| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £23.95
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Elements of Theology: A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction, and Commentary (Clarendon Paperbacks) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £23.95, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Proclus' Elements of Theology is a concise summa of the Neoplatonic system in its fully developed form; and for the student of late Greek thought second in importance only to the Enneads of Plotinus. Professor Dodds has provided a critical text based on a personal examination of some forty manuscripts, together with an English translation and a philosophical and linguistic commentary. First published in 1933, this second edition includes an Appendix of Addenda et Corrigenda and is widely regarded and respected as the definitive edition of the text today.
About the Author
Thomas Taylor (1758 - 1835), known as the English Platonist, was the first to translate into English the complete works of Plato and Aristotle. He also translated many of the later Platonists and also some of the remaining fragments of the earliest Greek writings, such as the Orphics, and the Pythagoreans. These translations, together with his original works, represent the most comprehensive survey of the philosophical thought of European antiquity.
The great advantage to Taylor translations is that he works from within the Platonic tradition, being a convinced follower of this tradition. As scholarly as many other fine translations are, they often lack the depth of Taylor's because the subtle truths embedded in Platonic writings are only understood after the profoundest meditations. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
For suppose a manifold in no way participating unity. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
For suppose a manifold in no way participating unity. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A classical book of Neoplatonism
28 Oct 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A wonderful "geometrical" metaphysical work, which many consider, iby its form, a forerrunner of Spinoza's Ethic, this is the accurate blingual edition that should be used for serious academic work. A must have for those interested in Neoplatonism
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A Thorough and Systematic Handbook on the Rubrics of Platonic Theoretic Science
15 Nov 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Proclus of Lysia (410-85 AD) stands at a privileged position in the vicissitudes of Platonic thought, as he looks back to a rich, diverse, yet continuous thread of philosophical culture, reaching back some eight hundred years. Born almost a generation after Theodosius' ban on the Greco-Roman cultus, Proclus still enjoyed, as yet, the Hellenism of the school-room, in which the old ideas still flourished and received contemporary colorations by outstanding intellects such as John Philoponus, Simplicius and Damascius Syrianus. Soon after, even the ideas themselves--the Hellenism still alive and well in books--were suppressed under the iron-thumb of Justinian. With that said, Proclus' Elements of Theology were fortunate enough to survive the ravages of time.
In essence, the reader will be introduced to the most thorough and systematic catalogue of Platonic metaphysics extant. Proclus adduces the relation between cause and effect, oneness and multiplicity, incorporeal and corporeal entities, at all levels of being, in a clear, rational and orderly succession. Proclus also delineates the principles of eternity and time, soul and body, along with allusions to the intellective beings, the descent and ascent of rational souls and the correlative properties and dynamics of the One, Intellect and Soul. For anyone with a fairly good back ground in ancient philosophy, this book will be a metaphysical banquet.
In light of the efforts of professor Dodds--the text, his running commentary, lucid translation and scholarly introductory material--this work is a desideratum. The `Elements' <reminiscent of Euclid's Elements] of Theology is simply a must have for minds looking for that comprehensive grasp of late-Platonic theoretic science.
In essence, the reader will be introduced to the most thorough and systematic catalogue of Platonic metaphysics extant. Proclus adduces the relation between cause and effect, oneness and multiplicity, incorporeal and corporeal entities, at all levels of being, in a clear, rational and orderly succession. Proclus also delineates the principles of eternity and time, soul and body, along with allusions to the intellective beings, the descent and ascent of rational souls and the correlative properties and dynamics of the One, Intellect and Soul. For anyone with a fairly good back ground in ancient philosophy, this book will be a metaphysical banquet.
In light of the efforts of professor Dodds--the text, his running commentary, lucid translation and scholarly introductory material--this work is a desideratum. The `Elements' <reminiscent of Euclid's Elements] of Theology is simply a must have for minds looking for that comprehensive grasp of late-Platonic theoretic science.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
5 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This has been called by some the first systematic theology of pagan Neoplatonism whatever be the case this work is unlike Plotinus' Enneads and Iamblichus' De Mysteriis. This is a very deliberately structured book dealing succinctly with a subset topic and then moving to the next and repeating the process. Unlike other of Proclus' works there is not a single appeal to any authority or reference to past philosophers in this entire work, this is a strict attempt at an application of logic to prove the major tenants of Neoplatonism and of course Proclus' own personal views on the finer points as well as variations on the major ones. In this work we are given 211 propositions which are one by one 'proved' and I say that because E.R. Dodds said that sometimes the answers are more expositions than arguments - for me the line between exposition and argument in this book is easily blurred if it is there.
While the following headings aren't in the text themselves E.R. Dodds categorises the propositions under the following headings as the book moves through the following subjects:
A. Of the One and the Many
B. Of Causes
C. Of the Grades of Reality
D. Of Procession and Reversion
E. Of the Self-Constituted
F. Of Time and Eternity
G. Of the Grades of Causality
H. Of Wholes and Parts
I. Of the Relation of Causes to Effects
J. Of Being, Limit, and Infinitude
K. Supplementary Theorems on Causality
L. Of Divine Henads, or Gods
M. Of Intelligences
N. Of Souls
Of course the book as a piece of history is in itself important, as to its philosophical merit -regardless of historical worth- I must say that there is a lot I think beneficial in this book to consider, however from L onwards I found less of value philosophically yet of course this is all historically valuable and Proclus' propositions on the divine henads find their parallels in the famous Pseudo-Dionysius, who is often compared to Proclus.
While the following headings aren't in the text themselves E.R. Dodds categorises the propositions under the following headings as the book moves through the following subjects:
A. Of the One and the Many
B. Of Causes
C. Of the Grades of Reality
D. Of Procession and Reversion
E. Of the Self-Constituted
F. Of Time and Eternity
G. Of the Grades of Causality
H. Of Wholes and Parts
I. Of the Relation of Causes to Effects
J. Of Being, Limit, and Infinitude
K. Supplementary Theorems on Causality
L. Of Divine Henads, or Gods
M. Of Intelligences
N. Of Souls
Of course the book as a piece of history is in itself important, as to its philosophical merit -regardless of historical worth- I must say that there is a lot I think beneficial in this book to consider, however from L onwards I found less of value philosophically yet of course this is all historically valuable and Proclus' propositions on the divine henads find their parallels in the famous Pseudo-Dionysius, who is often compared to Proclus.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
