Neoplatonism - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Ne·o·pla·to·nism

Audio Help [nee-oh-pleyt-n-iz-uh

m] Pronunciation Key

–noun (sometimes lowercase

)

a philosophical system, originated in the 3rd century a.d. by Plotinus, founded chiefly on Platonic doctrine and Oriental mysticism, with later influences from Christianity. It holds that all existence consists of emanations from the One with whom the soul may be reunited.

[Origin: 1835–45; neo- + Platonism

]

—Related forms

Ne·o·pla·ton·ic

Audio Help [nee-oh-pluh-ton-ik] Pronunciation Key, adjective

Ne·o·pla·to·nist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Neoplatonism

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ne·o-Pla·to·nism also Ne·o·pla·to·nism Audio Help (nē'ō-plāt'n-ĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n.

A philosophical system developed at Alexandria in the third century A.D. by Plotinus and his successors. It is based on Platonism with elements of mysticism and some Judaic and Christian concepts and posits a single source from which all existence emanates and with which an individual soul can be mystically united.
A revival of Neo-Platonism or a system derived from it, as in the Middle Ages.

Ne'o-Pla·ton'ic (-plə-tŏn'ĭk) adj., Ne'o-Pla'to·nist n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Neoplatonism

1845, a philosophical and religious system mixing Platonic ideas and oriental mysticism, originating 3c. at Alexandria, especially in writings of Plotinus, Porphyry, and Proclus. Neoplatonian is attested from 1831.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

neoplatonism
noun
a system of philosophical and theological doctrines composed of elements of Platonism and Aristotelianism and oriental mysticism; its most distinctive doctrine holds that the first principle and source of reality transcends being and thought and is naturally unknowable; "Neoplatonism was predominant in pagan Europe until the 6th century"; "Neoplatonism was a major influence on early Christian writers and on later medieval and Renaissance thought and on Islamic philosophy"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Neoplatonism

Ne`o*pla"to*nism\, n. [Neo- + Platonism.] A pantheistic eclectic school of philosophy, of which Plotinus was the chief (A. D. 205-270), and which sought to reconcile the Platonic and Aristotelian systems with Oriental theosophy. It tended to mysticism and theurgy, and was the last product of Greek philosophy.

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