THE INTELLIGIBLE TRIAD IN NEO-PLATONISM AND PATRISTICS

Abstract

The author attempts to better defi ne the concept of the so-called «intelligible Triad» (esse, vivere, intellegere) in Neo-Platonism and the Fathers of the Church. In the fi rst section, he explores the origins of this doctrine in Plato’s dialogue «Sophistes» as well as in the twelfth book of Aristotle’s «Metaphysics». This idea is also apparent in the doctrine concerning the distinct levels of being and the faculties of the human soul, a concept common to various Greek philosophical schools. The larger section of the article provides a reconstruction of the basic features and the elements of this theory of the «intelligible Triad» in the Neo-Platonic philosophy of Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Syrianus, and Proclus, as well as in the diff erent Gnostic schools. Finally, the author raises the question of how this concept was employed and transformed by the Church Fathers. This will be the topic of the section of the article to follow.

Keywords

• Greek Philosophy
• Patristics
• Theology
• Christianity