In The First Principle, Jonathan Greig examines the philosophical theology of the two Neoplatonists, Proclus and Damascius (5th–6th centuries A.D.), on the One as the first cause. Both philosophers address a tension in the Neoplatonic tradition: namely that the One was seen as absolutely transcendent, yet it was also seen as intimately related to other things as the source of their unity and being. Proclus’ solution is to posit intermediate causes after the One, while Damascius posits a distinct principle, the (...) ‘Ineffable’, above the One. This book provides a new, thorough study of the theories of causation that lead each to their respective position and reveals crucial insights involved in a rigorous negative theology employed in metaphysics. (shrink)

_ Source: _Volume 9, Issue 2, pp 159 - 176 The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the Plotinian and Iamblichean reading of the Aristotelian theory of abstraction, and its relationship with the status of mathematical entities, as they were conceived within a Platonic model, according to which mathematical objects are ontological autonomous and separate.