Otherwise Than the Father: Night and the Maternal Causes in Proclusâ Theological Metaphysics

Danielle A. Layne

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Chapter 11 Otherwise Than the Father: Night and the Maternal Causes in Proclusâ Theological Metaphysics

In: Women and the Female in Neoplatonism

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Danielle A. Layne

Danielle A. Layne
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 221â252

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004517646_013

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Abstract

The following examines Proclusâ conception of the maternal causes in the Neoplatonistâs theological metaphysics. Beginning with a feminist critique of his gendered system, the bulk of the essay will examine his explicit identification of the summit of the intelligible-intellective sphere with the feminine/maternal, showing that the first gendered deity in Proclusâ system, the goddess Night, is the mother goddess that receives, reveals and mediates to the divine orders of intelligible Being and the Good. In this, she acts as the first dyadic paradigm, both intelligible and intellective, instructing through her prophetic and connective powers how to unite and bring into contact all multiplicity. We shall thus see that the essential role of the feminine is not merely subordinate generative work (as is often the case in patriarchal discourses), but, rather, this feminine principle conditions all mediation, therein becoming a necessary and superior condition for the work of the Demiurge in his task of creation. Further, we shall unpack how Nightâs paradigmatic activity establishes the roles of other feminine orders, particularly in such âdaughtersâ as the divine Mixing Bowl and Necessity, who in turn function as the âmothersâ who, with the Demiurge, co-establish the cosmos.

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Women and the Female in Neoplatonism

Series:Â Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, Volume: 30

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004517646

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 02 Aug 2022

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Front Matter

Part 1 The Historical Presence of Women in Neoplatonic Schools

Part 2 The Status of Women in Neoplatonic Socio-political Theory

Part 3 Female Principles in Neoplatonic Metaphysics and Science

Part 4 A Concluding Look at Two Christian Neoplatonists

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Chapter 11 Otherwise Than the Father: Night and the Maternal Causes in Proclusâ Theological Metaphysics

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Women and the Female in Neoplatonism

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Chapter 11 Otherwise Than the Father: Night and the Maternal Causes in Proclusâ Theological Metaphysics