L’ambition de cette thèse, qui se présente en sept chapitres regroupés en trois parties, est de reprendre l’ensemble du Corpus dionysien pour en définir un principe de cohérence : la théologie négative. Dans le sillage des recherches antérieures, souvent centrées sur une des œuvres qui lui sont attribuées ou sur une thématique particulière, on s’est interrogé sur l’histoire et la complexité de plusieurs concepts centraux de l’œuvre : théologie négative, symbole, hiérarchie. Et, en proposant de considérer la Hiérarchie ecclésiastique comme l’achèvement du Corpus – c’est au bref traité de la Théologie mystique qu’on attribuait volontiers cette place – nous montrons comment l’apophase ou la théologie négative s’enrichit, s’approfondit, d’une dimension liturgique, au-delà de l'affirmation et de la négation. / The purpose of this thesis, consisting of seven chapters grouped under three sections, is to reconsider the whole dionysian Corpus and to define the principle of its consistency, that is negative theology. Following the previous research, often focusing on one of the treatises or a main theme, we start with the history and the complexity of several key concepts within the Corpus: negative theology, symbol, hierarchy. We suggest that Ecclesiastical Hierarchy should be considered as the final step of Dionysius’ theology (rather than Mystical Theology as usually), and that leads us to study how the apophasis or the negative theology deepens into a liturgical dimension, beyond affirmation and negation.

To open a different perspective on the still-discussed difference between Christian religion and magic is the task of this work. In order to reach the end successfully, that is, the fourth part of this thesis, which deals with the principle of sanctity in the Catholic Church, it was necessary to first develop the following three blocks. 1) Religious-anthropological analysis of magic ? in this part we summarize basic anthropological views on magic according to the individual researchers J.G. Frazer, E.B. Taylor, R.R. Marett, B. Malinowski, and E. de Martino. The subject of this section was the analysis of animism and the inner power of creation. 2) Magic as a part of religion ? in which we analysed the content of the concept of magic, the area where it came from, and how it was perceived in the environment of the Mediterranean European culture of ancient Rome, and how magic was discredited in the ancient "pagan" and Christian environment. 3) The interest of the sages in the phenomenon of magic ? has created a space for the issue of the magic of "barbaric" tribes, whose faith traditions have become a legitimate part of the Catholic faith. This section has also developed a "story of overly" peculiar magic adepts of the "restored" Renaissance Platonic Academy, in which M. Ficino and P. della Mirandola worked. We paid more attention to their life stories and work, for they themselves stood at the birth of an "institutional" association in the area of a sort of "applied" magism in the form of esoteric neoplatonism, hermetism, and theururgy. At this point we also found the historical model of the later Czech hermetic society Universalia, which we mentioned at the end of the work. 4) Ex opere operato et ex opere operantis ? it represents the peak of our work, opening a whole new discussion in the critique of magic and religion. Magic and Christian religion have a common root, they co-exist side by side, complement each other, and even blend in some areas of universal piety as conditions of one and the same Catholic faith.

[pt] Fílon de Alexandria, filósofo judeu do século I, surge como o primeiro pensador a tentar conciliar o conteúdo bíblico à tradição filosófica ocidental. Neste sentido, é mais conhecido por sua doutrina do Logos, sobre a qual ainda se encontram à espera de solução inúmeras controvérsias. Esta Dissertação assume a tarefa de investigar as acepções desse Logos na obra de Fílon, abordando suas relações com a tradição filosófica e com as fontes judaicas. Considera-se sua importância para teologia cristã posterior e o papel da tradição filosófica, sobretudo do platonismo e do estoicismo, na formulação da doutrina do Logos. No entanto, o pensamento filoniano ainda se mostra original e marcado por contribuições alheias à cultura helênica, a saber, judaicas. Esta combinação tem por resultado instigantes reflexões acerca de questões metafísicas, teológicas, éticas e epistemológicas da maior relevância, revelando Fílon como pensador de grande importância na História da Filosofia, pelo que a Dissertação pretende resgatar inúmeras questões que, ao que parece, ainda hoje não foram adequadamente respondidas. Também são questionados o próprio papel da filosofia na busca humana pela sabedoria e o da fé na obtenção da virtude. No que diz respeito especificamente ao Logos filoniano, ele é a ação de Deus no mundo, o instrumento da Criação, modelo do mundo e imagem de Deus, a Palavra reveladora e o único meio a partir do qual a alma humana adquire o conhecimento verdadeiro, que vem do conhecimento de Deus. Esta faculdade, porém, não pertence ao homem senão como dom divino, como graça. / [en] Philo of Alexandria, a first century Jewish philosopher, appears as the first thinker who tried to conciliate biblical contents and western philosophical tradition. In this way, he is better known by his Doctrine of the Logos, about which many controversies are still waiting to be solved. This Dissertation claims the task to examine the meanings of that Logos in Philos works, dealing with its connections to philosophical tradition and Jewish sources as well. We pay regard to its significance to Christian theology and to the role played by philosophical tradition, especially by Platonism as by Stoicism. Otherwise, the Philos thinking still shows itself original and marked by contributions external to the hellenistic culture: Jewish ones. This combination has, by result, provocative ideas on most important metaphysical, theological, ethical and epistemological questions, revealing Philo as a very weighty thinker in the History of Philosophy. For this, the Dissertation aims to restore many questions that we see not yet properly answered. Also questioned are the role played by philosophy in the human search for wisdom and the role played by faith in the attainment of virtue. More strictly concerning philonic Logos, it means Gods action in the world, an instrument for Creation, pattern and example for the world and Gods image, the revealing Word and the sole way by which human soul acquires true knowledge, that comes from the knowledge of God. This power does not belongs to man, but its a gift from God, a grace.

Il s’agit dans cette thèse de penser les conditions de possibilité d’une philosophie de l’art à partir d’un examen précis et rigoureux de la production artistique picturale de la Renaissance italienne. Cherchant d’abord à définir une méthode, nous étudions en détail les présupposés de l’iconologie afin d’établir ce qui nous en semble être les limites. Puis, forts de cette analyse, nous en déduisons la nécessité d’une philosophie de l’art qui, loin de se contenter d’une analyse érudite de l’icône, cherche à extraire la signification de l’œuvre à partir de sa forme sensible. Si les pensées de Platon, Hume et Kant nous semblent échouer à proposer pareille démarche, les leçons de Hegel consacrées à l’Esthétique nous offrent un schéma analytique opérant, grâce auquel l’espace, le dessin et le coloris fournissent le lieu même à partir duquel peut surgir le sens. C’est ainsi que les œuvres de Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Léonard de Vinci et Michel-Ange constituent le matériau artistique grâce auquel nous mettons à l’épreuve la pertinence du triptyque espace-dessin-coloris, tel qu’il fut élaboré par Hegel. En outre, ce sont les pensées philosophiques consacrées au lieu, à la lumière ou encore à la couleur que nous convoquons – tant chez Thomas d’Aquin que chez Marsile Ficin, chez Albert le Grand que chez Plotin, chez Aristote que chez Nicolas de Cues – afin de proposer un sens philosophique des œuvres picturales, que ne nous semblent paradoxalement pas pouvoir délivrer les théories de l’art que proposent ces derniers. Chercher le sens philosophique des œuvres à même leur sensibilité et non dans une théorie de l’image, tel est donc le projet essentiel de cette thèse. / This thesis discusses the conditions of possibility for a philosophy of art based on a precise and rigorous analysis of the pictorial artistic production of the Italian Renaissance. After attempting at defining a method, the presuppositions of iconology are studied in detail with a view to establishing what appear to be their limits. On the basis of this analysis, the author deduces the need for a philosophy of art which, rather than just carrying out an erudite analysis of the icon, endeavours to extract the meaning of a work of art on the basis of its sensitive shape. While Plato, Hume and Kant’s thoughts seem to fail in proposing such an approach, Hegel’s teachings dedicated to aesthetics offer an operational analytical framework, thanks to which space, drawing and colour provide the very place out of which sense can come into being.Hence the works of Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo constitute the artistic material out of which the relevance of the space-drawing-colour triptych, as developed by Hegel, is put to the test. Furthermore, reference is made to the philosophical thoughts on space, light and colour – as expressed by authors like Thomas Aquinas, Marsilio Ficino, Albert the Great, Plotinus, Aristotle and Nicholas of Kues – with a view to proposing a philosophical sense of pictorial works of art, which paradoxically the theories of art provided by these authors do not seem able to deliver. It is the fundamental aim of this thesis to look for the philosophical sense of works of art through their own sensitiveness and not through a theory of the image.

