The philosophical and mathematical commentaries of Proclus on the first book of Euclid's elements (Vol. 1 of 2) : $b To which are added, A history of the restoration of Platonic theology, by the latter Platonists: And a translation from the Greek of Proclus's Theological elements — Plato — John Shaqi
The philosophical and mathematical commentaries of Proclus on the first book of Euclid's elements (Vol. 1 of 2) : $b To which are added, A history of the restoration of Platonic theology, by the latter Platonists: And a translation from the Greek of Proclus's Theological elements
Plato · en
DISSERTATION
ON THE
PLATONIC DOCTRINE OF IDEAS, &c.
SECTION I.
The Platonic doctrine of Ideas has been, in all ages, the derision of
the vulgar, and the admiration of the wise. Indeed, if we consider
that ideas are the most sublime objects of speculation, and that their
nature is no less bright in itself, than difficult to investigate, this
opposition in the conduct of mankind will be natural and necessary;
for, from our connection with a material nature, our intellectual eye,
previous to the irradiations of science, is as ill adapted to objects
the most splendid of all, “as the eyes of bats to the light of day[5].”
And yet (as I presume, it will appear from the following discourse),
unless the existence of these lucid beings is admitted, there can
be no such thing as science; nor, indeed, any genuine knowledge at
all. Hence, an enquiry concerning their nature and reality, is highly
proper, as an introduction to the ensuing Commentaries, in which they
are considered as the stable pillars of all truth, and the prolific
principles of the universe.
But previous to this enquiry, it is proper to observe, that Plato
was not the inventor, though he was a strenuous asserter, of ideas;
for, in the Sophista he affirms, that ideas were the discovery of men
who excelled in wisdom and piety, and who contended for an invisible
essence. Diogenes Laërtius, indeed, asserts, that Plato received
the doctrine of ideas from Epicharmus. But Epicharmus was not their
inventor, because Pythagoras, and others of still higher antiquity,
were well acquainted with ideas; so that it may be affirmed, with much
greater truth, that Plato was instructed in their nature by Philolaus
his preceptor, and the disciple of Pythagoras. For Pythagoras, after
his mysterious manner, signified ideas by numbers. But, prior to
Pythagoras, Orpheus was an asserter of ideas, and called Jupiter, or
the dimiurgus of the world, “the idea of all things.” And, according
to Syrianus, the mundane sphere, celebrated by Empedocles, is no other
than the ideal world; so that the doctrine of ideas is as ancient as
that of wisdom itself.