Thomas Taylor

Born in London in 1758, Thomas Taylor became one of the great early champions of Greek philosophy in English. He is especially remembered for translating Plato and other ancient philosophers at a time when very little of that material was available to ordinary English readers.

Taylor devoted much of his life to Neoplatonism, a philosophical tradition that shaped his writing, translations, and independent thought. Because of the breadth of his work and his deep commitment to the ancient world, he later became widely known as "the English Platonist."

Although his style can feel intense and scholarly, his influence was far-reaching. Readers interested in mysticism, classical thought, and the long afterlife of Plato often find in Taylor a passionate guide to ideas that had nearly vanished from view in his time.