Examen, dans la tradition néoplatonicienne, et plus particulièrement dans l’œuvre de Proclus, des différentes méthodes de traitement philosophique des données mythologiques recueillies dans diverses traditions du paganisme, et mise en évidence de l’avènement d’une théologie « scientifique ». / Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation philosophie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Mon travail a pour objet l’étude de l’idée de système telle qu’elle est pratiquée par Plotin et l’analyse du type de détermination hénologique que sous-entend une telle idée. Pour ce faire, j’ai axé mes recherches sur trois pôles :premièrement, sur le rôle que joue l’indétermination dans la constitution du système de l’être ;deuxièmement, sur le nombre comme manifestation de la détermination du réel ;troisièmement, sur la présence de l’indétermination dans le système de l’être. Mes recherches montrent qu’il existe une perméabilité du système de l’être relativement à la double indétermination qui l’entoure, à savoir celle de l’Un et celle de la matière dernière. Cette perméabilité est ce qui assure au système une vitalité interne, vitalité dont témoigne le double mouvement de procession et de conversion qui le caractérise./<p>My work’s object is the study of the idea of system which is practised by Plotinus and the kind of henological determination implied by this idea. In that perspective, my researches are shared out in three mains subjects :firstly, the function of the indetermination in the constitution of being’s system ;second, the number as expression of the determination of reality ;third, the presence of the external indetermination inside the being’s system. My researches show the existence of a system’s permeability with regard to the double indetermination which surrounds it, namely those of the One and of the ultimate Matter. This permeability ensure a vitality to the system, vitality of which the double movement of procession and conversion testifies. / Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation philosophie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

La thèse cherche à établir les balises du discours mythique et de la métaphore au sein du langage philosophique de Plotin. Le premier chapitre pose comme éléments essentiels de cette recherche le temps, la discursivité, l'âme et les autres hypostases. Le deuxième chapitre expose différentes théories existantes sur le mythe dans la philosophie ancienne et évalue leur pertinence dans le contexte des Ennéades. Le troisième chapitre porte sur l'exégèse plotinienne du mythe cosmogénétique du Timée, en reprenant un débat inhérent au contexte platonicien au sujet du niveau de littéralité de la création du monde. Le dernier chapitre explore un procédé propre à Plotin, qui sera appelé l'accumulation des images et qui servirait à compenser l'insuffisance du langage littéral à l'égard du discours sur les hypostases, sans toutefois réellement appartenir au discours mythique. La thèse conclut au caractère essentiel et fondamental du discours mythique et des métaphores dans l'expression philosophique de Plotin. / This thesis aims to define and delimit myth and metaphorical language in the context of Plotinus’s Enneads. In the first chapter, time, discursive practices, soul and the hypostases are identified as essential elements of myth through a short but dense passage of Ennead III.5.9. As this passage proves insufficient to conjure a definition, the second chapter deals with other attempts at definition of myth in the broader context of platonism, and their adequacy to the context of Plotinus is assessed. In the third chapter, I give my insight on a long-standing and intricate debate about the status of the cosmogenesis of Plato’s Timaeus and its Plotinian exegesis. The last chapter is about the most properly Plotinian device, which consists of accumulating clusters of metaphors in order to describe his metaphysical world. This method is to be understood as different from myth but is also intended to bypass ordinary language’s shortcomings when it comes to highly abstract notions. The thesis concludes in the fundamental importance of Plotinus’s mythical and metaphorical language in expressing his philosophy; it should not be seen as a kind of language opposing or rephrasing philosophical thought, but rather as an indispensable part of it.

