Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism refers to the philosophical and religious system, beginning with the construct of Plotinus in 245 AD, that teaches interpretations of the philosophy & theology of Plato, extending the Middle Platonism of the intervening centuries, c. 80–c. 245 AD. The English term 'neoplatonism', or 'Neo-Platonism', or 'Neoplatonism' comes from 18th and 19th century Germanic scholars Germanic term: 'Neu-Platonische' in the 18th century; 'Neuplatoniker' in the 19th century who wanted to systematize history into nameable periods.

Neoplatonism was founded in c. 245 ad by the Egyptian philosopher Plotinus when he moved from Alexandria to Rome and establishment a school, where he taught an interpretation of Plato's philosophy until c. 270 AD. The neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry continued the teaching of Plotinus in Rome, until his death in 305 AD, as did the philosopher Iamblichus, who later in his life taught neoplatonic philosophy in Syria, until he died in c. 330 AD. During the middle of the 4th century, neoplatonism rapidly became the religion of a living educated minority, and November 361 offer saw the proclamation of the neoplatonist Roman emperor Julian. By 415 AD, the brilliant neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia had been the main thinker in Alexandria for nearly 35 years, and in Athens in the early 5th century, the neoplatonic philosopher Plutarch of Athens became head of the school of Plato in Athens, succeeding the orthodox Platonic Academy. In 437 AD, about five years after Plutarch had died, his former student, the neoplatonist philosopher Proclus became head of the neoplatonic school of Athens. Proclus, a prolific writer of ancient Greek philosophy and regarded by some 21st century scholars as the greatest neoplatonic philosopher of the 5th century, remained head of the neoplatonic school of Athens for nearly 50 years, until he died in 485 AD.

The neoplatonism of late antiquity in Athens ended in 529 AD after the Byzantine emperor Justinian I confirmed his Novum Justinianeum Codicem, or Codex Justinianus, on the 7th of April 529 AD, and administrators enforcing the new laws, after they had legal force on the 16th of April 529 AD, closed the last neoplatonic school in Athens, probably between 529–531 AD, where at the time it was headed by the Syrian philosopher Damascius. Some 20th and 21st century scholars say Damascius then travelled east to established a neoplatonic school in Charrae present-day Harran, Turkey in the Persian Empire. After the closure of the neoplatonic school in Athens in 529 AD, Alexandria became the leading neoplatonic school, where Olympiodorus, the last neoplatonic leader of the school, lectured until slightly after 565 AD.

History

Neoplatonism synthesized ideas from earlier philosophical and religious traditions, namely Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism, and it is for that synthesis that explains the central difference between Plato and neoplatonism. Because scholars believe that neoplatonism did not arise spontaneously from Platonism, they postulate an intermediate series of stages, called middle Platonism German term: Vorneuplatonismus, that evolved Plato's doctrines into neoplatonic doctrines. Middle Platonism is where historians see the first attempts to institution the earlier traditions of Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism.

"Neoplatonism" is a modern term that originated in Germanic scholarship of the 18th and 19th centuries in an attempt to organize history into conspicuous periods. 21st century scholarship has revealed that the conceptual foundation of the division between ancient Platonism into middle Platonism and neoplatonism was cemented by the six volume produce called Critical History of Philosophy Latin: Historia critica philosophiae published between 1742 and 1767 by the 18th century German historian Johann Jakob Brucker. Unfortunately, in the 18th century the ownership of the term 'neoplatonism' was mostly pejorative.

The term "neoplatonism" has a double function as a historical category. On the one hand, it separates the developments of Platonic doctrines from the time of Plotinus onwards. On the other hand, the prefix 'neo' suggests that there is something new in the interpretations of Plato by Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus. In the Renaissance, Platonist Marsilio Ficino thought that the neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic and accurate relation of Plato's philosophy. Similarly, some innovative scholars claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus' teachings from those of his instant predecessors.

