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This thesis contrasts the Plotinean attitude towards transcendence at the cosmological level with that of certain Kabbalistic authors of the 13th-17th century. Special emphasis is placed on the different approaches taken by each of the two sides to addressing the origin of otherness. Following a brief introduction to the notion of the question of transcendence, the first major part (chapter II) is dedicated to an exploration of the Plotinean conception of metaphysical "descent" from the One to subsequent hypostases. The second major part (chapter III) focuses on Kabbalistic conceptions of the descent from the indefinite infinite to the finite (limited) realm. Finally, I attempt to illustrate the questions and concerns common to each of the two cosmologies. In so doing, I make use of semiotic concepts to clarify the contrast between the two models.

Meister Eckhart exhibits an unprecedented confidence in the transcendental way of thought in medieval philosophy. Eckhart, unlike his predecessors, identifies being as such (ens commune) and God, allowing the most primary determinations metaphysics – ‘being,’ ‘one,’ ‘true,’ ‘good,’ – to function as both metaphysical and theological first principles. Eckhart placed them at the head of his projected Tripartite Opus, a vast work of quaestiones and commentaries whose intelligibility, he insists, requires the prior foundation of a supposed series of a thousand axioms. The table of contents remains, the opus propositionum does not. This thesis argues that what enables Eckhart to pursue the direct application of the transcendentals to the divine also makes it unrealizable. His determination of unity is twofold: as (i) indivisibility, and the standard transcendental conception of unity as a negation of the given positive content of being (ens); as (ii) indistinction, comprehending both the negation of otherness which produces the indivisible and the otherness that is negated. There is an inherent tension between Peripatetic metaphysics and Procline henology. Consequently, the Good is devalued when the Procline One appears within the transcendental perspective. Metaphysics, theology and, a fortiori for Eckhart, ethics, take no consideration of Goodness. I show how this tension gives rise to Eckhart’s association of the divine essence with the Neoplatonic One, while the Peripatetic One and the transcendental “true” function as the explanans of the Trinitarian intellectual self-return. This, in turn, gives rise to the constitutive function of the imago dei, and every imago as such, within that self-relation. Ultimately, this produces a standpoint wherein every essence, only as idea, contains the divine uniform infinity.

Several commentators make the claim that Augustine is not a systematic thinker. The purpose of this thesis is to refute that claim in one specific area of Augustine's thought, the metaphysical foundations underlying his solutions to the problem of evil. Through an exegetical examination of various works in which Augustine writes on evil, I show that his solutions for both natural and moral evil rely on a coherent metaphysical system, conceived of and expounded upon within a Platonically influenced Christian context.

Reading Augustine’s letters as a collection proves useful for understanding his theory in practice of the significance of others—the moral status of love for others—particularly since the conditions of the letter (absence, writing) engender expressions of lack and desire for the other. With Augustine, this desire is frequently in tension with his Neoplatonic and Christian philosophical commitments which valorise the Creator over the creature, universally-directed love over private love, and the soul over the body. Following these tensions between theory and practice chronologically through the letters shows his changing responses to the significance of the other, in terms of their bodily presence and their individual interior experience. Moreover, Augustine’s developing theory of the afterlife as a place of continued embodiment and the fulfilment of intimacy corresponds to and models Augustine’s responses to absence and longing in this life. / Graduate

Η παρούσα εργασία θα ασχοληθεί με το θέμα της αυτογνωσίας και τις γνωσιολογικές και παιδαγωγικές πλαισιώσεις της κατά τον τρόπο που εμφανίζεται στο Υπόμνημα στον Πρώτο Αλκιβιάδη του Πρόκλου, ιδωμένη υπό το πρίσμα, κατά κύριο λόγο της φιλοσοφίας, όπως αυτή εκλαμβανόταν την εποχή εκείνη. Στο πρώτο μέρος της εργασίας θα ασχοληθούμε με έννοιες-κλειδιά που θα βοηθήσουν την κατανόηση των επιχειρημάτων και των συλλογισμών του Πρόκλου. Στη συνέχεια, αφού αναφερθούν στο δεύτερο μέρος τα σχετικά με τους νεοπλατωνικούς καθώς και με τη δράση και τα έργα του Πρόκλου, θα γίνει μία γενική παρουσίαση των βασικών σημείων του πλατωνικού διαλόγου Αλκιβιάδης, που υπομνηματίζεται συστηματικά από τον Πρόκλο, για να μεταβούμε στον ενδελεχή σχολιασμό, των αποσπασμάτων του νεοπλατωνικού σχολάρχη σχετικά με την αυτογνωσία και την σημασία της, κατά κύριο λόγο, στην παιδαγωγική (§ 5.15- § 19.12). / This paper will deal with the issue of self-awareness into cognitive and pedagogical frameworks in the manner shown in the Proclus’ Υπόμνημα στον Πρώτον Αλκιβιάδην. The main purpose is to give a detailed commentary of the neoplatonic Principal on self-awareness mainly in pedagogy.