Cette thèse a pour but de présenter en détails l’importance de la théurgie dans la philosophie de Proclus, ainsi que sa relation avec la mystagogie. Un des premiers objectifs de la recherche est d’expliciter les raisons du jaillissement de la théurgie au cours de l’Antiquité tardive. Nous présentons ainsi le cadre historique d’où émerge la notion de théurgie dans un contexte de christianisation de l’Empire à partir du IVe siècle. Il est ensuite primordial de définir clairement la théurgie, ce que les chercheurs n’ont pas fait jusqu’à maintenant, en tant qu’opération rituelle par laquelle un réceptacle matériel est animé par le divin. Puis, nous démontrons que, bien que le terme « théurgie » soit tardif, celui-ci trouve néanmoins ses racines dans la longue tradition platonicienne, de Platon lui-même jusqu’à Proclus, en passant notamment par Plotin, Porphyre et Jamblique. À la suite du volet historique et après avoir présenté une définition claire de la notion de théurgie, il est important de préciser son statut au sein de la philosophie de Proclus, notamment en nous intéressant au passage-clef TP, I, 25 dans lequel le néoplatonicien présente la théurgie comme étant supérieure (κρείττων) à la philosophie. Nous nous intéressons ensuite à deux rites théurgiques concrets présentés dans l’œuvre proclienne en les analysant en profondeur : le rite de l’ensevelissement du corps (TP, IV, 9) et le rite de l’immortalisation d’Achille (In Remp., I, 152-152). Après avoir exposé le lien intrinsèque de la théurgie avec la mystagogie, notamment autour de l’importance du silence (σιγή) mystique, nous développons sur les implications de la théurgie pour le système philosophique de Proclus. Nous constatons que ces implications sont monumentales et touchent une multitude d’aspects de sa pensée : le statut de l’âme, celui de la matière, l’ontologie, la primauté du véhicule (ὄχημα) de l’âme, la notion d’imagination (φαντασία), l’importance des symboles (σύμβολα et συνθήματα) et le rôle de l’amour (ἔρως). Nous terminons finalement la recherche en présentant l’héritage de Proclus, principalement à travers l’œuvre du néoplatonicien chrétien Pseudo-Denys. / This thesis has for goal to present in detail the importance of theurgy in the philosophy of Proclus, as well as his link with mystagogy. One of the first objectives is to describe the causes of the emergence of theurgy during the late Antiquity. So, we present the historical setting from where emerges the notion of theurgy in the context of the process of Christianisation of the Empire starting during the 4th century. It is after that primordial to propose a clear definition of theurgy, something that the researchers haven’t done yet, as the ritual operation by which a material receptacle is animated by the divine. Then, we demonstrate that, even if the term “theurgy” is late, it finds however his roots in the long platonic tradition, from Plato to Proclus, passing by Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus. Following the historical aspect and after having clearly define the notion of theurgy, it is important to explain the status of theurgy in the philosophy of Proclus, especially by analyzing the crucial passage in TP, I, 25, where the Neoplatonist declares that theurgy is superior (κρείττων) to philosophy. Moreover, we examine two concrete theurgical rites presented in the Proclus’ works: the burial of the body (TP, IV, 9) and the immortalisation of Achille (In Remp., I, 152-152). After having exposed the intrinsically relation between theurgy and mystagogy, notably with the mystical silence (σιγή), we develop the implications of theurgy in the vast philosophical system of Proclus. These implications are monumental and touch many aspects: the status of the soul, the one of the matter, the ontology, the primacy of the soul’s vehicle (ὄχημα), the notion of imagination (φαντασία), the importance of symbols (σύμβολα et συνθήματα) and the role of love (ἔρως). We finally end this research by presenting the legacy of Proclus, especially through the work of the Christian Neoplatonist Pseudo-Dionysius.

