phi201 - wk4

Last remarks on 'mystical' Platonists

For those in the mystical tradition, no categories or characteristics can truly ba attributed to God Beyond Being.

A consequence is than, any real awareness of God must be non-conceptual. This brings us to an element of Neoplatonism I've not emphasized before: the process of emanation is to be followed by a return to the One. The soul should turn away from the world of sense (as described before) but also a way from the world of intellect, to find its true home. This makes the picture mystical. So the highest goal is ecstas, escstatic union with the One. This is a form of awareness (or lack of awareness) above sensory knowledge, but also above conceptual knowledge of forms (which Platinus called reason). Also above intellectual self-knowledge. Platinus claimed to have experienced this ecstasy at various time. And on his deathbed he said "The divine in me returns to the divine in the universe."

The idea is that not only should you strive to return to the One, but that all souls will eventually return. (The One is alpha and omega). Fits with Aristotle's idea of God as both efficient and final cause.

Origen, and Clement of Alexandria before him, likened this procession (proodus) and return (apistrophe) to the Fall and Redemption of Mankind.

This unorthodox element is the idea that all will be saved. This is apocatastasis.

This brings us to the John Scattus Eriusgenn (wrong spelling). Lived after 800. He knew Greek and wrot ethe only genuine philosophical work for some 100's of years after Boethius. Learned Greek through Irish monasteries which were the only places where Greek was still known in this period. JS was himself Irish and his name means Josh the scion of Ireland. Very influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius and translated much of that writing. Major original work called the Periphyseon. Literally: 'About nature'. aka De Devisione Natura 'Visions of Nature'. (N.B JSE means by 'nature' all of existence, and not just the sensible world. ) Periphyseon is a genuine philosophical system, but we'll just look at a few themes.

JSE is very enthusiastic about Negative Theology

See first JSE quote

He is enthusiastic about something that sounds like pantheism, i.e. an identification of God with His creation. See quote 2 of JSE

"So, when we hear that God makes all things we ought to understand nothing else than that God is in all thing, that He is the essence of all things".

Whether this amounts to pantheism is an interesting question. In any case, his theory is often understood as heretical/unorthodox. The world is a theophany, a manifestation of God via which one can try to reach Him.

JSE is very enthusiastic about return to the One. See last JSE quote.

Apocatastasis again.

Last quote mentions the universe divded into 4 forms. What is this?

Nature/existence divdes into: that which creates and is not created. (God)

that which creates and is created (Intelligible world)

that which is created and does not create (sensible world)

that which is not create and does not create.