NEO-PLATONISM

The term Neoplatonism is a modern construction. Plotinus, who is often considered the founder
of Neoplatonism, would not have considered himself a new Platonist in any sense, but simply an
expositor of the doctrines of Plato. Neoplatonism is a modern term used to desinate the period of
Platonic philosophy beinnin with the wor! of Plotinus and endin with the closin of the Platonic
"cademy by the #mperor $ustinian in %&' (#.
Plotinus two ma)or successors, Porphyry and *amblichus, each developed, in their own way, certain
isolated aspects of Plotinus thouht, but neither of them developed a riorous philosophy to match that of
their master.
Philosophy
Neoplatonism contains stron reliious and mythical elements. Their doctrines of emanation,
return to the oriin, and others should not be understood as natural processes in the sense of mechanical
chanes. The entire context has reliious and mythical tones. Platos influence on medieval (hristianity
was mediated by Neoplatonism.
Neoplatonism is a form of idealistic monism. *t is larely derived from the interpretation of Plato+s
philosophy by Plotinus. Plotinus tauht the existence of an ineffable and transcendent ,ne, which exists
in it of itself and transcends all cateories of bein, and thus no attributes can be placed on the -,ne-
.which is also the /ood in itself0.
The process of creation is not so much as that the -,ne- creates, but rather out of the -,ne-
emanated its own essence as the rest of the universe as a se1uence of lesser beins. The sense of
emanation is closer to that of an overflow that results from the fullness of bein in the ,ne. 2urthermore,
the ,ne is the ultimate source of the diversity of the entire world. *n other words, there is nothin in the
world which did not oriinate from the ,ne. Plotinus ontoloy placed the ultimate center and oriin of the
world as the ,ne.
The first emanation bein Nous, or intellect, relates to the 2orms in Plato+s philosophy.
2urthermore the successive emanation results in the emanation of the -soul,- which has the functions to
contemplate the hiher realm of emanation of -Nous- and also relates to the lower realm of -nature.-
3ome Neoplatonists believed human perfection and happiness were attainable in this world,
without awaitin an afterlife, while others, li!e 4onaventura, held the concept that perfect unity with the
-,ne- was a promise to be fulfilled in the afterlife. Perfection and happiness, seen as synonymous, could
be achieved throuh philosophical contemplation, the hihest level and function of life.
They did not believe in an independent existence of evil. They compared it to dar!ness, which
does not exist in itself, but only as the absence of liht. 3o too, evil is simply the absence of ood. Thins
are ood insofar as they exist. They are evil only insofar as they are imperfect, lac!in some ood that
they should have. 5here the individual descends into the material realm, some, li!e Plotinus, held that
the foretfulness of the divine oriin in the -,ne- results in evil.
Proclus, a later predecessor of Plotinus, Porphyry, and *amblichus, further expounded on the
Neoplatonist philosophy with complex analysis and tremendous rior. 6e viewed this process of descent
from the divine -,ne- and return as the process of oriinatin from an ambiuous unity, then enterin a
realm of multiplicity, then completin a unity that is the substantial manifestation of the one. Thus, the
function of contemplation to be the process of unitin with the reater unity and hiher level of Nous and
eventually with the -,ne- .http788www.newworldencyclopedia.or8entry8Neoplatonism0.
FAITH AND REASON IN MUSLIM AND JEWISH THOUGHT
ARABIAN PHILOSOPHERS
9ost of medieval is an attempt to reconcile the domains of philosophy and theoloy: that is or
reason and faith. The leaders writers were (hristians, who wrote philosophy mixin in theoloy. Their
philosophical orientations however were 1uite diverse since at different times at different places they were
exposed to different philosophers. 9uslim philosophers were important in the 9iddle "es since they
produced influential commentaries on "ristotle upon which many (hristian writers depended for their
understandin of that reat philosophers. "s it turns out, these 9uslim interpretations of "ristotle were not
only the sources of much !nowlede but it also the cause of serious problems in harmoni;in the domain
of faith and reason.
<nder the leadership of 9uhammad .%=>:?@&0, a vast 9uslim empire was established with
cultural centers. Aurin these centuries the 9uslim world was far more advanced in its !nowlede of
/ree! Philosophy, science and mathematics than was the (hristian world. 9oreover the 9uslim world
had access to the chief wor!s of "ristotle centuries before 5estern #urope finally received them. The
other focal point of 9uslim culture was (ordova, 3pain where the leadin 9uslim Philosophers "verroes
.BB&?:BB'C0 wrote much of his philosophy. "lthouh "vicenna and "verroes wrote in "rabic and were in
9uslim, they were not "rabs. "vicenna was a Persian and "verroes a 3paniard.
