Principio Primo come «Assoluto» nella tradizione neoplatonica

The concept of “Absolute”, as truly original principle of all things and of every kind of determination, is fundamental in the whole Neoplatonic tradition. The notion of “First Principle” is indeed perfectly referable to the concept of “Absolute”: it is transcending every kind of reality, since it is beyond the totality of being. The “absolute” nature of the First Principle is reasserted by the Neoplatonic thinkers on several occasions with an ever more marked accentuation of its radical transcendence. In order to understand in what extent the First Principle is depicted as “the Absolute” in the Neoplatonic tradition, it is necessary to take in account what the main representatives of this school of thought – Plotinus, Proclus and Damascius – af rmed about its transcending nature.