Theoria, Praxis,and the Contemplative Life after Plato and Aristotle

307 Pages·2012·1.71 MB·English

by  Thomas Bénatouïl

Theoria, Praxis,
and the Contemplative Life
after Plato and Aristotle
Philosophia Antiqua
A Series of Studies on Ancient Philosophy
PreviousEditors
J.H.Waszink†
W.J.Verdenius†
J.C.M.VanWinden
Editedby
K.A.Algra
F.A.J.deHaas
J.Mansfeld
C.J.Rowe
D.T.Runia
Ch.Wildberg
VOLUME131
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.nl/pha
Theoria, Praxis
and the Contemplative Life
after Plato and Aristotle
Editedby
ThomasBénatouïl
MauroBonazzi
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2012
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Theoria,praxis,andthecontemplativelifeafterPlatoandAristotle/editedbyThomasBenatouil,
MauroBonazzi.
p.cm.–(Philosophiaantiqua,ISSN0079-1687;v.131)
ProceedingsofaconferenceheldinMay2009inGargnano,Italy.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindexes.
ISBN978-90-04-22532-9(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-23004-0(e-book)
1.Plato–Congresses.2.Contemplation–Congresses.3.Platonists–Congresses.4.Philosophy,
Ancient–Coingresses.I.Bénatouïl,Thomas.II.Bonazzi,Mauro,1973-
B398.C64T442012
180–dc23
2012007341
Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100
characterscoveringLatin,IPA,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitablefor
useinthehumanities.Formoreinformation,pleaseseewww.brill.nl/brill-typeface.
ISSN0079-1687
ISBN9789004225329(hardback)
ISBN9789004230040(e-book)
Copyright2012byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,GlobalOriental,HoteiPublishing,
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedin
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ThisvolumeisdedicatedtoFernandaDeclevaCaizzi
“Whatarethesebooksofyours,Alison?”Jedwellamiablyintervened.“Something
toread?(…)Nothingmuchtodointhisholeexceptread.”
“Alison’swritingahistory,sir,”Sezleyanswered,histemperpast.
“Buthistory,”Jedwellsaid,“isbeingmade…Ahistory,mayIask,ofwhat?”
Lewismighthaveletthequestionslide;ithadbeenaskedforthesakeofasking.But
hecouldnotresistwatchingJedwell’sfaceandsaying:
“Ahistoryofthecontemplativelife.”
“Thewhat?”
“Thecontemplativelife—particularlyinEnglandsincetheRenaissance.”
“Butwholivesit?”
“YouknowIndiaandIdon’t,sir,butisn’tittruethatinIndia—”
“InIndia,yes.Iknow.ButyousaidEngland.Wholivesitthere?Whoandhowand
whyandwithwhateffect?”
“That’sagoodishsummaryofmybook.”Lewissaid.(…)
“Areyoureallywritingthatbook—seriously?Thenletmetellyouthis.Youcan’t
writeabookaboutthecontemplativelifeunlessyou’rethesortofmancapableof
livingit.”
“Iknow,”Lewissaid.“It’smuchmoreimportanttometobecomeamanofthat
sortthantowritethehistory.Butyoumusthaveaconcretetasktolivebywhile
you’relearning—worshippingGod,orshepherding,orilluminatingmanuscripts,
orwritingahistory.It’sallone.”
CharlesMorgan,Fountain(1932)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements..................................................... ix
θεωρίαandβίοςθεωρητικόςfromthePresocraticstotheEndof
Antiquity:AnOverview ............................................ 1
T.BénatouïlandM.Bonazzi
PARTONE
THEHELLENISTICANDPOST-HELLENISTICDEBATE
Théophraste:leslimiteséthiques,psychologiquesetcosmologiques
delacontemplation................................................ 17
ThomasBénatouïl
ἀπλανήςθεωρία.EinigeAspektederEpikureischenVorstellungvom
βίοςθεωρητικός ..................................................... 41
MichaelErler
Cicéronetleproblèmedesgenresdevie:uneproblématiquedela
