Mysticism, Language and Silence in Plotinus's Philosophy
Maria Simone Cabral Marinho
Original title: Mística, Linguagem e Silêncio na Filosofia de Plotino
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Language, Mysticism, Plotinus, Silence.
This article tries to highlight some important aspects of mystical experience in Plotinus, pointing out, above all, the problem of language that appears in the Plotinian Philosophy as a mediating term between the need to communicate the One and the impossibility of doing so.
On beauty and love in the transition from paganism to Christianity
Humberto Schubert COELHO
Original title: Sobre a beleza e o amor na transição do paganismo ao Cristianismo
Published in The Medieval Aesthetics
Keywords: Augustine, Beauty, Love, Plato, Plotinus.
While Plato is considered an absolute grounding for aesthetics, invaluable contributions to the concept of beauty were offered by the Christian thought. Although the underestimation of such contribution as a mere reflex of Platonism is not sustainable, it is undeniable that substantial part of platonic ideas on beauty and the role of love in the connection between consciousness and the supreme transcendent metaphysics of the source of being, which is identified with the beauty, exerts the most powerful influence on the Christian conception. The aesthetics in Antiquity, thus, consists in a dialogue between the beautiful Greek form and the Christian sentiment on the light of platonic idealism. Therefore, in order to understand the introspection and sublimation of Christian aesthetics the study of the delicate transition between cultural, religious and philosophical realms, and how this transition intensifies the emphasis on the role of love in the aesthetical economy, is mandatory.
Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Platonism of Imperial Age and in Plotinus
Bernardo Lins BRANDÃO
Original title: A Filosofia Como Modo de Vida no Platonismo da Era Imperial e em Plotino
Published in Mulier aut Femina. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Ascension, Neoplatonism, Philosophy as a way of life, Plotinus, Therapy of passions.
Philosophy is generally understood nowadays as a discursive practice, in which philosophers elaborate doctrines and arguments. But that is not the only possible view. In some contexts of Antiquity, it was also conceived as a way of life. In this paper, I analyze how the platonism of the Imperial age, specially Plotinus, saw this philosophical life and how doctrine and argument, ascension of the soul and therapy of passions was part of it.
The Platonism and Neo-Platonism influence on Origen’s exegesis of the Bible
Eirini ARTEMI
Published in Rhythms, expressions and representations of the body
Keywords: Christian Platonist, Greek Philosophy, Neo-Platonism, Origen, Plato, Platonism, Plotinus, Proclus.
Origen is a Christian writer who knows very well not only the Bible and the Christian tradition until his day, but he has studied Greek philosophy and probably Greek literature. His knowledge of Greek philosophy and literature gives him an absolute privilege to deepen and enrich the meanings of the biblical language and terminology. Origen doesn’t adopt Greek philosophy without any critical thought. He accepts Platonism and Neo-Platonism ideas only if they were consistent with the church’s rule of faith. For him, the study of philosophy is understood as an exercise involving moral purification as well as intellectual training, as a necessary preparation for the study of Scripture. In this essay, we will show that Origen was a Christian Platonist, who accepts many things of Platonic philosophy and criticizes many others which do not belong to Plato but were expressed by some other philosophers as false Platonism ideas. Plotinus and Proclus showed a disliked view against Origen’s Christian writings, but they accepted his ideas concerning God and “the things”, deeming them raised by Greek philosophy. In Origen’s theological system, Neoplatonic features can be underlined. The knowledge of the Bible is for Origen the only truth, but Platonism and Neoplatonism provide a simpler and more natural explanation of the revelation of God.
