The Relation of the ‘Forms’ with the ‘Parts’ and the ‘Elements’ in Damascius the Neoplatonist: Epistemological Foundations

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the way in which Damascius describes the relation of the ‘forms’ with the ‘parts’ and the ‘elements’ in his treatise De Principiis (II 174.1-176.7), in which he utilizes aspects of the Pre-Socratic natural philosophy as well as Aristotle’s Physica. We also shed light on the epistemological terms and conditions of his analysis. From a methodological point of view, we follow the categorical schemas found in the text, which reflect the philosopher’s general positions with respect to the formation of the natural world, through which a particularly advanced and mathematically expressed natural science for studying the structures of the universe is revealed. Considering that Damascius’ main research goal is to analytically describe the general archetypical categories of the sensible world, the greatest conclusion that we draw is that the formation of the natural world came from the activation-composition of the ‘elements’, that is, the material projections, in their separations, of the productive manifestations of the metaphysical archetypal Ideas.