Questions tagged [neoplatonism]
A philosophical school founded by Plotinus in mid 3rd century that mixed Platonic and Aristotelian ideas with Oriental mysticism. Its most distinctive feature was deriving reality from a single transcendent source, "the One". Neoplatonism had a profound influence on medieval Islamic and Christian philosophy and theology.
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Is the pi constant the proof of the Demiurge's existence? [closed]
Consider the following infinite continued fraction for pi:
The pattern is obvious. Can this fraction be the proof of the Demiurge's existence?
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Synthesis of Aristotle and Plato
I would like to know if there are any systematic and comprehensive texts on synthesising Aristotle and Plato (mainly that come from a Neoplatonism stand point since I know this joining of the two ...
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Emanation by the One according to Plotinus
How is Mind (Nous) formed from "the One” according to Plotinus?
What is the mechanism of this phenomenon?
Why is it Nous, and not the Soul or something else, that is the first emanation?
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What did Plato and Plotinus mean by "beyond being?"
The question is exactly what the title says. Plato, in the Republic, famously referred to the Good as "beyond being in power and dignity," and Plotinus later expounded this assertion in his ...
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What is reason, and where does it come from?
It seems odd to me, to reflect that things in the world are the way they are, but not some other way.
Maybe ‘reason’ tells us why things are a certain way.
By structuring thinking, ‘reason’ lets us ...
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Platonism in modern philosophy of physics: Stephen Wolfram and Max Tegmark ideas
Recently, Stephen Wolfram wrote an interesting article about his proposed relationship between maths and physics (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2022/03/the-physicalization-of-metamathematics-and-...
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Does proving a negative aspect prove its positive counterpart?
In Ambrose’s Dē bonō mortis his main proof for why death is not evil, lies in his link between the corporeal body and the soul. In short, he argues that death is not evil, because it causes no harm to ...
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What does Alain Connes think of Tegmark's hypothesis?
The mathematician and mathematical physicist Alain Connes has expressed in many occasions that he is a Platonist and he thinks that mathematics itself does exist in the same level (or even in a "...
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In what realm do mathematics objects exist according to Platonists?
"Intuitionists" believe that mathematics is just a creation of the
human mind. In that sense you can argue that mathematics is invented
by humans. Any mathematical object exists only in our ...
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In which points do Neoplatonic ideas differ from Christianity?
I've been reading some topics about the influence of Neoplatonism in Christianity.
Some topics I read said that, although Neoplatonic ideas influenced Christianity a lot, there are some divergence ...
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What were the theological objections to Plotinus' One?
Dominic O'Meara notes (page 68) that there were
religious criticisms of Plotinus in which it is claimed that the necessity whereby Plotinus' One generates things compares (unfavourably) with the ...
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Are Platonic Forms alive?
Reading Dominic J. O'Meara's Plotinus, I noticed that he seems to be claiming that Plotinus looked at the Soul, Forms and the One as active and in some sense alive.
However, I am trying to get a ...
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Does the concept of a God who is both immanent and transcendent originate with Plotinus?
In discussing the One of Plotinus, Dominic J. O'Meara writes the following (page 46):
Plotinus points to a distinction between elements which exist only as components of a whole (they depend on ...
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Was Hegel a Neoplatonist?
I have started reading a book by Philip Stanfield, Hegel the Consummate Neoplatonist where he claims (page 1):
From a materialist perspective (‘matter’ or objective reality is primary to ...
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How does Plotinus view body going in soul?
Plotinus claimed that soul is not a body nor is it dependent on body. But why is the soul in the body at all and how could soul which is immaterial be in multiple bodies? These questions led Plotinus ...
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