Pleasure and the Good Life: Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists

222 Pages·2000·10.05 MB·English

by  Gerd Van Riel

PLEASURE AND THE GOOD LIFE
-
PHILOSOPHIA ANTIOUA
A SERIES OF STUDIES
ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
FOUNDED BY J. H. WASZINKf AND W. J. VERDENIUSf
EDITED BY
J. MANSFELD, D.T. RUNIA
J. C. M. VAN WINDEN
VOLUME LXXXV
GERD VAN RIEL
PLEASURE AND THE GOOD LIFE
PLEASURE
AND
THE GOOD LIFE
PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND THE NEOPLATONISTS
GERD VAN RIEL
BRILL
LEIDEN BOSTON KOLN
2000
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Riel, Gerd Van.
Pleasure and the good life : Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists / by
Gerd Van Riel.
p cm.-(Philosophia antiqua, ISSN 0079- 1687; v. 85)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 90041 17970 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Pleasure. 2. Philosophy, Ancient. I. Title. 11. Series.
B187.P57 R54 2000
17 1' .4'0938-dc2 1 00-02977 1
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufhahrne
Riel, Gerd Van :
Pleasure and the good life : Plato, Aristotle and the neoplatonists
/ by Gerd Van Riel. - Leiden ; Boston ; Koln : Brill, 2000
(Philosophia antiqua ; Vol. 85)
ISBN 90-04-1 1797-0
ISSN 0079- l687
ISBN 9004 117970
0 Copyright 2000 by Koninklike Brill WLiden, The Netherlands
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CONTENTS
Preface ...........................................................................................
Introduction ..................................................................................
Chapter One. Two Paradigms : Plato and Aristotle ....................
I . Plato: The 'Replenishment Theory' .........................................
1. From the Protagoras to the Republic ........................................
2 . The Philebus ..........................................................................
2.1. The Definition of Pleasure ...........................................
2.2. Plato's Critique of Hedonism .......................................
3. An Evaluation of Plato's Theory .........................................
3.1. A Positive Doctrine? ....................................................
3.2. The Physiological Presuppositions of the Definition ...
3.3. The Identity of Pleasure and Replenishment ..............
3.4. Plato's Merits ...............................................................
I1. Aristotle: The 'Theory of the Perfect Activity' ........................
1. Aristotle's Rejection of the Platonic Definition ...................
1.1. The 'Platonic' Definition of Pleasure ...........................
1.2. Aristotle's Criticism ......................................................
2 . A New Model ......................................................................
2.1. Aristotle's Definition of Pleasure ..................................
2.2. Pleasure as a 'Supervenient Element' ..........................
2.3. The 'Proper Pleasure' ..................................................
3. Consequences of Aristotle's New Model .............................
3.1. Pleasure is not a Movement .........................................
3.2. Pleasure is not Excessive per se ....................................
3.3. 'Pure' Pleasure .............................................................
4 . An Evaluation of the Aristotelian Account ..........................
Excursus. Epicureans and Stoics ..................................................
I . Epicurus ...............................................................................
I1. The Stoics ........................................................................... 87
vi CONTENTS
Chapter Two . The Standard Neoplatonic Theory:
Plotinus and Proclus .................................................................
I . Plotinus .....................................................................................
1. Plotinus' Definition of Pleasure ...........................................
2 . Plotinus' Refutation of Hedonism .......................................
3. 'Pleasure' in the Good Life ..................................................
4 . Conclusion ...........................................................................
I1. Proclus .....................................................................................
1. Proclus' Definition of Pleasure ............................................
2. 'Pleasure' in the Good Life ..................................................
3. Conclusion ...........................................................................
Chapter Three . A Different View: Damascius' Commentary
on the Philebus ...........................................................................
Introduction .............................................................................
1.1. Identifying the Author ......................................................
1. 2 . Method .............................................................................
The Central Theme (o~on64o) f the Dialogue ..........................
2.1. Introduction ......................................................................
2.2. Damascius' Own View .....................................................
Damascius' Account of the Soul as a Basis of his Theory
of Pleasure ................................................................................
Damascius' Interpretation of the 'Mixture of Pleasure and
Intellect' ....................................................................................
4.1. Desire and Cognition in Sense-perception and Intellect ..
4.1.1. Perception as a 'Mixture of Desire and Cognition' ..
4.1.2. The Desire of the Knowing Intellect ........................
4.2. The 'Mixture of Desire and Cognition' ............................
4.3. 'Essence' and the 'Way towards the Essence' ...................
'Struggling with Tradition' .......................................................
5.1. The Proclean Position ......................................................
5.2. Damascius' 'Correction' of Proclus' Position ...................
Two Kinds of Pleasure .............................................................
An Original Reading of Plato ..................................................
A Hierarchy of the Kinds of Pleasure ......................................
Conclusion .................................................................................... 177
Bibliography .................................................................................. 183
CONTENTS vii
Indices
1. Index rerum ......................................................................... 195
Greek English Glossary ........................................................ 198
2 . Index locorum ..................................................................... 199
3 . Index nominum ................................................................... 206
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PREFACE
This book grew out of a Ph.D. dissertation presented in 1997 at the
Institute of Philosophy (Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte) of the
University of Leuven (Belgium). Its most obvious difference from its
ancestor is that of language, the dissertation being written in Dutch.
More importantly, however, the "linguistic turn" from Dutch to
English provided an occasion to modify the scope. The subject matter
of the dissertation (parts of which have been published elsewhere) was
Plato's Philebus and its influence in antiquity. The first part investigated
the 'ethical' interpretation of the dialogue (i.e., the doctrine of
pleasure), the second part examined the 'metaphysical' interpretation
(i.e., the doctrine of the four 'causes', Phil. 23c-30d). In this respect, the
scope of the present volume is narrower than that of the dissertation.
Yet in another respect it is wider: for its investigation of the theory of
pleasure is not confined to Plato's Philebus and its influence, but covers
the general theories of pleasure of Plato and his successors. Thus, this
book treats the problem of pleasure in the good life from a different
perspective. Here the Philebus is but one of the relevant texts in a
broader thematical study.
The research for this book was made possible by fellowships granted
by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (Belgium). I am very
-
grateful to this Institution for its financial support. The present work
benefited from the intellectual climate at the Institute of Philosophy,
and in particular at its centre for the study of ancient and medieval
philosophy (De Wulf-Mansioncentrum). This centre has built a solid
reputation in the field of the study of the influence of ancient thought
on medieval philosophy, in which Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism
play a major role.
I owe my profound gratitude to Prof. Carlos Steel, whose enthu-
siasm, competence, and support were essential to the genesis of this
work. I am also indebted to those who were kind enough to comment
on and criticise draft versions of (parts of) the book: Prof. Richard
Sorabji, Prof. Fernand Bossier, Dr. Jan Opsomer, Guy Guldentops,
and Prof. Dominic O'Meara. I thank John Steffen, as well as Aaron
Schuster, for correcting the English version. Finally, I am very
honoured to have this work published in Brill's distinguished series