Close Reading and Commentary of Proclus’ Works

Proclus is the most systematic platonist of late antiquity. He represents a culmination of ancient thought and an enormous influence on medieval and modern philosophy. Reading Proclus is an opportunity to get to know many things:

  • A tightly argued metaphysical system, with explanations about basic concepts such as infinity, eternity, act/potency, causality, and teleology
  • A unified interpretation of Plato that takes into account the literary, logical, and religious elements of Plato’s dialogues and weaves them into a single view of Plato’s thought.
  • An overview of all the ancient philosophers, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics and more, whose arguments Proclus combines and replies to in supporting his positions.
  • A better understanding of claims that are later taken to be axiomatic in much medieval philosophy such as “Every cause is superior to its effect” and “The soul lives between Eternity and Time”
  • A sustained defense of metaphysical polytheism, the view that there are many gods and each of them is (in a sense) a first principle of reality.
  • An account of the efficacy of ritual and prayer that was influential in later Christian sacramental theology.
  • An introduction to the allegorical and philosophical interpretations of Greek myths.
  • A holistic philosophy that combines ethics, philosophy of nature, theory of knowledge and metaphysics into a single coherent view of the philosophical life.
  • An understanding of philosophy that does not see “reason” and “revelation” as opposites, but as complementary to one another, without, however subordinating reason to revelation or vice-versa.

I am available for close readings of any work of Proclus, either in the original or in translation. The best general work of introduction fo Proclus is his Elements of Theology, which I am now in the process of teaching to Yitzchok Lowy (see links below), but other works can also be used as starting points depending on the specific interests of the student. Here is a list of Proclus’ work:

