Hmm, interesting, I didn't realize that about Plotinus/Porphyry vs Iamblichus (I'm still very early in my (Neo-) Platonic reading).
Possibly an irrelevant aside, but on causticus's comment about similarity with Eastern sages/gurus, I recently finished plodding my way through Spengler's Decline of the West, and in it he argues that Neo-Platonism and late Roman Empire polytheism are better understood as expressions of the religious sensibility of the Magian (Middle Eastern) civilization, along with Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, rather than as a direct continuation of the Classical religious sensibility that began with the Mycenaeans. I find this an intriguing possibility, but I also think Spengler is a little too forceful in arguing against continuity, because continuity was taken for granted by most scholars when he was writing.
What's interesting if we take Spengler's point of view, though, is that arguably Iamblichus would be the most Magian, whereas the attitude of being anti-theurgy seems more consistent with the mainstream of most Magian religions. So I'm not sure what to make of that.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2022-08-12 06:14 pm (UTC)Possibly an irrelevant aside, but on causticus's comment about similarity with Eastern sages/gurus, I recently finished plodding my way through Spengler's Decline of the West, and in it he argues that Neo-Platonism and late Roman Empire polytheism are better understood as expressions of the religious sensibility of the Magian (Middle Eastern) civilization, along with Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, rather than as a direct continuation of the Classical religious sensibility that began with the Mycenaeans. I find this an intriguing possibility, but I also think Spengler is a little too forceful in arguing against continuity, because continuity was taken for granted by most scholars when he was writing.
What's interesting if we take Spengler's point of view, though, is that arguably Iamblichus would be the most Magian, whereas the attitude of being anti-theurgy seems more consistent with the mainstream of most Magian religions. So I'm not sure what to make of that.
Cheers,
Jeff