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Neoplatonism (or Neo-Platonism) is a modern term used to designate a tradition of philosophy that arose in the 3rd century C.E. and persisted until shortly after the closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens in 529 CE by Justinian I. Neoplatonists were heavily influenced both by Plato and by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from Plato.

Collectively, the Neoplatonists formed a continuous tradition of philosophers, which began with Plotinus. One of the characteristic features of Plotinus' system, which was also taken up by subsequent Neoplatonists, is the doctrine of "the One" beyond being. For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is an utterly simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the most adequate names are "the One" or "the Good." The One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist, or to be a being. Rather, the creative principle of all things is beyond being, a notion which is derived from book VI of the Republic,[1] when, in the course of his famous analogy of the Sun, Plato says that the Good is beyond being (ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας) in power and dignity.[2] Even though the Neoplatonists shared in common, in its most general outlines, the cosmological scheme formulated by Plotinus, and even though they were in general exercised by some of the same philosophical questions, they also diverged sharply on many matters. There are multiple ways to categorize the differences among the Neoplatonists according to their differing views, but one way[3] counts three distinct phases in Neoplatonism after Plotinus: the work of his student Porphyry, that of Iamblichus and his school in Calchis, and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the Academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished. Thinkers of this final period include Syrianus, Olympiodorus the Younger, Proclus and Damascius. A distinguishing feature of the Neoplatonism of later thinkers, such as those of Iamblichus and Proclus, is an embrace of magical practices, or theurgy, which they taught promoted the soul's development through a process called henosis.

Neoplatonism has been very influential throughout history. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian and Jewish thinkers. In Muslim lands, Neoplatonic texts were available in Persian and Arabic translations, and notable thinkers such al-Farabi, Avicenna and Moses Maimonides[4] incorporated Neoplatonic elements into their own thinking. Although the revitalization of Neoplationism amongst Italian Renaissance thinkers such as Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola is perhaps more famous, Latin translations of Late Ancient Neoplatonic texts were first available in the Christian West much earlier, in the Middle Ages. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, had direct access to works by Proclus, Simplicius and Dionysius the Areopagite, and he knew about other Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, through secondhand sources.[5] The influence of Neoplatonism also extends into forms of culture beyond philosophy, and well into the modern era, for instance, in Renaissance Aesthetics, and in the work of modernist poets such as W.B. Yeats[6] and T.S. Eliot, to name only several examples.

Origins of the Term Neoplatonism[edit]

The term "Neoplatonism" has a double function as an historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus and his successors from those of the historical Plato. On the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus' interpretation of Plato. In the nearly six centuries from Plato's time to Plotinus', there had been an uninterrupted tradition of interpreting Plato that had begun with Aristotle and the immediate successors of Plato's academy, and continued on through a period of Platonism which is now referred to as Middle Platonism. The term "Neoplatonism" implies that Plotinus' interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors, that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that Neoplatonism constitutes a useful periodization. They claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus' teachings from those of his immediate predecessors.



The most important forerunners of Neoplatonism are the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, and the Neopythagoreans, especially Numenius of Apamea. Philo, a forerunner of Neoplatonism, translated Judaism into terms of Stoic, Platonic and Neopythagorean elements, and held that God is "supra rational," who can be reached only through "ecstasy", and that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge. The earliest Christian philosophers, such as Justin and Athenagoras, who attempted to connect Christianity with Platonism, and the Christian Gnostics of Alexandria, especially Valentinus and the followers of Basilides, also mirrored elements of Neoplatonism, albeit without its rigorous self-consistency.




The One[edit]



Demiurge or Nous[edit]

The original Being initially emanates, or throws out, the nous, which is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things. It is simultaneously both being and thought, idea and ideal world. As image, the nous corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derivative, it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the nous is the highest sphere accessible to the human mind, while also being pure intellect itself. Nous is the most critical component of idealism, Neoplatonism being a pure form of idealism.[9][10] The demiurge (the nous) is the energy, or ergon (does the work), that manifests or organizes the material world into perceivability.

