Phi201 - Platonism and Neoplatonism

Phi201 Week2 Lect1

Platonism & Neoplatonism

Overview of the elements of Platonism prominent in Medieval times. Much of this influence is filtered through the work of "Neoplatonists" - platonistically inclined philosophers from late antiquity the greatest of these was Platinus (204/5 - 270). He would have considered himself merely an expander of Plato. But introduced novel elements including some Airstototelian ideas that, weirdly, did nothing to bring the philosophy back down to earth - very extravagant & quasi-religious.

His writings are known from an edition by his pupil Parphyry - divided the writings into 6 lots of 9, giving us the Enneads - 'the nines'.

Almost none of the primary text of Plato or Platinus was available to medieval scholars. None of the Enneads and half of one Platonic dialogue was known.

Influence was felt at second hand - e.g through other writers who discussed platonistic philosophy (e.g the church fathers)

Let's start by looking at Plato's picture of the relation between forms and knowledge.

Forms belong to the realm of Being, they are the things that are most real.

The natural world belongs to the world of Becoming, they are the physical world. This world is vague, shifty and in flux. There's nothing that can really be known about this world, nothing stays true for very long.