Plotinus Road To Reality

This 1967 study begins with a brief biography of Plotinus, and goes on to discuss Plotinus' concept of the one, the logos and free will.

This book consists in a reprint of papers dealing mostly with Grecoroman philosophy, ranging from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD, and concerned mainly with the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Early Academy, the Platonic and Aristotelian later traditions.

Nobel Prize-winner Roger Penrose, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, presents the only comprehensive—and comprehensible—account of the physics of the universe. A "guide to physics’ big picture, and to the thoughts of one of the world’s most original thinkers.”—The New York Times From the very first attempts by the Greeks to grapple with the complexities of our known world to the latest application of infinity in physics, The Road to Reality carefully explores the movement of the smallest atomic particles and reaches into the vastness of intergalactic space. Here, Penrose examines the mathematical foundations of the physical universe, exposing the underlying beauty of physics and giving us one the most important works in modern science writing.

Neoplatonism has sometimes been seen as a species of mysticism. This volume shows that Neoplatonism has, on the contrary, a characteristic and definable structure. It presents the logic of Neoplatonism and carefully distinguishes it from the logic of other forms of philosophy.

This work examines the role of the doctrine of 'divine ideas' in the theology of Thomas Aquinas, a question which remains controversial. Aquinas received this doctrine in two distinct forms, from Augustine and Dionysius. The historical origins and development of this twofold tradition are traced from Plato and Aristotle, through Hellenistic philosophy, to the patristic and medieval periods. In Aquinas' account of God's knowledge, of the Word of God, of Creation and of Providence the doctrine of divine ideas plays a key role. Various strands of neoplatonist thought are clearly important for him but it is Aristotle who is of greatest significance for Aquinas' sustained and original re-thinking of the doctrine. A study of this question provides a fresh perspective on the nature of Aquinas' unique synthesis.

Through the concept of contraction, Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) endeavoured to explain the relationship of God to his Creation in a way that conformed with his pantheistic view of nature as well as his heterodox view of man’s relationship to God. The concept of contraction is twofold. In the ontological sense it denotes the way in which the One, or God, descends to multiplicity. In the noetic sense it accounts for the ways in which the individual human soul ascends towards God through a reversed process of contemplation. Bruno denied the efficacy of the several psychical, psychological and medical states traditionally thought to aid contemplation and noetic ascent towards God. In his view the only means was philosophical contemplation, the use of memory being one important form. Philosophical contemplation elevated the mind from the fragmented multiplicity of sense impressions to an understanding of the principles governing the sensible world. This publication is the first book-length study dedicated to concept of contraction in Bruno’s philosophy. Moreover, it explores his sources for this concept. Traditionally Ficino’s translation of Plotinus, dating from the second half of the fifteenth century, has been seen as a key source to the Neoplatonism informing Bruno’s philosophy. In The Concept of Contraction in Giordano Bruno’s Philosophy another Neoplatonic source is considered, namely the pseudo-Aristotelian Liber de Causis (Book of causes), which has not yet been examined in the context of Renaissance Neoplatonism. This work, probably written in Arabic in the ninth century, was translated into Latin in the twelfth century and remained well known to many late Medieval and Renaissance philosophers. Catana argues that this work may have prepared for Ficino’s translation of Plotinus, and that in some instances it provided a common source to Renaissance philosophers, Bruno and Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) being conspicuous examples discussed in this book.