Directory of Neoplatonism Resources

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A later form of Platonic philosophy that had its primary development as a school of thought in the Roman Empire from the third to the fifth century AD. Countering dualistic interpretations of Plato's thought, it is a highly monistic version, namely, one that posits a superexistent Source of all being that extends itself into various lower levels of being, with each lower level being a weaker extended expression of the level just above it. Its founder was Plotinus (204-70), a Hellenized Egyptian who at the age of 40 established an academy of philosophy in Rome and taught in it for the next twenty-five years. Some of its basic tenets, however, likely came from his teacher, Ammonius Saccas (185-250), with whom he had studied philosophy in Alexandria for eleven years when he was a young man. The term 'Neoplatonism' itself is of fairly recent origin, going back only to the mid-nineteenth century when German scholars first used it to distinguish the views of the later Greek and Roman Platonists from those of Plato.

Subcategories

• Neoplatonists

Resources in This Category

• Bryn Mawr Classical Review 95.11.03

  http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1995/95.11.03.html
  Bolton, Robert: Person, Soul and Identity. A Neoplatonic Account of the Principle of Personality. Detailed review.

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Neo-Platonism

  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10742b.htm
  Article by William Turner covering this movement's principal figures and later influence.

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Neoplatonism

  http://www.iep.utm.edu/neoplato/
  Article by Edward Moore focusing on Plotinus, Porphyry and Proclus.

• ISNS

  http://www.isns.us/
  The International Society for Neoplatonic Studies is an organization for the study of Neoplatonism in all of its aspects from the ancient world through the Renaissance and into the modern world.

Related Categories

• Home > Society > Philosophy > Movements > Platonism

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