c. 175 AD) was an ancient Platonic philosopher who lived in the second century of the Christian era, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
From the writings of Atticus, which have only been handed down in fragmentary form, it can be seen that he was conservative and wanted to purge what he saw as the original teachings of Plato from the intrusion of elements of Aristotelianism.
Atticus' position represents a version of Platonism according to which deviation from the literal word of the master means irredeemable heretical opposition.
His work was a polemic, possibly originating from his position as the first holder of the Platonic philosophy chair at Athens under Marcus Aurelius.
With this rejection of the eternity of the world and also with his understanding of the Demiurge and the theory of forms, as well as his anti-Aristotelian attitude, Atticus represented a decidedly opposed position to views that later became part of the core of the ideas of Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity.
[13] According to the common view of the Middle Platonists, the Demiurge creates the world by looking at the archetypes (ideas) of things.
Atticus shares this view but, unlike most Middle Platonists, does not assume that the world of ideas resides in the intellect (nous) of the Demiurge.
[14][15] A feature of Atticus' theology is that it does not share the otherwise dominant belief among ancient Platonists that the supreme deity, because of its perfection, necessarily knows no change over time.
The god of Atticus considers, plans, waits, decides and takes personal care of the things he has created.
With this interpretation he turns against the position of numerous Platonists, according to whom the cosmos must be eternal for philosophical reasons and therefore Plato's statements about creation are to be understood metaphorically.
Despite this relatively low classification of the world of forms for a Platonist, Atticus sees in it more than just the means to the end of creating the cosmos; it has its own intrinsic value.
[19][20] According to the wording of Plato's Timaeus, to which Atticus adheres, when the Creator created the world, he found matter already there, which was in disordered motion (chaos).
The natural badness of matter is not remedied by the change of its soul, but is limited; it only affects the area between the Moon and the Earth (imagined as the center of the world).
[24] Atticus shares the idea with other Platonists in principle that the world soul owes its reason and goodness to the creative deity.
[25] In contrast to the thinkers who consider the cosmos to be eternal, and Plato's account of creation to be metaphorical, Atticus feels compelled to grapple with the paradox of a temporal emergence of time.
[28] For Atticus, the world soul organizes and permeates everything, because only if a single ensouled force connects and holds everything together, can the universe be managed sensibly and beautifully.
Atticus polemicizes against the thesis that human happiness also depends on noble origins, physical beauty and prosperity, which he sees as low and misguided thinking.
[38] In the Neoplatonic school which Plotinus founded in Rome in the 3rd century, Atticus's comments on Plato were part of the curriculum.
Hierocles seems to have had Atticus in particular in mind when he attacked philosophers who portrayed Plato and Aristotle as representing opposing positions.
Christian authors who mention or quote him include Eusebius of Caesarea, Theodoret, John Philoponus, and Aeneas of Gaza.
The late antique theologian Arius, after whom Arianism is named, also shows parallels in his theological thinking to the ideas of Atticus, but there is no concrete evidence of a direct influence.
[43][44] Critics also observe that Atticus did not do justice to his own concern to present the authentic philosophy of Plato, because he was guilty of an "improper simplification" of the Platonic ontology.
[45] On the other hand, it is also acknowledged that he succeeded in designing a system that could measure up to the alternative models that were common at the time in terms of its coherence, and that that also deserves attention from today's perspective on Platonism.