George Gemistos Plethon on God: Aristotle vs Plato Essay -- Religion P

George Gemistos Plethon on idol Aristotle vs PlatoIn this paper I examine George Gemistos Plethons defense in his De Differentiis of Platos conception of God as superior to that of Aristotles. (2) Plethon asserts that the Platonic conception of God is more consistent with Orthodox Christian theology than the Aristotelian conception. This claim is all the more enkindle in light of the fact that Plethon is, as it turns out, a pagan. I argue that Plethon takes the position he does because his interpretation of the Platonic God better fits his own neo-pagan theological conceptions. Part of the evidence for this is supplied by the first English translation of Plethons Summary of the Doctrines of Zoroaster and Plato. I. Background (3)George Gemistos, who called himself Plethon, (1355?-1452) lived during the last socio-economic classs of the Byzantine empire. Constantinople fell to the Turks less than one year after his death. Yet he had a significant, direct influence on the study of Pl ato in the Latin westernmost. This resulted from his membership in the Byzantine delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438-39. The purpose of this council was to effect the union of the two churches and thus, hopefully, to preserve the Byzantine Empire with the help of the West.The emperor moth, John VIII Palaeologos, knew they were going to face some of the finest minds in the popish Church on their own soil he therefore wanted the best minds available in support of the Byzantine cause to accompany him. Consequently, the Emperor appointed George Gemistos as part of the delegation. Despite the fact that he was a secular philosopher a rare creature at this time in the West Gemistos was renowned both for his wisdom and his moral rectitude. Among ... ...rci, codex Venetus 406, qui Plethonis autographus creditur, in quo istud additamentum, scholii instar, initio Zoroastreorum ad marginem ascriptum est. Clearly, Alexandre was aware of Jacopo Morellis identification of th is manuscript at San Marco as an autograph of Plethon (in Morellis Bibliotheca Manuscripta Graeca et Latina I (1802). otherwise indications that the passage is an interpolation into the text are the abrupt change from oratio recta in the foregoing passage to oratio obliqua in this one and the fact that this passage contains none of the xii doctrines.(28) Plethon is clearly a Neoplatonic, however, he thought that he was a good Platonist. The distinction between Platonism and Neoplatonism had not yet been made by historians of philosophy.(29) The indorser should note, however, that Plethon does not use these two terms synonymously in every context.