Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195377194
- eISBN:
- 9780199869572
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377194.001.1
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This book examines Plotinus’ concept of number, one of the most difficult and obscure topics in Neoplatonism. The book argues that Plotinus is the first philosopher who explains the Platonic “true ...
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This book examines Plotinus’ concept of number, one of the most difficult and obscure topics in Neoplatonism. The book argues that Plotinus is the first philosopher who explains the Platonic “true number” and the quantitative mathematical numbers in a conceptually informed relationship as between an intelligible paradigm and its sense-perceptible image. Throughout the Enneads and especially in Ennead VI.6, the treatise On Numbers, Plotinus systematically peels off the layers of mathematical and quantitative perception from the concept of number to reveal that real number is the primary activity of substance (ousia), which orders the unfolding of the universe from its absolute source into a finite multiplicity. The book traces the development of Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s view of number, and Neopythagoreanism. This analysis establishes number to be the building block of the intelligible realm and the architecture of the universe in Plotinus. For him, as for his Platonic and Neopythagorean predecessors, the universe has a meaning, enciphered by number. In this light, Plotinus’ concept of number is the fundamental link between the number theories of the Neopythagoreans and the later Neoplatonists.Less
This book examines Plotinus’ concept of number, one of the most difficult and obscure topics in Neoplatonism. The book argues that Plotinus is the first philosopher who explains the Platonic “true number” and the quantitative mathematical numbers in a conceptually informed relationship as between an intelligible paradigm and its sense-perceptible image. Throughout the Enneads and especially in Ennead VI.6, the treatise On Numbers, Plotinus systematically peels off the layers of mathematical and quantitative perception from the concept of number to reveal that real number is the primary activity of substance (ousia), which orders the unfolding of the universe from its absolute source into a finite multiplicity. The book traces the development of Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s view of number, and Neopythagoreanism. This analysis establishes number to be the building block of the intelligible realm and the architecture of the universe in Plotinus. For him, as for his Platonic and Neopythagorean predecessors, the universe has a meaning, enciphered by number. In this light, Plotinus’ concept of number is the fundamental link between the number theories of the Neopythagoreans and the later Neoplatonists.
Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195377194
- eISBN:
- 9780199869572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377194.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
The concept of number is the troublemaker in the history of Platonism. It separated the followers of Plato and Aristotle into two camps for generations. For Plotinus, however, the concept becomes the ...
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The concept of number is the troublemaker in the history of Platonism. It separated the followers of Plato and Aristotle into two camps for generations. For Plotinus, however, the concept becomes the peacemaker, which reconciles the camps. The importance of this reconciliation is central to Plotinus’ philosophical system because it not only uses Aristotle to defend Plato from Aristotle himself, but establishes Plotinus’ concept of number as the fundamental link between the number theories of the Neopythagoreans and the later Neoplatonists.This book demonstrates that the subject of number should be considered among the most important concepts for understanding Plotinus’ philosophy and therefore deserves greater scholarly attention than it has received. Plotinus adopts and adapts Platonic and Neopythagorean cosmology to place number in the foundation of the intelligible realm and the construction of the universe. Throughout the Enneads and especially in Ennead VI.6, he systematically peels off the layers of mathematical and quantitative perception from the concept of number to reveal that real intelligible number is the primary activity of substance, which orders the unfolding of the universe from its absolute source into a finite multiplicity.Less
The concept of number is the troublemaker in the history of Platonism. It separated the followers of Plato and Aristotle into two camps for generations. For Plotinus, however, the concept becomes the peacemaker, which reconciles the camps. The importance of this reconciliation is central to Plotinus’ philosophical system because it not only uses Aristotle to defend Plato from Aristotle himself, but establishes Plotinus’ concept of number as the fundamental link between the number theories of the Neopythagoreans and the later Neoplatonists.This book demonstrates that the subject of number should be considered among the most important concepts for understanding Plotinus’ philosophy and therefore deserves greater scholarly attention than it has received. Plotinus adopts and adapts Platonic and Neopythagorean cosmology to place number in the foundation of the intelligible realm and the construction of the universe. Throughout the Enneads and especially in Ennead VI.6, he systematically peels off the layers of mathematical and quantitative perception from the concept of number to reveal that real intelligible number is the primary activity of substance, which orders the unfolding of the universe from its absolute source into a finite multiplicity.
Donald Rutherford and J. A. Cover (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195143744
- eISBN:
- 9780199835317
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195143744.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book presents 12 essays that illustrate the current state of scholarship on Leibniz’s metaphysics. Essays 1 and 2 tackle the different aspects of one of the main topics of Leibniz’s metaphysics ...
