![]() Such a reading of the Republic may seem rather fanciful to the modern reader but clearly the Fathers of the Early Church, especially in Alexandria, shared the Platonic metaphysics in which the visible world is an image of an invisible-intelligible dimension. For them, Plato (as he was for Aristobulus and Numenius) is the Attic Moses. There is little or no interest in the aporetic, suggestive or dramatic dimension of Plato’s thought. Plato, for the Cambridge Platonists is the divine Plato and is regarded as a prophetic figure. This obscure reference to the dreadful execution of a man of eminent rectitude was taken to be an instance of Plato’s prophetic powers by the Church Fathers. In Plato’s Republic 361A-362B, Glaucon refers to the most just man who will suffer crucifixion. The vision of the ‘divine’ Plato of the execution of Socrates had parallels with the prophecy of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52-53. The relationship between philosophy and theology is of decisive significance when considering the Platonic tradition more broadly, and especially in the case of the Cambridge Platonists. Jowett is surely correct to insist upon the living tradition of thought derived from Plato’s works but one might note that most of the authors he mentions have profound theological interests. Augustine, the Cambridge Platonists, Berkeley and Coleridge. In this passage, the eminent Victorian Benjamin Jowett, translator of Plato, presents the ancient Athenian philosopher as “a leader of a goodly band of followers” which includes Cicero, St. In English philosophy too, many affinities may be traced, not only in the works of the Cambridge Platonists, but in great original writers like Berkeley or Coleridge, to Plato and his ideas. ![]() The two philosophers had more in common than they were conscious of and probably some elements of Plato remain still undetected in Aristotle. The extent to which Aristotle or the Aristotelian school were indebted to him in the Politics has been little recognised, and the recognition is the more necessary because it is not made by Aristotle himself. Augustine’s City of God, of the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, and of the numerous other imaginary States which are framed upon the same model. (Whichcote, Aphorism 417)Īgain, Plato may be regarded as the ‘captain’ ( ἀρχηγὀς) or leader of a goodly band of followers for in the Republic is to be found the original of Cicero’s De Republica, of St. God does not, because of his Omnipotency, deal Arbitarily with us but according to Right, and Reason: and whatever he does, is therefore Accountable because Reasonable. Philosophy and Theology in the Cambridge Platonists
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |