Platonism

Introduction
Greek Platonism from Aristotle through Middle Platonism: its nature and history
Neoplatonism: its nature and history
- Plotinus and his philosophy
- The later Neoplatonists
Platonism in the world of revealed religions
- Early Jewish Platonism
- Ancient and medieval Christian Platonism
  - Patristic Platonism
  - Augustinian Platonism
  - Medieval Platonism
- Islamic and medieval Jewish philosophy
Renaissance and later Platonism
Evaluation of Platonism

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Luca della Robbia: St. Anselm of Canterbury

Statue of Averroes seated and holding a tablet, set against a historic stone wall with battlements in Cordoba, Spain.

At a Glance

Platonism summary

Related Questions

How did Middle Platonism differ from the earlier Academy’s skeptical period?
How did Platonism influence the poetry of William Blake and Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
How did Plato’s theory of Forms shape Platonism?
How did Plotinus use Middle Platonist thought to develop Neoplatonism?
How did Speusippus change Plato’s mathematical approach to reality?
How did the Pseudo-Dionysius use Neoplatonic ideas in Christian theology?
How do Platonic Forms differ from physical objects perceived by the senses?
How does Plato explain that a particular object is beautiful or just?
How does mathematical Platonism describe numbers and geometric objects?
What objections have philosophers raised against the Platonic belief in an independent intelligible reality?
What was Xenocrates’ view of Plato’s account of creation in the Timaeus?
Why did Arcesilaus emphasize Socrates’ questioning and agnostic approach?
Why did Aristotle reject Plato’s belief in separate transcendent Forms?
Why did Atticus criticize Aristotle’s ideas about providence?
Why did Middle Platonism stress the soul’s ascent from the body toward the divine?
Why did Plato believe that perfect equality cannot be found in the visible world?
Why did Plato regard the Forms as more real than changing physical things?
Why do mathematical Platonists consider numbers to be independent of human minds?
Why is the Form of the Good central to Plato’s philosophy?
What are some general characteristics of postmodernism?
What do postmodernists believe?
How is postmodernism related to relativism?
Where did Marxism come from?
Why is Marxism important?
How is Marxism different from other forms of socialism?
How does Marxism differ from Leninism?

Philosophy & Religion Philosophical Issues

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External Websites

DigitalCommons at UMaine - Early Modern Christian Platonism (PDF)
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Mathematical Platonism
Islamic Philosophy - Platonism in Islamic philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Platonism in Metaphysics

Plutarch Plutarch, c. 100 ce.

Platonism

philosophy

Written by

Henry J. Blumenthal

Gladstone Reader in Greek, University of Liverpool. Author of Aristotle and Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity.

Henry J. BlumenthalAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Platonism, any philosophy that derives its ultimate inspiration from Plato. Though there was in antiquity a tradition about Plato’s “unwritten doctrines,” Platonism then and later was based primarily on a reading of the dialogues. But these can be read in many different ways, often very selectively, and it may be that all that the various kinds of Platonism can be said to have in common is an intense concern for the quality of human life—always...

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