Reading Neoplatonism: Non-discursive Thinking In The Texts Of Plotinus, Proclus, And Damascius

READING N E O P L A T O N I S M Neoplatonism is the term that designates the form of Platonic philosophy that developed in the Roman Empire from the third to the sixth century A.D. and that invests Plato's dialogues with a complex metaphysical interpretation. Sara Rappe's challenging and innovative study is the first book to analyze Neoplatonic texts by using contemporary philosophy of language. The book covers the whole tradition of Neoplatonic writing, from Plotinus through Proclus to Damascius. Addressing the strain of mysticism in these works from a fresh perspective, Rappe shows how these texts reflect actual meditational practices, methods of concentrating the mind, and the other mental disciplines that informed the tradition. As the broadest available survey of Neoplatonic writing, this book will appeal to classicists and philosophers, as well as to students of religious studies. Sara Rappe is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan. READING NEOPLATONISM Non-discursive Thinking in the Texts of Plotinus, Proclus, and Damascius SARARAPPE University of Michigan CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521651585 © Sara Rappe 2000 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 This digitally printed version 2007 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Rappe, Sara, 1960Reading neoplatonism : non-discursive thinking in the texts of Plotinus, Proclus, and Damscius / Sara Rappe. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-521-65158-1 (hb) 1. Neoplatonism. 2. Reasoning - History. 3. Methodology - History. I. Title. B517.R36 1999 186'.4-dc21 99-11395 CIP ISBN 978-0-521-65158-5 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-03942-0 paperback For John Raugust and Eleanor Rappe-Raugust, with love Contents 1 Preface: Discursive Strategies and Neoplatonic Texts page ix Acknowledgments xix List of Abbreviations xxi Introduction. Representing a Tradition: Exegesis, Symbol, and Self-reflection 1 PART I: LANGUAGE IN THE ENNEADS 2 Plotinus' Critique of Discursive Thinking 23 3 4 5 Non-discursive Thinking in the Enneads Introspection in the Dialectic of the Enneads The Symbolism of the Enneads 45 67 91 PART II: TEXT AND TRADITION IN NEOPLATONISM 6 7 8 9 10 History of an Enigma: Mathematical Symbolism in the Neoplatonic Tradition Transmigrations of a Myth: Orphic Texts and Platonic Contexts Language and Theurgy in Proclus' Platonic Theology Damascius' Inef