Michael Ayers (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264201
- eISBN:
- 9780191734670
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264201.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book comprises three main chapters on Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, with extensive responses. It explores the common ground of the great early-modern rationalist theories, and provides an ...
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This book comprises three main chapters on Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, with extensive responses. It explores the common ground of the great early-modern rationalist theories, and provides an examination of the ways in which the mainstream Platonic tradition permeates these theories. One chapter identifies characteristically Platonic themes in Descartes’s cosmology and metaphysics, finding them associated with two distinct, even opposed attitudes to nature and the human condition, one ancient and ‘contemplative’, the other modern and ‘controlling’. It finds the same tension in Descartes’s moral theory, and believes that it remains unresolved in present-day ethics. Was Spinoza a Neoplatonist theist, critical Cartesian, or naturalistic materialist? The second chapter argues that he was all of these. Analysis of his system reveals how Spinoza employed Neoplatonist monism against Descartes’s Platonist pluralism. Yet the terminology — like the physics — is Cartesian. And within this Platonic-Cartesian shell Spinoza developed a rigorously naturalistic metaphysics and even, Ayers claims, an effectually empiricist epistemology. The final chapter focuses on the Rationalists’ arguments for the Platonist, anti-Empiricist principle of ‘the priority of the perfect’, i.e. the principle that finite attributes are to be understood through corresponding perfections of God, rather than the reverse. It finds the given arguments unsatisfactory but stimulating, and offers a development of one of Leibniz’s for consideration. These chapters receive informed and constructive criticism and development at the hands of, respectively, Douglas Hedley, Sarah Hutton and Maria Rosa Antognazza.Less
This book comprises three main chapters on Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, with extensive responses. It explores the common ground of the great early-modern rationalist theories, and provides an examination of the ways in which the mainstream Platonic tradition permeates these theories. One chapter identifies characteristically Platonic themes in Descartes’s cosmology and metaphysics, finding them associated with two distinct, even opposed attitudes to nature and the human condition, one ancient and ‘contemplative’, the other modern and ‘controlling’. It finds the same tension in Descartes’s moral theory, and believes that it remains unresolved in present-day ethics. Was Spinoza a Neoplatonist theist, critical Cartesian, or naturalistic materialist? The second chapter argues that he was all of these. Analysis of his system reveals how Spinoza employed Neoplatonist monism against Descartes’s Platonist pluralism. Yet the terminology — like the physics — is Cartesian. And within this Platonic-Cartesian shell Spinoza developed a rigorously naturalistic metaphysics and even, Ayers claims, an effectually empiricist epistemology. The final chapter focuses on the Rationalists’ arguments for the Platonist, anti-Empiricist principle of ‘the priority of the perfect’, i.e. the principle that finite attributes are to be understood through corresponding perfections of God, rather than the reverse. It finds the given arguments unsatisfactory but stimulating, and offers a development of one of Leibniz’s for consideration. These chapters receive informed and constructive criticism and development at the hands of, respectively, Douglas Hedley, Sarah Hutton and Maria Rosa Antognazza.
Costica Bradatan
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226931
- eISBN:
- 9780823235773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226931.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the elements of Platonic tradition in philosopher George Berkeley's early writings. It suggests that the elements of Platonic tradition are not isolated ...
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This chapter examines the elements of Platonic tradition in philosopher George Berkeley's early writings. It suggests that the elements of Platonic tradition are not isolated topics, loosely scattered in George Berkeley's work, but that his early writing forms an entire network of Platonic features, attitudes and mind-sets. No matter how ambiguous or allusive these Platonic features might seem, they constitute a coherent and complex whole that played an important role in shaping the very essence of Berkeley's thought.Less
This chapter examines the elements of Platonic tradition in philosopher George Berkeley's early writings. It suggests that the elements of Platonic tradition are not isolated topics, loosely scattered in George Berkeley's work, but that his early writing forms an entire network of Platonic features, attitudes and mind-sets. No matter how ambiguous or allusive these Platonic features might seem, they constitute a coherent and complex whole that played an important role in shaping the very essence of Berkeley's thought.
