Hannah Mandani, age 17, of Lake Charles, La., for her question:
WHAT IS THE NEOPLATONISM THEORY?
Neoplatonism was a dominant school of philosophy from about A.D. 200 to the 500s. Neoplatonism, which actually means "new Platonism," developed from the philosophy of Plato.
The Neoplatonists developed their philosophy from Plato's theory of forms. According to this theory, all things owe their identities to unchanging forms in which they share.
Our knowledge comes from recognizing the essential form of a thing, rather than from observing its many incidental qualities. The Neoplatonists carried the theory a step further. We are so wholly unreal, they believed, that only form exists. The forms exist in a place, or divine mind, beyond the heavens where our souls can "travel" when they leave our bodies.
In Neoplatonism, there is a single highest form, The One, which is completely self sufficient and alone. It is a mistake even to say that The One is, because The one is beyond being.
But, without changing, The One emanates or overflows, as light shines through darkness. The first and brightest level of emanation is divine reason, in which Plato's forms exist as ideas. The next level, dimmer and less real, is the world of souls.
The lowest order, the realm of bodies and matter, is almost total darkness. The two lower levels feel in themselves a desire, called an anastrophe, to turn upward and return. This is the feeling we sometimes have of homesickness or being in an unreal world.
To put it another way, the Neoplatonists believe that the purpose of philosophy is to escape from the attachment we feel to our bodies and physical environment. In this way, we discover an immortality by finding our true identity in the world of form.
As Plato tells in his myths, impure souls are destined to go from one human life to another. They seek permanent satisfaction, which attachment to their bodies prevents them from finding. "The soul is a traveler that sleeps every night in another inn," the Neoplatonists say.
Neoplatonism was an important philosophical movement. The leading philosophers of the school were two men named Plotinus and Proclus.
Plotinus influenced Saint Augustine in developing his principles of Christian theology. Proclus' views helped shape Christian negative theology, which points out the limits of man's ability to comprehend a supreme being.
The Neoplatonic emphasis on spiritual beauty, as opposed to physical, was important to the idea of platonic love in the Age of Chivalry during the Middle Ages.
Plotinus summed up his theory this way: the material world is unreal, politics trivial, the body a temporary prison for the soul, and life is a journey through a landscape of illusion. Reality lay "yonder" in a solitary perfect being, The One, the source of all truth, goodness and beauty. He said that pure souls may hope to "return" there.