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Neoplatonism: a revival and reinterpretation of Plato's
doctrine of essential, pre-existing "forms," began as early as the
third century BCE with the writings of Plotinus (Plato himself lived during the
5th century BCE). The Neoplatonic tradition subscribes to Plato's theory that
reason can reveal an understandable order in the universe; this tradition has
influenced many movements during the past two-thousand years, including the
Romantic movements in 19th century Britain (ie. Wordsworth, Shelley, etc.) and
the U.S. (ie. Emerson). The significance of Neoplatonic views in the culture
debate is their adherence to the essential quality of "goodness,"
"truth," and other aspects of the universal order -- that is, a
Neoplatonic position tends to discard the possibility that there could be more
than one interpretation of "goodness," "truth," etc.
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