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John Bussanich

University of New Mexico, Philosophy, Faculty Member

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My research focuses on conceptions of wisdom, philosophy as a way of life, and mystical themes in the Presocratics, Socrates, Plato, and the Neoplatonists. Other research interests include comparative philosophy and philosophy and mysticism in South Asia.
Address: Department of Philosophy
MSC03 2140
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131

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S.P. Ward (Ph.D.)

Irmgard Männlein-Robert

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

William H . F . Altman

Viktor Ilievski

Universtät Wien

Mesa Community College

maria jose martin-velasco

University of Santiago de Compostela

Marco Antonio Santamaría

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

York University

Stephen Halliwell

University of St Andrews

Bryn Mawr College

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Books by John Bussanich

The Bloomsbury Companion to Socrates

The One and its Relation to Intellect in Plotinus

Papers by John Bussanich

Platonic Eschatology

Defining Platonism: Essays in Honor of the 75th Birthday of John M. Dillon, 2017

Plato focuses on death and what comes after it in the great myths that end several dialogues. Rec... more Plato focuses on death and what comes after it in the great myths that end several dialogues. Recent studies of the eschatological myths are guided by the assumption that myths and images, owing to their epistemic inferiority to logos and dialectic, function primarily as metaphorical extensions of the arguments and thus depend on them for their cogency.1 I argue that the most important content in the myths is categorically distinct from the aims and purport of a dialogue's arguments. They are not directed primarily at shaping the beliefs of the uneducated masses, in contrast to the philosopher's abstract discursive knowledge. The supposition that myth is inferior to logos derives in part from the erroneous assump-

Socrates' Religious Experiences

Reincarnation and Salvation in Magna Graecia and Plato

Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academi... more Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

“Rebirth Eschatology in Plato and Plotinus,” pp. 243-288, in Philosophy and Salvation in Greek Religion, ed. Vishwa Adluri, De Gruyter, 2013.

Ethics in Ancient India

Ancient Ethics, ed. J. Hardy and G. Rudebusch, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 2014, pp. 33-53.

The Roots of Platonism and Vedanta

Review Essay: Plotinus on Self: The Philosophy of the “We.” By Pauliina Remes. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Socrates and Religious Experience

Socrates and Religious Experience

A Companion to Socrates, Jan 1, 2006

Plotinus on the Being of the One

New Editions of Iamblichus

Philosophy, Theology, and Magic: Gods and Forms in Iamblichus

Socrates the Mystic

Traditions of platonism: essays in honour of John …, Jan 1, 1999

Mystical Theology and Spiritual Experience in Proclus’ Platonic Theology

Plotinian Mysticism in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective

Review of Peter Kingsley, Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Plotinus' Metaphysics of the One

The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus, Jan 1, 1996

The Bloomsbury Companion to Socrates

The One and its Relation to Intellect in Plotinus

Platonic Eschatology

Defining Platonism: Essays in Honor of the 75th Birthday of John M. Dillon, 2017

Plato focuses on death and what comes after it in the great myths that end several dialogues. Rec... more Plato focuses on death and what comes after it in the great myths that end several dialogues. Recent studies of the eschatological myths are guided by the assumption that myths and images, owing to their epistemic inferiority to logos and dialectic, function primarily as metaphorical extensions of the arguments and thus depend on them for their cogency.1 I argue that the most important content in the myths is categorically distinct from the aims and purport of a dialogue's arguments. They are not directed primarily at shaping the beliefs of the uneducated masses, in contrast to the philosopher's abstract discursive knowledge. The supposition that myth is inferior to logos derives in part from the erroneous assump-

Socrates' Religious Experiences

Reincarnation and Salvation in Magna Graecia and Plato

Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academi... more Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

“Rebirth Eschatology in Plato and Plotinus,” pp. 243-288, in Philosophy and Salvation in Greek Religion, ed. Vishwa Adluri, De Gruyter, 2013.

Ethics in Ancient India

Ancient Ethics, ed. J. Hardy and G. Rudebusch, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 2014, pp. 33-53.

The Roots of Platonism and Vedanta

Review Essay: Plotinus on Self: The Philosophy of the “We.” By Pauliina Remes. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Socrates and Religious Experience

Socrates and Religious Experience

A Companion to Socrates, Jan 1, 2006

Plotinus on the Being of the One

New Editions of Iamblichus

Philosophy, Theology, and Magic: Gods and Forms in Iamblichus

Socrates the Mystic

Traditions of platonism: essays in honour of John …, Jan 1, 1999

Mystical Theology and Spiritual Experience in Proclus’ Platonic Theology

Plotinian Mysticism in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective

Review of Peter Kingsley, Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Plotinus' Metaphysics of the One

The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus, Jan 1, 1996

Mystical Elements In the Thought of Plotinus

Aufstieg und

Eric Voegelin’s Philosophy of Mythology

The Triumph of the Archaic in the Work of Peter Kingsley

My aim today is to offer some reflections on Peter Kingsley's provocative account of Orphic-Pytha... more My aim today is to offer some reflections on Peter Kingsley's provocative account of Orphic-Pythagorean wisdom traditions and their treatment in Plato and later philosophers. His series of books and articles, viz. Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic (APMM 1995), In the Dark Places of Wisdom (DP 1999), and Reality (R 2003) has revived the shamanistic interpretation of Parmenides and Empedocles, revealing with psychological insight and philological precision how their symbolic poetry encodes magical and meditative practices aimed at the transformation of our deepest longings in the search for reality. In dramatic fashion he has stepped forward as a spokesman for these ancient seers, insisting that their philosophical significance lies not in metaphysical and cosmological doctrines but rather in their spiritual practices and experiences, which, he claims, can speak directly across the centuries to produce a felt change in consciousness and healing for modern fractured psyches. Kingsley's work is remarkable both for its sweeping historical judgements and for the radical existential demands it makes on his readers. Since I am not a meditation-teacher nor a practicing shaman, I will focus more on the former than the latter, but his commitment to philosophy as a way of life and his in-your-face approach demands that I ask: does his intensely personal voice accurately represent the great archaic traditions he claims to speak for? Kingsley speaks in paradoxes and riddles, he plays the magician, he's cunning--like his Orphic masters, or so he claims. His most recent book, with the hardly modest title Reality, opens with this theatrical pronouncement: "I had better write these things down before they are lost for another two thousand years." Invoking mētis, the archaic, magical, cunning intelligence he admires, Kingsley aims to shock and outrage scholars, to drive most of them away and, at the same time, to seduce the divinely foolish among us. He recounts a conversation in the Classics Department at UCLA after a talk on Parmenides. A faculty member complained that Kingsley is too dogmatic, that his interpretation is no better than anyone else's.