Plotinus and neoplatonsim

Brief summary

 

Plotinus; (205-270) was a Hellenistic Greek philosopher, author of the Enneads , and founder of Neoplatonism, a school that also included Numenius of Apamea, Porphyry, Iamblichus and Proclus. He was born in Egypt and educated in Alexandria, being a student of Ammonio Saccas (who had tried to harmonize Aristotle and Plato). He finally settled in Rome.

 

Plotinus's work is essentially an original commentary on Plato's works, in a much more structured way than Philo of Alexandria did. Attracted by Platonic idealism, he developed his philosophy incorporating Christian elements with Greek and Eastern philosophical ideas.

 

His main work was the Enneads, a compilation of the treatises that he began to write from the year 253 until a few months before his death, 17 years later. The task of compiling the treatises and organizing them as a book was done by Porfirio, who grouped them into six groups of nine (in total, 54 treatises). The Enneads collect the lessons that Plotinus taught at his school in Rome.

 

Plotinus elaborated a theological structure that saw the universe as the result of a series of emanations from an ultimate, eternal and immaterial reality that he called One. From it arises another divine principle, the Nous, source of the Platonic forms from which the Soul emanates. . Plotinus believed like Plato that the body is the "prison" of the soul and its purpose is to return to the One through a life of wisdom and virtue.

Later, other philosophers, especially of Christian beliefs, such as Augustine of Hippo and Boethius, showed a strong influence from Plotinus and Neoplatonism. His metaphysical writings have inspired pagan, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and Islamic mystics.

 

Doctrine

Plotinus's central proposal consists in affirming that there is a reality that founds any other existence: the One. From an act of procession, some opt for emanation, the nous and the soul emerge. In reality, the basic principle is only the One, while the other two hypostases and the rest of realities are derived.

 

Speaking of hypostasis is an attribution made by Porphyry, a disciple of Plotinus, to the thought of his teacher, since the term hypostasis is not found in the text of the Enneads.

 

Hypostasis

The one

The One of Plotinus's theory is indescribable, since it is the unit, the greatest, to such an extent that he sometimes calls it as God, unique, infinite. Plotinus, before wanting to correct, prefers to remain silent than to say something. A clearly mystical attitude. As a principle and last reality, this absolute transcendence means that there are no terms to refer to it. It is then about the Unity that founds the existence of all things. That is the center of all his doctrine. The One is beyond Being and therefore there is no definition that positively describes the One and opts for the negative path. He eludes her understanding because he considers it impossible according to the human mode of knowing. Plotinus contemplates the One as an unbeatable and supreme reality from which the nous and the soul come. He affirms that the act of existing of all entities depends directly on the One. He considers it the maximum unit of the principle of all reality since it is unlimited, perfect and does not tend to end, therefore, it is a single reality.