Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism
"God is not external to anyone, but is present with all things, though they are ignorant that he is so."
Basic Information
Aliases	New Platonism Later Platonism True Platonism (by Neoplatonists) Platonic Mysticism Nondual Platonism Neoplaton-Mysticism
Alignments	Aesthetics   Mainstream Philosophy   Metaphysics  Physics
Greatest achievement	Influence on Art and Literature Influence on Christianity Influence on Renaissance Science
Collectives	European Philosophy
Philosophical Influences
Influenced by	Aristotelianism Dialectics Middle Platonism Mysticism Neopythagoreanism Pandeism Platonism Priority Monism
Influenced	Augustinianism Behmenism Bergsonism Church Fathers Classical Theism Eriugenaism Fichtean Idealism Hegelianism Islamic Neoplatonism Lutheranism Magnaura School Mystical Theology Theosophy Vitalism
Preceded	Middle Platonism
Succeeded	Augustinianism Renaissance Humanism
Philosophical Information
Year	3rd century
Region of origin	Roman Empire
Foundation	Ammonius Saccas (175-242), Roman Empire Plotinus (204-270), Roman Empire
Notable Theorists	Greece Ammonius Saccas (175-242), Roman Empire Plotinus (204-270), Roman Empire Porphyry (234-305), Roman Empire Iamblichus (245-325), Roman Empire Theodorus of Asine (3rd-4th century), Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire Aedesius (?-355) Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire Themistius (317–388), Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire Theon of Alexandria (335-405), Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire Hypatia (?-415), Byzantine Empire Syrianus (?-417), Byzantine Empire Proclus Lycius (412-485), Byzantine Empire Aedesia (5th century), Byzantine Empire Zenodotus (5th century), Byzantine Empire Pseudo-Dionysius (5th-6th century), Byzantine Empire Aeneas of Gaza (?-518), Byzantine Empire Michael Psellos (1018―1078), Byzantine Empire Europe Azriel of Gerona (1160-1238), Spain Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), Holy Roman Empire Marsilio Ficino (1433―1499), Italy Jakob Böhme (1575―1624), Holy Roman Empire Other Countries al-Kindi (801-873), Abbasid Caliphate
Notable ideas	Henosis The Intellect The One The Soul
Variations
Sub-Philosophies	Ammoniusianism Aristotelianism Middle Platonism Paganism Platonism Socratism Vedanta Plotinism Aphrodisianism Ammoniusianism Aristotelianism Athenian Stoicism Empedocleanism Heraclitianism Idealist Monism Mysticism Neopythagoreanism Numenianism Platonism
Schools of Thought	Alexandrian School Greco-Roman Religion Hellenistic Judaism Jewish Neoplatonism Neopythagoreanism Origenism Renaissance Neoplatonism Renaissance Humanism
Regional Variants	Brethreneanism Esotericism Gnosticism Hermeticism Islam Mu'tazilism Sufism Cambridge Platonism Baconianism Hobbesianism Kabbalah Laudianism Mysticism Puritanism Rationalism Spinozism Conwayism Anti-Cartesianism Monism Quakerism Rationalism Cudworthism Anglicanism Atomism Henry Moreanism Cartesianism Mechanism Christian Neoplatonism Apophatic Theology Asceticism Christianity Christian Mysticism Classical Theism Logos Stoicism Islamic Neoplatonism Aristotelianism Islam Islamic Mysticism (Some) Jewish Neoplatonism wip
Personal Tendencies	Alfarabism Classical Theism Eudaimonism Platonism Sufism Virtue Ethics Asclepigenianism WIP Boethianism Augustinianism Christianity Ciceronianism Mathematical Realism Plotinism Trinitarianism Damasciusianism wip Davidianism WIP Dionysian Mysticism Apophatic Theology Cappadocian Fathers Christian Mysticism Classical Theism Origenism Philoism Plotinism Hypatianism/Mouseion School Ammoniusianism Aristotelianism Feminism Platonism Plotinism Iamblichusism Mathematical Realism Numerology Plotinism Pythagoreanism Julianism Greco-Roman Religion Anti-Christianity Mysticism Pythagoreanism Platonism Macrobiusism WIP Olympiodorusianism Paganism Alexandrian School Plethonianism Greco-Roman Religion Magnaura School Plotinism wip Porphyrianism Plotinism wip Proclusism wip Simpliciusism Ammoniusianism Damasciusianism Paganism Syrianuseanism wip
Character Information
Book	Confessions Enneads Isagoge On the Divine Names Theurgy or On the Mysteries The Elements of Theology The Life of Plotinus The Platonic Theology
Likes	The One The First The God The Soul Using the article the
Dislikes	Creationism

