THE TAXONOMY OF NEGATION IN PLOTINUS
THE TAXONOMY OF NEGATION IN PLOTINUS
Author(s): Daniel JugrinSubject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Plotinus; negation; abstraction; privation; negative theology; the One.
Summary/Abstract: The problem of negation in the Greek thought was defined by three technical terms: privation (steresis), abstraction (aphairesis) and negation itself (apophasis). Plotinian negative theology is based on a method of systematic critique of the layers belonging to physical existence, which overlapp the essential beginning. Their removal will result in our true knowledge of the essence: aphairesis brings forth a way of knowing. Privation employs alpha privative – through which something composite is denied: steresis is associated with a substratum which sustains affirmation. In Plotinus, negative theology and abstraction are epistemological problems, while privation has an ontological applicability.
Journal: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Philosophia
- Issue Year: 59/2014
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 73-90
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English