"vicenna and "verroes both wrote important commentaries on "ristotles philosophy and some
(hristian writers accepted these interpretations. The sinificance of 9uslim philosophers was therefore
twofold in that they were transmitters of "ristotle and other /ree! thin!ers to the west and were also the
authors of interpretations of "ristotle that became the basis of controversy in medieval philosophy.
AVICENNA
"vicenna, born in Persia in 'C> was phenomenal scholar. 6e studied
eometry, loic, )urisprudence, the Doran, physics, theoloy and
medicine, becomin a practicin physician t the ae of B?. 6e was the
author of many wor!s, and althouh his thouhts centered on "ristotle,
he shows some Neoplatonic influences as well as oriinal formulations
of problems.
,f particular importance was "vicennas formulation of the
doctrine of creation. 6ere he combined "ristotelian and Neoplatonic
views and arrived at a theory that was hotly debated in the B@
th
century.
3tartin with a proof for /ods existence, "vicenna maintains that
whatever beins to exist must have cause. Thins that re1uire a caused
are called possible beins. " cause that is also a possible bein must
be caused by prior bein. This too must have a cause but there cannot
be an infinite series of such causes. There must therefore be a 2irst (ause, whose beins is not simply
possible but necessary, havin its existence in itself and not form a cause and this is /od.
/od is the apex of 4in has no beinnin, always is in act and therefore has always created.
"ccordin to "vicenna, then, creation is both necessary and eternal.
*f "vicennas metaphysic caused (hristian Philosophers difficulties because of his doctrine of
creation, his psycholoy caused even more serious concern. *n his psycholoy, he wanted particularly to
account for human intellectual activity. (entral to his theory was the distinction between the Possible
*ntellect and the "ent *ntellect. To account for this distinction, he employed his Neoplatonic view of the
radation of beins, placin people under the lowest level of anelic beins or *ntellience. That is /od
creates sinle effect and this effect is called an *ntellience, the hihest anel but this *ntellience in turn
creates subordinates intellience. There are nine such intellience in descendin order, each one
creatin .B0 the one below it and .&0 the soul of the successive sphere. The ninth intellience then,
creates tenth and final intellience and this is the aent *ntellect. *t is the aent intellect that creates the
four elements of the world and the individual souls of people.
5hat "vicenna was tryin is that since a persons mind has a beinnin, it is possible beinE
therefore a person has a Possible *ntellect. 6ere he made a sharp distinction between existence and
essence sayin that there are two different thins in creatures. That is because my essence is distinct
from my existence, my essence is not automatically fulfilled and it is certainly not iven existence by itself.
The existence of !nowlede in the human intellect re1uires two elements7 .B0 the bodily senses throuh
which we perceived sensible ob)ects externally and the powers of retainin imaes of ob)ect in the
memory or imaination internally and .&0 the ability to discover the essence or universal in individual
thins throuh the power of abstraction.
"vicenna in)ected into the medieval philosophy some very provocative themes includin .B0 the
eternity and necessity of creation .&0 the radation and emanations of hierarchy of beins .@0 the doctrine
of the aent intellect .F0 the distinction between essence and existence as related to possible and
necessary bein.
AVERROES
"verroes was a prodiious scholar. 6e was born in BB&? in
(ordova, 3pain where he studied philosophy, mathematics,
)urisprudence, medicine and theoloy. "fter servin as a )ude, as his
father had, he became a physician but he spent much of his time
writin his famous commentaries for which reason he became !nown in
the 9iddle "es as The Coe!"#"o$%
"verroes structured all his wor! around "ristotles text and ideas.
"t some point he disareed with "vicenna. 2or one thin, whereas
"vicenna arued that creation is eternal and necessary, "verroes
denied altoether the idea of creation, sayin that philosophy !nows no
such doctrine and that this is merely a teachin of reliion. "verroes
also re)ected the distinction between them instead there is only a
loical distinction between essence and existence for purpose analysis.
