Select Works, Section 81 (part 2)

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The author questions how The Good can have a contrary if It transcends all existence and has no quality, employing negative theology.

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

The text describes the Absolute Good as having no quality and transcending existence, implying undivided simplicity.

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

The text distinguishes between the perfect divine order/heaven and the deficient mortal nature/earth, implying a hierarchical structure.

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

[auto] The passage explicitly discusses the necessary existence of evil as a contrary to good and contrasts the divine order with mortal disorder.

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

[auto] The text explicitly defines Evil as vice, falsity, and non-existence opposed to the Essence of Good, aligning with the privation theory.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] The passage describes aligning human life with the divine order and fleeing vice to restore harmony with the Good.

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

[auto] The text redefines the 'flight' from earth as an internal moral ascent achieved through justice, piety, and philosophy rather than physical departure.