Voluntas?........................................................... 57
CarlosLévy
SenecaandtheContemplatioveri.DeotioandEpistulaemorales....... 75
MargaretGraver
BeyondtheTheoretikosBios:PhilosophyandPraxisinSextus
Empiricus .......................................................... 101
EmidioSpinelli
PARTTWO
EARLYIMPERIALPLATONISMANDNEOPLATONISM
LacontemplationchezPhilond’Alexandrie ........................... 121
ValéryLaurand
TheoriaandPraxis:OnPlutarch’sPlatonism ........................... 139
MauroBonazzi
viii contents
TheTheoretikosBiosinAlcinous........................................ 163
DavidSedley
PlotinusandPorphyryontheContemplativeLife...................... 183
AlessandroLinguiti
DamasciusontheContemplativeLife.................................. 199
GerdVanRiel
PARTTHREE
THECHRISTIANRECEPTION
LeahandRachelasFiguresoftheActiveandtheContemplativeLife
inAugustine’sContraFaustumManichaeum....................... 215
GiovanniCatapano
MaximusConfessoronTheoryandPraxis.ACommentaryon
AmbiguaadJohannemVI(10)1–19 ................................. 229
CarlosSteel
Bibliography............................................................ 259
IndexLocorum ......................................................... 275
IndexofAncientNames ................................................ 288
IndexofModernAuthors............................................... 292
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thisvolumecollectsthepaperspresentedinaconference(‘TheTheoretikos
BiosinHellenistic,ImperialandLateAncientPhilosophy’,Gargnano,May
2009) organized by the joint effort of the Universities of Milan (Mauro
Bonazzi,FernandaDeclevaCaizzi,andFrancoTrabattoni),Leuven(C.Steel
andGerdVanRiel),Paris-Sorbonne(CarlosLévy),Lorraine(Nancy2)and
theInstitutUniversitairedeFrance(ThomasBénatouïl).Thisconferencewas
thefifthinstalmentofDiatribai,abiennialmeetingdevotedtothestudyof
Hellenistic, Imperial, and Late Ancient philosophy. Previous publications
include:
– M.Bonazzi–V.Celluprica(eds.),L’ereditàplatonica.StudisulplatonismodaArce-
silaoaProclo,Bibliopolis,Napoli2005;
– M.Bonazzi–C.Lévy–C.Steel(eds.),APlatonicPythagoras.PlatonismandPytha-
goreanismintheImperialAge,Brepols,Turnhout2007;
– M. Bonazzi–C. Helmig (eds.), Platonic Stoicism-Stoic Platonism. The Dialogue
betweenPlatonismandStoicisminAntiquity, Leuven University Press, Leuven
2007;
– T. Bénatouïl–E. Maffi–F. Trabattoni (eds.), Plato, Aristotle, or Both? Dialogues
between Platonism and Aristotelianism in Antiquity, Olms, Hildesheim-Zürich-
NewYork2011.
Thelistofparticipantsinthe2009conferenceincludedThomasBénatouïl,
Mauro Bonazzi, Frederick Brenk, Francesca Calabi, Giovanni Catapano,
Fernanda Decleva Caizzi, Pieter D’Hoine, Michael Erler, Giovanna Giar-
dina, Angelo Giavatto, Valéry Laurand, Carlos Lévy, Alessandro Linguiti,
EmanueleMaffi,TessaMarzotto,Min-JunHuh,JanOpsomer,ArnisRitups,
GeertRoskam,LuciaSaudelli,DavidSedley,CarlosSteel,FrancoTrabattoni,
GeorgiaTsouni,GerdVanRiel,SimoneVezzoli,TimWhitmarsh.Wewishto
thankalltheparticipantstothisconferenceforthefriendlyyetlivelydiscus-
sionsofthepapers.WealsothankDaniloMongelliforhisinvaluablehelp
inpreparingthepresentvolumeforthepress.
More than anyone else, Fernanda Decleva Caizzi devoted constant and
preciouseffortstothesuccessoftheGargnanoConferencesandtothestudy
of ancient images of the philosophical life. It is a great pleasure and an
honourfortheDiatribaiorganizingcommitteetodedicatethisvolumeto
her.