Fascinating observation on how Proclus develops these arguments.
"Intellect" is indeed a tricky one; agree wholeheartedly that "spirit" would be a worse translation. (I'm assuming this is "nous.") It takes on the quality of a truly technical term in the late Neoplatonists, and I think maintaining is useful, so long as we keep in mind that it's not equivalent to our modern usage.
Incidentally, it's interesting to see how the much mileage the early Church fathers get out of "intellect," in an adjacent sense. They really seem to pick the ball up and run with it (I believe this was infiltration via Pseudo-Dionysius, who evidently drew heavily on Proclus.) In that sense there seems to be a direct extension of this form of philosophy into nascent Christianity in its early centuries.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2023-06-19 11:51 pm (UTC)"Intellect" is indeed a tricky one; agree wholeheartedly that "spirit" would be a worse translation. (I'm assuming this is "nous.") It takes on the quality of a truly technical term in the late Neoplatonists, and I think maintaining is useful, so long as we keep in mind that it's not equivalent to our modern usage.
Incidentally, it's interesting to see how the much mileage the early Church fathers get out of "intellect," in an adjacent sense. They really seem to pick the ball up and run with it (I believe this was infiltration via Pseudo-Dionysius, who evidently drew heavily on Proclus.) In that sense there seems to be a direct extension of this form of philosophy into nascent Christianity in its early centuries.
Axé