The Athenian School
Proclus and the Athenian Neoplatonists: the final systematization of pagan Neoplatonism; its influence on early Christian thought and the closure of the Academy by Justinian.
The Athenian school of Neoplatonism, centred on the Academy refounded in Athens, reached its final systematisation in Proclus (412–485 AD). His Elements of Theology demonstrates the Neoplatonic hierarchy — from the One through Being, Life, and Mind to the World-Soul and individual souls — with the rigour of a mathematical treatise, each proposition following from the preceding. His commentaries on Plato (the Timaeus, the Republic, the Parmenides, the Alcibiades) were enormously influential. The school was closed by Emperor Justinian in 529 AD — the symbolic end of ancient pagan philosophy. Its influence on Christian thought was profound and lasting, mediated above all through the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (whose Divine Names, Mystical Theology, and Celestial Hierarchy are Neoplatonism baptised into Christian theology) and through Boethius.
Article 3. The Athenian School
a) Proclus ; b) Other Neoplatonists of the School. Neoplatonism was almost extinguished by the beginning of the 5 century. It made a final stand for paganism against Christianity in the so-called Neoplatonic School of Athens. Proclus was not the first Athenian Neoplatonist, but he was the most important member of the School. What is here given as his doctrine is also that of the School generally.
a) Pr ocl us (410-485).
Life: Proclus was born at Constantinople. He studied first at Alexandria, and then at Athens under Plutarch and Syria-nus, succeeding the latter as scholarch. He died at Athens.
Works: Proclus wrote commentaries on the religious and philosophical doctrines of the Chaldeans, Persians, and Egyptians. He also wrote On the Theology of Plato, Fate, The Nature of Evil, and other works. Many of his writings are extant.
Doctrine: There exists a first principle, indeterminate and unconscious, from which emanates Intelligence, and from Intelligence comes the World-Soul. From the World-Soul comes matter, and also the forms which give to matter its determinate or actual existence. Man’s soul, which comes from the World-Soul, is to be purified by ascetical practices and by the exercise of virtue, until it can cast aside the body and return to the spiritual source (World-Soul) whence it came. The members of the original triad (First Principle, Intelligence, World-Soul) are each divided into three other beings. Each of these nine beings is divided into seven others, and thus the number of gods is filled up.
Remark: The doctrine of Proclus is an eclectic combination of the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and that of Iamblichus.
b) Ot her Neopl at onist s of the Athenian School were: i. Plutarch, son of Nestor, who flourished in the 5 century, and revived Neoplatonism in his school. He was a teacher of Proclus. ii. Syrianus, successor of Plutarch as scholarch, is remembered for his commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics; this work is an effort to harmonize Neoplatonism and Aristotelean-ism. Syrianus was also a teacher of Proclus. iii. Marinus of Sichem, successor of Proclus as scholarch. He wrote a biography of Proclus. iv. Heliodorus. v. Ammonius, who taught at Alexandria, and tried to harmonize Aristoteleanism and Neoplatonism. vi. Isidorus, successor of Marinus at Athens. vii. Damascius, pupil of Ammonius at Alexandria. He was scholarch for ten years (520-530), and is known in history as “The Last Scholarch of Athens,” for in the year 529 the Emperor Justinian issued an edict forbidding the public teaching of philosophy in Athens. viii. Simplicius, a Neoplatonist, who went to Persia when the Edict of Justinian was promulgated, and tried to continue his school. Doomed to disappointment, he wrote bitterly of the Persians, calling them “a barbarous and savage people unfitted to receive the Greek philosophy.” During the 6 century there was a back-to-Aristotle movement, but not on a large scale nor publicly, due to Justinian’s Edict. Ammonius, the Athenian Neoplatonist at Alexandria, set forth some Aristotelean doctrine in his commentaries. Another Aristotelean was John Philoponus, the Grammarian. Another was David the Armenian, who translated works of Aristotle into the Armenian language. Somewhat earlier (about the middle 5 century) Martian Capella of Africa wrote his encyclopedic Satyricon, which is a compendium of peripatetico-stoic logic. Still earlier (end of 3 century) appeared the works of the so-called Hermes Trismegistus (“thrice great Hermes”), which are a blend of Stoicism and Platonism, and which deserve mention for their influence on the age. During these early Christian centuries, while the philosophy of the pagan spirit was slowly dying, the Christian theology wrought an enormous change in the world of thought. Although it required centuries for Christian philosophy to work itself out as a science distinct from theology, we find the beginnings of it in the period of the Church Fathers, whose doctrines in things philosophical we are to discuss in the first pages of the Second Part of this manual.
The Philosophy of Christian Times This Part contains three Books : Book First: Patristic Philosophy-Book Second: Medieval Philosophy Book Third : Modern Philosophy