See also:

• NEOLITHIC, or LATER STONE AGE (Gr. vEOr, new, and XLOos, stone)

NEOLITHIC, or LATER See also:

• STONE
• STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
• STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
• STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
• STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
• STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
• STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
• STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
• STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)

STONE See also:

• AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

AGE (Gr. vEOr, new, and XLOos, stone)  , a See also:

• TERM

term employed first by See also:

• LORD
• LORD (O. Eng. hldford, i.e. hldfweard, the warder or keeper of bread, hlIf, loaf; the word is not represented in any other Teutonic language)
• LORD, JOHN (1810-1894)

Lord See also:

• AVEBURY
• AVEBURY, JOHN LUBBOCK, 1ST BARON (1834– )

Avebury and since generally accepted, for the See also:

• PERIOD
• PERIOD (Gr. irepioSos, a going or way round, circuit, aepi, round, and &Sis, way, road)

period of highly finished and polished See also:

• STONE
• STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
• STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
• STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
• STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
• STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
• STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
• STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
• STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)

stone implements, in contrast with the See also:

• RUDE, FRANCOIS (1784–1855)

rude workmanship of those of the earlier Stone See also:

• AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

Age (See also:

• PALAEOLITHIC (Gr. iraXates, old, and )tWBor, stone)

Palaeolithic) . Knowledge of See also:

• NEOLITHIC, or LATER STONE AGE (Gr. vEOr, new, and XLOos, stone)

Neolithic times is derived principally from four See also:

• SOURCES

sources, Tumuli or See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient See also:

• BURIAL

burial-mounds, the See also:

• LAKE
• LAKE, GERARD LAKE, 1ST VISCOUNT (1744-1808)

Lake-dwellings of See also:

• SWITZERLAND

Switzerland, the Kitchenmiddens of See also:

• DENMARK
• DENMARK (Danmark)

Denmark and the See also:

• BONE (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages, in many of which it is confined to the shank of the leg, as in the German Bein)
• BONE, HENRY (1755-1834)

Bone-Caves . No trace of See also:

• METAL
• METAL (through Fr. from Lat. metallum, mine, quarry, adapted from Gr. µATaXAov, in the same sense, probably connected with ,ueraAAdv, to search after, explore, µeTa, after, aAAos, other)

metal on the knowledge they repudiated; but the masses were trained to a superstition with which the See also:

• CHRISTIAN
• CHRISTIAN, WILLIAM (1608-1663)

Christian See also:

• CHURCH
• CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
• CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
• CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
• CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
• CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)

church, as the executor of See also:

• NEOPLATONISM

Neoplatonism, had to reckon and contend . By a fortunate coincidence, at the very moment when this See also:

• BANKRUPTCY (from Lat. bancus or Fr. banquet table or counter, and Lat. ruptus, broken)

bankruptcy of the old culture must have become apparent, the See also:

• STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of See also:

• HISTORY

history was occupied by barbaric peoples . This has obscured the fact that the inner history of antiquity, ending as it did in despair of this See also:

• WORLD

world, must in any event have seen a recurrence of barbarism . The See also:

• PRESENT

present world was a thing that men would neither enjoy nor See also:

• MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master nor study . A new world was discovered, for the See also:

• SAKE

sake of which everything else was abandoned; to make sure of that world insight and intelligence were freely sacrificed; and, in the See also:

• LIGHT

light that streamed from beyond, the absurdities of the present became See also:

• WISDOM, BOOK OF, or WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Sept. Io4ia IaXwµwvos; Lat. Vulg. Liber sapientiae)

wisdom, and its wisdom became foolishness . Such is Neoplatonism . The pre-Socratic See also:

• PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy took its stand on natural See also:

• SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science, to the exclusion of See also:

• ETHICS
• ETHICS, SHAFTESBURY, HOBBES

ethics and See also:

• RELIGION
• RELIGION, FOLKLORE, CUSTOM

religion . The systems of See also:

• PLATO

Plato and See also:

• ARISTOTLE
• ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)

Aristotle sought to adjust the See also:

