Plutarch of Athens | |
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 Portrait of a philosopher, early 5th century AD. The portrait most likely represents the Neo-Platonic philosopher Plutarch of Athens. Acropolis Museum Athens, Acr. 1313. | |
| Born | 350 AD |
| Died | 430 AD |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Ancient philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Neoplatonism |
| Notable students | Syrianus,Proclus |
| Main interests | Platonism,Aristotelianism |
Plutarch of Athens (Greek:Πλούταρχος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος; c. 350 – 430 AD) was a Greek philosopher andNeoplatonist who taught inAthens at the beginning of the 5th century. He reestablished thePlatonic Academy there and became its leader. He wrote commentaries onAristotle andPlato, emphasizing the doctrines which they had in common.
He was the son of Nestorius and father ofHierius andAsclepigenia, who were his colleagues in the school. The origin of Neoplatonism in Athens is not known, but Plutarch is generally seen as the person who reestablishedPlato's Academy in its Neoplatonist form. Plutarch and his followers (so-called the "Platonic Succession") claimed to be the disciples ofIamblichus, and through him ofPorphyry andPlotinus.[1] Numbered among his disciples wereSyrianus, who succeeded him as head of the school, andProclus.
Plutarch's main principle was that the study ofAristotle must precede that ofPlato, and like theMiddle Platonists believed in the continuity between the two authors. With this object he wrote a commentary on Aristotle'sOn the Soul (De Anima) which was the most important contribution to Aristotelian literature since the time ofAlexander of Aphrodisias; and a commentary on theTimaeus of Plato. His example was followed by Syrianus and others of the school. This critical spirit reached its greatest height in Proclus, the ablest exponent of this latter-day syncretism.[1]
Plutarch was versed in all thetheurgic traditions of the school, and believed, along withIamblichus, in the possibility of attaining to communion with the Deity by the medium of the theurgic rites. Unlike theAlexandrists and the early Renaissance writers, he maintained that the soul which is bound up in the body by the ties of imagination and sensation does not perish with the corporeal media of sensation.[1]
Inpsychology, while believing thatReason is the basis and foundation of allconsciousness, he interposed between sensation and thought the faculty of Imagination, which, as distinct from both, is the activity of the soul under the stimulus of unceasing sensation. In other words, it provides the raw material for the operation of Reason. Reason is present in children as an inoperative potentiality, in adults as working upon the data of sensation and imagination, and, in its pure activity, it is the transcendental or pure intelligence ofGod.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Plutarch, of Athens".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 860.| International | |
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