Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

840 28. philosophy and philosophical schools
Neoplatonic universe, traditionally ascribed to Proclus, goes back to
Syrianus. 13 In general the metaphysical system found in Proclus is more
elaborately structured than in earlier Neoplatonism; at the same time,
Proclus stresses the cohesiveness of the structure and its ultimate dependence
on the One. Much of this may go back to Iamblichus, although sometimes
we can see Proclus applying the principles of Neoplatonism to
produce new solutions to traditional problems. For example, his discussions
of how evil can exist in a world ordered by divine providence develop the
idea that evil has only a dependent, parasitic existence which he calls parhypostasis;
this suggestion may go back to Syrianus but is not found earlier. 14
When Proclus died, his pupil Marinus succeeded him as head of the
school. After a few years, Marinus was succeeded first by Isidorus, then by
Zenodotus, and finally, probably some time before 515, by Damascius.
Between the death of Proclus and the headship of Damascius, the Athenian
school suffered a temporary decline. Alexandria, where Ammonius was
teaching, was for the moment the dominant philosophical centre.However,
under Damascius the Athenian school revived again until its closure in 529.
Damascius, probably born around 462, studied both in Alexandria and in
Athens. He started his career as a teacher of rhetoric, although he was
already acquainted with the Neoplatonic philosophers. He was converted to
philosophy by Isidorus and then studied philosophy further, both in Athens
and at Alexandria under Ammonius. We do not know just when he returned
to Athens to become head of the school there. His surviving philosophical
works, commentaries on Plato’s Phaedo, Philebus and Parmenides and a treatise
On the First Principles all, like the works of Proclus before him, derive from
his teaching. His Life of Isidorus, which survives only in fragments, described
the history and personalities of the Neoplatonic school from the end of the
fourth century. It, too, was written while Damascius was head of the school,
some time between 517 and 526. 15
Damascius taught the same range of material as Proclus, in a similar way.
There is evidence for his teaching of Aristotle, although no certain evidence
for written commentaries on Aristotle. There are also references to
either lectures or written commentaries on Plato’s First Alcibiades, Republic,
Phaedrus, Sophist, Timaeus and Laws, and on the Chaldaean Oracles. In his surviving
works Damascius draws on earlier commentators, particularly
Proclus, but shows a good deal of independence and readiness to criticize
Proclus. In the treatise On the First Principles Damascius argues that above
the One there is a further Ineffable principle, completely inaccessible to
conceptual thought. This view is not found in Proclus, but Damascius, with
a typical Neoplatonic appeal to authority, ascribes it to Iamblichus. 16
13 Saffrey and Westerink (1978) iii.ix–lxxvii. 14 Sheppard (1982) 9–10. Lloyd (1987).
15 Westerink and Combès (1986) i.ix–xxvi, xxxiii–lxxii. Tardieu (1990) ch. 1;Hoffmann (1994).
16 Damascius, De Principiis ii.1–3.
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