Well, Plotinus is entitled to his own views like everyone else. Plato doesn’t say that his followers must follow him ad litteram. But the quote from G...
Forms clearly play a role in human intellection and cognition: Of course Aristotle is also concerned with the sensible world. But the fact remains tha...
Correct. Aristotle’s interest in Forms appears to be tied in the first place to attempts to explain intellectual processes. What he seems to suggest i...
Aristotle distinguishes between soul (psyche) and “intellect” (nous). He says that the soul is perishable and that the nous is separable from the soul...
That's exactly where the problem is. Reading Plato and Aristotle was always done in the Greek original, even in the Roman Empire and later of course i...
I think you are deliberately misinterpreting my statement, as well as ignoring the arguments presented by Aristotle in the relevant sections of the te...
Well, it looks like you may have surpassed even yourself there. :smile: I think we already are at a higher level than most other creatures. If you ser...
I think it’s the other way round. I am reminding you of the points Aristotle is making throughout the book and that you choose to dismiss. Here is you...
It looks like you are dismissing a lot of passages there. In fact, far too many for your argument to hold. :smile: Of course both Plato and Aristotle ...
Well, that's where you are wrong again. The intellect is the divine element in man as Aristotle clearly says! And what is divine has divine thoughts. ...
"Reverts" in the sense of no longer being a "higher", non-discursive and a "lower", discursive intellect, but just intellect itself as it really is wh...
The active intellect's immateriality, immortality, and independence in relation to the body-soul is not refuted at all, it is affirmed as the passages...
Well, you are saying that you "do not deny it" but you are also saying that it is an "idea which is actually being refuted". So what exactly is being ...
It is not clear at all to me that the higher powers of the soul are dependent on the lower. If the soul or any other part of man preexists the body th...
Correct. By definition, knowledge is salvific in the sense that it saves the knower from ignorance and from the suffering resulting from it. This is a...
Correct. But the sense in which terms like "survives" and "exists" are used becomes clear from the context. Intellect or Nous is self-reflexive intell...
This is how I see it, too. As stated before, religion may assist the Philosopher (i.e., the seeker after truth) in disengaging from mundane activities...
On the Platonic model, which Aristotle seems to agree with, it may be said that man has five basic aspects: 1. Intuitive-Contemplative (Nous a.k.a. “I...
If it is an “illusion”, then Aristotle himself contributes to it in no small measure by making frequent references to the mind being controlled by the...
Wrong. You're just providing more evidence for our points. Maybe it's time to re-examine your assumptions and revise your whole approach to the issues...
The sense is "ultimate reality", whatever that may turn out to be. But thanks for clarifying that Buddhism (or at least your version of it) isn't afte...
Well, this is why I said from the beginning that it is necessary to properly define the terms used like "soul", "intellect", etc. If we are saying tha...
Correct. Very hard but not impossible. And in some cases, like Blavatsky, as a classical example, not even so hard. What matters at the end of the day...
The way I read Aristotle, he believes that the soul depends on the body, belongs to the body, and therefore it perishes with the death of the body (De...
You are saying that "it is not necessary that the intellect be a part of the soul". But some souls apparently do have an intellect. In their case, the...
Well, I for one can see nothing wrong with that. If humans have a conscience, it seems probable that in the after life when they no longer are distrac...
To be quite honest, the idea of the higher depending on the lower sounds a bit strange to me. Either the soul has powers or it has not. If it has, the...
Aristotle does explain, but I think what is essential is how we read "parts" (mere or moria). For example, he says: Basically, Aristotle holds that th...
I think the issue starts with how we define “soul”, “intellect”, and the way they relate to one another. If we separate the intellect from the soul, f...
The 'treasures of eastern culture' that you constantly refer to are never part of the educational curriculum in any public schools that I am aware of....
Pretty much the way Buddhists and Hindus disparage and misrepresent Christianity. In any case, there can be no doubt that fraud is the most frequent c...
Ultimately, none. That's why "Christians" who reject the one are undermining the other. And that's how we end up with clergy who are not sure if God e...
I'm sure you are not the only one. It shows that some Westerners are more knowledgeable about Eastern traditions than about Western ones. It's a pheno...
You will find precious few Buddhists constantly referring to "Nirvana" (though indoctrinated Western Buddhists or New Agers may be a different matter)...
I think the article is not the only thing you will need to revisit. :smile: 1. There is a difference between (a) divine illumination as an explanation...
Concerning the awakening of the soul as a result of divine illumination, Proclus in his Commentary on Plato’s Republic writes: It follows that Greek p...
I don't see it as a "sweeping claim" at all. Every system has its own myths. Christianity, too, has some truths and some myths. The mythical elements,...
Correct. This is why claims of someone being a "true jnani" or "enlightened" must necessarily belong to the domain of belief. And this applies to Budd...
I’m not saying he wasn’t. He may well have been “a true jñ?ni”. My point was that we have no hard proof that he was. But it is probably safe to say th...
I don't think this is about me being "well-read" at all. I think it is more a case of some people being intellectually lazy and in denial but still tr...
Good to see that you agree! :smile: And seeing that we are in agreement, I am sure you will also agree with my analysis, below. In the 1800’s, under t...
I think you are missing the point. The French are definitely upset that Russian mercenaries are operating in Mali and other parts of Africa and they a...
Absolutely. Not only that, but it is doubtful whether Buddhists actually believe in rebirth in the normal sense of the word. In which case they would ...
Wow. You must have thought (or "meditated") really long and hard to come up with that. Shows what Buddhism does to brainwashed (or braindead) Westerne...
Of course not. Personally, I like to look into historical facts when discussing them because I know that what we are being fed is often just propagand...
That was exactly what I meant, Philosophy in the original Greek sense of love of and quest after wisdom or truth. Of course Krishnamurti eventually fr...
Comments