Porphyry 234 AD – 305 AD
Porphyry of Tyre was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and the most important pupil of Plotinus. He edited and arranged his teacher's writings into the Enneads, prefacing them with the Life of Plotinus, our principal source for the founder of Neoplatonism. His Isagoge, an introduction to Aristotle's Categories, dominated logical instruction in late antiquity, the Islamic world, and the Latin West for more than a thousand years. He also wrote a celebrated polemic Against the Christians, of which only fragments survive.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Phoenician-Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Platonism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Porphyry:
“The soul, when it has departed from the body, returns to its kindred essence.”
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Attributed to Porphyry:
“The body is the cause of the most numerous and most pernicious distractions.”
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Attributed to Porphyry:
“We must, therefore, separate ourselves from everything that we ourselves have added.”
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Attributed to Porphyry:
“Empty are the words of that philosopher which heal no human suffering.”
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Attributed to Porphyry:
“Let us look at things as they are, not as they appear.”