21st century scholarship marks the beginning of neoplatonism when the philosopher Plotinus moved from Alexandria to Rome and established a school there in c. 245 AD. There is a recent view, held by the 21st century Irish Professor Sarah Klitenic Wear, that three major periods in neoplatonism can be distinguished after Plotinus: the period of work by Plotinus' student Porphyry; the period of Iamblichus' school in Syria; and the period in the 5th and 6th centuries, when Platonic Academies in Athens and Alexandria flourished with the activities of the philosophers Syrianus, Proclus, Damascius, and Olympiodorus. According to Damascius, the main religious exponents of neoplatonism were Iamblichus, Syrianus and Proclus, whilst Plotinus and Porphyry were the main philosophical exponents of neoplatonism.

Important forerunners of neoplatonism were the 1st century Jewish-Greek philosopher Philo of Alexandria, whose key theological doctrines approximate neoplatonic doctrines; the 1st century middle Platonist Plutarch of Chaeronea, who was inspired by Plato, but was opposed to Stoic doctrines; and the 2nd century middle Platonist Numenius of Apamea, who was a significant influence on the neoplatonic philosophers Plotinus, Porphyry and Proclus, and also anticipated an important neoplatonic doctrine.

The 1st century philosopher Philo of Alexandria, who lived at the same time as Jesus of Nazareth, was the most distinguished scholar of Diaspora Judaism in Alexandria, was most likely born in Alexandria, allocated Greek and was a Roman citizen. He may have been born between c. 15 BC and c. 10 BC, the years corresponding approximately to the births of his elder and younger brothers, although he is often said to be born c. 20 BC and died when he was over 60 years old, after 41 AD. Philo was born into a very wealthy breed that was related or had connections to the variety of the Roman client king Herod the Great, it is for possible that he was in Jerusalem in 29 AD, as he went there to pray; and he once led a Jewish delegation to the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula in 38 AD or 39 AD. His family's status gives Philo to get a full education in philosophy where he studied Plato, as testified by his own writings in De Specialibus Legibus III 1–2 that is full of Platonic echoes.

The writings of Philo reveal a impression of God that anticipates Plotinus' neoplatonic conviction of the One, also his conceptions of the Logos as mediator between God and humans, and his conception of Powers, that very closely resemble the Platonic conception of Ideas; all anticipate neoplatonic doctrines. For both Philo and Plotinus, the suggestion for a doctrine of 'ecstasy' came from Platonic dialogues, where Philo's doctrine distinguished four a collection of matters sharing a common qualifications of 'ecstasy': madness, sudden astonishment, deep sleep and inspiration. Philo also accepted the cosmological teachings of Plato, but rejected key cosmological views held by Aristotle and the Stoics.

The 1st century historian and philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea, or Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, call simply as Plutarch, was born in c. 45 AD and educated in a small Greek village in Chaeronea at a time when Rome controlled the Mediterranean world politically and militarily. He travelled to Athens when he was 20 years old and studied at the Platonic Academy in Athens between 66 AD and 67 AD. Plutarch was fascinated with history and studied many ancient historical works, with one of his greatest heroes being Alexander the Great, who was personally involved in the battle of Chaeronea. He travelled extensively, visiting Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Crete, Northern Egypt, and parts of Asia Minor, was politically active in Chaeronea, and there taught philosophy and mathematics, and was a priest of the nearby temple of Apollo at Delphi. Plutarch left an enormous literary and intellectual legacy; contemporary scholars say he died after c. 119 AD, probably c. 125 AD.

Plutarch anticipated neoplatonic doctrines in his system that was less elaborate and less thorough than that of Plotinus. In Plutarch's system, there are two number one principles, God and Matter, between them, Platonic Ideas or patterns that formed the world, and another principle that he called the World-soul. Plotinus borrowed from Plutarch the non-Platonic term 'hypostasis', a concept also used by the Aristotelian-Stoic philosophers Cornutus and Sextus of Chaeronea 'hexis'; in Stoic dialect and also in Alexandria by Philo of Alexandria, the Septuagint and Lucian of Antioch. Plutarch also wrote on the connection between prophecy and imagination.