Costica Bradatan
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226931
- eISBN:
- 9780823235773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226931.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the elements of Platonic tradition in Siris, the last published work of George Berkeley. It explains the nature and role of philosophy that characterize ...
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This chapter examines the elements of Platonic tradition in Siris, the last published work of George Berkeley. It explains the nature and role of philosophy that characterize the Platonic tradition and identifies the specific rhetorical procedures through which Berkeley inserted the Platonic elements in his works. This chapter attempts to answer the questions on whether there is a sense in which this form of writing may betray certain Platonic suppositions and whether there are specific Platonic ways of textual construction that distinguish Platonism from other schools of thought.Less
This chapter examines the elements of Platonic tradition in Siris, the last published work of George Berkeley. It explains the nature and role of philosophy that characterize the Platonic tradition and identifies the specific rhetorical procedures through which Berkeley inserted the Platonic elements in his works. This chapter attempts to answer the questions on whether there is a sense in which this form of writing may betray certain Platonic suppositions and whether there are specific Platonic ways of textual construction that distinguish Platonism from other schools of thought.
Costica Bradatan
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226931
- eISBN:
- 9780823235773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226931.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the presence of alchemical tradition in Siris, the last published book of George Berkeley. It shows that apart from being under the strong influence of ...
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This chapter examines the presence of alchemical tradition in Siris, the last published book of George Berkeley. It shows that apart from being under the strong influence of the Platonic tradition, Berkeley's thought seems to have been also marked by some of the intellectual inclinations, spiritual concerns, and mind-sets characterizing the alchemical tradition. It discusses Berkeley's arguments and notions in the book with constant reference to alchemical topics, writings and authors.Less
This chapter examines the presence of alchemical tradition in Siris, the last published book of George Berkeley. It shows that apart from being under the strong influence of the Platonic tradition, Berkeley's thought seems to have been also marked by some of the intellectual inclinations, spiritual concerns, and mind-sets characterizing the alchemical tradition. It discusses Berkeley's arguments and notions in the book with constant reference to alchemical topics, writings and authors.
Jeffrey Hart
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300087048
- eISBN:
- 9780300130522
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300087048.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This chapter looks at the figure of Augustine, a prominent figure in Christianity that arrived chiefly through the Platonic tradition, which was most immediately expressed for him by Cicero and ...
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This chapter looks at the figure of Augustine, a prominent figure in Christianity that arrived chiefly through the Platonic tradition, which was most immediately expressed for him by Cicero and Plotinus. The chapter examines Augustine's inner exploration regarding the truth about the cosmos, an inner exploration of which he was the master of, and which also marks an important shift from the temper of the classical Roman world. The chapter looks particularly at Augustine's Confessions, exploring the theme of the extreme difficulties that Augustine experienced in his inner journey. It recounts his basic proposition that the mind is our clue to the nature of the cosmos because the mind is the only entity we can fully explore from within. In essence, this makes God an intellectual premise, deductible by reason, and “deeper than inmost being.” This chapter briefly discusses Augustine's inner journey, and how his background in the Platonic tradition would affect his views of Christianity.Less
This chapter looks at the figure of Augustine, a prominent figure in Christianity that arrived chiefly through the Platonic tradition, which was most immediately expressed for him by Cicero and Plotinus. The chapter examines Augustine's inner exploration regarding the truth about the cosmos, an inner exploration of which he was the master of, and which also marks an important shift from the temper of the classical Roman world. The chapter looks particularly at Augustine's Confessions, exploring the theme of the extreme difficulties that Augustine experienced in his inner journey. It recounts his basic proposition that the mind is our clue to the nature of the cosmos because the mind is the only entity we can fully explore from within. In essence, this makes God an intellectual premise, deductible by reason, and “deeper than inmost being.” This chapter briefly discusses Augustine's inner journey, and how his background in the Platonic tradition would affect his views of Christianity.
