Discover the profound wisdom of the Neo-Platonic Christian Tradition in this episode of After Socrates. Dive into the works of thinkers like St. Bonaventure, John Scotus Eriugena, and Nicholas of Cusa, and explore the concepts of dialectical contemplation, solipsistic skepticism, and ontological depth perception.

Guests featured: St. Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jonathan Pageau, and more.

📚 Books & Works Discussed:

The Journey of the Mind to God by St. Bonaventure

Nicholas of Cusa on Learned Ignorance: A Translation and an Appraisal of De Docta Ignorantia by Nicholas of Cusa

Periphyseon on the Division of Nature by John the Scot

Explorations in Metaphysics: Being-God-Person by W. Norris Clarke S.J.

The Unknown God: Negative Theology in the Platonic Tradition: Plato to Eriugena by Deirdre Carabine

John Scottus Eriugena by Deirdre Carabine

Being and Creation in the Theology of John Scottus Eriugena: An Approach to a New Way of Thinking by Sergei N. Sushkov

Nicholas of Cusa by H. Lawrence Bond

The Vision of God by Nicholas of Cusa

The Voyage of Unknowing: Nicholas of Cusa On Learned Ignorance by David Christopher Lane & Andrea Diem-Lane

The Analogical Turn: Rethinking Modernity with Nicholas of Cusa by Johannes Hoff

Masters of Learned Ignorance: Eriugena, Eckhart, Cusanus (Variorum Collected Studies) by Donald F. Duclow

Beyond Formal Operations: Late Adolescent and Adult Cognitive Development by Cheryl Armon, Michael L. Commons, & Francis Richards

[0:00] Introduction

[1:40] Neo-Platonic Christian Tradition

[12:45] Distorted Thoughts

[15:22] Logic Broadly Construed

[20:43] Solipsistic Skepticism

[23:37] As Real As Myself

[27:02] Dialectical Contemplation

[33:51] Tagging, Tracking, Tracing

[37:40] Conceptual Understanding

[42:15] Demonstrative Reference

[47:10] The Cardinal Contradiction

[51:25] The Omnivoyant Image

[54:43] Being in Question

[58:30] End of Episode

Jude Law, Chris Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and James Mangold all stop by!