a system of philosophical and theological doctrines composed of elements of Platonism and Aristotelianism and oriental mysticism; its most distinctive doctrine holds that the first principle and source of reality transcends being and thought and is naturally unknowable; "Neoplatonism was predominant in pagan Europe until the 6th century" "Neoplatonism was a major influence on early Christian writers and on later medieval and Renaissance thought and on Islamic philosophy"
