Damascius Quotes on God

Damascius (c. 458 – c. 538), the last head of the Athenian Academy at the time of its closure by Justinian in 529, gave late-antique Neoplatonism its most uncompromising apophatic theology in the Difficulties and Solutions concerning First Principles (Peri Archōn). The framework defends a principle beyond the Plotinian One — an utterly ineffable that cannot even be coherently named as ineffable without falling back into the conceptual discourse it transcends — and the corresponding long catalogue of aporiai presses the case that every positive determination of the highest principle must be systematically retracted by the philosophical inquirer who has truly understood what is at stake. Damascius's late dialogue with his pupil Simplicius extends the framework into the philosophical context of the post-Justinian exile.