Polemica anti-manichea e commento filosofico : il manicheo come avversario del neoplatonismo

This article proposes an analysis of the main exercises of counter-argumentation to the Manichaean doctrine found in the polemical works of the 6th century. The analysis of the reasonings present in these works demonstrates the influence of the philosophical literature on them: virtually all the anti-Manichean texts of the period have strong connections with Neoplatonic thought and it seems that the texts of the 6th century have developed a literary standard, according to which the Manichaean is portrayed as the perfect rhetorical enemy of the Neoplatonic philosophy prevalent in the academies of the 6th century.

In this way, the confrontation with the Manichaean doctrine is useful for defending (and explaining) various basic notions of the philosophical thought of the time and, consequently, the anti-Manichean polemic of the 6th century combines theological and doctrinal objectives with others of pedagogical and philosophical type. [Publisher's text]