Abstract: In this paper, I examine the Neoplatonic conception of reality as a layered structure, focusing on the thought of Damascius and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. I argue that the two, somehow parallel, structures developed by these thinkers are not objective patterns rigidly imposed on reality but rather dynamic and circular structures that have the inaccessible principle as their ultimate goal. However, from an epistemological point of view, they are governed by the centrality of the human soul, which functions both as an explaining and an explained level of reality. Nevertheless, despite their resemblance, the two perspectives exhibit different ways of understanding the inaccessibility of the principle, the role of the soul within reality, and the purpose of this layered reality for the soul's ascent toward the principle. For Damascius, the levels of reality approximate the principle, yet they gradually detach from it and become increasingly distant. The soul reflects all levels of reality and is capable of traversing them all in its own cognitive manner until it reaches its inner, ineffable sanctuary. For Dionysius, reality is a self-developing structure through which God manifests and reveals his presence in a hierarchical way. Upon receiving hierarchical initiation, the soul is progressively divinized, imitates God, and actively participates in the very process of divine transmission.
Marilena Vlad (Sat,) studied this question.
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