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Iamblichus, the Exhortation to Philosophy: Including the Letters of Iamblichus and Proclus' Commentary on the Chaldean Oracles

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Iamblichus of Chalcis was a fourth century neoplatonic philosopher much victimized by the lack of historical perspective in our contemporary philosophical mainstream. For over a millenium, his works were considered an integral part of the fulfillment the platonic genius in its postmortem life as neoplatonism. In that period of time (over half the total life of western philosophical speculation, as it happens) that amounted to his being considered (in association with others) a superlative representative of the discipline at large.

In this work, Iamblichus is the vertiable image of later neoplatonism (noted for its synthesis of all previous philosophical schools). Writing a so-called "pythagorean" exhortation to the philosophical life, he weaves stoic, platonic, aristotelian, and magical elements together into an integrated description and defense of the philosophical life as the spiritual ascesis that alone will reunite the soul to its source. However successful or unsuccessful his project, the Exhortation is a fine introduction to neoplatonism. Required reading of this text would go a long way to reform the current historical arrogance of analytical philosophers.

In this short volume, we have a very compelling didactic work, the Exhortation to Philosophy, which was penned by a late third/early fourth century philosopher/magus, known by fame as Iamblichus of Calcis. This esoteric divine was instrumental in the transmission of Platonic and Pythagoric doctrines, with his most notable contributions being the advancement of mathematical ideas in philosophy, the establishment of a school-room curriculum for later platonic thinkers, and the introduction of theurgy and eastern mysticism to the philosophic circles of his time [Oxford Classical Dic. Iamblichus.]; and his insightful array of Aristotelian and Platonic commentaries have also been regarded by some as his finest intellectual feat [see Dillon and Gerson, N-Platonic Readings]. It was commonplace in Iamblichus' day for ecclesiastics to compose large, scathing pedagogical works, which execrated and condemned the pagan tradition he loved: so Iamblichus promptly followed suit; but without making an overt assault upon the Christian faith. Therefore, in the Exhortation, we find elements of a subtle Hellenistic program of evangelization aimed at winning souls over to the cause of Philosophy. The result is an elegant compendium of Pythagorean and Platonic dogmas, which together provide the basis for a set of practical and moral instructions that purport to purify the soul/intellect and prepare it for the divine and theoretical sciences, which alone form the medium for the soul's unification with the highest Good at the summit of Being. It will be interesting to note that a generation or two later, we find these principles entirely exemplified in the emperor Julian, who was the epitome of Late-Roman pagan piety and perhaps the last scion in a line of Hellenistic-minded potentates reaching back to Alexander of Macedon. Overall, we find the Exhortation to be animated with the impassioned convictions of a visionary, a sage, and philosophic doctrinaire, whose magnanimity and concern for the individual soul is utterly noble and unselfish. The tract will be very useful for anyone seeking an introduction to Neoplatonism; it is also a good pre-requisite to the study of the Dialogues of Plato. Also included in the volume are Iamblichus' urbane Epistles on Fate, Temperance, Wisdom, and Truth, the beautiful and proverbial Golden Verses of Pythagoras, and the indispensable remnants of Proclus' Commentary on the Chaldean Oracles. Acclaim must be given to Phanes Press for publishing this work at a congenial price, and Thomas M. Johnson, Joscelyn Godwin, and Stephen Nueville all deserve a hearty debt of gratitude for their efforts.