Sorry, I'm a few days behind on this, it's been a difficult week.
"Superessential" in this context simply seems to mean "above existence."
Sallustius specifically treats "existence" as a property of the gods. (In fact, he makes a stronger statement, that the gods exist eternally, and thus have no beginning and no end.) This would seem to imply that the gods are "essential" rather than "superessential."
If I'm reading Taylor right, he's saying that the One is superessential, but that the gods are "superessential" in the same way that trees are "earthy"—they're not literally like the earth, but if you're looking at a tree, it's definitely got something to do with the earth (rather than, say, some asteroid or something). I would take this to mean that the gods aren't truly above existence, but they can reasonably be said to be above existence since they're above all the other things that exist and give rise to them, which I think is what boccaderlupo was saying.
(As far as the One goes, I'm not sure what it can possibly mean to "be superessential", which strikes me as self-contradictory. I wonder if the One is merely some kind of (literally) glorified reductio ad absurdum used to prove logical statements about what the gods must be. I guess we'll see as we proceed?)
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Date: 2021-11-16 03:04 am (UTC)"Superessential" in this context simply seems to mean "above existence."
Sallustius specifically treats "existence" as a property of the gods. (In fact, he makes a stronger statement, that the gods exist eternally, and thus have no beginning and no end.) This would seem to imply that the gods are "essential" rather than "superessential."
If I'm reading Taylor right, he's saying that the One is superessential, but that the gods are "superessential" in the same way that trees are "earthy"—they're not literally like the earth, but if you're looking at a tree, it's definitely got something to do with the earth (rather than, say, some asteroid or something). I would take this to mean that the gods aren't truly above existence, but they can reasonably be said to be above existence since they're above all the other things that exist and give rise to them, which I think is what
(As far as the One goes, I'm not sure what it can possibly mean to "be superessential", which strikes me as self-contradictory. I wonder if the One is merely some kind of (literally) glorified reductio ad absurdum used to prove logical statements about what the gods must be. I guess we'll see as we proceed?)