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This book presents 12 essays that illustrate the current state of scholarship on Leibniz’s metaphysics. Essays 1 and 2 tackle the different aspects of one of the main topics of Leibniz’s metaphysics — the relation of unity and multiplicity. Essays 3 and 4 focus on the ontological status of body in Leibniz’s middle period. Essays 5 and 6 challenge the features of Leibniz’s hypothesis of preestablished harmony. Essay 7 surveys Leibniz’s claims on behalf of teleological concepts in the explanation of nature and harmony. Essay 8 explores the conception of spontaneity or self-determination. Essays 9 and 10 examine Leibniz’s doctrine of moral necessity. Essays 11 and 12 address the role of “intelligence” in Leibniz’s account of freedom.Less
This book presents 12 essays that illustrate the current state of scholarship on Leibniz’s metaphysics. Essays 1 and 2 tackle the different aspects of one of the main topics of Leibniz’s metaphysics — the relation of unity and multiplicity. Essays 3 and 4 focus on the ontological status of body in Leibniz’s middle period. Essays 5 and 6 challenge the features of Leibniz’s hypothesis of preestablished harmony. Essay 7 surveys Leibniz’s claims on behalf of teleological concepts in the explanation of nature and harmony. Essay 8 explores the conception of spontaneity or self-determination. Essays 9 and 10 examine Leibniz’s doctrine of moral necessity. Essays 11 and 12 address the role of “intelligence” in Leibniz’s account of freedom.
Christopher Shields
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199253074
- eISBN:
- 9780191598401
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253072.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Aristotle regularly identifies philosophical and scientific concepts as homonymous; indeed, his preoccupation with homonymy influences his approach to many subjects and clearly structures his ...
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Aristotle regularly identifies philosophical and scientific concepts as homonymous; indeed, his preoccupation with homonymy influences his approach to many subjects and clearly structures his philosophical methodology. In this book, Christopher Shields offers the first full‐length investigation of homonymy in Aristotle's work, in which he explicates and assesses Aristotle's commitment to homonymy in both critical and constructive contexts. Shields identifies homonymy as both a critical tool, with Plato as the target, by means of which Aristotle can emphasize the complexity of core philosophical concepts; and as a constructive method for the discovery of order in multiplicity, which is crucial for genuine scientific inquiry and philosophical progress. In Part I, Shields establishes and examines the general theoretical framework of Aristotle's approach to homonymy. In Ch. 1, Shields discusses the first characterization of homonymy in the Categories, with a view to assessing the role of homonymy in Aristotle's later works; in Chs. 2 to 4 Shields examines some objections to Aristotle's reliance to homonymy, the connection between homonymy and signification, and the notion of core‐dependent homonymy. Part II is an examination of five cases in which we see homonymy at work: Ch. 5 discusses Aristotle's appeal to the homonymy of the body, Ch. 6 to the concept of life, Ch 7, to the concepts of oneness and sameness, and Ch. 8 to goodness. Shields argues that Aristotle is successful in each of these endeavours, particularly so in the case of the homonymy of life, but only partially so in the case of goodness. In Ch. 9, Shield argues that Aristotle fails to establish that being is homonymous. Shields argues that, aside from the attempt to apply homonymy to being, Aristotle's commitment to homonym is well motivated, and it introduces a method of definition that is of genuine and lasting importance. Shields argues that Aristotle is right to advocate homonymy as a form of constructive philosophical analysis, and that it is a framework of enduring value and with prospects for genuine philosophical progress.Less
Aristotle regularly identifies philosophical and scientific concepts as homonymous; indeed, his preoccupation with homonymy influences his approach to many subjects and clearly structures his philosophical methodology. In this book, Christopher Shields offers the first full‐length investigation of homonymy in Aristotle's work, in which he explicates and assesses Aristotle's commitment to homonymy in both critical and constructive contexts. Shields identifies homonymy as both a critical tool, with Plato as the target, by means of which Aristotle can emphasize the complexity of core philosophical concepts; and as a constructive method for the discovery of order in multiplicity, which is crucial for genuine scientific inquiry and philosophical progress. In Part I, Shields establishes and examines the general theoretical framework of Aristotle's approach to homonymy. In Ch. 1, Shields discusses the first characterization of homonymy in the Categories, with a view to assessing the role of homonymy in Aristotle's later works; in Chs. 2 to 4 Shields examines some objections to Aristotle's reliance to homonymy, the connection between homonymy and signification, and the notion of core‐dependent homonymy. Part II is an examination of five cases in which we see homonymy at work: Ch. 5 discusses Aristotle's appeal to the homonymy of the body, Ch. 6 to the concept of life, Ch 7, to the concepts of oneness and sameness, and Ch. 8 to goodness. Shields argues that Aristotle is successful in each of these endeavours, particularly so in the case of the homonymy of life, but only partially so in the case of goodness. In Ch. 9, Shield argues that Aristotle fails to establish that being is homonymous. Shields argues that, aside from the attempt to apply homonymy to being, Aristotle's commitment to homonym is well motivated, and it introduces a method of definition that is of genuine and lasting importance. Shields argues that Aristotle is right to advocate homonymy as a form of constructive philosophical analysis, and that it is a framework of enduring value and with prospects for genuine philosophical progress.