This thesis focuses primarily on the work of the Valencian poet, Ausias March (1398 - 1459), who was revered by the first two generations of Petrarquistas in Golden Age Spain, and in particular by Juan Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega. It has long been contended that the introduction of Ficinian Neoplatonism in Spain by Boscán's translation of Il Cortegiano, and Garcilaso's assimilation of Bembo's Petrarchism, represents a radical shift in sensibility, unprecedented in the Iberian peninsula. The object of this thesis is to demonstrate that because Ausias March is a Lullian poet who manifests an evangelical-Platonic sensibility, and is not a "troubadour attardé" as Amédée Pagès thought, the introduction of the Italianate fashion by Boscán and Garcilaso is not a radical departure from their earlier allegiance, but a development. The poetry of Ausias March is remarkable for its introspection. Consequently, the interpretation of his work must begin with an analysis of his use of the theory of imagination, which he inherited through the literary influence of the Chartrians and Victorines of the twelfth century, and, in particular, from Hughes de Saint Victor. The importance of introspection and imagination naturally entails the question of the extremes of melancholy, as it is understood in the mediaeval tradition of Aristotle's Problem XXX, i. After a survey of the role of melancholy imagination in Ausias March's poetry, the function of these two closely related concepts is analysed in Ficino's Commentarium in Convivium , Hebreo's Dialoghi, Bembo's Gli Asolani, and Castiglione's Il Cortegiano. This enables one to determine that the Florentine theory of love is not insulated from passion, as many literary critics imply. The dialectical relation of natural reason to Augustinian right reason evinces the extremes of imagination and melancholy, as either lunacy or divine rapture. These elements of Florentine Neoplatonism reveal a deep concern for the difficult relation of the body to the soul, and, ultimately, a conscious search for ascesis. These elements, which are common to Ausias March and the Florentine Neoplatonists, are an expression of the Augustinian doctrine of Charity. The common factor between Ausias March and the Florentines is the pseudo-Dionysian - Erigenian concept of beauty. The latter is fundamental to what M. D. Chenu has defined as the secular evangelical current in Europe. It is a sensibility based on a consciousness of the all-pervasive presence of grace in nature, which is articulated in the symbolic mentality of Christian Platonists. This aspect of Ausias March' Work is central to Chapter V. In order to avoid creating the impression that this interpretation of Ausias March's poetry is anachronical this chapter studies the significance of an important segment of this poet's imagery. This serves to contrast Ausias March's use of the pseudo- Dionysian - Erigenian concept of beauty and his consequent handling of the concepts of melancholy and imagination to that used by Andreas Capellanus. Finally, this analysis illustrates Ausias March's predominantly symbolic mentality, as well as his exceptional use of medical theory which distinguishes him from the vast majority of Spanish cancionero poets, and emphasizes his many points of affinity with the Florentine Neoplatonists.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:12:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EdrisiAF_TESE.pdf: 2696449 bytes, checksum: 2bf551b579d0227160e510a27e887618 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-14 / This thesis aims better understanding the relation between time and evil in Schelling s Freiheitsschrift, having its starting point in approximations from Gnosticism. For that purpose, before approaching that relation, it is reviewed (chapter I) the question of Gnosticism, a strain of thought essentially concerned with the problem of time and permeated by the belief in an evil nature of creation, and which is alleged to have significantly influenced certain ideas of Schelling. An evaluation of approximations between Gnosticism, gnosis and German thought follows (chapter II), as well as an evaluation of Schellingian aproximations to Gnosticism (chapter III). Then, the Freiheitsschrift is analysed as the text where Schelling, having taken hold of a very distinct appropriation of Gnosticism, goes beyond Kantian theodicy (chapter IV). Some interrogations about whether key ideas of Schellingian philosophy (about gnosis, creation, duality, time, and evil) are conceived in a way that is essentially different from that of historic Gnosticism, despite the much that has been said to the contrary, are then addressed (chapter V). The proposal of a Platonic-Plotinian key to the understanding of the relations between time and evil in the Freiheitsschrift comes next (chapter VI), and then gives way to the concluding remarks (chapter VII). We perceive that Gnosticism and Neoplatonism are systems of thought that sometimes converge, and that German thought is one of the places of this convergence. Notwithstanding this perception, it is possible to affirm that Schellingian thought, with its valorization of time and of a certain perception of evil, is essentially anti-gnostic, despite some contrary observations / Esta tese objetiva contribuir para um melhor entendimento da rela??o entre o tempo e o mal no Freiheitsschrift de Schelling, a partir de aproxima??es desde o Gnosticismo. Para tanto, antes de come?ar a tratar dessa rela??o far-se-? uma revis?o da quest?o do Gnosticismo (cap?tulo I) corrente de pensamento essencialmente preocupada com a problem?tica do tempo e permeada pela cren?a em uma natureza m? da cria??o, e que alegadamente teria influenciado de modo significativo algumas ideias de Schelling. Seguir-se-? uma avalia??o das aproxima??es entre Gnosticismo, gnose e pensamento alem?o (cap?tulo II) e outra particularmente dedicada ?s aproxima??es schellinguianas ao Gnosticismo (cap?tulo III). Analisar-se-? ent?o o Freiheitsschrift como texto onde Schelling, tendo feito uma apropria??o muito particular do Gnosticismo, vai al?m da teodic?ia kantiana (cap?tulo IV). Interrogar-se ? ent?o (cap?tulo V) se algumas ideiaschave da filosofia schellinguiana (sobre a gnose, a cria??o, a dualidade, o tempo, o mal) s?o concebidas de um modo essencialmente distinto daquele do Gnosticismo hist?rico, apesar do muito que se disse em contr?rio. Apresentar-se-? em seguida a proposta de uma chave Plat?nica-plotiniana para o entendimento das rela??es entre o tempo e o mal no Freiheitsschrift (cap?tulo VI), passando-se logo em seguida ?s considera??es conclusivas (cap?tulo VII). Constata-se que o Gnosticismo e o Neoplatonismo constituem sistemas por vezes convergentes entre si, e que o pensamento alem?o ? um dos espa?os dessa converg?ncia. N?o obstante essa constata??o, ? poss?vel afirmar que o pensamento schellinguiano, com sua valoriza??o do tempo e de uma certa percep??o do mal, ? essencialmente antign?stico, a despeito de algumas observa??es em contr?rio