• RIVAL

rival claims of physics and ethics (although the supremacy of the latter was already acknowledged); but the popular religions were thrown overboard . The See also:

• POST

post - Aristotelian philosophy in all its branches makes withdrawal from the See also:

• OBJECTIVE, or OBJECT GLASS

objective world its starting-point . It might seem, indeed, that Stoicism indicates a falling off from Plato and Aristotle towards See also:

• MATERIALISM (from Lat. materia, matter)

materialism, but the ethical See also:

• DUALISM (from rare Lat. dualis, containing two, from duo)

dualism, which was the ruling tendency of the See also:

• STOA

Stoa, could not See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long endure its materialistic physics, and took See also:

• REFUGE

refuge in the metaphysical dualism of the Platonists .

But this originated no permanent philosophical creation . From one-sided See also:

• PLATONISM

Platonism issued the various forms of See also:

• SCEPTICISM (o-Kesrroµai, I consider, reflect, hesitate, doubt)

scepticism, the See also:

• ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to undermine the trustworthiness of empirical knowledge . Neoplatonism, coming last, borrowed something from all the See also:

• SCHOOLS

schools . First, it stands in the See also:

• LINE

line of post-Aristotelian systems; it is, in fact, as a subjective philosophy, their logical completion . Secondly, it is founded on scepticism; for it has neither See also:

• INTEREST

interest in, nor reliance upon, empirical knowledge . Thirdly, it can justly claim the See also:

• HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of Plato's name, since it expressly goes back to him for its See also:

• METAPHYSICS
• METAPHYSICS, or METAPHYSIC (from Gr. /sera, after, d v med, things of nature, lots, i.e. the natural universe)

metaphysics, directly combating those of the Stoa . Yet even on this point it learned something from the See also:

• STOICS

Stoics; the Neoplatonic conception of the See also:

• ACTION

action of the Deity on the world and of the essence and origin of See also:

• MATTER

matter can only be explained by reference to the dynamic See also:

• PANTHEISM (Gr. 7rav, all, Oeos, god)

pantheism of the Stoa . Fourthly, the study of Aristotle also exercised an See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence on Neoplatonism . This appears not only in its philosophical method, but also—though less prominently—in its metaphysic . And, fifthly, Neoplatonism adopted the ethics of Stoicism; although it was found necessary to supplement them by a still higher conception of the functions of the spirit . Thus, with the exception of Epicureanism—which was always treated by Neoplatonism as its mortal enemy—there is no out-See also:

• STANDING

standing earlier See also:

• SYSTEM

system which did not contribute something to the new philosophy . And yet Neoplatonism cannot be described as an eclectic system, in the See also:

• ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary sense of the word .

For, in the first See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place, it is dominated by one all-pervading interest—the religious; and in the second place, it introduced a new first principle into philosophy, viz. the supra-rational, that which lies beyond See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason and beyond reality . This principle is not to be identified with the "See also:

• IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea" of Plato or with the "See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form" of Aristotle . Neoplatonism perceived that neither sense See also:

• PERCEPTION (from Lat. percipere, to perceive)

perception nor rational See also:

• COGNITION (Latin cognitio, from cognoscere, to become acquainted with)

cognition is a sufficient basis or See also:

• JUSTIFICATION

justification for religious ethics; consequently it See also:

• BROKE, or BROOKE, ARTHUR (d. 1563)
• BROKE, SIR PHILIP BOWES VERE, BART

broke away from rationalistic ethics as decidedly as from utilitarian morality . It had therefore to find out a new world and a new spiritual See also:

• FUNCTION

function, in See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order first to establish the existence of what it desiderated, and then to realize and describe what it had proved to exist . See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

Man, how-ever, cannot transcend his psychological endowment . If he will not allow his thought to be determined by experience, he falls a victim to his See also:

• IMAGINATION

imagination . In other words, thought, which will not stop, takes to See also:

• MYTHOLOGY

mythology; and in the place of reason we have superstition . Still, as we cannot allow every See also:

