Neoplatonism

Also known as Neo-Platonism

Neoplatonism, also called late platonism, is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of distinct ideas based on a form of Platonism as much as a series of Platonic thinkers coming primarily from a certain ancient historical period. Among the common ideas it maintains is monism, the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

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Neoplatonism is a form of ancient Greek philosophy that developed in the 3rd century AD, built on the ideas of Plato but adapted to new historical circumstances and religious thinking of that era. It's important because it represents a major school of thought whose thinkers shared core beliefs, especially the idea that all of reality ultimately comes from a single unified source called "the One."

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Image: Roman sarcophagus of a reader identified to Plotinus and disciples.jpg

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Commons category: Neoplatonism
inception: 0245-00-00
end time: 0529-00-00

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Article

35 sections

Contents

Origins of the term
Origins and history of classical Neoplatonism
Hellenism
Ammonius Saccas
Plotinus
Porphyry
Iamblichus
Academies
Hypatia
Proclus
The One
Emanations
Demiurge or ''nous''
World-soul
Phenomenal world
Celestial hierarchy
Evil
Return to the One
Influence
Early Christianity
Augustine
Origen and Pseudo-Dionysius
Gnosticism
Byzantine education
Islamic Neoplatonism
Jewish thought
Medieval Christian Thought
Western Renaissance
Cambridge Platonists (17th century)
Modern Neoplatonism
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Neoplatonism began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus ( – 271) and stretched to the sixth century. After Plotinus there were three distinct periods in the history of Neoplatonism: the work of his student Porphyry (third to early fourth century); that of Iamblichus (third to fourth century); and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished.