Xenocrates (; ; c. 396/5 – 314/3 BC) of
Chalcedon was a
Greek philosopher,
mathematician, and leader (
scholarch) of the
Platonic Academy from 339/8 to 314/3 BC. His teachings followed those of
Plato, which he attempted to define more closely, often with mathematical elements. He distinguished three forms of being, the sensible, the intelligible, and a third compounded of the two, to which correspond respectively,
sense,
intellect and
opinion. Unity and duality he considered to be
gods which rule the
universe, and the soul is a self-moving
number.
God pervades all things, and there are
daemonical powers, intermediate between the
divine and the
mortal, which consist in conditions of the soul. He held that
mathematical objects and the
Platonic Ideas are identical, unlike Plato who distinguished them. In
Ethics, he taught that
virtue produces
happiness, but that external goods can minister to it and enable it to effect its purpose.