This thesis places Chaucer within the tradition of philosophical poetry that begins in Plato and extends through classical and medieval Latin culture. In this Platonic tradition, poetry is a self-reflexive epistemological practice that interrogates the conditions of art in general. As such, poetry as metapoetics takes itself as its own object of inquiry in order to reinforce and generate its own definitions without regard to extrinsic considerations. It attempts to create a poetic-knowledge proper instead of one that is dependant on other modes for meaning. The particular manner in which this is expressed is according to the idea of the loss of the Golden Age. In the Augustinian context of Chaucer’s poetry, language, in its literal and historical signifying functions is an effect of the noetic fall and a deformation of an earlier symbolism. The Chaucerian poems this thesis considers concern themselves with the solution to a historical literary lament for language’s fall, a solution that suggests that the instability in language can be overcome with reference to what has been lost in language. The chapters are organized to reflect the medieval Neoplatonic ascensus. The first chapter concerns the Pardoner’s Old Man and his relationship to the literary history of Tithonus in which the renewing of youth is ironically promoted in order to perpetually delay eternity and make the current world co-eternal to the coming world. In the Miller’s Tale, more aggressive narrative strategies deploy the machinery of atheism in order to make a god-less universe the sufficient grounds for the transformation of a fallen and contingent world into the only world whatsoever. The Manciple’s Tale’s opposite strategy leaves the world intact in its current state and instead makes divine beings human. Phoebus expatriates to earth and attempts to co-mingle it with heaven in order to unify art and history into a single monistic experience. Finally, the Nun’s Priest’s Tale acts as ars poetica for the entire Chaucerian Performance and undercuts the naturalistic strategies of the first three poems by a long experiment in the philosophical conflict between art and history. By imagining art and history as epistemologically antagonistic it attempts to subdue in a definitive manner poetic strategies that would imagine human history as the necessary knowledge-condition for poetic language.

Le présent mémoire constitue une tentative de circonscrire - par l’étude d’un corpus textuel principalement emprunté à l’œuvre vernaculaire (allemande) de Maître Eckhart de Hochheim (1260-1328) – le rôle joué par certains motifs conceptuels caractérisant la notion moderne de sujet-agent au sein de la pensée de ce philosophe, théologien et prédicateur. Plus précisément, il y est question de déterminer en quoi le « je » (ich) décrit en plusieurs lieux textuels de l’œuvre d’Eckhart présente les caractères d’autonomie et de transparence à soi qui sont l’apanage de la subjectivité telle que la conçoit majoritairement une certaine modernité postcartésienne. Notre argument, qui se déploie sur trois chapitres, adopte sur le corpus faisant l’objet de cette étude et la conceptualité qu’il déploie, trois perspectives différentes – lesquelles perspectives sont respectivement d’ordre ontologique (premier chapitre), existentiel ou éthique (second chapitre) et anthropologique (troisième chapitre). La première approche – ontologique – explicite le sens que donne Eckhart aux notions d’être, de néant, d’intellect et d’image, ainsi que la manière dont elles se définissent dialectiquement en rapport les unes avec les autres. Le second chapitre, dont l’approche est existentielle, expose les applications éthiques des concepts abordés au chapitre précédent, analysant la méthode de détachement prescrite par Eckhart pour parvenir à l’état de béatitude. Le troisième et dernier chapitre cherche, quant à lui, à définir de quelle manière l’homme se définit par rapport à l’union à laquelle l’invite Eckhart, et ce autant sur le plan spécifique que sur le plan individuel. / The following dissertation attemps to establish the presence of certain conceptual motives pertaining to the modern conception of subjectivity (as exemplified by the cartesian understanding of the self), in the middle-high german works of Master Eckhart of Hochheim, philosopher, theologian and predicator who was born in 1260 and died in 1328. In order to do so, it develops a three-fold argument taking place over three chapters, each of which presents a different approach - a different perspective - on Eckhart’s thought. The first chapter presents an ontological argument designed to explicitate the meaning of the key eckhartian notions of being, nothingness, intellect and image, whereas the second chapter exploits the existential consequences of Eckhart’s outlook on those notions – consequences which in ethical terms translate into the necessity for the human individual to practice a systematic annihilation of oneself in order to achieve an absolutely pure union with God. The third and last chapter of this dissertation attemps to explicitate de notion of “I” (ich), used by Eckhart to designate the identity that the detached human soul and God share, a type of identity in which we find similarities with the modern conception of the self – conception which Heidegger thought of as being entirely absent from precartesian philosophy.