Neoplatonism began in Alexandria in the 3rd century AD and was characterized by a categorical opposition between the spiritual and physical realms. It hypothesized mediating agencies like the nous and world soul that transmit divine power from the One to the many. Neoplatonism advocated for ascetic discipline as a means of liberation from the material world through rigorous spiritual practices. While it had some institutional support through academies like those founded by Marsilio Ficino, Renaissance Platonism lacked coherence as a unified school or movement of thought.

1. Neoplatonism
It is characterized by a categorical opposition between the spiritual and the carnal,
elaborated from Plato's dualism of Idea and Matter; by the metaphysical hypothesis of
mediating agencies, the nous and the world soul, which transmit the divine power
from the One to the many; by an aversion to the world of sense; and by the necessity
of liberation from a life of sense through a rigorous ascetic discipline.
History
 Neoplatonism began in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 3rd century AD.
 The foundation of Plato's thought was that the universe consists of two realms: a
realm of appearance: constantly changes and so affords no possibility of certain
knowledge And a realm of eternal, abstract forms: always static
Renaissance Platonism cannot really be easily considered as a school or even a
coherent movement. Unlike humanism or Aristoteleanism, It was not a program of
education and so did not constitute normal studies, nor did it ever become a program
of study or curriculum. Aside from the Academy founded by Marsilio Ficino and
Cosimo de'Medici, it had only the slimmest of institutional support as a distinct
discipline.
Only a few philosophers, such as Cardinal Bessarion, Nicholas Cusanus, Marsilio
Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola, can be unabashedly known as “neoplatonists.”
Neoplatonism’s most famous advocates are Johannes Kepler and Galileo
Galilei. A number of 19th- and 20th-century thinkers and writers have been influenced
by Neoplatonism; among them were several of the most important British romantic
poets, including William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley.