A Platonic Philosophy of Religion

Daniel A. Dombrowski

Description

A Platonic Philosophy of Religion challenges traditional views of Plato's religious thought, arguing that these overstate the case for the veneration of Being as opposed to Becoming. Daniel A. Dombrowski explores how process or neoclassical perspectives on Plato's view of God have been mostly neglected, impoverishing both our view of Plato and our view of what can be said in contemporary philosophy of religion on a Platonic basis. Looking at the largely ignored later dialogues, Dombrowski finds a dynamic theism in Plato and presents a new and very different Platonic philosophy of religion. The work's interpretive framework derives from the application of process philosophy and discusses the continuation of Plato's thought in the works of Hartshorne and Whitehead.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Taking the World Soul Seriously

2. Being Is Power

3. Forms As Items in Divine Psychical Process

4. Dipolar Theism

5. Arguments for the Existence of God

6. Becoming like God

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Métaphysique
• Philosophie de la religion
• Philosophy of religion
• Metaphysics

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791484098
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A Platonic Philosophy of Religion

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A Platonic Philosophy of Religion

A Process Perspective

Daniel A. Dombrowski

State University of New York Press

Published by

State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2005 State University of New York All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Dombrowski, Daniel A. A platonic philosophy of religion : a process perspective / by Daniel A. Dombrowski. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6283-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 0-7914-6284-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Religion—Philosophy. 2. Plato. I. Title.

BL51.D555 210—dc22

2005

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2004016639

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One:

Chapter Two:

Chapter Three:

Chapter Four:

Chapter Five: Chapter Six: Notes Bibliography Index

Contents

Taking the World Soul Seriously BeingIsPower Forms As Items in Divine Psychical Process Dipolar Theism

Arguments for the Existence of God

Becoming like God

v

vii 1 15 33 51 65 81 95 113 135 149

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Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 relies largely on a previously published article titled “Taking the World Soul Seriously,”The Modern Schoolman69 (1991): 33–57; and chapter 2 relies largely on an article titled “BeingIsPower,”American Journal of Theology & Philosophy16 (1995): 299–314.

vii

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Introduction

T HE I NEVITABLE Q UESTION

Alfred North Whitehead is famous for his observation that “the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of 1 a series of footnotes to Plato.” This safety is due, in part, to the fact that Plato is an “inexhaustible mine” of ideas such that, when one seam runs out, a richer one is struck, as if by magic. The chief error not only in Plato scholar- ship, Whitehead thinks, but also in philosophy in general, is overstatement. This most often occurs when one facet of the subject matter in question is mistaken for the whole. The goal of the present book is to provide a counter- balance to previous treatments of Plato’s thoughts on God that overstate the case for his ontolatry; that is, for his worship of being as opposed to becoming. I assume that Whitehead’s intent in the above quotation is not to denig- rate philosophers subsequent to Plato by calling them mere “footnotes” but rather to emphasize the wealth of ideas in Plato, an abundance that is 2 especially evident concerning religious questions. Of course many people, including many philosophers, will not be impressed with the claim that Plato provides a cornucopia of ideas. They will ask what Nicholas Smith calls “the inevitable question”: what more could be said about Plato that 3 has not been said after two and a half millennia of commentary? Smith is correct in rejecting one easy, relativist answer to this question, that each generation of scholars must reinterpret the Greeks in terms that are acceptable for their own time. The problems Smith notices in this response are that (1) scholars are discovering, or think that they are discovering, some truths about Plato’s dialogues that previous scholars had not noticed; and as a result (2) progress can occur in the understanding of Plato’s writings. Scholarly pursuits sometimesdoneed periodic updating, as in the case noted by Smith where the works of perfectly competent nineteenth-century translators need to be updated because they do not work for us in the twenty-first century. But the updating should always be guided by the desire

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