  1. The Elements of Theology: A sequence of 211 propositions about first principles and causes, following the mathematical method of Euclids’ Elements (similar to Spinoza’s Ethics in some respects). A Great starting place for learning Proclus, Neoplatonism, and also Medieval Philosophy.
  2. The Platonic Theology. A multivolume work that attempts to organize systematically everything that Plato says about the gods in his dialogues. It includes:
    • Volume 1: An account of where to find Plato’s Theology in his works and also of all the divine attributes listed in the dialogues
    • Volume 2: A number of arguments for the existence of Unity (tó hén) as the first principle of reality and against the view that says that Nous (A difficult term to translate: Intelligence/Intellect/Reason) is the first principle.
    • Volume 3: The beginning of the systematic account of the different orders of the gods. This volume deals with the so-called “noetic” Gods, responsible for Being as such
    • Volume 4: Deals with what Proclus calls the noetic-Noeric Gods, which are responsible for what he calls “Life.” More specifically we can say that it is about the formal structure of being: that it is divided into different levels of being, that these levels are connected with one another, and that they are complete. It also includes Proclus’ interpretation of the myth of Plato’s Phaedrus.
    • Volume 5: Deals with what Proclus calls the noeric Gods, that is the Gods responsible for Nous. These are the gods that are the source for the different kinds of being in the world, noes (plural of nous), souls and bodies and also all the many platonic Forms. We find here elements of Proclus’ interpretation of the cosmogonic myth of Plato’s Timaeus and the myth of the Statesman, among other things.
    • Volume 6: Deals with what Proclus calls the “hypercosmic” gods, which are responsible for the constitution of the soul.
    • Unfortunately, the end of Proclus’ work, which would have included a discussion of the gods responsible for the physical world and some the individual gods cited by name in Plato’s work, has not come down to us.
  3. Ten Problems Concerning Providence: Ten philosophical puzzles that Proclus answers regarding the notion of the pronoia of the gods, which typically means the divine ordering and foreknowledge of this world, but which Proclus (in response to some of the puzzles he studies here) interprets it rather as the care or love that the gods have for the world and through which they endow the world with value.
  4. On Providence, Fate and What Depends on Us: Written as a letter to a determinist, who believes that human beings have no free will, Proclus discusses the space for human freedom between the providence ofn the gods on the one hand, and the necessary connections of nature on the other.
  5. On the Existence of Evils: What kind of thing is an evil? Is there such a thing as Evil as such or a leader of all evil in the universe? Proclus takes on these questions and proposes his own original view that evils are just perversions of powers for the good, but nonetheless, the existence of evils is a necessary part of the world.
  6. Commentary on Plato’s Alcibiades (up to 116b): a great place to start reading Proclus, this is a commentary on a dialogue of Plato’s about self-knowledge. Proclus discusses the reality of spirits (daimones) that mediate between gods and men, the necessary moral requirements of being a philosopher, the nature of knowledge and many other subjects.
  7. Commentary on Plato’s Cratylus (up to 407c): A commentary on Plato’s dialogue about the origin of names, which explains Proclus’ theory of language and also includes much information on Proclus’ theology as he discusses the etymology of many divine names.
  8. Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus (up to 44d). A mammoth work dedicated to Proclus’ theory of the natural world, which includes:
    • Volume I: Introduction to the Timaeus
      • Introduction to the meaning of “Nature” and viewing the world as a perfect city
      • A philosophical interpretation of the myth of Atlantis
    • Volume II: On the Principles of Natural Science
      • A presentation of what Proclus calls the “five axioms of natural philosophy”: …
      • The nature of the World, the Divine Engineer that creates it, and the Eternal Model that he uses in his creation.
      • The status of physical science
      • The Creation of the Best Possible World
      • A Treatise on the Uniqueness of the World: arguments for why there can be only one world (against the materialists, who thought there were infinitely many)
    • Volume III: On the Body of the World
      • The two basic characters of the perceptible world: visibility and solidity
      • The organic unity of the perceptible world
      • Proclus’ theory of the four elements (fire, air, water and earth) and how they make up the world
      • The COmpleteness of the World
      • The Shape of the world
      • How the World, as a Living Being, perceives what goes on in it
      • The Self-sufficiency of the world
      • The Cyclic life of the world
    • Volume IV: On the World Soul
      • The relationship between the Soul and the Body, the presence of the soul in the body by means of its many powers and the happiness of the world
      • The Composition of the Soul out “Being”, “Difference” and “Sameness”
      • The Generated character of the soul and its intermediate position between eternal and temporal things
      • The Interpretation of Plato’s account of the creation of the soul through musical harmonies and giving it a shape similar to the orbits of the planets
      • The Powers and activities of the soul, of knowing eternal and temporal things and giving life to the world.
    • Volume V: On Time and Eternity
      • On Eternity and Time
      • On the Nature of Time as a Nous (Intelligence)
      • On the Units of Time and its Flow
      • Time and the Celestial Bodies
      • The Nature of the Celestial Bodies
      • The Activities of the Celestial Bodies
      • The Abundance of Cosmic Life
      • The Creation of Immortal Beings: The Stars and the PLanets
      • The Creation of Immortal Beings: Treatise of the Earth (Gaia)
      • The Creation of Immortal Beings: The Cosmic Dance
    • Volume VI:
      • The Gods of the Earth and the Spirits (Daimones)
      • The Gods of the Earth: The Principles of Generation
      • The Speech of the Divine Engineer to the Immortal Gods on the Creation of the Mortal Beings
      • The Speech of the Divine Engineer to the Souls of Human Beings on the Laws of Fate
      • The DIstibution of Souls AMongst the Stars and the Conclusion of the Work of the Divine Engineer
      • The Creation of the Mortal Body and the Embodiment of the Soul
  9. Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides
    • Book I: p. 617-721
      • An Introduction to the Parmenides and its Subject Matter
      • Commentary on the Narrative Frame: on Initiation into Metaphysics
      • The Arguments of Zeno: The refutation of pure multitude, the gateway to metaphysics
    • Book II: On Likeness: An introduction to the theory of forms
    • Book III: The extent of the intelligible: What are there Forms of?
    • Book IV: The Structure of the Intelligible: The Kinds of Forms
      • How do Perceptibles incorporate the Forms?
      • How are the forms incorporated both as wholes and as parts?
      • The third man argument
      • On “providential” Forms
      • On “real” Forms
      • The transcendence of Forms
    • Book V: On dialectic
      • The Forms and the Foundations of Dialectic
      • The Method of Platonic Dialectic
      • An introduction to the dialectic of Unity
    • Book VI: The Foundations and Beginning of the Dialectic of Unity
      • The Number of Dialectical Hypotheses about Unity
      • The Doctrine of Divine Unities or “Henads”
      • A Brief History of the Dialectic of Unity
      • The Method of the Dialectic of Unity
      • Unity and the Gods of Life
    • Book VII: The Dialectic of Unity (Second Part)
      • Unity and the Gods of Providence
      • Unity and the Gods of Soul
      • Unity and the Gods of Being
      • Unity itself and the Unity of the Soul
  10. Commentary on Plato’s Republic – 15 Essays
    • On the Subject matter, style characters and setting of the Republic (Skopos, Forma Literária, Personagens e Setting)
    • Plato’s Arguments against the view that Justice is just the advantage of the strong
    • Plato’s Rules on the Correct Depitcion of the Gods in Poetry
    • Ten Questions on the Relationship between Philosophy and Poetry
    • On the Agreement between Plato and Homer
    • On the Divison of the Soul intro Three Parts and the Virtues of the Soul
    • On Whether the Virtues of Men and Women are the Same
    • On the Opinions of Theodore of Asine on the Identity of Masculine and Feminine Virtue
    • On the Difference Between the Philosopher and the Lover of Spectacles
    • On the Good itself and the Form of the Good
    • On Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
    • On the Speech of the Muses about the Destruction of the City and the Nuptial Number.
    • Three Arguments that the Just Life is the Happy Life
    • On Book X of Plato’s Republic
    • A commentary on the Myth of Er about the Choice of Lives
    • An Answer to Aristotle’s Criticisms of the Republic
  11. Astronomical Problems
  12. Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements.
  13. Theurgic Texts: Hymns, On the Chaldean Oracles, on Sacrifice and Magic.
  14. 18 arguments against the Christians on the Eternity of the World
  15. Commentary on Hesiod’s Works and Days