ‘Practical Ethics’ 495 18.2 The Challenge 496 18.2.1 Appropriation (oikeiōsis) 497 18.2.2 Passions 498 18.3 Ethical Training 500 18.4 The (Imperfect) Virtues 500 Notes and Further Reading 501 Texts 505 Chapter 19 Politics 524 19.1 The Nature and Purpose of Politics 524 19.2 Politics as an Empirical Science 525 19.3 The Cosmopolis – and Beyond 526 Notes and Further Reading 527 Texts 530 Chapter 20 The System of the Chaldaean Oracles 535 20.1 Introduction 535 20.2 Metaphysics 536 20.2.1 The First Intellect 536 20.2.2 The Second Intellect 537 20.2.3 The Third Intellect, Matter, and the Origin of World Soul 538 20.2.4 Hecate, World Soul, Nature 540 20.3 Cosmology 541 20.4 Gods and Humans 542 Notes and Further Reading 545 Glossary 548 References 552 Catalogue of Platonists 609 Index of Sources and References 634 Index to the Notes and Further Reading 662 Middle' Platonism Has Some Claim To Be The Single Most Influential Philosophical Movement Of The Last Two Thousand Years, As The Common Background To 'neoplatonism' And The Early Development Of Christian Theology. This Book Breaks With The Tradition Of Considering It Primarily In Terms Of Its Sources, Instead Putting Its Contemporary Philosophical Engagements Front And Centre To Reconstruct Its Philosophical Motivations And Activity Across The Full Range Of Its Interests. The Volume Explores The Thinkers At The Heart Of Platonist Philosophy In This Period And Includes A Comprehensive Selection Of Primary Sources, A Significant Number Of Which Appear In English Translation For The First Time, Along With Dedicated Guides To The Questions That Have Been, And Might Be, Asked About The Movement. The Result Is A Tool Which Will Help To Bring The Study Of Middle Platonism Into Mainstream Discussions Of Ancient Philosophy. Introduction : Studying Middle Platonism -- Plato's Authority And The History Of Philosophy -- Making Sense Of The Dialogues -- I. Cosmology. Causal Principles For A Non-materialist Cosmology -- The Debate Over Matter And The Problem Of Evil -- Paradigm Forms -- The Creator God -- Theories Of Creation -- World Soul And Nature -- Individual Souls And Their Faculties -- Living Beings : Gods, Daimons, Humans, Animals, Plants -- Providence -- Fate -- Ii. Dialectic. Epistemology -- Logic -- Aristotle's Categories : Ontology And Linguistics -- The Hierarchy Of Sciences -- Iii. Ethics. The Goal : Virtue And The Ideal Life -- Ethical Virtue And The Management Of The Passions -- Politics -- The System Of The Chaldaean Oracles. George Boys-stones. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.