Thomas Gallus, Jean-Luc Marion and the reception of Dionysian Neoplatonism

• Main Author: Lawell, Declan Anthony
• Published: Queen's University Belfast 2008
• Subjects: 100
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491711

This thesis is primarily concerned with presenting the philosophical thought of Thomas Gallus (d. 1246). It is thus a contribution to the study of medieval philosophy. Proof is offered for Gallus's authorship of a set of Glosses on the Celestial Hierarchy contained in the Parisian manuscript, Bibliotheque Mazarine, MS 715. Two complete texts of Thomas Gallus (Qualiter vita prelatorum and Spectacula contemplationis) are edited and presented for the first time, as well as many portions of the unedited Explanatio. From these texts, a portrait of Gallus's philosophical views is depicted. On the basis of this presentation, the thesis then seeks to compare Gallus's thought (from the standpoint of the metaphysics of being, with supplementary reference to Thomas Aquinas) with that of Jean-Luc Marion (from the viewpoint of a phenomenology of giving). In particular, the thesis focuses on how the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius have been received by these respectively pre-modem and postmodern figures. The question guiding this comparison is: Can either of these two modes of discourse allow philosophy the possibility to investigate the Other, where in this thesis the Other is considered under the name of God? Or does deconstruction (represented by the works of Jacques Derrida) prevent philosophy from having any access to the Other?