The Philosophy Of Plotinus: The Gifford Lectures At St. Andrews, 1917-1918

by William Ralph Inge

History of the Gifford Lectures The educator and historian Jacques Barzun described the Gifford Lectures as virtuoso performances and the highest honor in a philosopher's career. For over a hundred years the Gifford Lecture series has been one of the foremost lecture series dealing with religion, science and philosophy. In his 1885 will the jurist Adam Lord Gifford, convinced that true, felt knowledge of God when acted upon generated human well-being and progress, bequeathed £80,000 to the four Scottish universities (Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and St. Andrews) for the establishment of a series of lectures dealing with the topic of natural religion. In dealing with their particular area of interest and expertise, lecturers are to discuss natural theology as a science, that is, without reference to or reliance upon any supposed special exceptional or so-called miraculous revelation. The lectures began in 1888 and, with the exception of the years during World War II, 1942-1945, have been delivered continuously since that time. Presenters were to be appointed for a period of two years and could be reappointed for two additional periods of two years each, but for no more than six years in a given city. In this manner the subject was to be examined and promoted by different minds.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Sir William Ralph Inge was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. After taking a double first in Classics, he became a tutor at Hertford College, Oxford, and was made a deacon in the Church of England in 1888. After a time as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, Inge was elected Dean of St. Paul's cathedral in 1911 by Asquith, a position he held until 1934.

During his life, Inge was President of the Aristotelian society, a columnist for the Evening Standard, a fellow of the British Academy, and a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. He received honorary doctorates from Oxford, Aberdeen, Durham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews. Inge received honorary fellowships from King's and Jesus Colleges, Cambridge, and Hertford College, Oxford.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinarily valuable book (or books as it comes in two volumes). It is probably not now in print, but well worth seeking for a second hand copy. Inge presents the vitally important, but not always easy to grasp, philosophy of the great Neoplatonist, Plotinus. He organises his ideas into themes which he covered in different lectures given in the early part of last century.

Themes include: The World of Sense, The Soul, The Absolute, The Immortality of the Soul,The Spiritual World.

[Phil Calandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author outlines the important tenets of the philosophy of Plotinus. Plotinus is generally considered a great philosopher and mystic of the third century. He believed that the spiritual world is the only true world and the reality of soul, and the phenomenal world are derivatives of it. This is an extremely difficult book which is more geared to those trained in classic or ancient philosophy