Instantaneousness, Time and Eternity: A Comparative Study of Time Concepts between Plato and Pseudo-Dionysius

This paper begins with a comparative study of Instantaneousness (epsilon xi alpha iota phi nu eta zeta) in Plato and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's works, trying to offer a better Chinese translation for this term. In Plato's works, the term denotes both the boundary of time and eternality and the procession of soul into the eternal nous. Plato's usage influenced the later Christian Neoplatonist Pseudo-Dionysius, who used the term differently. The term in PseudoDionysius's works denotes a descendance of beings beyond the soul into the time. The paper argues that these two kinds of usage indicate two different relationships between time and eternality, and two types of God of time, two kinds of relationships between human souls and time.