The first comprehensive guide in English to 'Middle' Platonism, based on a wealth of source-texts in English translation.

George Boys-Stones is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Durham University and has published widely on Middle Platonism among other topics. He is co-editor of The Platonic Art of Philosophy (Cambridge, 2013) and author of Post-Hellenistic Philosophy (2001), which laid the groundwork for this volume.

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction: studying middle platonism; 1. Plato's authority and the history of philosophy; 2. Making sense of the dialogues; Part I. Cosmology: 3. Causal principles for a non-materialist cosmology; 4. The debate over matter and the problem of evil; 5. Paradigm-forms; 6. The creator god; 7. Theories of creation; 8. World soul and nature; 9. Individual souls and their faculties; 10. Living beings: gods, daimons, humans, animals, plants; 11. Providence; 12. Fate; Part II. Dialectic: 13. Epistemology; 14. Logic; 15. Aristotle's Categories: ontology and linguistics; 16. The hierarchy of sciences; Part III. Ethics: 17. The goal of virtue and the ideal life; 18. Ethical virtue and the management of the passions; 19. Politics; 20. The system of the Chaldaean Oracles; Glossary; References; Catalogue of platonists; Index of sources and references; Index to notes and further reading.