From Plato to Platonism
"InFrom Plato to Platonism, Lloyd P. Gerson formulates in a new way the basic presuppositions behind Platonism and works them out with proper attention to the Old Academy, the New Academy, and the 'Middle' Platonists in a way that has not been done before, as well as bringing Aristotle into the fold. This work enhances Gerson's considerable reputation as an interpreter of the Greek philosophical tradition."—John Dillon, Emeritus Fellow, Trinity College, author ofThe Heirs of Plato: A Study of the Old Academy"This is a fascinating book—erudite yet accessible—that rejects the nineteenth-century split, widely accepted in the modern world, between a supposed originary 'Plato' and the subsequent history of Platonism. Lloyd P. Gerson argues persuasively, on the basis of the overall thought embedded in Plato’s dialogues and on indirect evidence from Aristotle onward, not only that Plato was a ‘Platonist’ but that Plotinus’s interpretation of Plato’s thought deserves to be taken more seriously as exegesis (as it was so understood by Proclus and others in late Antiquity)."—Kevin Corrigan, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities and Director, the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University