Neoplatonism is a form of Platonism, it started in the 2nd century and officially ended around the 6th century and has had numerous impacts on later philosophy.

It started with Plotinus' teacher, Ammonius Saccas, but Plotinus is really the first Neoplatonist. His most important idea is that of the One. Cosmologically, it started with the One, then emanated the nous or in english the Divine Intellect. The nous contemplates the One and this emanates the soul.

Beliefs

The One

Neoplatonism is a form of Mysticism. Soul in Neoplatonism has Highest Origin coming ultimately directly from the One. In Neoplatonism Universe may be divided in two "worlds" or rather just realities as everything is part of the One and thus Universe. First, being phenomenal world, being an unending emanations of the One, meanwhile second, invisible world, posseses a very essence of the One, an eternal, perfect, essence of everything, ultimate reality. The One in Neoplatonism is the first principle, the God. Which is source of all Universe and thus, of everything in existance. Basically speaking, everything is emanations of God ultimately in one way or another while also possesing their own unique nature and soul. Neoplatonism doesn't believes evil is a separate force, but rather, lack of goodness, thus, evil is rather an false ego, corruption to the One's rather than separate force. Neoplatonists also are very distinct from most religious/philosophical groups, believing unity with God, human happiness as in inner-peace and human perfection can be achieved in this world, here and now, by means of deeper philosophy, mysticism and intuition. Ultimately, the totality of Universe and everything, including people, nature etc. will be restored and return to the One as it once was.

Absolute Consciousness

According to Neoplatonism, the outer activity and effect of the First (the divine principle) is referred to as nous, commonly translated as "Intellect" but possibly better understood as pure and absolute "Consciousness." Neoplatonists believed that Consciousness is not an emergent property of material constituents but the initial effect of the One's activity. It is considered the highest form of reality, a pre-embodied power of cognition.

Consciousness is seen as the second "Hypostasis," denoting a distinct substantial being or realm of reality. It is the derivative outer activity of the first principle. The term "Hypostasis" can also be applied to the One as the "first hypostasis," with the connotation of subordination receding into the background. The inner activity of Consciousness is its inherent task to understand, which involves the cognition of causes. Consciousness turns towards its origin, the First, in order to comprehend the pre-condition of its own existence. This act of turning back towards the First gives rise to duality and the emergence of categories such as identity, difference, greater and smaller, number, change, and rest. The ideal world of Platonic forms and ideas comes into being as Consciousness strives to understand itself.

Neoplatonic metaphysics rejects crude analogies of craftsmen creating products through technical operations. In the realm of Consciousness, the activity is singular yet encompasses multiplicity within unity. The Neoplatonists argued that the ideal world of forms and ideas arises effortlessly from the identity of thought and its objects. In this way, the inner active life of Consciousness produces the further outer effect known as the Soul.

The Soul

According to Neoplatonism, different species can be explained by the presence of eternal Forms of natural kinds in the realm of Consciousness. These Forms gradually emerge in the world through an evolutionary organic process. Neoplatonists believed that nothing can come into existence in the physical world without prefiguration in the intelligible realm. The Neoplatonic Forms are not mere schemata or blueprints but conscious entities teeming with life. They dynamically interrelate to form a living noetic cosmos. The rich inner life of these Forms, the activity of thoughts, is responsible for the manifestation of images in space and time, composing the physical universe.

