Neoplatonism

Although Neoplatonism has long been studied, until recently many had dismissed its complex system of ideas as more mystical than philosophical. Fresh research, however, has provided a new perspective on this highly influential school of thought, which flourished in the pagan world of Greece and Rome through late antiquity. Pauliina Remes’s lucid, comprehensive, and up-to-date introduction reassesses Neoplatonism’s philosophical credentials, from its founding by Plotinus (204–70 CE) through the closure of the Academy in Athens in 529. She explores the teachings of the leading Neoplatonists such as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Simplicius and Damascius, with an emphasis on their shared assumptions about metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical psychology, philosophy of self, as well as ethics and politics. She pursues major developments and differences within the doctrines of the school and situates the movement alongside other intellectual movements of antiquity including classical Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Gnosticism and Christianity. She also considers Neoplatonism’s enduring legacy in the history of philosophical thought, providing a gateway to its ideas for contemporary readers.