• FANCY (a shortened form, dating from the 15th century, of " fantasy," which is derived through the O. Fr. fantasie, modern fantaisie. from the Latinized form of the Gr. cbavraoia, Oavrai'ecv, Oat Pais, to show)

fancy of the subjective reason to assert itself, we require some new and potent principle to keep the imagination within See also:

• BOUNDS, BEATING THE

bounds . This is foundin the authority of a See also:

• SOUND
• SOUND, THE (Danish Oresund)

sound tradition . Such authority must be superhuman, otherwise it can have no claim on our respect; it must, therefore, be divine . The highest See also:

• SPHERE (Gr. vclsa?pa, a ball or globe)

sphere of knowledge—the supra-rational—as well as the very possibility of knowledge, must depend on divine communications—that is, on revelations . In See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short, philosophy as represented by Neoplatonism, its See also:

• SOLE (Solea)

sole interest being a religious interest, and its highest See also:

• OBJECT

object the supra-rational, must be a philosophy of See also:

• REVELATION, BOOK OF

revelation .

This is not a prominent feature in See also:

• PLOTINUS (A.D. 204-270)

Plotinus or his immediate disciples, who still exhibit full confidence in the subjective pre-suppositions of their philosophy . But the later adherents of the school did not possess this confidences; they based their philosophy on revelations of the Deity, and they found these in the religious traditions and See also:

• RITES

rites of all nations . The Stoics had taught them to overstep the See also:

• POLITICAL

political boundaries of states and nationalities, and rise from the Hellenic to a universal human consciousness . Through all history the spirit of See also:

• GOD

God has breathed; everywhere we discover the traces of His revelation . The older any religious tradition or mode of See also:

• WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship is, the more See also:

• VENERABLE (Lat. venerabilis, worthy of reverence, venerari, to reverence, to worship, allied to Venus, love; the Indo-Germ. root is wen-, to desire, whence Eng. " win, properly to struggle for, hence to gain)

venerable is it, the richer in divine ideas . Hence the ancient religions of the See also:

• EAST
• EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

East had a See also:

• PECULIAR

peculiar interest for the Neoplatonist . In the See also:

• INTERPRETATION (from Lat. interpretari, to expound, explain, inter pres, an agent, go-between, interpreter; inter, between, and the root pret-, possibly connected with that seen either in Greek 4 p4'ew, to speak, or irpa-rrecv, to do)

interpretation of myths Neoplatonism followed the allegorical method, as practised especially by the Stoa; but the importance it attached to the spiritualized myths was unknown to the Stoic philosophers . The latter interpreted the myths and were done with them; the later Neoplatonists treated them as the proper material and the secure See also:

• FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation of philosophy . Neoplatonism claimed to be not merely the See also:

• ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute philosophy, the See also:

• KEYSTONE

keystone ,of all previous systems, but also the absolute religion, reinvigorating and transforming all previous religions . It contemplated a restoration of all the religions of antiquity, by allowing each to retain its traditional forms, and at the same See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time making each a vehicle for the religious attitude and the religious truth embraced in Neoplatonism; while every form of See also:

• RITUAL (from Lat. ritus, a custom, especially a religious rite or custom)

ritual was to become a stepping-stone to a high morality worthy of mankind . In short, Neoplatonism seizes on the aspiration of the human soul after a higher See also:

• LIFE

life, and treats this psychological fact as the See also:

• KEY
• KEY (in O. Eng. tang; the ultimate origin of the word is unknown; it appears only in Old Frisian kei of other Teutonic languages; until the end of the 17th century the pronunciation was kay, as in other words in O. Eng. ending in aeg; cf. daeg, day; clang
• KEY (the phraseograms being indicated by hyphens)
• KEY, SIR ASTLEY COOPER (1821-1888)
• KEY, THOMAS HEWITT (1799-1875)

key to the interpretation of the universe . Hence the existing religions, after being refined and spiritualized, were made the basis of philosophy.' A Neoplatonism thus represents a stage in the history of religion; indeed this is precisely where its See also:

• HISTORICAL

historical importance lies .

