ABSTRACT
Following in the tradition of Greek Neoplatonism, Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonisms re ect on the relation between the divine source and the human subject through the intermediation of a number of emanating hypostases (namely one or more universal intellects, and one or more universal souls).1 Looking at some representative gures, we nd among Islamic Neoplatonists such thinkers as al-Kindi, al-Farabi, the Ikhwān asspace_dotbelowcombSspace_dotbelowcombafā’ (the Brethren of Purity), Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Ibn Tufayl and Suhrawardi, and we nd among Jewish Neoplatonists such thinkers as Isaac Israeli, Ibn Gabirol, Ibn Ezra, Moses Maimonides, Ibn Hspace_dotbelowcomb asday and Yohspace_dotbelowcombanan Alemanno. In terms of language, we might note that a good deal of Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonism is written in Arabic (including Judeo-Arabic), though there are also classic works of Islamic Neoplatonism in Persian, and classic works of Jewish Neoplatonism in Hebrew (and Aramaic if one considers the Zohar to be part of the Jewish Neoplatonic tradition). e transmission of Greek Neoplatonism into Islamic and Jewish contexts is a complex story suggesting vestiges of Pythagorean, Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Plotinian, Proclean, Pseudo-Empedoclean and other in uences, with many details still uncertain. Adding to the complexity, Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonisms also o en reveal ideas and imagery drawn from Islamic and Jewish scriptural, legal, theological and mystical traditions.
