Cambridge University Press, 8/3/2016EAN 9781107124219, ISBN10: 1107124212Hardcover, 254 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cmLanguage: EnglishThis volume investigates the reasons why Plotinus, a philosopher inspired by Plato, made critical use of Epicurean philosophy. Eminent scholars show that some fundamental Epicurean conceptions pertaining to ethics, physics, epistemology and theology are drawn upon in the Enneads to discuss crucial notions such as pleasure and happiness, providence and fate, matter and the role of sense perception, intuition and intellectual evidence in relation to the process of knowledge acquisition. By focusing on the meaning of these terms in Epicureanism, Plotinus deploys sophisticated methods of comparative analysis and argumentative procedures that ultimately lead him to approach certain aspects of Epicurus' philosophy as a benchmark for his own theories and to accept, reject or discredit the positions of authors of his own day. At the same time, these discussions reveal what aspects of Epicurean philosophy were still perceived to be of vital relevance in the third century AD.Preface Daniela Patrizia TaorminaIntroduction Angela Longo and Daniela Patrizia TaorminaPart I. Historical Overview1. The school and texts of Epicurus in the early centuries of the Roman empire Tiziano DorandiPart II. Common Anti-Epicurean Arguments in Plotinus2. The mention of Epicurus in Plotinus' tr. 33 (Enn. II 9) in the context of the polemics between Pagans and Christians in the second-third century ADparallels between Celsus, Plotinus and Origen Angela Longo3. Epicureans and Gnostics in tr. 47 (Enn. III 2) 7.29-41 Manuel Mazzetti4. 'Heavy birds' in tr. 5 (Enn. V 9) 1.8References to Epicureanism and the problem of pleasure in Plotinus Mauricio Pagotto Marsola5. Plotinus, Epicurus and the problem of intellectual evidencetr. 32 (Enn. V 5) 1 Pierre-Marie Morel6. 'What is known through sense perception is an image'. Plotinus' tr. 32 (Enn. V 5) 1.12-19an anti-Epicurean argument? Daniela Patrizia TaorminaPart III. Plotinus' Criticism of Epicurean Doctrines7. Corporeal matter, indefiniteness and multiplicityPlotinus' critique of Epicurean atomism in tr. 12 (Enn. II 4) 7.20-8 Marco Ninci8. Plotinus' reception of Epicurean atomism in On Fate, tr. 3 (Enn. III 1) 1-3 Erik EliassonPart IV. Epicureans Elements in PlotinusSome Instances9. Athroa epibolēon an Epicurean formula in Plotinus' work Andrei Cornea10. Plotinus and Epicurus on pleasure and happiness Alessandro Linguiti.
