“People in Dark Times”: Damaskius on Political Persecution and the Philosophical Way of Life Cover Image

“People in Dark Times”: Damaskius on Political Persecution and the Philosophical Way of Life
“People in Dark Times”: Damaskius on Political Persecution and the Philosophical Way of Life

Author(s): Eugene Afonasin
Subject(s): Epistemology, Political Philosophy, Ancient Philosphy
Published by: Editura Universităţii »Alexandru Ioan Cuza« din Iaşi
Keywords: virtues; truth; purification; education; Neoplatonic school;

Summary/Abstract: The Neoplatonic philosophers developed a complicated and quite ingenious concept of the grades of virtue, starting with such common human virtues, as the natural, ethical and political, and finishing which those attainable only by the real seekers of the highest truth, such as the purificatory, contemplative, paradigmatic, and hieratic. In the paper I trace the evolution of the Neoplatonic grades of virtue by means of the select passages from Damascius’ “Philosophical History,” which deal specifically with the character of Damascius’ revered teacher. The life of Isidore is presented by his student as an ascent along the path of Neoplatonic perfection, moreover, by chance or not, but in the surviving fragments of this work, which tells about many remarkable philosophers and theurgists, it is Isidore who ultimately attains the last seventh degree of virtue. Possessing outstanding personal qualities and even the gift of the seer, he was a teacher of the Socratic type, most eager to help students achieve the purificatory virtues that alone determine the further path of philosophical perfection. The position of Damascius and his attitude to the philosophical way of life is further illustrated by a series of lively portraits of Athenian and Alexandrian philosophers of his time.

  • Issue Year: 29/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 141-152
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: English