Neoplatonism's Influence on Christian and Islamic Thought

Neoplatonism and Christianity

Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine uses terms of the philosophy of the moment to develop his own. He affirms that God created everything from nothing in an absolutely free and loving act, and not as something necessary, as Plotinus affirmed.

Vision of the Human Being

Saint Augustine continues the Platonic dualistic model: the immortal soul uses a mortal body. This soul was created by God, and the body is dominated by original sin. To be saved, humans still need outside help: divine grace, which is applied to the soul. The conception of the soul mirrors the Trinity of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The soul also has intelligence and free will.

Saint Augustine speaks of two types of freedom:

• Libertas: This is the desire to love God and satisfy the search for happiness. When a person seeks God is when they use their full capacity.
• Free will: This is the capacity to decide freely. This capacity is fragile because of sin. Due to the human condition, humans can often tend to do evil. For good, we need grace.

Avicenna

The medical philosopher Avicenna (980-1037) commented on the work of Aristotle from a Neoplatonic perspective. He distinguishes between necessary being, which needs nothing, in which essence and existence coincide, and contingent beings, which exist because of the action of an external cause, a foreign substance to them, in which essence does not imply existence to the point that they need an external cause to exist. He identifies God with the necessary being, always in the act, and perfect goodness. The other beings are not created directly from God but are created by other beings very similar to God, which he called the ten successive intelligences.

Averroes

The most important Muslim philosopher, Averroes (1126-1198), was a judge, doctor, mathematician, and politician. He was known for his immense labor commenting on the work of Aristotle. He established a stable relationship between philosophy and religion, but the conclusions he reached resulted in painful situations. Due to the more rational portion of his work, he was banished from Cordoba.

A) Theory of Double Truth

When there is no coinciding response between faith and religion, the philosopher Averroes says that one must speak as a philosopher and as a believer, which originated the theory of double truth: the truth of the believer and the theories of the philosopher. When it reached Western Europe, it had supporters and intellectuals who vigorously rejected it. It was a controversial theory.

B) Eternal or Created World

Averroes affirms that it is compatible to conceive an eternal world and, simultaneously, a world created by God. The world was created by God, so the world exists from all eternity. The material world contains, in power, all the forms it can acquire.

C) Providence and God's Wisdom

God governs the world with his science, unlike human science. His knowledge allows him to understand himself as the all-encompassing whole. God does not know individual things, nor does he set their particular destination. The human will is subject to the necessity that arises from God's government.