El trabajo explora la inclusión de relatos—a modo de ejemplos, parábolas y fábulas—en el tejido histórico-narrativo de los Comentarios reales del cronista mestizo Garcilaso de la Vega. Propone, en tal sentido, la deuda con la filosofía neoplatónica que busca verdades escondidas en las fábulas de los gentiles, es decir, los mitos greco-latinos, en los que cree encontrar verdades o sentidos escondidos, de distinto calibre, sea este el sentido literal, moral o teologal que estos relatos incrustados entrañen. Así, en un contrapunto entre las dos partes de los Comentarios reales, los mitos incaicos y otras historias son analizadas como fábulas clásicas y neoplatónicas, es decir, preñadas de diversos sentidos, sugeridos por su autor a sus lectores de todos los tiempos. / This article explores the inclusion of small tales—as examples, parables and fables—within the textual fabric of the historical text of the Royal Commentariesby the mestizo writer Garcilaso de la Vega. It proposes the idea of classical fable in the sense developed by Neoplatonism during the Renaissance. According to these perspective Classical mythology was understood as embedded with hidden senses of different caliber—literal, moral and theological ones. In the same way, I study Inca myths and other tales as classical fables embedded with different meanings, suggested by Garcilaso Inca to his readers from all times.

The work focuses on the study of Spanish pastoral novels presenting their two fundamentally different aspects. On the one hand, the thesis describes the idealised world of shephards living in harmony with nature, singing about their unrequited love. On the other, the work points out, that these novels also include some realistic elements, corrupting the mentioned idealism. It aims to answer the question, to what extent these elements appeare in the studied novels, and what is their function. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)