Interpreting Proclus From Antiquity to the Renaissance

This is the first book to provide an account of the influence of Proclus, a member of the Athenian Neoplatonic School, during more than one thousand years of European history (c.500–1600). Proclus was the most important philosopher of late antiquity, a dominant (albeit controversial) voice in Byzantine thought, the second most influential Greek philosopher in the later western Middle Ages (after Aristotle), and a major figure (together with Plotinus) in the revival of Greek philosophy in the Renaissance. Proclus was also intensively studied in the Islamic world of the Middle Ages and was a major influence on the thought of medieval Georgia. The volume begins with a substantial essay by the editor summarizing the entire history of Proclus' reception. This is followed by the essays of more than a dozen of the world's leading authorities in the various specific areas covered.

One thousand years of Proclus: an introduction to his reception Stephen Gersh; 1. Proclus' life, works, and education of the soul Lucas Siorvanes; 2. Proclus as exegete Anne Sheppard; 3. Proclus as theologian Stephen Gersh; 4. 'Dionysius the Areopagite' John M. Dillon; 5. The Book of Causes Cristina d'Ancona; 6. Michael Psellos Dominic J. O'Meara; 7. Eleventh- to twelfth-century Byzantium Michele Trizio; 8. Ioane Petritsi Lela Alexidze; 9. William of Moerbeke, translator of Proclus Carlos Steel; 10. The University of Paris in the thirteenth century Pasquale Porro; 11. Dietrich of Freiberg and Berthold of Moosburg Markus Führer and Stephen Gersh; 12. Nicholas of Cusa Stephen Gersh; 13. Marsilio Ficino Michael J. B. Allen; 14. Francesco Patrizi da Cherso Thomas Leinkauf.

Stephen Gersh is Professor of Medieval Studies and Concurrent Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Specializing in the Platonic tradition, he is the author of numerous monographs on ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy of which the most recent are Reading Plato, Tracing Plato (2005); Neoplatonism after Derrida: Parallelograms (2006); and Being Different: More Neoplatonism after Derrida (2014). He has edited, among other books, Medieval and Renaissance Humanism: Realism, Representation, and Reform (with Bert Roest, 2003) and Eriugena, Berkeley, and the Idealist Tradition (with Dermot Moran, 2006).