In the progress of science and enlightenment it has no See also:

• POSITIVE (or PORTABLE) ORGAN

positive significance, except as a necessary transition which the See also:

• RACE

race had to make in order to get rid of nature-religion, and that under-valuing of the spiritual life which formed an insuperable obstacle to the advance of human knowledge . Neoplatonism, however, failed as signally in its religious enterprise as it did in its philosophical . While seeking to perfect ancient philosophy, it really extinguished it; and in like manner its attempted reconstruction of ancient religions only resulted in their destruction . For in requiring these religions to impart certain prescribed religious truths, and to inculcate the highest moral See also:

• TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE (1763-1798)

tone, it burdened them with problems to which they were unequal . And further, by inviting them to loosen, though not exactly to dissolve, their political See also:

• ALLEGIANCE (Mid. Eng. ligeaunce; med. Lat. ligeantia, &c.; the al- was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegeance, an allegation; the Fr. allegeance comes from the English; the word is formed from " liege," of which the derivatio

allegiance—the very thing that gave them stability—it removed the foundation on which they rested . But might it not then have placed them on a broader and firmer foundation ? Was not the universal See also:

• EMPIRE

empire of See also:

• ROME
• ROME (Roma)

Rome ready at See also:

• HAND
• HAND (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
• HAND, FERDINAND GOTTHELF (1786-185r)

hand, and might not the new religion have stood to it in the same relation of dependence which the earlier religions had held to the smaller nations and states ? This was no longer possible . It is true that the political and spiritual histories of the peoples on the Mediterranean run in parallel lines, the one leading up to the universal See also:

• MONARCHY (Fr. monarchic, from Lat. monarchia, Gr. uovapXia, rule of one, µbvos, alone, apXi7, rule)

monarchy of Rome, the other leading up to monotheism and universal human morality . But the spiritual development had shot far ahead of the political; even the Stoa occupied a height far beyond the reach of anything in the political sphere . It is also true that Neoplatonism sought to come to an understanding s See also:

• PORPHYRY (IlopcPisptos) (A.D. 233-c. 304)

Porphyry wrote a See also:

• BOOK

book, lrspt -rits As aoy sw 4 tX000¢fas, but this was before he became a See also:

• PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil of Plotinus; as a philosopher he was See also:

• INDEPENDENT

independent of the X6yi.a . with the See also:

• BYZANTINE

Byzantine See also:

• ROMAN

Roman empire; See also:

• JULIAN (FLAVIUS CLAUDIUS JULIANUS) (331-363)

Julian perished in the pursuit of this project .

But even before his See also:

• DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
• DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
• DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)

day the shrewder Neoplatonists had seen that their lofty religious philosophy could not stoop to an See also:

• ALLIANCE

alliance with the despotic world-empire, because it could not come in contact with the world at all . To Neoplatonism political affairs are at bottom as indifferent as all other earthly things . The See also:

• IDEALISM (from Gr. i5Ea, archetype or model, through been urged of the truth of its point of view is the persistency Fr. idealisme)

idealism of the new philosophy was too heavenly to be naturalized in the Byzantine empire, which stood more in need of See also:

• POLICE (Fr. police, government, civil administration, a police force, Gr. sroXumeia, constitution, condition of a state, roars, city, state)

police officials than of philosophers . Important and instructive, therefore, as are the attempts made from time to time by the See also:

• STATE
• STATE, GREAT OFFICERS OF

state and by individual philosophers to unite Neoplatonism and the universal monarchy, their failure was a foregone conclusion . There is one other question which we are called upon to raise here . Why did not Neoplatonism set up an independent religious community ? Why did it not provide for its mixed multitude of divinities by See also:

• FOUNDING (from Lat. fundere, to pour)

founding a universal church, in which all the gods of all nations might be worshipped along with the one ineffable Deity ? The See also:

• ANSWER (derived from and, against, and the same root as swear)

answer to this question involves the answer to another—Why was Neoplatonism defeated by See also:

• CHRISTIANITY

Christianity ? Three essentials of a permanent religious foundation were wanting in Neoplatonism; they are admirably indicated in See also:

• AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430)
• AUGUSTINE, SAINT (d. c.613)

Augustine's Confessions (vii . 18-21) . First, and chiefly, it lacked a religious founder; second, it could not tell how the state of inward See also:

• PEACE
• PEACE, BREACH OF THE

peace and blessedness could become permanent; third, it had no means to win those who were not endowed with the speculative See also:

• FACULTY (through the French, from the Lat. facultas, ability to do anything, from facilis, easy, facere, to do; another form of the word in Lat. facilitas, facility, ease, keeps the original meaning)

faculty . The philosophical discipline which it recommended for the attainment of the highest See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good was beyond the reach of the masses; and the way by which the masses could attain the highest good was a See also:

• SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret unknown to Neoplatonism .