David Schlosberg
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199256419
- eISBN:
- 9780191600203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199256411.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
An examination is made of a genealogy of pluralist approaches to multiplicity and difference in the twentieth century, starting with William James (1976 [1912], 1977 [1909]), who began his study of ...
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An examination is made of a genealogy of pluralist approaches to multiplicity and difference in the twentieth century, starting with William James (1976 [1912], 1977 [1909]), who began his study of pluralism with a ‘radical empiricism’ that is opposed to a more singular, monist position. James argued that our experiences of empirical events diverge, and one explanation could never encompass all of those experiences; other political pluralists (Arthur Bentley, Ernest Barker, Harold Laski, Mary Parker Follett) took James’s critique of absolutism and applied it to the state. Post-Second World War pluralists used the concept of heterogeneity in a much more constricted sense to defend and promote self-interested interest groups. However, more recently, there has been a return to multiplicities, and Donna Haraway’s (1988) description of ‘situated knowledges’ and ‘embodied objectivity’, in which she argues for ‘epistemologies of location’ where claims of knowledge can only be considered partial, resurrects James. The argument here is that a return to such original notions of pluralism helps validate the diversity of experiences and knowledges that grow out of the variety of ways we are all situated in any number of experiences, including environmental degradation.Less
An examination is made of a genealogy of pluralist approaches to multiplicity and difference in the twentieth century, starting with William James (1976 [1912], 1977 [1909]), who began his study of pluralism with a ‘radical empiricism’ that is opposed to a more singular, monist position. James argued that our experiences of empirical events diverge, and one explanation could never encompass all of those experiences; other political pluralists (Arthur Bentley, Ernest Barker, Harold Laski, Mary Parker Follett) took James’s critique of absolutism and applied it to the state. Post-Second World War pluralists used the concept of heterogeneity in a much more constricted sense to defend and promote self-interested interest groups. However, more recently, there has been a return to multiplicities, and Donna Haraway’s (1988) description of ‘situated knowledges’ and ‘embodied objectivity’, in which she argues for ‘epistemologies of location’ where claims of knowledge can only be considered partial, resurrects James. The argument here is that a return to such original notions of pluralism helps validate the diversity of experiences and knowledges that grow out of the variety of ways we are all situated in any number of experiences, including environmental degradation.
David Schlosberg
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199256419
- eISBN:
- 9780191600203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199256411.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
The acceptance of multiplicity as the precondition of political action is central to the new generation of theorists and activists that the author designates as ‘critical pluralists’. In political ...
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The acceptance of multiplicity as the precondition of political action is central to the new generation of theorists and activists that the author designates as ‘critical pluralists’. In political and social theory, a range of authors has finally begun to respond to a lament broached by Mary Parker Follett in 1918: pluralists early in the century had acknowledged difference, she noted, but they had not arrived at the heart of the question – what is to be done with this diversity? This chapter examines some of the contemporary responses to Follett’s question and constructs a list of practices necessary to build political relations across difference. These get at issues of justice beyond the material, concerning both recognition and participatory process, and it is argued that agonistic respect (William Connolly 1991), attempts at intersubjective understanding (Seyla Benhabib 1992; Jurgen Habermas 1970; Axel Honneth 1992), inclusive, open discourse free from domination and the possibility of reprisals (John Dryzek 1990; John Forester 1989; Habermas 1984, 1987), and the development of a particular form of solidarity are all crucial to the practices suggested by a new generation of pluralist theory. Solidarity (unity without uniformity) is complex in that it centres on the process of reconciling difference with the need for concerted political action. The author focuses on how the notion of unity suggested by Follett was discarded by the second generation of pluralism, but is now mirrored by numerous contemporary theorists, including Richard Rorty (1989), Donna Haraway (1991), and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (1987).Less
The acceptance of multiplicity as the precondition of political action is central to the new generation of theorists and activists that the author designates as ‘critical pluralists’. In political and social theory, a range of authors has finally begun to respond to a lament broached by Mary Parker Follett in 1918: pluralists early in the century had acknowledged difference, she noted, but they had not arrived at the heart of the question – what is to be done with this diversity? This chapter examines some of the contemporary responses to Follett’s question and constructs a list of practices necessary to build political relations across difference. These get at issues of justice beyond the material, concerning both recognition and participatory process, and it is argued that agonistic respect (William Connolly 1991), attempts at intersubjective understanding (Seyla Benhabib 1992; Jurgen Habermas 1970; Axel Honneth 1992), inclusive, open discourse free from domination and the possibility of reprisals (John Dryzek 1990; John Forester 1989; Habermas 1984, 1987), and the development of a particular form of solidarity are all crucial to the practices suggested by a new generation of pluralist theory. Solidarity (unity without uniformity) is complex in that it centres on the process of reconciling difference with the need for concerted political action. The author focuses on how the notion of unity suggested by Follett was discarded by the second generation of pluralism, but is now mirrored by numerous contemporary theorists, including Richard Rorty (1989), Donna Haraway (1991), and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (1987).
