Webster's 1828 Dictionary
PLATONISM
n.The philosophy of Plato, consisting of three branches, theology, physics and mathematics. Under theology is included moral philosophy. The foundation of Plato's theology is the opinion that there are two eternal, primary, independent and incorruptible principles or causes of all things, and matter, from which all things are made. It was a fundamental maxim with him that from nothing, nothing can proceed. While therefore he held God to be the maker of the universe, he held matter, the substance of which the universe was made, to be eternal.
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
PLATONISM
Pla "to *nism, n. Etym: [Cf. F. Platonisme.]
1. The doctrines or philosophy by Plato or of his followers.
Note: Plato believed God to be an infinitely wise, just, and powerful Spirit; and also that he formed the visible universe out of preëxistent amorphous matter, according to perfect patterns of ideas eternally existent in his own mind. Philosophy he considered as being a knowledge of the true nature of things, as discoverable in those eternal ideas after which all things were fashioned. In other words, it is the knowledge of what is eternal, exists necessarily, and is unchangeable; not of the temporary, the dependent, and changeable; and of course it is not obtained through the senses; neither is it the product of the understanding, which concerns itself only with the variable and transitory; nor is it the result of experience and observation; but it is the product of our reason, which, as partaking of the divine nature, has innate ideas resembling the eternal ideas of God. By contemplating these innate ideas, reasoning about them, and comparing them with their copies in the visible universe, reason can attain that true knowledge of things which is called philosophy. Plato's professed followers, the Academics, and the New Platonists, differed considerably from him, yet are called Platonists. Murdock.
2. An elevated rational and ethical conception of the laws and forces of the universe; sometimes, imaginative or fantastic philosophical notions.
New American Oxford Dictionary
Platonism
Pla to nism |ˈplātnˌizəm ˈpleɪtnˌɪzəm | ▶noun the philosophy of Plato or his followers. See Plato. • any of various revivals of Platonic doctrines or related ideas, esp. Neoplatonism and Cambridge Platonism (a 17th -century attempt to reconcile Christianity with humanism and science ). • the theory that numbers or other abstract objects are objective, timeless entities, independent of the physical world and of the symbols used to represent them. DERIVATIVES Pla to nist noun
Oxford Dictionary
Platonism
Platonism |ˈpleɪt (ə )nɪz (ə )m | ▶noun [ mass noun ] the philosophy of Plato or his followers. See Plato. • any of various revivals of Platonic doctrines or related ideas, especially Neoplatonism and Cambridge Platonism (a 17th -century attempt to reconcile Christianity with humanism and science ). • the theory that numbers or other abstract objects are objective, timeless entities, independent of the physical world and of the symbols used to represent them. DERIVATIVES Platonist noun
Duden Dictionary
Platonismus
Pla to nis mus Substantiv, maskulin , der |Platon i smus |Gesamtheit der philosophischen Richtungen in Fortführung der Philosophie Platons
Spanish Dictionary
platonismo
platonismo nombre masculino 1 Doctrina filosófica de Platón (filósofo griego, 428 -347 o 348 a. C.), según la cual solo los conceptos son inmutables, mientras que el conocimiento que proviene de la percepción de los sentidos es mudable .2 Cualidad de platónico .
The Wordsmith Dictionary