The world-soul[edit]

The image and product of the motionless nous is the world-soul, which, according to Plotinus, is immaterial like the nous. Its relation to the nous is the same as that of the nous to the One. It stands between the nous and the phenomenal world, is permeated and illuminated by the former, but is also in contact with the latter. The nous/spirit is indivisible; the world-soul may preserve its unity and remain in the nous, but at the same time it has the power of uniting with the corporeal world and thus being disintegrated. It therefore occupies an intermediate position. As a single world-soul it belongs in essence and destination to the intelligible world; but it also embraces innumerable individual souls; and these can either allow themselves to be informed by the nous, or turn aside from the nous and choose the phenomenal world and lose themselves in the realm of the senses and the finite.

The phenomenal world[edit]

The soul, as a moving essence, generates the corporeal or phenomenal world. This world ought to be so pervaded by the soul that its various parts should remain in perfect harmony. Plotinus is no dualist in the same sense as sects like the Gnostics; in contrast he admires the beauty and splendor of the world. So long as idea governs matter, or the soul governs the body, the world is fair and good. It is an image - though a shadowy image - of the upper world, and the degrees of better and worse in it are essential to the harmony of the whole. But in the actual phenomenal world unity and harmony are replaced by strife or discord; the result is a conflict, a becoming and vanishing, an illusive existence. And the reason for this state of things is that bodies rest on a substratum of matter. Matter is the indeterminate: that with no qualities. If destitute of form and idea, it is evil; as capable of form it is neutral. Evil here is understood as a parasite, having no-existence of its own (parahypostasis), unavoidable outcome of the Universe, having an "other" necessity, as a harmonizing factor.[11]



Celestial hierarchy[edit]

The religious philosophy of Plotinus for himself personally sufficed, without the aid of the popular religion or worship. Nevertheless he sought for points of support in these. God is certainly in the truest sense nothing but the primeval Being who is revealed in a variety of emanations and manifestations. Plotinus taught the existence of an ineffable and transcendent One, the All, from which emanated the rest of the universe as a sequence of lesser beings. Later Neoplatonic philosophers, especially Iamblichus, added hundreds of intermediate beings such as gods, angels and demons, and other beings as mediators between the One and humanity. The Neoplatonist gods are omni-perfect beings and do not display the usual amoral behaviour associated with their representations in the myths.

The One
God, The Good. Transcendent and ineffable.
The Hypercosmic Gods
Those that make Essence, Life, and Soul
The Demiurge
The creator
The Cosmic Gods




The Neoplatonists believed in the pre-existence, and immortality of the soul.[15][16] The human soul consists of a lower irrational soul and a higher rational soul (mind), both of which can be regarded as different powers of the one soul. It was widely held that the soul possesses a "vehicle",[17] accounting for the human soul's immortality and allowing for its return to the One after death.[18] After bodily death, the soul takes up a level in the afterlife corresponding with the level at which it lived during its earthly life.[19][20] The Neoplatonists believed in the principle of reincarnation. Although the most pure and holy souls would dwell in the highest regions, the impure soul would undergo a purification,[16] before descending again,[21] to be reincarnated into a new body, perhaps into animal form.[22] Plotinus believed that a soul may be reincarnated into another human or even a different sort of animal. Porphyry maintained instead that human souls were only reincarnated into other humans.[23] A soul that has returned to the One, achieves union with the cosmic universal soul,[24] and does not descend again, at least, not in this world period.[21]


The term "Logos" was interpreted variously in neoplatonism. Plotinus refers to Thales[25] in interpreting Logos as the principle of meditation, the interrelationship between the Hypostases[26] (Soul, Spirit (nous) and the 'One'). St. John introduces a relation between 'Logos' and the Son, Christ,[27] while St. Paul calls it 'Son', 'Image' and 'Form'.[27] Victorinus subsequently differentiated the Logos interior to God and the Logos related to the world by creation and salvation.[27]

Augustine re-interpreted Aristotle and Plato in the light of early Christian thought.[28] In his Confessions he describes the Logos as the divine eternal Word.[29] Augustine's Logos "took on flesh" in Christ, in whom the logos was present as in no other man.[30] He influenced Christian thought throughout the Hellenistic world[31] and strongly influenced Early Medieval Christian Philosophy.[31] Perhaps the key subject in this was Logos.

