Limite e possibilità del λόγος. Metodo dialettico e potenzialità teoretiche della contraddizione nel De Primis Principiis di Damascio

Abstract

This dissertation discusses Damascius’ De Primis Principiis, the main writing of the last scholarch of the Athenian Platonic school in the sixth century AD. The aim of the work is to propose a interpretation of the aporetic treatise capable of balancing both the ‘dialectical-negative’ moment and the 'dialectic-positive' moment of Damascian metaphysical theorization. The first moment is clearly implicit in the denunciation of πέρας τοῦ λόγου ('limit of thought-language'), whereas the second is linked to the δύναμις that the thought-language possesses and that demonstrates its feasibility and possibility also concerning the topic of the ineffability of the Principles. The first chapter of this research work analyses the non-relational condition of the Ineffable and the consequent impossibility of structuring a systematic metaphysical treatise, as well as a coherent language concerning the Origin. The indeterminate character is the most relevant consequence deriving from the unrelated nature of the unsayable Principle. The Ineffable has indeed no location, both in metaphysical terms and in conceptual-linguistic terms – that is to say that the insignificability and anonymity characterise the Ineffable. Therefore, the investigation about the unsayable Origin is marked by a preponderant a-epistemic component. This last aspect is examined in the light of possible meanings of the verb ῥαψῳδέω used by the philosopher to assimilate to rhapsody the vain and in some ways delirious discourse on the unknowable and unsayable Principles. ... [edited by Author]