9oreover, "verroes held that the form of a person is the soul, has the
same mortality as the body so that upon death nothin survives. 5hat confers special status to human
beins amon animals is that unli!e the lower animals, human are united throuh !nowlede with the
aent intellect. "verroes also denied that people have separate possible intellects. 4ut his influence was
immense and "1uinas fre1uently 1uotes from his wor!s. 3till "verroes had little respect for theoloy and
went to reat lenths to distinuish the domains of philosophy and theoloy, of faith and reason.
The most infamous part of "verroess philosophy was later dubbed the doctrine of double truth.
*n its most radical form this view is that two incompatible assertions may be true at the same time: such
as incompatible reliious and scientific assertions about the creations of the cosmos. 5hile probably he
did not hold this extreme view, his name was nevertheless associated with it by his critics. Philosophy and
theoloy each have a function because there are different !inds of people whom they respectively serve.
6e envisioned three roups of people. The ma)ority of people live by imaination and not by reason. They
are !ept virtuous throuh fear communicated by elo1uent preachers. "lthouh reliion and philosophy
wor! enerally for the same end, they communicate different contents and in this sense, different truths.
These truths do not necessarily contradict each other, they simply are different !inds. The philosophers
!now truth directly. "ctually "verroes thouh that reliious belief had a social function in that they made
philosophical truths accessible to minds that were incapable of philosophical thouht. 6e thouht however
that the theoloians as compared with the masses should !now better than to employ the powers of
sophisticated reasonin on a sub)ect matter, reliion that is by nature a deviation from, throuh not
necessarily contrary to, reason.
O"he$ A$#&i#! Philosophe$s
AL-'INDI
"bu Gusuf Ga1ub ibn *sha1 "l:Dindi .ca. C>>HC=> (#0 was the
first self:identified philosopher in the "rabic tradition. 6e wor!ed with
a roup of translators who rendered wor!s of "ristotle, the
Neoplatonists, and /ree! mathematicians and scientists into "rabic.
"l:Dindi+s own treatises, many of them epistles addressed to
members of the caliphal family, depended heavily on these
translations, which included the famous Theology of
Aristotle and Book of Causes, "rabic versions of wor!s by Plotinus
and Proclus. "l:Dindi+s own thouht was suffused with Neoplatonism,
thouh his main authority in philosophical matters was "ristotle. "l:
Dindi+s philosophical treatises include On First Philosophy, in which
he arues that the world is not eternal and that /od is a simple ,ne.
6e also wrote numerous wor!s on other philosophical topics,
especially psycholoy .includin the well:!nown On the Intellect0 and cosmoloy. "l:Dindi+s wor! in
mathematics and the sciences was also extensive, and he was !nown in both the later "rabic and the
Iatin traditions for his writins on astroloy.
"l:Dindi+s philosophical activities centered on the translation movement that had been initiated
and supported by the "bbasid caliphs since prior to al:Dindi+s birth. "l:Dindi oversaw one of the two main
roups of translators in the ninth century .the other roup was led by 6unayn ibn *sha10. The Dindi circle
translated numerous wor!s of philosophy and science from /ree! into "rabic. "l:Dindi seems to have
been a mediator between the patrons of these translators and the scholars who actually did the
translatin, many of whom were 3yrian (hristians or of 3yrian extraction. 6is own writins miht be
thouht of as a sustained public relations campain intended to display and advertise the value of /ree!
thouht for a contemporary ninth century 9uslim audience.
5e are fortunate in havin a list of titles of wor!s ascribed to al:Dindi, which is found in
the Fihrist of the tenth century boo!seller *bn al:Nadim. Than!s to *bn al:Nadim we !now that al:Dindi
wrote hundreds of treatises on a very wide variety of scientific and philosophical disciplines. *ndeed the
scientific and mathematical titles far outnumber the philosophical titles. 9any of the latter would now be
lost if not for a sinle manuscript, held in *stanbul, which contains most of al:Dindi+s extant philosophical
writins. This includes the wor! for which he is best !nown, On First Philosophy. The *stanbul manuscript
also includes one of the few copies of al:Dindi+s On the Intellect to survive in "rabic .it is also preserved in
Iatin translation0. This is the first treatise in the "rabic tradition to ive a taxonomy of the types of intellect,
such as will become familiar in al:2arabi, "vicenna and "verroes. ,ther wor!s shed further liht on al:
Dindi+s psycholoy .i.e. theory of soul07 the Discourse on the Soul consists of supposed 1uotations from
/ree! philosophers, That There are Separate Substances uses "ristotle+s Categories to prove that the
soul is immaterial, and On Sleep and Drea ives an account of prophetic dreams in terms of "ristotle+s
theory of the imaination. Jelated to al:Dindi+s psycholoical theories is his only sinificant survivin wor!