Maarten A. Hajer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281671
- eISBN:
- 9780191713132
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281671.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Using the example of the Nobel Peace Prize for Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this chapter explores a conceptualization of authority as the possibility for reasoned ...
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Using the example of the Nobel Peace Prize for Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this chapter explores a conceptualization of authority as the possibility for reasoned elaboration. It is seen as a possible alternative for what is called ‘classical modernist’ politics: the politics of democratically elected leaders using their ‘de jure’ authority. The chapter argues that the quasi-natural authority of classical-modernist government suffers from a triple deficit: of implementation, of its capacity to learn, and increasingly also of creating legitimacy. It discusses the new ‘repertoire’ of network governance that has become more important in answer to this triple deficit. Yet is also relates the challenge of governance to the growing importance of the media in the conduct of politics. The combination of these factors complicates the achievement of authority because the politics of meaning has become far more difficult to control. Instead of a political centre we have a politics of multiplicity; there are multiple, often unexpected political stages and multiple, actively interpreting interconnected publics. The book calls this ‘the politics of multiplicities’. This creates a structural instability in the political space.Less
Using the example of the Nobel Peace Prize for Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this chapter explores a conceptualization of authority as the possibility for reasoned elaboration. It is seen as a possible alternative for what is called ‘classical modernist’ politics: the politics of democratically elected leaders using their ‘de jure’ authority. The chapter argues that the quasi-natural authority of classical-modernist government suffers from a triple deficit: of implementation, of its capacity to learn, and increasingly also of creating legitimacy. It discusses the new ‘repertoire’ of network governance that has become more important in answer to this triple deficit. Yet is also relates the challenge of governance to the growing importance of the media in the conduct of politics. The combination of these factors complicates the achievement of authority because the politics of meaning has become far more difficult to control. Instead of a political centre we have a politics of multiplicity; there are multiple, often unexpected political stages and multiple, actively interpreting interconnected publics. The book calls this ‘the politics of multiplicities’. This creates a structural instability in the political space.
Maarten A. Hajer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281671
- eISBN:
- 9780191713132
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281671.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The decision what and how to rebuild at ‘Ground Zero’ is a highly symbolic and contentious act, with high financial stakes, in which the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Port Authority, ...
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The decision what and how to rebuild at ‘Ground Zero’ is a highly symbolic and contentious act, with high financial stakes, in which the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Port Authority, private stakeholders, mourning families, and inhabitants compete about the meaning of the site. Examining the stories of Ground Zero the chapter makes out four different discourses: (1) The Programme (2) Memorial Discourse, (3) Revitalization, and (4) Phoenix. The chapter studies the policy process focusing on two policy practices through which the meaning of rebuilding Ground Zero gets enacted in a particularly interesting way for the book. Listening to the city and the subsequent Design study constitute examples of opening up a closed process. The empirical analysis shows how new techniques of deliberation were employed, allowing many publics into the policy conversation. It also reveals interesting examples of how to recombine expertise and participation, and design experts cooperating with various audiences. However, by the lack of a creative follow-up, and a script that would have kept the public involved, the ‘rebuilding as a democracy’ in the end turns out to be an unhappy performative. In the end the oyster of classical-modernist politics that was forced open, closed again. A chance for an authoritative governance based on the story line of ‘we must rebuild as a democracy’ was missed.Less
The decision what and how to rebuild at ‘Ground Zero’ is a highly symbolic and contentious act, with high financial stakes, in which the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Port Authority, private stakeholders, mourning families, and inhabitants compete about the meaning of the site. Examining the stories of Ground Zero the chapter makes out four different discourses: (1) The Programme (2) Memorial Discourse, (3) Revitalization, and (4) Phoenix. The chapter studies the policy process focusing on two policy practices through which the meaning of rebuilding Ground Zero gets enacted in a particularly interesting way for the book. Listening to the city and the subsequent Design study constitute examples of opening up a closed process. The empirical analysis shows how new techniques of deliberation were employed, allowing many publics into the policy conversation. It also reveals interesting examples of how to recombine expertise and participation, and design experts cooperating with various audiences. However, by the lack of a creative follow-up, and a script that would have kept the public involved, the ‘rebuilding as a democracy’ in the end turns out to be an unhappy performative. In the end the oyster of classical-modernist politics that was forced open, closed again. A chance for an authoritative governance based on the story line of ‘we must rebuild as a democracy’ was missed.