Neoplatonists proposed that the link between Consciousness and the material world is the phenomenon of Soul (psychê). Soul effortlessly emerges from the inner activity of Consciousness, similar to how Consciousness emerged from the First. Soul facilitates the manifestation of form in matter and is central to Neoplatonism.

Consciousness is just one psychic activity among others within the realm of the psychic, which encompasses a continuum from higher processes of knowing to rudimentary forms of life. The Neoplatonists viewed the universe as a living being, with Soul being the outer aspect of the inner activity of Consciousness. Soul looks back at its cause, the eternal forms in Consciousness, to understand itself and carries forward images of these forms into the lower realm of Being, giving birth to the universe and the biosphere. The world we experience is the outer effect of the activity and life of Consciousness, mediated by Soul. The precise ontological status of Soul as another hypostasis is somewhat undetermined. Soul is the process of expressing the intelligible world in the form of sensible natural living beings and their lives.

Neoplatonists make a distinction between Soul and Nature (phusis), representing a hierarchical separation of higher and lower psychical functions. Nature encompasses the essence of each natural being, the entirety of the natural world, and the lower aspect of conscious life that beholds aspects of the intelligible world and brings them forth through silent contemplation. According to Neoplatonism, every aspect of the natural world, even seemingly insignificant matter, possesses an eternal and divine aspect. The material world is seen as essentially good, beautiful, and worthy of reverence, reflecting cosmic providence and divine power.

Religion

It's important to note that pagan Neoplatonists did not hold a Creationist view. They believed that the universe's emergence from the divine principle was an eternal process, continuously sustaining the world. This perspective became a topic of debate when Neoplatonism was adapted into the creeds of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

Unlike ancient theologians, Neoplatonists did not believe in a direct and incomprehensible creation of the universe by the deity. Their refined view proposed that reality emerged from the First in coherent stages, with each stage serving as the creative principle of the next. This emanationist cosmology was based on the observation that every activity in the world has both an inner and outer aspect. For instance, the inner activity of the sun (nuclear fusion) has the outer effect of heat and light. This understanding applied to various phenomena such as trees bearing fruit or human thoughts expressed in speech and actions. The outer effects were seen as intimately connected to the inner activities and were not random occurrences.

Ethics

While Neoplatonic ethics recognizes the value of cardinal virtues such as justice, prudence, temperance, and courage, their main function is to purify and prepare us for a more significant and personal relationship with divine Consciousness and the ultimate first principle. Thus, Neoplatonic moral precepts primarily concern the individual, aiming not for mundane fulfillment within human limits but for eudaimonia in its most expansive sense: deification. The path to salvation, therefore, lies in leading a philosophic life, a sincere and challenging intellectual pursuit to reunite with the One, and transcend bodily concerns.

Variants

Islamic Neoplatonism

Islamic Neoplatonism is a philosophy combining the themes of Islam and Neoplatonism. One of the main representatives are Al-Farabi and al-Kindi, which they are called as "Fathers of Islamic Philosophy". Also there is Ibn Sina "Avicenna", also known as the "Father of Modern Medicine" and strongly influenced Islamic philosophy.

Alfarabism

Alfarabism is a philosophy of Islamic philosopher Al-Farabi.

Relationships

Fíloi

• Plotinism - The Father.
• Platonism - The Teacher.

Gnorimíes

• Aristotelianism - The Bro.
• Stoicism - The Virtuist.
• Gnosticism - The Simp.
• Christianity - The Man-Worshipper.

Echthroí

• Epicureanism - The Depraved.

Further Information

Wikipedia

• Neoplatonism
• Platonism in Islamic philosophy

Theorists

• Cambridge Platonists

Reading

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Neoplatonism
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Neoplatonism