Philosophic silence and the 'One' in Plotinus

Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of Late Antiquity, discusses at length a first principle of reality - the One - which, he tells us, cannot be expressed in words or grasped in thought. How and why, then, does Plotinus write about it at all? This book explores this act of writing the unwritable. Se...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Banner, Nicholas (Author)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press March 2018
In:Year: 2018
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Plotinus 205-270 / One (The One in philosophy) / The Absolute / Transcendence
Further subjects:B Plotinus
B Philosophy, Ancient
B One (The One in philosophy)
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of Late Antiquity, discusses at length a first principle of reality - the One - which, he tells us, cannot be expressed in words or grasped in thought. How and why, then, does Plotinus write about it at all? This book explores this act of writing the unwritable. Seeking to explain what seems to be an insoluble paradox in the very practice of late Platonist writing, it examines not only the philosophical concerns involved, but the cultural and rhetorical aspects of the question. The discussion outlines an ancient practice of ‛philosophical silence' which determined the themes and tropes of public secrecy appropriate to Late Platonist philosophy. Through philosophic silence, public secrecy and silence flow into one another, and the unsaid space of the text becomes an initiatory secret. Understanding this mode of discourse allows us to resolve many apparent contradictions in Plotinus' thought
Item Description:Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 12 Mar 2018)
ISBN:1316650790
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/9781316650790