Eriugena, Berkeley, and the Idealist Tradition (review)

This book on some of the important thinkers in the history of Platonism originated in a symposium held at the University of Notre Dame’s Irish Studies Center, Dublin, in 2002. The editors introduce the volume with a question: “What do philosophers mean by ‘idealism’?” The essays that follow can be divided into three sections: ancient to late ancient, Eriugena and Islamic Thought (two representative examples), and Berkeley and Modern Philosophy.

The first three papers deal with Plato and Platonism. Vasilis Politis argues for a kind of non-subjective idealism based on a reading of Sophist 248c–249d. This is based on a recognition of reason as central to Plato’s concerns. In the second paper, John Dillon writes about “The Platonic Forms as Gesetze” and asks, “Could Paul Natorp Have Been Right?” By a judicious use of the German text, and with reference to the 2004 translation of Natorp’s Ideenlehre (Plato’s Theory of Ideas: An Introduction to Idealism, trans. Politis and Connelly), Dillon presents Natorp’s case for understanding the Forms as “systems for ordering knowledge, that they are nothing other than ‘laws of thought’.” Dillon notes the texts that must be overlooked to arrive at this interpretation. Yet, he acknowledges Natorp’s good knowledge of Plato and finds what Natorp ascribes to Plato to be a “perfectly respectable view.” Dillon finds Natorp’s interpretation to be very close to the later stoicizing Platonist, Antiochus. Victorio Hösle presents a rich interpretation of some of the major forms of Platonic interpretation: Middle Platonism, Neoplatonism, and Schleiermacher. He presents a judicious account of Marsilio Ficino and, while appreciative of the achievement of Schleiermacher, he shows sympathy for the criticisms of the Tübingen School.

Gretchen Reydams-Schils offers a careful consideration of the Roman Stoics on divine thinking and human knowledge. Giving attention to Seneca and to Cicero (and the debate between Anthony Long and Walter Burkert/Stephen Gersh), she notes “how much the Roman Stoics emphasize interiority and the opposition between soul and body.” Here, the notion of “correct reason” as a link with the divine principle is emphasized.

Andrew Smith addresses the issue of idealism in relation to perception in Plotinus. He examines the position of Emilsson (Plotinus on Sense Perception, 1988), who argues that, for Plotinus, the gap between the subject and object of perception is overcome. Smith holds that Plotinus’s main interest is in the process of sense-perception.

Augustine’s De Ideis from the Eighty-Three Different Questions (ca. 388–95) is a very important text in the history of Platonism. The late Jean Pépin presents a criticism of Panofsky’s views and provides the reader with a rich interpretation of the notion of the “ideas” in the mind of God.

Dermot Moran’s Spiritualis Incrassatio chapter raises the important question of whether Eriugena’s intellectualist immaterialism is a form of idealism. He begins with a judicious review of modern definitions of idealism and then interprets central Eriugenian themes, concluding that Eriugena is “the greatest immaterialist of Western Philosophy prior to Berkeley. . .” (145). This is an idealism, but one that differs from post-Cartesian idealism in its theological rather than epistemological motivation. He also points to the links between Eriugena and German Absolute Idealism. Stephen Gersh presents an antidote to the traditional view of Eriguena’s fourfold division of nature by emphasizing its logical aspect alone, accentuating his debt to the Latin tradition of Pythagorean mathematics and outlining the connection between the arithmetical and idealist elements. Agnieszka Kijewska looks at Eriugena’s discussion of paradise in the Book of Genesis. She interprets paradise as the human mind made in the image of God, whereas the return of the human mind from its fallen state is a recovery of paradise. In his paper, Peter Adamson looks at ideas in God’s mind as found in Al-Kindi and the Liber de Causis, emphasizing the connection between Neoplatonism and medieval thought.

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