on ethics, On Dispelling Sorro!s. "l:Dindi sets out his cosmoloical theories in two further texts found in
the same manuscript, On the Pro"iate Agent Cause of #eneration and Corruption and On the
Prostration of the Outerost Sphere. "lso relevant here are numerous wor!s on meteoroloy and
weather forecastin. These apply the same cosmoloical ideas to show how heavenly motion produces
rain and other meteoroloical phenomena in the lower world where we live. 5hile these wor!s are
influenced by "ristotle, al:Dindi also draws on other /ree! sources, such as Ptolemy. 6is !nowlede of
the /ree! scientific tradition was in fact extensive. 2or instance, he uses #uclid and ideas that can be
traced to Ptolemy in a well:!nown wor! on optics, On Perspecti$es, which is preserved only in Iatin. "l:
Dindi+s extant scientific corpus is si;able and includes treatises on the manufacture of drus, music,
astroloy, and mathematics. 4ut the focus here will be on al:Dindi+s philosophical views.
"s one would expect iven his prominent role in the translation movement, al:Dindi+s wor!s are suffused
with ideas from /ree! thouht. 6is philosophical wor!s are indebted in part to the mathematical and
scientific authors translated by his day, for instance Nicomachus of /erasaE #uclid influenced his
methodoloy as well as his mathematics .cf. /utas &>>F0. 4ut the most important influence on his
philosophy was from "ristotle, whose corpus al:Dindi surveys in a treatise called On the %uantity of
Aristotle&s Books ."bu Jida B'%>, @?@HCFE also /uidi and 5al;er B'F>, (ortabarria 4eitia B'=&, $olivet
&>>F0. This wor! provides a fairly thorouh overview of "ristotle+s corpus, thouh al:Dindi clearly has not
read some of the treatises he discusses. 5hen al:Dindi comes to mention the contents of
the 'etaphysics he ives the followin, rather surprisin, summary7
6is purpose in his boo! called 'etaphysics is to explain thins that subsist without matter and, thouh
they may exist toether with what does have matter, are neither connected nor united to matterE to affirm
the oneness of /od, the reat and exalted, to explain 6is beautiful names, and that 6e is the aent cause
of the universe, which perfects Kall thinsL, the /od of the universe who overns throuh 6is perfect
providence and complete wisdom.
5hile this may not loo! li!e an accurate description of "ristotle+s 'etaphysics, it is a wholly accurate
description of al:Dindi+s own conception of the science of metaphysics. That he conflates metaphysics
with theoloy is clear from the openin of On First Philosophy, which says that since philosophy in
eneral is the study of truth, first philosophy is the !nowlede of the first truth who is the cause of all
truth. "nd indeed "ristotle+s 'etaphysics is a ma)or influence on this wor!. 6owever, as is typical of al:
Dindi+s philosophical writins, On First Philosophy also ma!es extensive use of ideas from translations of
Neoplatonic writins. The proof for the existence of a true ,ne is based in part on Proclus .as shown in
$olivet B'='0, and one can detect influences from the "rabic version of Plotinus produced in al:Dindi+s
circle, the so:called Theology of Aristotle. Perhaps the most important sinle influence, however, is an
attac! on "ristotle by the Neoplatonist (hristian thin!er $ohn Philoponus, over the issue of the world+s
eternity.
On First Philosophy, then, is a particularly ood example of how al:Dindi combines Neoplatonic and
"ristotelian ideas in his vision of a coherent philosophy derived from the /ree!s. The way for this synoptic
conception of the /ree! inheritance had actually been prepared by the Neoplatonists themselves, whose
commentaries on "ristotle presae the harmoni;in tendencies obvious in al:Dindi. 4ut as a promoter of
/ree! wisdom, al:Dindi would in any case have been eaer to deemphasi;e any tensions between /ree!
philosophers, or any failins on the part of /ree! thin!ers. 2or example he ives no sin that his position
on the eternity of the world departs from that of "ristotle. .*nterestinly he is more willin to reconi;e
shortcomins on the part of /ree! scientific thin!ers, for instance in #uclid+s optics, thouh even here he
emphasi;es the need for a charitable approach.0 Iater in the first section of On First Philosophy, al:Dindi
unleashes a torrent of abuse aainst unnamed contemporaries who critici;e the use of /ree! ideas7
5e must not be ashamed to admire the truth or to ac1uire it, from wherever it comes. #ven if it should
come from far:flun nations and forein peoples, there is for the student of truth nothin more important
than the truth, nor is the truth demeaned or diminished by the one who states or conveys itE no one is
demeaned by the truth, rather all are ennobled by it.
"lthouh al:Dindi was unyieldin in his support for the ideas disseminated in the translation pro)ect, he
was inevitably influenced by the intellectual currents of his day. This comes out most clearly when al:Dindi
uses /ree! ideas to enae with the problems of his time, especially in the arena of theoloy
.http788plato.stanford.edu8entries8al:!indi80.
AL-FARABI
"l:2arabi. "bu:Nasr 9uhammad al:2arabi .c. C=@ H'%>0, !nown
in Iatin as "lfarabius or "vennasar, was one of the reatest 9uslim
philosophers. 6e was widely !nown as -the second master,- "ristotle
bein the firstE and ibn:Dhaldun rates him above "vicenna and
"verroMs. 6e was of Tur!ish oriin, and his name indicates that he
came from the district of 2arab, on the middle $axartes Jiver .now 3yr
Aarya0.
"l:2arabi+s philosophy is based on the teachins of Plato and
"ristotle as they were interpreted in the school of 4ahdad in the tenth
century. Ii!e all writers in "rabic he assumed there were no essential
differences between the two, but he preferred the metaphysics of
"ristotle, as interpreted by Neoplatonists. Plato, however, he rearded
as superior in practical matters, and he wrote commentaries on the
Jepublic and the Iaws. 5hat is often rearded as his ma)or wor! is reminiscent of these boo!sE it has the
clumsy title -,n the Principles of the Niews of the *nhabitants of the #xcellent 3tate,- often shortened in
practice to -Aer 9usterstaat,- or -The *deal (ity- .al:madina alfadila0. The first third of this wor! sets out
al:2arabi+s metaphysical system, the second third his psycholoy .larely "ristotelian0, and the concludin
third his views on the ideal state and various imperfect states.
To those familiar with the intellectual environment in which al:2arabi lived, it is immediately
apparent that he wrote in such a way as to commend his views to as many different roups of people as
possible. *t has been alleed that he supported the 3hiite sect of *slam, and certainly his last patron 3ayf:
ad:Aawla was a 3hiiteE features of his -ideal city,- such as the dependence of all on the head, resemble
3hiite conceptions. Get it is also clear that he wrote in such a way as not to offend the 3unnite ma)orityE
for example, by avoidin such a technical 3hiite term as -imam.- *ndeed, his view of the relation of
philosophy and reliion led him to attach positive value to the reliions, althouh he rearded them as
inferior to philosophy. Philosophy was the supreme exercise of human reason and therefore the primary
re1uirement of an ideal city. 4y it, man came to !now the one ultimate truth about the uni verse. To this
ultimate philosophical truth the symbolic representations of it found in the several reliions stand in
varyin derees of proximity and remoteness. "l:2arabi paid particular attention, of course, to the forms
of the main *slamic states of his time and developed his conception of the ideal city in such a way that the
actual states he !new were within measurable distance of the ideal.
6is metaphysics, similarly, resembles that implicit in the Our+an .Doran0 and *slamic theoloy.
/od is the ,ne or the 2irst from whom all existence proceedsE and in this sense he accepts the *slamic
doctrine that /od is the creator of the world, althouh he also holds the heretical view that the world is
eternal. *n the relation of existent thins to /od there is a hierarchical order. 3imilarly in the ideal city
there is a head .rd is0 who is the source of all authority and who assins men to their appropriate rades.
This head is also described as commandin but not obeyinE all the intermediate rades obey those
above and command those below, and the lowest rade only obeys.
*nterest has been shown, especially in recent times, in al:2arabi+s theory of prophecyE that is, in
particular, how it was possible for 9uhammad to receive the Our+an from /od. Philosophic !nowlede,
the hihest of all, he rearded as comin to the passive intellect of the philosopher from the "ctive
*ntellect, an existent below /od in ran!. Prophetic revelations also come from the "ctive *ntellect but are
received by the imaination of the prophet. *n this al:2arabi was able to accept the Our+an as comin from
/od and yet to place philosophy above it .http788www.wordtrade.com8philosophy8medieval8
alfarabi.htm0.