Thus it remained a school for the " See also:

• WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER (1806-1876)
• WISE, ISAAC MAYER (1819-1900)

wise and prudent "; and when Julian tried to enlist the sympathies of the See also:

• COMMON

common rude man for the doctrines and worship of this school, he was met with scorn and ridicule . It is not as a philosophy, then, nor as a new religion, that Neoplatonism became a decisive See also:

• FACTOR (from Lat. facere, to make or do)

factor in history, but, if one may use the expression, as a " See also:

• MOOD

mood." The instinctive certainty that there is a supreme good, lying beyond empirical experience, and yet not an intellectual good—this feeling, and the accompanying conviction of the utter vanity of all earthly things, were produced and sustained by Neoplatonism . Only it could not describe the nature of this highest good; and there-fore it had to abandon itself to imagination and aesthetic impressions . It changed thought into an emotional See also:

• DREAM (from a root dreug, connected with Germ. trugen, to deceive)

dream; it plunged into the ocean of sentiment; it treated the old world of See also:

• FABLE (Fr. fable, Lat. fabula)

fable as the reflection of a higher reality, and transformed reality into See also:

• POETRY

poetry; and after all these expedients, to See also:

• BORROW, GEORGE HENRY (18o3-1881)

borrow a phrase of Augustine's, it only saw afar off the See also:

• LAND

land of its See also:

• DESIRE

desire . Yet the influence of Neoplatonism on the history of our ethical culture is immeasurable, above all because it begot the consciousness that the only blessedness which can satisfy the See also:

• HEART
• HEART, LUNG

heart must be sought higher even than the sphere of reason . That man shall not live by See also:

• BREAD

bread alone, the world had learned before Neoplatonism; but Neoplatonism enforced the deeper truth—a truth which the older philosophy had missed—that man shall not live by knowledge alone . And, besides the propaedeutic importance which thus belongs to it, another fact has to be taken into See also:

• ACCOUNT
• ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)

account in estimating the influence of Neoplatonism . It is to this day the nursery of that whole type of devotion which affects renunciation of the world, which strives after an ideal, without the strength to rise above aesthetic impressions, and is never able to form a clear conception of the object of its own aspiration . Origin.—As forerunners of Neoplatonism we may regard, on the one hand, those Stoics who accepted the Platonic distinction between the sensible world and the intelligible, and, on the other hand, the so-called Neopythagoreans and religious philosophers like See also:

• PLUTARCH
• PLUTARCH (Gr. llXoi rapxos) (c. A.D. 46–120)

Plutarch of Chaeronea and especially See also:

• NUMENIUS

Numenius of See also:

• APAMEA

Apamea . But these cannot be considered the actual See also:

• PRO

pro-genitors of Neoplatonism; their philosophic method is quite elementary as compared with the Neoplatonic, their fundamentalprinciples are uncertain, and unbounded deference is still paid to the authority of Plato . The Jewish and Christian thinkers of the first two centuries approach considerably nearer than Numenius to the later Neoplatonism .1 Here we have See also:

• PHILO
• PHILO, HERENNIUS

Philo, to begin with . Philo, who translated the Old Testament religion into the terms of Hellenic thought, holds as an inference from his theory of revelation that the divine Supreme Being is " supra-rational," that He can be reached only through " See also:

• ECSTASY (Gr. iarra(TLc, from i LarliU, put out of its place, alter)

ecstasy ", and that the oracles of God See also:

• SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply the material of moral and religious knowledge .

