The First Principle in Late Neoplatonism

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.

Jonathan Greig, Ph.D. (LMU Munich, 2018), is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Institute for Medieval Research). He has published on Neoplatonic metaphysics and its reception in early and late Byzantine philosophy/theology.

"Jonathan Greig liefert die bislang ausführlichste und gründlichste Auseinandersetzung mit dem Problem der produktiven Kausalität des Einen bei Proklos und Damaskios sowie mit seinen geschichtlichen Voraussetzungen und systematischen Rahmenannahmen." Benedikt Krämer, Plekos 24 (2022), 315