At Variance: Marsilio Ficino, Platonism and Heresy

Abstract

Heresy in Greek antiquity meant a choice, or what is chosen, particularly a tenet. But heresy takes many forms. When orthodoxy is not yet established, an heretical opinion may still represent a proto-orthodox or a not yet heterodox option. When orthodoxy is too well established, another point of view can become branded as heretical even if it is in fact a speculative possibility, an adumbrated option with regard to an issue that still invites, and may even deserve, further examination. Upholders in the first category may be ‘material’ but not yet ‘formal’ heretics, since they are innocent choosers. Many of the great heresies are of course Christological and revolve around the definition, in Greek initially and later in Latin as well, of such terms as being, substance, nature, person and so forth.