Influence of Neoplatonism
When Plotinus and other philosophers who would become known as the Neoplatonists formulated their ideas in the third century, they never intended to start a new school of philosophical thought. Likely, their intention was to express the teachings of Plato as they understood them. Neoplatonism posits that individual souls can be reunited with the original source, an infinite divinity from which all other life emanates. Little did the Neoplatonist thinkers know that their influence would span centuries, from the mystical and religious thought of antiquity to Renaissance art, and continuing to the spiritual and religious thought of the present.
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Identification
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Neoplatonism, as formulated by Plotinus, suggested a hierarchy of three hypostases, what Neoplatonists referred to as the objective reality of being. In this system, first came the infinite, absolute One, the source of all life. The second hypostasis, the Nous or the Intelligible, emanated from The One. While The One is unknowable, the Nous is the knowable origin of all. Third is the World Soul, another emanation from The One. From the Soul, the physical world came into being.
Plotinus believed that all souls seek reunion with The One and do so through contemplation.
Mystical and Religious Influence
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Neoplatonism was an influence on early Christian thinkers, including Origen and Augustine of Hippo. Early Christians identified Yahweh (also known as Jehovah), the Old Testament God, with Neoplatonism's The One. Augustine, the author of many early influential Christian writings, later turned from Neoplatonism after making a greater study of Christian scriptures.
Neoplatonic thought also influenced the mystical Christian thought known as Gnosticism, which the early Christian church condemned as heresy. Although Gnosticism existed prior to Neoplatonism, the Gnostics absorbed some of its ideas and used many of its terms, especially the concept of an infinite and unknowable One, from which a creator and the material world emanated. The Gnostic scripture, the Hypostasis of the Archons, reflects Neoplatonic influence. The Gnostics saw the world as the flawed creation of a malevolent deity they called the demiurge, which they identified with the Nous. Plotinus and other Neoplatonists saw the demiurge as a good creator and criticized the Gnostic perspective.
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Considerations
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The religious influence of Neoplatonism was not limited to Christianity. Neoplatonism also influenced the 10th-century Islamic polymath Al-Farabi, known as Alpharabius in the West, noted for his contributions to the fields of mathematics, logic, philosophy, and science. Neoplatonic thought influenced the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides, whose 13 Principles of Faith remain an important part of Jewish thought and study.
Renaissance
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The leading school of Neoplatonism was closed by Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century, but this strain of thought was revived in Renaissance during the 15th century. Despite its pagan roots, Renaissance thought was not seen as opposed to Christianity. Neoplatonism influenced many Renaissance figures, including the Medici of Florence and the artist Michelangelo.
Most artists of the Renaissance saw their role as reproducing nature. Michelangelo was concerned with nature, but was criticized by some for not faithfully reproducing the subjects of his artwork. Michelangelo believed the artist's role was to bring forms out of their raw material, such as creating a beautiful sculpture from a block of marble. He believed that the sculpture was inherent in the material, and that the artist must release emanate the form from the stone. Michelangelo's view of the body as a reflection of the inner self and the divine also illustrates Neoplatonic influence.
Modern Influence
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Neoplatonism influenced the ideas of the Kabbalah, the mystical system of Jewish thought that developed in late medieval Spain. Neoplatonism also influenced the modern occult philosophy known as theosophy. Founded in the 19th century by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, theosophy teaches that religions and occult practices all represent different approaches to the same truth.
Contemporary philosophy scholars have also found Neoplatonist influences in the thought and writings of Goethe, Hegel, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Carl Gustav Jung.
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