Neoplatonism, << nee oh PLAY tuh nihz uhm, >> was a leading school of philosophy from the A.D. 200’s to the 500’s. Neoplatonism, which means New Platonism, developed from the ideas of the Greek philosopher Plato. It also absorbed elements of Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic thought. Pythagoras, Aristotle, and the Stoics were other ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. Plotinus, who may have been born in Egypt, founded Neoplatonism. Plotinus spent his later life teaching in Rome. His followers Porphyry and Proclus were other Neoplatonists.
The Neoplatonists developed their philosophy from Plato’s theory of forms. According to this theory, all observable things are imperfect copies of forms, which are these things’ perfect essence (true substance). Knowledge comes from mentally grasping the essential form of a thing, rather than observing its incidental qualities with the senses. Plotinus went beyond this theory to divide Plato’s forms into various levels of reality. Each level depends for its reality on the levels above it.
Rising above all reality is The One, which is in itself unknowable. One cannot even say that The One is, because The One is beyond being. But The One expands or “overflows” into the levels beneath it, as light shines through darkness, becoming dimmer farther from its source.
The highest level of reality is Intellect, in which forms exist as ideas beyond time and space. The next level, which is dimmer and less real, is Soul. Next is Nature, which is the dark area of material bodies. Beneath these levels is Matter, which Plotinus describes as “not-being” and as the principle of evil. We inhabit the lower levels but yearn to turn upward and return to the higher ones. Our souls can leave our bodies and “travel” to the level of Intellect, where forms reside as ideas in the divine mind.
The Neoplatonists believed that the purpose of philosophy was to help people escape from their attachment to their bodies and physical environment. They believed that people achieved immortality by finding their true place in the world of forms.
Neoplatonism was an important philosophical movement. Plotinus influenced Saint Augustine, an early leader of the Christian church, in developing his principles of Christian theology. Theology is the study of God or religion. Proclus’s views helped shape Christian negative theology, which points out the limits of human ability to understand a supreme being. Neoplatonist thought influenced Near Eastern philosophy as early as the A.D. 400’s. The Neoplatonic emphasis on spiritual rather than physical beauty was important to the idea of platonic (nonromantic) love during the Renaissance.
