LAAA · Late Antiquity After Antiquity: The Last of the Ancient Platonists in the Early Modern Period

LAAA will provide the first systematic study of the rich – yet understudied – interpretative legacy of late antiquity in the history of Western philosophy, with a focus on Platonism. It will show that in the early modern period the most influential portraits of the ancient philosophical past were inspired and shaped by representations of this past produced in late antiquity. In its attempt to explore the philosophical heritage of these representations, LAAA will begin in the investigation of the hermeneutical approach of the humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), who produced the first Latin translation of the entire Platonic corpus by using the newly discovered texts of the late antique Platonists as interpretative tools.This approach created a form of Platonism deeply imbued with the theurgically oriented tradition of late antiquity. LAAA’s goals are to disentangle the different interpretative threads which run under the label ‘early modern Platonism’ and to examine its impact in different fields of early modern European knowledge, as well as its role in the shaping of our intellectual and cultural identity. By retracing the complex narrative of filiation which characterizes the reception history of Platonism, LAAA will reassess the role of late antiquity not in its own time, but from the general viewpoint of the historical development of Western thought. This is a totally new perspective in the study of late antiquity, which will be examined as a dynamic territory for the preservation, transformation and transmission of classical texts, as well as a longstanding source of authority and inspiration.