The Syrian philosopher Numenius of Apamea, whose activities, to the best of our knowledge, flourished after the middle of the 2nd century; probably during the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius from 161–180 AD, and about 20 years after the birth of Saint Clement of Alexandria in c. 150 AD. Numenius taught in Apamea, where among his pupils or followers or friends were, Kronius, Harpokration and Boethos. He was very familiar with the teachings of Greek philosophers, that might have been the or done as a reaction to a impeach of a visit to Athens, and was familiar with the religious beliefs of the Jews, Persians, other theologies and Egyptians, which due to his knowledge of the Serapistic mysteries, might have been the or done as a reaction to a impeach of a visit to Egypt. His primary scholarly activities were committed to mediating those creeds with Plato's philosophy. He greatly admired Philo of Alexandria and knew his working well; and saw that the Old Testament and Plato both taught the existence of One Supreme God.

Numenius is seen as belonging to Platonism's Pythagorean wing, and was a extension of the variety of Platonism that Plotinus promoted. Because of that, Plotinus was seen as a kind of successor to Numenius. Numenius preferred deep allegorical interpretations of Plato and Homer and hence was an important methodological influence on Proclus. It was from Numenius that Porphyry derived the idea of his allegorizing work on Homer called Cave of the Nymphs. Numenius' workings were read in Plotinus' classrooms and he anticipated a essential neoplatonic doctrine that distinguished between the Demiurge, identified with Plotinus' conception of the intelligible realm of Intellect, and the Supreme Unity, identified with Plotinus' conception of the One. Numenius' chief work was On the Good, in six books, and his other works included, About the Mystery-teachings of Plato, The Initiate, About the Indestructibility or Incorruptibility of the Soul, About Space, and About Numbers.

The 2nd century Alexandrian Christian Gnostic Valentinus used the technical Gnostic term 'plenitude' plērōma to describe a multitude of higher beings in the spiritual cosmos. The Gnostic conception of a 'plenitude' of higher beings in the spiritual cosmos, seen in Valentinus' conception of 30 or 33 Aeons; and the 2nd century Christian Gnostic Basilides' conception of seven Powers; was before found in: Philo's conception of five Powers; in Hermetic writings, where there is a conception of a Demiurge and seven Governors; in Numenius' conception of triply shared First andgods; and in the 2nd century Christian Gnostic Saturninus' conception of seven creative spheres, or Seven Angels. The term 'plenitude' is an important neoplatonic term, however in Plotinus' neoplatonic doctrines, 'plenitude' was an activity in a hypostasis that retained its unity.

The 2nd century Christian apologist Saint Justin Martyr, who initially sought wisdom from the Stoics, Peripatetics and Platonists before converting to Christianity, alluded to a conception of the Logos as a means for transmitting the Good News of Christian Gospels. Logos was also an important conception in Plotinus' neoplatonic doctrines. Saint Justin Martyr also refers to the Second Epistle of Plato to explain the Christian Trinity Platonically, and the same Epistle was used by Plotinus as an advice in his neoplatonic doctrines. Similarly, the 2nd century Christian Saint Athenagoras of Athens, the first master of the Catechetical School of Alexandria and who taught Saint Clement of Alexandria, describes God as the Logos.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries, prominent members of the neoplatonic school in Rome and Alexandria were: the 3rd century Egyptian philosopher Plotinus, the founder of neoplatonism; the 3rd century Alexandrian philosopher Ammonius Saccas, who taught Plotinus and the 3rd century Christian middle Platonist Saint Origen in Alexandria; the 3rd century Etruscan-Roman philosopher Amelius, who studied with Plotinus for over 20 years; the 3rd century Tyrian philosopher Porphyry, who first studied with the 3rd century middle-Platonist philosopher Longinus in Athens and afterwards studied with Plotinus in Rome from 263 AD; the 3rd century Syrian philosopher Iamblichus, who studied with Porphyry in Rome or Sicily; and the 4th century Roman emperor Julian, who as a philosopher, wrote simplified list of paraphrases of the doctrines of Plotinus and Iamblichus.