After Plotinus' (around 205–270 A.D.) and his student Porphyry (around 232–309 A.D.) Aristotle's (non-biological) works entered the curriculum of Platonic thought. Porphyry's introduction (Isagoge) to Aristotle's Categoria was important as an introduction to logic, and the study of Aristotle became an introduction to the study of Plato in the late Platonism of Athens and Alexandria. The commentaries of this group seek to harmonise Plato, Aristotle and, often, the Stoa.[32] Some works of neoplatonism were attributed to Plato or Aristotle. De Mundo, for instance, is thought not to be the work of a 'pseudo-Aristotle' though this remains debatable.[33]

Neoplatonist philosophers[edit]

Ammonius Saccas[edit]



Plotinus (Greek: Πλωτῖνος) (ca. 205–270) was a major Greco-Egyptian[34] philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the father of Neoplatonism. Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads. While he was himself influenced by the teachings of classical Greek, Persian and Indian philosophy and Egyptian theology,[35] his metaphysical writings later inspired numerous Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics over the centuries. Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity or distinction; likewise it is beyond all categories of being and non-being. The concept of "being" is derived by us from the objects of human experience, and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects, and therefore is beyond the concepts that we derive from them. The One "cannot be any existing thing", and cannot be merely the sum of all such things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence), but "is prior to all existents".


Porphyry (Greek: Πορφύριος, c. A.D. 233– c. 309) was a Syrian[34] Neoplatonist philosopher. He wrote widely on astrology, religion, philosophy, and musical theory. He produced a biography of his teacher, Plotinus. He is important in the history of mathematics because of his Life of Pythagoras, and his commentary on Euclid's Elements, which Pappus used when he wrote his own commentary.[1] Porphyry is also known as an opponent of Christianity and defender of Paganism; of his Adversus Christianos (Against the Christians) in 15 books, only fragments remain. He famously said, "The gods have proclaimed Christ to have been most pious, but the Christians are a confused and vicious sect."


Iamblichus, also known as Iamblichus Chalcidensis, (ca. 245 - ca. 325, Greek: Ἰάμβλιχος) was a Syrian[34] neoplatonist philosopher who determined the direction taken by later Neoplatonic philosophy, and perhaps western philosophical religions themselves. He is perhaps best known for his compendium on Pythagorean philosophy. In Iamblichus' system the realm of divinities stretched from the original One down to material nature itself, where soul in fact descended into matter and became "embodied" as human beings. The world is thus peopled by a crowd of superhuman beings influencing natural events and possessing and communicating knowledge of the future, and who are all accessible to prayers and offerings. Iamblichus had salvation as his final goal (see henosis). The embodied soul was to return to divinity by performing certain rites, or theurgy, literally, 'divine-working.'



Emperor Julian[edit]

Julian (born c.331–died June 26, 363), was a Roman Emperor (361–363) of the Constantinian dynasty. He was the last pagan Roman Emperor, and tried to reform traditional Pagan worship by unifying Hellenic worship in the Roman empire in the form of Neoplatonism developed by Iamblichus. Julian sought to do this after the legalization of Christianity and its widespread success within the Eastern Roman Empire and to a lesser extent, the Western Roman Empire.


Simplicius of Cilicia (c. 530CE), a pupil of Damascius, is not known as an original thinker, but his remarks are thoughtful and intelligent and his learning is prodigious.[who?] To the student of Greek philosophy his commentaries are invaluable[who?], as they contain many fragments of the older philosophers as well as of his immediate predecessors.

Michael Psellos[edit]

Michael Psellos (1018-1078) a Byzantine monk, writer, philosopher, politician and historian. He wrote many philosophical treatises such as, De omnifaria doctrina. He was quite the thinker, and he wrote most of his philosophy during his time as a court politician at Constantinople in the 1030s and 40's.

Gemistus Pletho[edit]

Gemistus Pletho (born c. 1355–died 1452, Greek: Πλήθων Γεμιστός) remained the preeminent scholar of Neoplatonic philosophy in the late Byzantine Empire. He introduced his understanding and insight into the works of Neoplatonism during the failed attempt to reconcile the East-West schism at the council of Florence. At Florence Pletho met Cosimo de' Medici and influenced the latter's decision to found a new Platonic Academy there. Cosimo subsequently appointed as head Marsilio Ficino, who proceeded to translate all Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other Neoplatonist works into Latin.

