Ten Gifts of the Demiurge Proclus on Plato's Timaeus [Hardcover]

Proclus' commentary on Plato's Timaeus is perhaps the most important surviving Neoplatonic commentary. In it Proclus contemplates nature's mysterious origins and at the same time employs the deductive rigour required to address perennial philosophical questions. Nature, for him, is both divine and mathematically transparent. He renders theories of Time, Eternity, Providence, Evil, Soul and Intellect and constructs an elaborate ontology that includes mathematics and astronomy. He gives ample play to pagan theology too, frequently lapsing into the arcane language of the Chaldaean Oracles . Ten Gifts of the Demiurge is an essential companion to this rich but complex and densely wrought text, providing an analysis of its arguments and showing that it, like the cosmos Proclus reveres, is a living coherent whole. The book provides aides to understanding Proclus' work within the complex background of Neoplatonic philosophy, familiarising the reader with the political context of the Athenian school, analysing Proclus' key terminology, and giving background to the philosophical arguments and ancient sciences upon which Proclus draws.Above all, it helps the reader appreciate the varicoloured light that Proclus sheds on the secrets of nature.

Presents and analyses the arguments of Proclus' long and very rich commentary on Plato's Timaeus , relating them to perennial issues of philosophy and contextualising them within Platonism, Chaldaean theology, and antique science.

Emilie Kutash is Lecturer in Philosophy, St Joseph's College, New York, and Research Fellow at Boston University Center for Philosophy and the History of Science. Over the last eighteen years she has published many articles and essays on Neoplatonic Philosophy.