Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/349

Rh NEOPLATONISM 335 holds as an inference from his theory of revelation that the divine Supreme Being is &quot;supra-rational,&quot; that He can be reached only through &quot; ecstasy,&quot; and that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge. The religious ethics of Philo a compound of Stoic, Platonic, and Neopythagorean elements already bear the peculiar stamp which we recognize in Neopla- tonism. While his system assigns the supremacy to Greek philosophy over the national religion of Israel, it exacts from the former, as a sort of tribute to the latter, the recognition of the elevation of God above the province of reason. The claim of positive religion to be something more than the intellectual apprehension of the reason in the universe is thus acknowledged. Eeligious syncretism is also a feature of Philo s system, but it differs essentially from what we find in later Neoplatonism. For Philo pays no respect to any cultus except the Jewish ; and he believed that all the fragments of truth to be found amongst Greeks and Eomans had been borrowed from the books of Moses. The earliest Christian philosophers, particularly Justin and Athenagoras, likewise prepared the way for the specu lations of the Neoplatonists, partly by their attempts to connect Christianity with Stoicism and Platonism, partly by their ambition to exhibit Christianity as &quot; hyper- platonic.&quot; In the introduction to his Dialogue ivith Trypho, Justin follows a method which bears a striking resemblance to the later method of Neoplatonism : he seeks to base the Christian knowledge of God that is, the knowledge of the truth on Platonism, Scepticism, and &quot;Revelation.&quot; A still more remarkable parallel to the later Neoplatonism is afforded by the Christian Gnostics of Alexandria, especi ally Valentinus and the followers of Basilides. 1 Like the Neoplatonists, the Basilidians believed, not in an emanation from the Godhead, but in a dynamic manifestation of its activity. The same is true of Valentinus, who also placed an unnameable being at the apex of his system, and regarded matter, not as a second principle, but as a product of the one divine principle. It must be added that the dependence of Basilides and Valentinus on Zeno and Plato is beyond dispute. But the method observed by these Gnostics in thinking out the plan and the history of the universe is by no means thoroughgoing. Ancient myths are admitted without undergoing analysis ; the most naive realism alternates with daring efforts at spiritualizing. Philosophically considered, therefore, the Gnostic systems are very unlike the rigorous self -consistency of Neoplatonism ; although they certainly contain almost all the elements which enter into the Neoplatonic theory of the universe. But were the oldest Neoplatonists really acquainted with the speculations of Philo, or Justin, or Valentinus, or Basilides 1 Did they know the Oriental religions, Judaism and Christianity in particular ? And, if so, did they really derive anything from these sources 1 To these questions we cannot, unfortunately, give decided, still less definite and precise, answers. Since Neoplatonism originated in Alexandria, where Oriental modes of worship were accessible to every one, and since the Jewish philosophy had also taken its place in the literary circles of Alexandria, we may safely assume that even the earliest of the Neoplatonists possessed an acquaintance with Judaism and Christianity. But if we search Plotinus for evidence of any actual influence of 1 The dogmas of the Basilidians, as given by Hippolytus, read almost like passages from Neoplatonic works : lirel ovStv fy, oi&amp;gt;x vij, OVK ovcria, OVK a.vovffiov, ov% airovv, ov avvOe-rov, OVK a.v6t]TOV, OVK a.va.iffd-r)Tov, OVK &vQp&amp;lt;atros. . . . OVK &v Oebs cfcvo^Tois, avaia6iT&amp;lt;as, a.povcas, airpoaipercos, airadws, avfTri6v/j.-f]T&amp;lt;as KOfffj-of 7]8f]cre Troirj(Tai. . . ovrcas oiiK &v Qzbs eirotajcre x.6fft.ov OVK ovra e OVK WTcav, Ka.Ta.pad/j.evos Kal viroffT^ffas crWp/xa TI ei/ e%ov Tratraj/ iv favrtf TTJV TOV KOffftov TrcwtTTTep/uai (Pliilos., vii. 20 sy. ). Jewish and Christian philosophy, we search in vain ; and the existence of any such influence is all the more unlikely because it is only the later Neoplatonism that offers strik ing and deep-rooted parallels to Philo and the Gnostics. The Philonic and Gnostic philosophies thus appear to be merely an historical anticipation of the Neoplatonic, without any real connexion. Nor is there anything mysterious in such an anticipation. It simply means that a certain religious and philosophical tendency, which grew up slowly on Greek soil, was already implanted in those who occupied the vantage-ground of a revealed religion of redemption. We have to come down to lamblichus and his school before we find complete correspondence with the Christian Gnosticism of the 2d century ; that is to say, it is only in the 4th century that Greek philosophy in its proper development reaches the stage at which certain Greek philosophers who had embraced Christianity had arrived in the 2d century. The influence of Christianity whether Gnostic or Catholic on Neoplatonism was at no time very considerable, although individual Neoplatonists, after Amelius, used Christian texts as oracles, and put on record their admiration for Christ. History and Doctrines. The founder of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria is supposed to have been Ammonius Saccas (ob. c. 245 A.D.), who is said to have been a Christian by birth, and to have relapsed to heathenism. As he has left no written works behind him, it is impos sible to criticize his teaching. He communicated to his pupils an admiration fer Plato, and set them to work at the reconciliation of Plato and Aristotle. The most distinguished of his disciples were Origen the Christian, another Origen a heathen, Longinus, Herennius, and, the greatest of all, Plotinus. 2 The Enneads of Plotinus are the primary and classical document of Neoplatonism. The doctrine of Plotinus is mysticism, and like all mysticism it consists of two main divisions. The first or theoretical part deals with the high origin of the human soul, and shows how it has departed from its first estate. In the second or practical part the way is pointed out by which the soul may again return to the Eternal and Supreme. Since the soul in its long ings reaches forth beyond all sensible things, beyond the world of ideas even, it follows that the highest being must be something supra-rational. The system thus embraces three heads (1) the primeval Being, (2) the ideal world and the soul, (3) the phenomenal world. We may also, however, in accordance with the views of Plotinus, divide thus: (A) the invisible world (1) the primeval Being, (2) the ideal world, (3) the soul; (B) the phenomenal world. The primeval Being is, as opposed to the many, the One; as opposed to the finite, the Infinite, the unlimited. It is the source of all life, and therefore absolute causality and the only real existence. It is, moreover, the Good, in so far as all finite things have their purpose in it, and ought to flow back to it. But one cannot attach moral attributes to the original Being itself, because these would imply limitation. It has no attributes of any kind ; it is being without magnitude, without life, without thought ; in strict propriety, indeed, we ought not to speak of it as existing; it is &quot;above existence,&quot; &quot;above good ness.&quot; It is also active force without a substratum ; as active force the primeval Being is perpetually producing something else, without alteration, or motion, or diminution of itself. This production is not a physical process, but 2 Born at Lycopolis, in Egypt, in 205, Plotinus laboured from 244 onwards in Rome, where he gained many followers and admirers, amongst others the emperor Gallienus and his consort, and died in Lower Italy in 270. The writings of Plotinus were arranged by his pupil Porphyry, and published in six Enneads.