Early Christian and Medieval Neoplatonism[edit]


Many other Christians were influenced by Neoplatonism, especially in their identifying the Neoplatonic One, or God, with Jehovah. The most influential of these would be Origen, the pupil of Ammonius Saccas and the fifth-century author known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, (whose works were translated by John Scotus in the 9th century for the west) and proved significant for both the Eastern Orthodox and Western branches of Christianity. Neoplatonism also had links with Gnosticism, which Plotinus rebuked in his ninth tractate of the second Enneads: "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of The Cosmos and The Cosmos Itself to Be Evil" (generally known as "Against The Gnostics").

Due to their belief being grounded in Platonic thought, the Neoplatonists rejected gnosticism's vilification of Plato's demiurge, the creator of the material world or cosmos discussed in the Timaeus. Neoplatonism has been referred to as orthodox Platonic philosophy by scholars like Professor John D. Turner; this reference may be due in part to Plotinus' attempt to refute certain interpretations of Platonic philosophy, through his Enneads. Plotinus believed the followers of gnosticism had corrupted the original teachings of Plato.

Despite the influence this pagan philosophy had on Christianity, Justinian I would hurt later Neoplatonism by ordering the closure of the refounded School of Athens.[36] After the closure, Neoplatonic and or secular philosophical studies continued in publicly funded schools in Alexandria. In the early seventh century, the Neoplatonist Stephanus brought this Alexandrian tradition to Constantinople, where it would remain influential, albeit as a form of secular education.[37] The university maintained an active philosophical tradition of Platonism and Aristotelianism, with the former being the longest unbroken Platonic school, running for close to two millennia until the 15th century[37] In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonist ideas influenced Jewish thinkers, such as the Kabbalist Isaac the Blind, and the Jewish Neoplatonic philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol, who modified it in the light of their own monotheism. Neoplatonist ideas also influenced Islamic and Sufi thinkers such as al Farabi and Avicenna. Neoplatonism ostensibly survived in the Eastern Christian Church as an independent tradition and was reintroduced to the west by Plethon, an avowed pagan and opponent of the Byzantine Church inasmuch as the latter, under Western scholastic influence, relied heavily upon Aristotelian methodology. Plethon's Platonic revival following the Council of Florence (1438–39) largely accounts for the renewed of interest in Platonic philosophy that accompanied the Renaissance.

Islamic Neoplatonism[edit]

"For Muslims, Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus are part of the Islamic tradition in the same manner that Abraham is regarded to be a prophet of Islam."[38] Arabic scholars and philosophers utilized the works of Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and other Neoplatonist philosophers to evaluate, assess, and eventually adapt Neoplatonism to conform to the monotheistic constraints of Islam.[39] Arabic scholars, like earlier Neoplatonic thinkers, read and philosophized the works of Plato, and developed similar questions and conclusions. The translation and interpretation of Islamic Neoplatonists had lasting effects on western philosophers, affecting Descartes' view on the conception of being. Important figures that translated and shaped Islamic Neoplatonism were Avicenna (Ibn Sina), al-Ghazali, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and al-Himsi.


  1. Availability of Neoplatonic texts: Arabic translations and paraphrases of Neoplatonic works were readily available to Muslim scholars greatly due to the availability of the Greek copies, in part because of the Muslims came to rule over some of the more important centers of Greek civilization (Egypt and Syria).

