8/10/2008

Thomas Taylor

The most influential (not to say famous) Neoplatonist of the Romantic period, Thomas Taylor (1758-1835) popularized the theological arithmetic of Plato, Plotinus, Proclus, Iamblichus, and Boethius in the English-speaking world [see this appreciation by Kathleen Raine.] He was so enamoured of the ancient Greek philsophers that he and his wife were known to speak the language at home. He was admired by Shelly, Blake, and Wordsworth; Emerson called him "divine".

Among his published translations and works available online, in no particular order:

I think readers interested in the history of Western philosophy will fined Taylor's exposition and translation of the Neoplatonic doctrine invaluable in grasping, not just the Greek philosophical outlook, but Dee, Fludd, Vaughan, Michael Maier, and the other Hermetic and Rosicrucian authors who incorporated the metaphysical formulas into their own mystical Christian worldview.

A complete bibliography, Thomas Taylor, the Platonist is also available.

Taylor's complete works are being re-published by The Prometheus Trust.


Update: 2014-07-30: