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  1. Home
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  3. Neoplatonism
  • This book is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core
  • Cited by 36
Publisher:
Acumen Publishing
Online publication date:
February 2013
Print publication year:
2008
Online ISBN:
9781844654079
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844654079
Subjects:
History of Philosophy, Philosophy
Series:
Ancient Philosophies
Information

Book description

Although Neoplatonism has long been studied, until recently many had dismissed its complex system of ideas as more mystical than philosophical. Fresh research, however, has provided a new perspective on this highly influential school of thought, which flourished in the pagan world of Greece and Rome through late antiquity. Pauliina Remes’s lucid, comprehensive, and up-to-date introduction reassesses Neoplatonism’s philosophical credentials, from its founding by Plotinus (204–70 CE) through the closure of the Academy in Athens in 529. She explores the teachings of the leading Neoplatonists such as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Simplicius and Damascius, with an emphasis on their shared assumptions about metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical psychology, philosophy of self, as well as ethics and politics. She pursues major developments and differences within the doctrines of the school and situates the movement alongside other intellectual movements of antiquity including classical Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Gnosticism and Christianity. She also considers Neoplatonism’s enduring legacy in the history of philosophical thought, providing a gateway to its ideas for contemporary readers.

Reviews

"This book excels as an introductory text. It is a nice corrective to older surveys of late ancient philosophy, which tend to present Neoplatonism as decadent, 'spiritualized', and concerned more with theurgic magic than philosophy. Remes does a fine job introducing the metaphysics, but her focus in the book's middle chapters on anthropology, psychology, and ethics really set this book apart. It is these areas that are receiving attention in recent research (including Remes' own work), and this book situates students within the most current and promising trends in the field. This innovative approach and attention to the most current research does not come at the expense of a solid introduction to the basics of the tradition. It would work well as a graduate or advanced undergraduate course text."

Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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