Rushmir Mahmutćehajić
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227518
- eISBN:
- 9780823237029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227518.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
There is no thought that does not tend toward the question of love. Although this is the case from the beginning to the end of existence, it is worth testifying that love remains indefinable by ...
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There is no thought that does not tend toward the question of love. Although this is the case from the beginning to the end of existence, it is worth testifying that love remains indefinable by thought. The fullness of love is the same as emptiness of thought. In all the descriptions and accounts of love, there is no definition that would make its essence known to reason. Whatever the factors defining love, they do not contribute to knowledge of it. All discourse about love is the attribution of power to reason. It is so because love cannot be separated from being. Even so, the indefinability of love is the way in which it eludes all power outside itself. Knowledge is the aim of love that comes from indivisible oneness, but oneness too is its aim that comes from divergence in existence. Oneness sees itself through multiplicity. And the other way around, multiplicity sees itself through oneness. They are two aspects of one and the same essence.Less
There is no thought that does not tend toward the question of love. Although this is the case from the beginning to the end of existence, it is worth testifying that love remains indefinable by thought. The fullness of love is the same as emptiness of thought. In all the descriptions and accounts of love, there is no definition that would make its essence known to reason. Whatever the factors defining love, they do not contribute to knowledge of it. All discourse about love is the attribution of power to reason. It is so because love cannot be separated from being. Even so, the indefinability of love is the way in which it eludes all power outside itself. Knowledge is the aim of love that comes from indivisible oneness, but oneness too is its aim that comes from divergence in existence. Oneness sees itself through multiplicity. And the other way around, multiplicity sees itself through oneness. They are two aspects of one and the same essence.
Rushmir Mahmutćehajić
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227518
- eISBN:
- 9780823237029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227518.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Thought remains forever caught in the tension between the elements of duality. It knows only duality and functions only within it. However, duality is nothing other than the proclamation and ...
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Thought remains forever caught in the tension between the elements of duality. It knows only duality and functions only within it. However, duality is nothing other than the proclamation and confirmation of oneness. But oneness is neither comparable nor similar. In addition, it is present in everything that is duality, and that means in the totality of existence. Consequently, to think means to compare. And that is possible only in a world of multiplicity, where phenomena are forms in movement. Thought can bring one to the border, where comparability ends or begins. If thought has a purpose, if it becomes meaning, then God is its foundation. If oneness is infinitely close to everything, then it entails multiplicity as its need. In oneness are all possibilities, but indivisible and unrevealed. Just as the hiddenness of fullness demands or loves oneness as its confirmation, so oneness too loves its revelation in countless multiplicity. Thought is possible only with reason, while loving almost does not care for the help and cooperation of thought.Less
Thought remains forever caught in the tension between the elements of duality. It knows only duality and functions only within it. However, duality is nothing other than the proclamation and confirmation of oneness. But oneness is neither comparable nor similar. In addition, it is present in everything that is duality, and that means in the totality of existence. Consequently, to think means to compare. And that is possible only in a world of multiplicity, where phenomena are forms in movement. Thought can bring one to the border, where comparability ends or begins. If thought has a purpose, if it becomes meaning, then God is its foundation. If oneness is infinitely close to everything, then it entails multiplicity as its need. In oneness are all possibilities, but indivisible and unrevealed. Just as the hiddenness of fullness demands or loves oneness as its confirmation, so oneness too loves its revelation in countless multiplicity. Thought is possible only with reason, while loving almost does not care for the help and cooperation of thought.
William C. Chittick
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139136
- eISBN:
- 9780199834075
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139135.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The Muslim philosophers adopted the basic concepts of Greek philosophy as carried over into Arabic and paid little attention to terminology derived from the Koran and Hadith. Grasping their ...
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The Muslim philosophers adopted the basic concepts of Greek philosophy as carried over into Arabic and paid little attention to terminology derived from the Koran and Hadith. Grasping their perspective necessitates understanding how they defined basic concepts such as philosophy, wisdom, virtue, deiformity, the multiplicity of worlds, levels of awareness, body and spirit, complementarity, form and matter, and substance and accident.Less
The Muslim philosophers adopted the basic concepts of Greek philosophy as carried over into Arabic and paid little attention to terminology derived from the Koran and Hadith. Grasping their perspective necessitates understanding how they defined basic concepts such as philosophy, wisdom, virtue, deiformity, the multiplicity of worlds, levels of awareness, body and spirit, complementarity, form and matter, and substance and accident.
Shunryu Suzuki
Mel Weitsman and Michael Wenger (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520219823
- eISBN:
- 9780520936232
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520219823.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
When Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1972, it was enthusiastically embraced by Westerners eager for spiritual insight and knowledge of Zen. The book became the most successful treatise on ...
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When Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1972, it was enthusiastically embraced by Westerners eager for spiritual insight and knowledge of Zen. The book became the most successful treatise on Buddhism in English, selling more than one million copies to date. This book is the first follow-up volume to the author's important work. Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, it is a collection of lectures that reveal the insight, humor, and intimacy with Zen that made the author such an influential teacher. The Sandokai — a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian) — is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated, ancient, and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or, as expressed in this book, “things-as-it-is”). Included with the lectures are the students' questions and the author's direct answers to them, along with a meditation instruction. The book provides an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text of Buddhism today.Less
When Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1972, it was enthusiastically embraced by Westerners eager for spiritual insight and knowledge of Zen. The book became the most successful treatise on Buddhism in English, selling more than one million copies to date. This book is the first follow-up volume to the author's important work. Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, it is a collection of lectures that reveal the insight, humor, and intimacy with Zen that made the author such an influential teacher. The Sandokai — a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian) — is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated, ancient, and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or, as expressed in this book, “things-as-it-is”). Included with the lectures are the students' questions and the author's direct answers to them, along with a meditation instruction. The book provides an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text of Buddhism today.
Rushmir Mahmutćehajić
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227518
- eISBN:
- 9780823237029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227518.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The will must both deny and affirm: if it must deny objects toward which the self strives, in view of their deceptiveness, which is revealed in changeability, it must also affirm them, in view of its ...
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The will must both deny and affirm: if it must deny objects toward which the self strives, in view of their deceptiveness, which is revealed in changeability, it must also affirm them, in view of its freedom of choice. Denial comes from freedom. Through it, the self establishes itself in its divergence: an inclination to evil, reprimand, or the constant remembrance of several possibilities and, finally, the attainment of peace in which human and Divine will are reconciled through the same satisfaction in the actualization of the truth that there is no will other than the Will. The self is divided in its verticality between the body, as solidification toward nothingness, and the spirit, as the highest level in existence. The spirit, or the mind, illuminates the totality of the self, but light is mediated through the heart. The heart is turned toward both oneness and multiplicity. It is the child of the relationship between the spirit and the soul.Less
The will must both deny and affirm: if it must deny objects toward which the self strives, in view of their deceptiveness, which is revealed in changeability, it must also affirm them, in view of its freedom of choice. Denial comes from freedom. Through it, the self establishes itself in its divergence: an inclination to evil, reprimand, or the constant remembrance of several possibilities and, finally, the attainment of peace in which human and Divine will are reconciled through the same satisfaction in the actualization of the truth that there is no will other than the Will. The self is divided in its verticality between the body, as solidification toward nothingness, and the spirit, as the highest level in existence. The spirit, or the mind, illuminates the totality of the self, but light is mediated through the heart. The heart is turned toward both oneness and multiplicity. It is the child of the relationship between the spirit and the soul.
Rushmir Mahmutćehajić
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227518
- eISBN:
- 9780823237029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227518.003.0020
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The revelation of perfect Peace means separation: the Revealed remains what He is—“I am”—and what makes Him manifest takes nothing from Him, nor does it add anything. Everything that manifests Him ...
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The revelation of perfect Peace means separation: the Revealed remains what He is—“I am”—and what makes Him manifest takes nothing from Him, nor does it add anything. Everything that manifests Him remains in the original love of Him Who reveals Himself, and has its reality in its return, which is not postponed: both the present moment and death are its constant presences, its inseparability from Eternity and life. That Source is the same as the Confluence. And that is the potential perfection of every phenomenon. The aspiration toward it, or return, disclosing, and realization, is love. It is the oneness of the Source and the Confluence, for creation is in love. Every detail of that multiplicity has its perfection only in its manifestation of oneness and peace. Free flow and tenderness of heart mean that they are in direct relationship with God.Less
The revelation of perfect Peace means separation: the Revealed remains what He is—“I am”—and what makes Him manifest takes nothing from Him, nor does it add anything. Everything that manifests Him remains in the original love of Him Who reveals Himself, and has its reality in its return, which is not postponed: both the present moment and death are its constant presences, its inseparability from Eternity and life. That Source is the same as the Confluence. And that is the potential perfection of every phenomenon. The aspiration toward it, or return, disclosing, and realization, is love. It is the oneness of the Source and the Confluence, for creation is in love. Every detail of that multiplicity has its perfection only in its manifestation of oneness and peace. Free flow and tenderness of heart mean that they are in direct relationship with God.
Rushmir Mahmutćehajić
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227518
- eISBN:
- 9780823237029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227518.003.0023
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Balance between everything is the way of existing in creation. Man accepts and adopts that way of his own free will. Thus he realizes the good in himself, his nature as the Divine image and ...
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Balance between everything is the way of existing in creation. Man accepts and adopts that way of his own free will. Thus he realizes the good in himself, his nature as the Divine image and createdness in the most beautiful uprightness. By doing this out of his own free will, he is faithful with the Faithful, oneness in which distance and incomparability—none is equal to Him; nothing can be compared with Him—are revealed in closeness and similarity. God is closer to man than his jugular vein; He is with you wherever you are, and whichever way you turn there is the Face of God. Love is the impulse of oneness toward multiplicity, but it is also the impulse of multiplicity, which is nothing other than duality, toward oneness. Here are both the cause and the aim of humanity: the satisfaction of the revelation of oneness has drawn this humanity, together with the world, into existence. The satisfaction of return will turn duality toward oneness.Less
Balance between everything is the way of existing in creation. Man accepts and adopts that way of his own free will. Thus he realizes the good in himself, his nature as the Divine image and createdness in the most beautiful uprightness. By doing this out of his own free will, he is faithful with the Faithful, oneness in which distance and incomparability—none is equal to Him; nothing can be compared with Him—are revealed in closeness and similarity. God is closer to man than his jugular vein; He is with you wherever you are, and whichever way you turn there is the Face of God. Love is the impulse of oneness toward multiplicity, but it is also the impulse of multiplicity, which is nothing other than duality, toward oneness. Here are both the cause and the aim of humanity: the satisfaction of the revelation of oneness has drawn this humanity, together with the world, into existence. The satisfaction of return will turn duality toward oneness.
Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195377194
- eISBN:
- 9780199869572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377194.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter examines the relationship between Plotinus’ concept of the origin of multiplicity as “separation from the One” (apostasis) and Plato’s presentation of the Demiurge’s composition of the ...
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This chapter examines the relationship between Plotinus’ concept of the origin of multiplicity as “separation from the One” (apostasis) and Plato’s presentation of the Demiurge’s composition of the universe (systasis) in the Timaeus. The two terms characterize the “top-down” approach in Ennead VI.6 and the “bottom-up” approach in the Timaeus. The two works achieve the same goal—the explanation of the universe—with the same means—according to number—but from opposite starting points. The missing conceptual link between the two approaches, the chapter discovers, is found in Numenius’ concept of the Three Gods, ordering the universe: the Father, the Maker, and the Creation. The characteristics of Numenius’ First God convey the dichotomy between rest, as being and stability, and motion, as change, in the first principle. The explicit paradox of ontological stability (stasis) and innate motion (symphytos kinêsis) in Numenius’ First God is implicitly present in Plotinus’ explanation of the origin of the universe as “separation.” This chapter concludes that Plotinus induces the concept of multiplicity as a measurement of the ontological distance from the One. It also opens the possibility for stronger Neopythagorean influences.Less
This chapter examines the relationship between Plotinus’ concept of the origin of multiplicity as “separation from the One” (apostasis) and Plato’s presentation of the Demiurge’s composition of the universe (systasis) in the Timaeus. The two terms characterize the “top-down” approach in Ennead VI.6 and the “bottom-up” approach in the Timaeus. The two works achieve the same goal—the explanation of the universe—with the same means—according to number—but from opposite starting points. The missing conceptual link between the two approaches, the chapter discovers, is found in Numenius’ concept of the Three Gods, ordering the universe: the Father, the Maker, and the Creation. The characteristics of Numenius’ First God convey the dichotomy between rest, as being and stability, and motion, as change, in the first principle. The explicit paradox of ontological stability (stasis) and innate motion (symphytos kinêsis) in Numenius’ First God is implicitly present in Plotinus’ explanation of the origin of the universe as “separation.” This chapter concludes that Plotinus induces the concept of multiplicity as a measurement of the ontological distance from the One. It also opens the possibility for stronger Neopythagorean influences.
Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195377194
- eISBN:
- 9780199869572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377194.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter investigates the Neopythagorean roots of Plotinus’ concept of number. Porphyry’s reports of Plotinus’ use of Neopythagorean sources in his teachings are quickly confirmed in the Enneads. ...
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This chapter investigates the Neopythagorean roots of Plotinus’ concept of number. Porphyry’s reports of Plotinus’ use of Neopythagorean sources in his teachings are quickly confirmed in the Enneads. In addition to Numenius’ influence on the definition of multiplicity as “separation,” this chapter reveals the programmatic significance of Moderatus’ distinction between the monad as the principle of numbers and the one as the principle of enumerated things on Plotinus’ two kinds of number (substantial and monadic). This discovery also shows Plotinus’ use of Moderatus’ definition of mathematical number in the formulation of the outward and inward directions of multiplicity. Next, the chapter examines the elements from Nicomachus of Gerasa’s Introduction to Arithmetic in Plotinus’ concept of multiplicity. The final conclusion of the chapter shows that Plotinus views multiplicity exclusively as number, which preserves it from dissipating into infinity and thus non-existence.Less
This chapter investigates the Neopythagorean roots of Plotinus’ concept of number. Porphyry’s reports of Plotinus’ use of Neopythagorean sources in his teachings are quickly confirmed in the Enneads. In addition to Numenius’ influence on the definition of multiplicity as “separation,” this chapter reveals the programmatic significance of Moderatus’ distinction between the monad as the principle of numbers and the one as the principle of enumerated things on Plotinus’ two kinds of number (substantial and monadic). This discovery also shows Plotinus’ use of Moderatus’ definition of mathematical number in the formulation of the outward and inward directions of multiplicity. Next, the chapter examines the elements from Nicomachus of Gerasa’s Introduction to Arithmetic in Plotinus’ concept of multiplicity. The final conclusion of the chapter shows that Plotinus views multiplicity exclusively as number, which preserves it from dissipating into infinity and thus non-existence.
Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195377194
- eISBN:
- 9780199869572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377194.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Chapter six examines the relationship between Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity, and Porphyry’s organization of the Enneads. Porphyry’s thematical arrangement of the Enneads is ...
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Chapter six examines the relationship between Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity, and Porphyry’s organization of the Enneads. Porphyry’s thematical arrangement of the Enneads is traditionally considered to be more detrimental than beneficial for understanding Plotinus’ thought. The chapter re-examines this issue and discovers that Porphyry fuses Plotinus’ philosophy with Neopythagorean numerical symbolism to reveal the central organizing theme of Plotinus’ universe. In the Neopythagorean tradition, the number six is considered to be the first perfect number and the hexad is identified as the number of Soul, while the completion of the universe is represented by the number nine, which is “called ‘ennead’ as if it were the ‘henad’ of everything within it, by derivation from the ‘one’.” The individual treatises are consequently grouped in nines, because they enclose the numerical essence of the universe from “henad” to “ennead.” Porphyry’s arrangement of the Enneads encrypts numerically the perfect unity of Plotinus’ universe, for which Ennead VI.6 provides the conceptual blueprint.Less
Chapter six examines the relationship between Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity, and Porphyry’s organization of the Enneads. Porphyry’s thematical arrangement of the Enneads is traditionally considered to be more detrimental than beneficial for understanding Plotinus’ thought. The chapter re-examines this issue and discovers that Porphyry fuses Plotinus’ philosophy with Neopythagorean numerical symbolism to reveal the central organizing theme of Plotinus’ universe. In the Neopythagorean tradition, the number six is considered to be the first perfect number and the hexad is identified as the number of Soul, while the completion of the universe is represented by the number nine, which is “called ‘ennead’ as if it were the ‘henad’ of everything within it, by derivation from the ‘one’.” The individual treatises are consequently grouped in nines, because they enclose the numerical essence of the universe from “henad” to “ennead.” Porphyry’s arrangement of the Enneads encrypts numerically the perfect unity of Plotinus’ universe, for which Ennead VI.6 provides the conceptual blueprint.
John Hicks
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198772866
- eISBN:
- 9780191596414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198772866.003.0012
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics
This chapter begins by reviewing discussions in the preceding chapters. It then considers what can be done towards relaxing those basic assumptions which have been used for so long — the single ...
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This chapter begins by reviewing discussions in the preceding chapters. It then considers what can be done towards relaxing those basic assumptions which have been used for so long — the single homogeneous final product, called Good, and the one original factor, called Labour. These are familiar assumptions, common to many forms of growth theory; but they are very strong assumptions, and should surely at some stage be called in question.Less
This chapter begins by reviewing discussions in the preceding chapters. It then considers what can be done towards relaxing those basic assumptions which have been used for so long — the single homogeneous final product, called Good, and the one original factor, called Labour. These are familiar assumptions, common to many forms of growth theory; but they are very strong assumptions, and should surely at some stage be called in question.
John Hicks
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198772866
- eISBN:
- 9780191596414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198772866.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics
This chapter begins by reviewing discussions in the preceding chapters. It then considers what can be done towards relaxing those basic assumptions which have been used for so long — the single ...
More
This chapter begins by reviewing discussions in the preceding chapters. It then considers what can be done towards relaxing those basic assumptions which have been used for so long — the single homogeneous final product,called Good, and the one original factor, called Labour. These are familiar assumptions, common to many forms of growth theory; but they are very strong assumptions, and should surely at some stage be called in question.Less
This chapter begins by reviewing discussions in the preceding chapters. It then considers what can be done towards relaxing those basic assumptions which have been used for so long — the single homogeneous final product,called Good, and the one original factor, called Labour. These are familiar assumptions, common to many forms of growth theory; but they are very strong assumptions, and should surely at some stage be called in question.
