
Becoming God
Pure Reason in Early Greek Philosophy
Patrick Lee Miller(Author)
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Published on 18. November 2010
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-1-84706-164-5 (ISBN)
Description
Becoming god was an ideal of many ancient Greek philosophers, as was the life of reason, which they equated with divinity. This book argues that their rival accounts of this equation depended on their divergent attitudes toward time. Affirming it, Heraclitus developed a paradoxical style of reasoning chiasmus that was the activity of his becoming god. Denying it as contradictory, Parmenides sought to purify thinking of all contradiction, offering eternity to those who would follow him. Plato did, fusing this pure style of reasoning consistency with a Pythagorean program of purification and divinization that would then influence philosophers from Aristotle to Kant. Those interested in Greek philosophical and religious thought will find fresh interpretations of its early figures, as well as a lucid presentation of the first and most influential attempts to link together divinity, rationality, and selfhood.
Reviews / Votes
Miller provides an interesting study of the possibility of human transcendence through rationality in the early Greek tradition. He plans to pursue this topic into later Greek philosophy where it becomes even more prominent, and his study already points the way to Aristotle's life of reason. We may look forward for the sequel to carry on his study. -- Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
455 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84706-164-5 (9781847061645)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Patrick Lee Miller is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Duquesne University, USA. His previous publications include Introductory Readings in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy (Hackett, 2006).
Content
1. Introduction; 2. Heraclitus; 3. Parmenides and Pythagoreans; 4. Plato; 5. Aristotle; 6. Plotinus; 7. Conclusion; Bibliography.