Islamic Neoplatonism differs from traditional Neoplatonism because of its incorporation of Islamic theology, most commonly through the change in definitions of the One and the First Principle. "What changes Neoplatonism is the transcendence of the First Principle.[41]" Muslim philosophers changed the Neoplatonic characteristics of the One into those attributable to God as present in Islamic scripture, notably transferring the First Principle to God. By assigning the First Principle to God they are altering the definition to fit the definition of God determined by scripture. Philosophers described God as free from Platonic forms and having divine omniscience and providence. The notion of the divine Intellect is altered under Islamic Neoplatonism and is once again attributed to God. Plotinus doesn't believe in the idea of intelligent design of the universe by an omnipotent being. Islamic philosophers adapted divine Intellect to reinforce scripture, in that God is a transcendent being, omnipresent and inalterable to the effects of his creation. The translations of the works that extrapolate the tenets of God in Neoplatonism present no major modification from their original Greek sources, showing the doctrinal shift towards monotheism.[42]


The Unity of Being
The Mediator Figure
"The mediation between finite man and the ultimate being."
The Way of Salvation
The Language of Symbolic Allegory
"Mystical texts are often written in the allegorical language of tales."[44]

Renaissance Neoplatonism[edit]

"Of all the students of Greek in Renaissance Italy, the best-known are the Neoplatonists who studied in and around Florence" (Hole). Neoplatonism was not just a revival of Plato's ideas, it is all based on Plotinus' created synthesis, which incorporated the works and teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras and other Greek philosophers. The Renaissance in Italy was the revival of classic antiquity, and this started at the fall of the Byzantine empire, who were considered the "librarians of the world," because of their great collection of classical manuscripts, and the number of humanist scholars that resided in Constantinople (Hole).




The efforts of Ficino and Pico to introduce Neoplatonic and Hermetic doctrines into the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church has recently been evaluated in terms of an attempted "Hermetic Reformation."[45]

Cambridge Platonists[edit]


Later, Thomas Taylor (not a Cambridge Platonist) was the first to translate Plotinus' works into English.[46][47]

Modern Neoplatonism[edit]

In the essay "Inner and Outer Realities: Jean Gebser in a Cultural/Historical Perspective", Integral philosopher Allan Combs claims that ten modern thinkers can be called Neo-Platonists: Goethe, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Coleridge, Emerson, Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, Jean Gebser and the modern theorist Brian Goodwin. He sees these thinkers as participating in a tradition that can be distinguished from the empiricist and materialist Western philosophical traditions.[48]


Some cite American poet Ezra Pound as a Neo-platonist, albeit from a rather Confucian perspective due to his great admiration for Plotinus and his writings on philosophy and religion.[clarification needed] Religiously he described himself in public as a Hellenistic Pagan.[citation needed]

Other notable modern Neoplatonists include Thomas Taylor, "the English Platonist," who wrote extensively on Platonism and translated almost the entire Platonic and Plotinian corpora into English, and the Belgian writer Suzanne Lilar.

Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick identified as a Neoplatonist, and explores related mystical experiences and religious concepts in his theoretical work, compiled in The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick.[citation needed]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Dodds, E.R. "The Parmenides of Plato and the Origin of the Neoplatonic 'One'". The Classical Quarterly, Jul-Oct 1928, vol.22,p.136
  2. ^ Plato, Republic 509b
  3. ^
  5. ^ Wayne Hankey, "Aquinas, Plato, and Neo-Platonism"
  6. ^
  8. ^ Neoplatonism and Gnosticism Negative theology in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism by Curtis L Hancock pg 177
  11. ^ Neoplatonism and Gnosticism pgs 42-45
  12. ^ D. G. Leahy, Faith and Philosophy: The Historical Impact, pages 5-6. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
  13. ^ Enneads VI 9.6
  14. ^ Richard T. Wallis, Jay Bregman, Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, page 173. SUNY Press
  19. ^ Plotinus, iii.4.2
  25. ^ Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Carlos Steel
  29. ^ Confessiones, Augustine, P 130
  31. ^ a b Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Douwe Runia
  32. ^ Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Frans de Haas
  33. ^ De Mundo, Loeb Classical Library, Introductory Note, D.J. Furley
  34. ^ a b c George Sarton (1936). "The Unity and Diversity of the Mediterranean World", Osiris 2, p. 406-463 [429-430].


  46. ^ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry for Plotinus

Further reading[edit]

  • Chiaradonna, Riccardo and Franco Trabattoni (edd.), Physics and Philosophy of Nature in Greek Neoplatonism: Proceedings of the European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop (il Ciocco,Castelvecchio Pascoli, june 22-24, 2006) (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2009) (Philosophia antiqua, 115).

External links[edit]
