on the border of phenomenology and theologyclaiming that “Dionysius follows Christ in saying: ‘the Good’ is God’s
main name.”^35
It would be a misunderstanding to see in Marion’s passionate
judgment upon Thomas Aquinas a position taken up in favor of
Platonic tradition. That Marion is particularly attracted by the thought
of Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita is a fact established, above all doubt, since
the publication of L’idole et la distance.^36 But it is by no means the
Platonism of this author that fascinates him. Marion’s standpoint can
only be understood if it is noted that he discovers within the
controversy over the divine names “the Being” and “the Good”
another controversy, that over Being and Love. Indeed, we can also
find in Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita’s work “On the Divine Names” some
remarks on the relationship between Love and the Good. We are told:
“This very Good is celebrated by the authors of the Holy Scriptures
also as beautiful and as Beauty, as Love [ἀγάπη] and as loveable [ἀγαπητóν]
[... ].”^37 Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita adds that this Good proceeds from
itself and it is “charmed by Goodness, by Love and the amorous” [οἷον
ἀγαθότητι καὶ ἀγαπήσει καὶ ἔρωτι θέλγεται].^38 It is because of these ideas
that, in his debate with Thomas Aquinas, Marion relies upon
Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita. Through the formula “God without Being
[Dieu sans l’être], he means nothing other than the God of Love, in the
Dionysian sense, which is also that of the epistle of John (1 John 4.8:
“ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν”).
Marion says: “It is solely love that does not need to be.”^39 We may
interpret this paradoxical assertion, by looking back, once again, at the
Platonic tradition. It is by no means an accident that Love [ἀγάπη] and
the amorous [ἔρως] are attributed by Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita to the
- Bonaventura,. Bonaventura, Itinerarium mentis in Deum, V 2; German translation: Pilgerbuch
des Geistes zu Gott, trans. J. Kaup and Ph. Böhner, Werli. W.: Franziskus-Druckerei,
1932, 60. - See Jean-Luc Marion,. See Jean-Luc Marion, L’idole et la distance, Paris: Grasset & Fasquelle, 1977,
especially 177–243. - Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita,. Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita, De divinis nominibus, IV 7, 701 C; German transla-
tion: 65. - Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita,. Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita, De divinis nominibus, IV 13, 712 B; German transla-
tion: 75. - Marion,. Marion, Dieu sans l’être, 195.