Proclus: On the Existence of Evils (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle) - Hardcover

Steel, Emeritus Professor For Ancient & Medieval Philosophy Carlos; Opsomer, Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0715631985 ISBN 13: 9780715631980

Publisher: Bristol Classical Press, 2003

Synopsis

Proclus' On the Existence of Evils is not a commentary, but helps to compensate for the dearth of Neoplatonist ethical commentaries. The central question addressed in the work is: how can there be evil in a providential world? Neoplatonists agree that it cannot be caused by higher and worthier beings. Plotinus had said that evil is matter, which, unlike Aristotle, he collapsed into mere privation or lack, thus reducing its reality. He also protected higher causes from responsibility by saying that evil may result from a combination of goods. Proclus objects: evil is real, and not a privation. Rather, it is a parasite feeding off good. Parasites have no proper cause, and higher beings are thus vindicated as being the causes only of the good off which evil feeds.

About this title

About the Author

Jan Opsomer is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, USA. Carlos Steel is Professor of Philosophy, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and was for 10 years President of the Higher Institute of Philosophy at Leuven

Review

"This book is a necessity for every scholar of Neoplatonism and of medieval philosophy and theology. No library with a serious collection in philosophy or theology can be without it."―Wayne J. Hankey, Dalhousie University, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, December 2003

Edition details

• Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0715631985
• ISBN 13: 9780715631980
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 170