> Yes,sorry, let's say neo-Platonic, absolutely, that is Plotinian.
> It was slip of the tongue in the impetuous of my swaying.
No problem, Erminia -- I thought that was probably what you meant.
(Although not to ram this too far into the ground, I really *don't* like the
term "Neoplatonic". It seems to me to introduce some sort of catastrophic
philosophical fall between Plato and Plotinus.
"Plato is a serious philosopher, Plotinus is trivial."
Whereas in one way, Plotinus is simply continuing a tradition which stems
from Plato's Dialogues, in another sense, he's a completely different kettle
of fish, as you demonstrate in your selections. Plato, whatever else he
was, was no mystic.
As I'm sure you know, Ficino translated both Plato and Plotinus into Latin.
The "Neoplatonic" thing, making a sharp distinction between Plato and
Plotinus, seems to stem from Thomas Taylor's 19thC translations.
The first cited reference for "Neoplatonic" in English given by the OED2(3)
is 1836.
Ouch! I'd better stop. Part of the reason I'm so hyped over the
Platonic/Neoplatonic terminology (apart from a refusal to compromise over
this very terminology being a factor in having a book turned down years ago)
is that my major take on this is via the Renaissance -- Donne, the
Florentine background, and the original texts -- and as they [Donne, Ficino,
and Pico] didn't make a distinction between them (not the same as not
*distinguishing* between the two writers -- there are distinctively
different elements taken from Plato and Plotinus in Donne's "The
Extasie") -- "Neoplatonic" grates on my ear as unhistoric.
> So, this neo-platonic staff, in Yeats, is postmodern? In the sense that
> allows validity to the things emanated, to the peripheries. But how tod
> efine a periphery is notcelebratingthe center?
Can I take a rain-check on Yeats, please, Erminia? Been years since I read
him seriously, and my memories are that he mostly draws on Thomas Taylor.
Didn't the McKenna translation of Plotinus post-date Yeats? Or have I got
my dating screwed-up here?
(Though in some ways the periphery/centre business sounds more like Cusanus
than Plotinus.)
Cheers,
Robin
{With apologies to everyone except Erminia, for whom this stuff must be
incredible boring.
<g>
R.}
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