This book presents a comprehensive study into Plato's theological doctrines, offering an important re-valuation of the status of Plato's gods and the relation between metaphysics and theology according to Plato. Starting from an examination of Plato's views of religion and the relation between religion and morality, Gerd Van Riel investigates Plato's innovative ways of speaking about the gods. This book is invaluable to readers interested in philosophical theology and intellectual history.
This book presents a comprehensive study into Plato's theological doctrines, offering an important re-valuation of the status of Plato's gods and the relation between metaphysics and theology according to Plato. Starting from an examination of Plato's views of religion and the relation between religion and morality, Gerd Van Riel investigates Plato's innovative ways of speaking about the gods. This book is invaluable to readers interested in philosophical theology and intellectual history.
Gerd Van Riel (1967), full professor at the Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven (Belgium), studied classics and philosophy at the Universities of Leuven and Antwerp. He lectures on ancient philosophy, and also holds a course on 'Fundaments of Philosophy' at the Leuven Faculty of Law. His main research areas are Plato and the Platonic tradition, esp. later Neoplatonism (Proclus, Damascius), and Saint Augustine. Gerd Van Riel's works include a monograph on Pleasure and the Good Life: Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists [This book received a Humanities Award of the Royal Belgian Academy], and the Greek-French annotated edition of Damascius, Commentary on the Philebus. He is the author of several articles on ancient philosophy, and on Neoplatonism in particular. He is editor of Augustiniana. A Journal for the Research on Augustine and Augustinianism.
