Neoplatonism

Plotinus synthesised Platonic metaphysics into a grand mystical hierarchy: from the ineffable One, Intellect and Soul emanate downward, with matter at the lowest level. Philosophy becomes a spiritual ascent — the soul's return to its divine origin. Neoplatonism profoundly shaped early Christian theology and Islamic philosophy, bridging ancient Greece to the medieval world.

Core Ideas

The One: the ultimate, ineffable source beyond being and thought

Emanation: Intellect and Soul flow necessarily from the One like light from the sun

The soul can ascend through contemplation to mystical union with the One

Matter is not evil but the lowest degree of being — the absence of form

Received From

← Stoicism ← Platonic Philosophy

Passed Forward

Scholasticism →

Philosophers