Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny, 2019, R. 27, Nr 2

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Plutarch of Chaeronea – the Concept of Principles
Biernaczyk, Mateusz (Papieski Wydział Teologiczny we Wrocławiu, 2019)
This article attempts to reconstruct the concept of the principles of the world in Plutarch of Chaeronea. For this purpose, four of his works were analysed: On the E at Delphi, Isis and Osiris, The Obsolescence of Oracles, and On the Generation of the Soul in the Timaeus. It was attempted to point out that it is hard to find consistency in the Middle Platonist’s theological and cosmological views. One time, following Plato, he writes about the highest efficient cause – transcendent God, whom he calls good, the reason, father and creator of the whole of reality. Another time, he refers to the views of the “Old Academy,” i.e. the concept of the One (Hen) and the indefinite Dyad (aoristos Dyas) as the highest principles. Moreover, citing Plato, Plutarch mentions the eternal cause responsible for the evil in the created world. However, a characteristic feature of Plutarch’s thought is the concept of the transcendent cause of reality as a whole. Not only will that idea and the one of an immanent reason – Logos affect the later Platonists, but it will also inspire the first representatives of Christian philosophy.