The Hypostasis of the Archons: Platonic Forms as Angels

The thesis of this paper is that Platonic Forms are angels. I make this identification by claiming that Platonic Forms have the characteristics of angels, in particular, that Platonic Forms are alive. I offer four arguments for this claim. First, it seems that engaging in self-directed action is a s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inReligions (Basel, Switzerland ) Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 114
Main Author Hunt, Marcus William
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2023
Subjects
Angels
Christianity
demons
Disclosure
Ethics
God
Judaism
Metaphysics
Participation
philosophy of religion
Plato
platonic forms
Plotinus (205-270)
Religion
Traditions
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The thesis of this paper is that Platonic Forms are angels. I make this identification by claiming that Platonic Forms have the characteristics of angels, in particular, that Platonic Forms are alive. I offer four arguments for this claim. First, it seems that engaging in self-directed action is a sufficient condition for being alive. The Forms are, as teleological activities, self-directed actions. Second, bodies receive their being from their Forms, and some bodies are essentially alive. Third, in the Good, all the types of goodness, including life, are identical. The Forms are appearances of the Good. Fourth, since the Good imparts as much goodness as it can, the Forms are alive unless there is some bar to their being alive. There are good reasons to think that there is no such bar. I then show that ethical vices do not give body to human form, but give body to other forms—those that are evil angels. Lastly, I provide a survey of the relationships that various religious traditions posit between ethical vice and the demonic.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel14010114