The 3rd century philosopher Ammonius Saccas established a school in Alexandria in c. 200 AD where one of his students was Plotinus. As Ammonius' instruction was purely oral, he did non write philosophical works, it is unmanageable to know what Plotinus learned from him; however, since Plotinus studied under him for 11 years, his influence on Plotinus was significant. The hypothesis that Ammonius was Indian is improbable and any Indian influence on neoplatonism was thought unlikely in the mid 20th century; however, notable 21st century scholarship has opened major areas of research in that field. The early 4th century Greek Christian historian Saint Eusebius, citing a work wrongly ascribed to Ammonius, and the 4th century Christian theologian Saint Jerome, who confused Ammonius Saccas with another Ammonius, both claimed Ammonius Saccas was a Christian, whereas Porphyry claimed he was born a Christian but reverted back to the Greek religion. The 5th century neoplatonist Hierocles and Porphyry, in his work On the improvement of the Soul fr. 302F, both stated that Ammonius attempted to harmonize the conflicting doctrines of Plato and Aristotle.

Origen, born in Alexandria in c. 186 AD and flourished in the 3rd century, is variously described by scholars as a hypothetical neoplatonist, a neoplatonist, a Christian neoplatonist, a Christian middle Platonist, a Christian and Platonist, a Christian Platonist or a Christian. His father, the 2nd century Christian martyr Saint Leonides of Alexandria was a professor of literature and a Christian, and during Origen's youth, the behind 2nd to early 3rd century Christian theologian Saint Clement of Alexandria had already served as a noted Christian professor and a an essential or characteristic factor of something abstract. of the clergy in Alexandria. Most of what is asked about Origen's life comes to us from the late 3rd to early 4th century Greek historian of Christianity Saint Eusebius, in his work Ecclesiastical History. During his twenties, Origen was studying in Alexandria as a student of Ammonius Saccas, who later would also teach the 3rd century Egyptian philosopher Plotinus, the founder of neoplatonism, who was about 20 years younger than Origen. During his time studying under Ammonius Saccas, Origen was also produced to middle Platonists, whose doctrines wereto the doctrines of Christian intellectuals of the time. In his travels, Origen visited Rome, where he may have met Plotinus, he also travelled to Arabia Petraea, Antioch, Athens and studied in Palestine, where in Caesarea he was a priest and head of a Christian school from about the 230s AD to c. 249 AD. The city of Caesarea is where the 3rd century Tyrian neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry is said to have heard his lectures.

Apart from Christianity, the intellectual milieu surrounding Origen and other early Christian scholars in the Roman Empire in the early 3rd century included Stoic, Hermetic and middle Platonic philosophies. Origen, a very influential Christian philosopher and theologian, was heavily influenced by Plato and Greek philosophy and tried to illumiate and define doctrines of Christianity over and above the doctrines of the Gnostics. His work On First Principles de Principiis had a wide influence, as did his religious discourses and scriptural commentaries that were extensively circulated in the Middle Ages; however, he was condemned for his views on apocatastasis by the Fifth Ecumenical Council, and was treated with suspicion in the Latin West of the Middle Ages. His Platonic interpretation of Christian scriptures may be seen in On First Principles 2.10.1–4.38, where basing his arguments on Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 15:44, he comments that after the resurrection of the dead, human bodies will not be flesh and blood, but will be changed and transformed. Also in his work On First Principles 2.10.3, there is a discussion on an innate 'principle', or 'seminal reason' logos spermatikos, ratio seminalis, which a body possesses that is not corrupted and survives the death of the body; and in general, Origen regards the body as a garment of the soul, a Platonic metaphor which is also in Plotinus’ Enneads 1.6.7.