The religious ethics of Philo—a See also:

• COMPOUND
• COMPOUND (from Lat. componere, to combine or put together)

compound of Stoic, Platonic and Neopythagorean elements—already See also:

• BEAR
• BEAR, BLACK
• BEAR, BROWN
• BEAR, GRIZZLY
• BEAR, ISABELLINE
• BEAR, WHITE

bear the peculiar See also:

• STAMP (from " to stamp," to strike or tread heavily, hence to impress, O. Eng. stempen, Du. stampen, Ger. stampfen, whence, O. Fr. estamper, mod. etamper)

stamp which we recognize in Neoplatonism . While his system assigns the supremacy to See also:

• GREEK
• GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

Greek philosophy over the See also:

• NATIONAL

national religion of See also:

• ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

Israel, it exacts from the former, as a sort of See also:

• TRIBUTE (Lat. tributurn, a stated payment, contribution)

tribute to the latter, the recognition of the See also:

• ELEVATION

elevation of God above the See also:

• PROVINCE
• PROVINCE (Lat. provincia; perhaps a contraction of providentia)

province of reason . The claim of positive religion to be something more than the intellectual See also:

• APPREHENSION (Lat. ad, to; prehendere, to seize)

apprehension of the reason in the universe is thus acknowledged . Religious See also:

• SYNCRETISM (Gr. o'vyKprlrurw51, from aim and Kep&vvv,uc, mingle or blend, or, according to Plutarch, from en, and Kprlri'ecv, to combine against a common enemy after the manner of the cities of Crete)

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 See also:

• ROMANS
• ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE

Romans had been borrowed from the books of See also:

• MOSES (Gr. Mwvo c, Mcoo-i3s)
• MOSES, ASSUMPTION OF

Moses . The earliest Christian philosophers, particularly See also:

• JUSTIN (JUNIANUS JUSTINUS)

Justin and See also:

• ATHENAGORAS

Athenagoras, likewise prepared the way for the speculations of the Neoplatonists—partly by their attempts to connect Christianity with Stoicism and Platonism, partly by their ambition to exhibit Christianity as " hyperplatonic." In the introduction to his See also:

• DIALOGUE

Dialogue with Trypho, Justin follows a method which bears a striking resemblance to the later method of Neoplatonism: he seeks to See also:

• BASE

base the Christian knowledge of God—that is, the knowledge of the truth—on Platonism, Scepticism and " Revelation." A still more remarkable parallel to the later Neoplatonism is afforded by the Christian Gnostics of See also:

• ALEXANDRIA
• ALEXANDRIA (Arab. Iskenderia)

Alexandria,_ especially See also:

• VALENTINUS

Valentinus and the followers of See also:

• BASILIDES

Basilides ? Like the Neoplatonists, the Basilidians believed, not in an See also:

• EMANATION (Lat. emanatio, from e-, out, manare, to flow)

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 See also:

• APEX

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 See also:

• ZENO

Zeno and Plato is beyond dispute . But the method observed by these Gnostics in thinking out the See also:

• PLAN
• PLAN (from Lat. planes, flat)

plan and the history of the universe is by no means thoroughgoing . Ancient myths are admitted without undergoing See also:

• ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis; the most naive See also:

• REALISM (from Low Lat. realis, appertaining to res, things, as opposed to ideas and imaginations)

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 See also:

• OLDEST

oldest Neoplatonists really acquainted with the speculations of Philo, or Justin, or Valentinus, or Basilides ? Did they know the See also:

• ORIENTAL

Oriental religions, Judaism and Christianity in particular ? And, if so, did they really derive anything from these sources ? To these questions we cannot 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 See also:

• LITERARY

literary circles of Alexandria, we may safely assume that even the earliest of the Neoplatonists possessed The resemblance would probably be still more apparent if we thoroughly understood the development of Christianity at Alexandria in the 2nd See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century; but unfortunately we have only very meagre fragments to See also:

• GUIDE (in Mid. Eng. gyde, from the Fr. guide; the earlier French form was guie, English " guy," the d was due to the Italian form guida; the ultimate origin is probably Teutonic, the word being connected with the base seen in O. Eng. witan, to know)

guide us here .