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Questions tagged [plotinus]

Plotinus (204-270) was the founder of Neo-Platonism. He wrote the Enneads which his disciple Porphyry compiled. He was born in Lycopolis, Egypt, and died in Rome.

General information about Plotinus can be found in the following sources.

His work The Six Enneads translated by Stephen MacKenna and B. S. Page is available at Sacred Texts: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plotenn/index.htm

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Was Hegel a Neoplatonist?

I have started reading a book by Philip Stanfield, Hegel the Consummate Neoplatonist where he claims (page 1): From a materialist perspective (‘matter’ or objective reality is primary to consciousness) I will argue that Hegel’s philosophy is most…
Frank Hubeny
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Was Neoplatonism a synthesis of Jewish & Platonic monotheism?

Was Neoplatonism a synthesis of Jewish & Platonic monotheism? Neoplatonism was a school of mystical philosophy synthesising Jewish theology and Plato's philosophy. Its major theorist & practitioner is Plotinus. But there appears to be two dialogues…
Mozibur Ullah
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What were Plato's views on substance?

Forms are Plato’s substances, for everything derives its existence from Forms. In this sense of ‘substance’ any realist philosophical system acknowledges the existence of substances. Probably the only theories which do not would be those…
user38026
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Are Platonic Forms alive?

Reading Dominic J. O'Meara's Plotinus, I noticed that he seems to be claiming that Plotinus looked at the Soul, Forms and the One as active and in some sense alive. However, I am trying to get a better idea what that activity might be, especially…
Frank Hubeny
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What Did Plotinus Mean by Contemplation?

Plotinus' philosophy is intriguing, but his use of contemplation stumps me. In particular, he speaks of non-humans (even non-living things IIRC) contemplating. So what does he mean by contemplation? If it's an activity of the mind, how can…
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Is it necessary to read Neoplatonic works (e.g. Plotinus, Porphyry, etc...) to understand St. Augustine's books?

I heard that St. Augustine of Hippo did put Neoplatonic thoughts in his works like "Confessions" ( I have the book but didn't read it yet). Is it necessary to read neoplatonic books like the Enneads or others in order to understand the books of St.…
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How does "Plotinian discussion of unity and multiplicity" contribute to Al-Kindi's cosmological argument?

I'm reading a discussion of Al-Kindi's cosmological argument. Al-Kindi is widely considered "father of Islamic philosophy" and this argument is a version of what is now known as the "kalam cosmological argument". I followed the discussion up to the…
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What were the theological objections to Plotinus' One?

Dominic O'Meara notes (page 68) that there were religious criticisms of Plotinus in which it is claimed that the necessity whereby Plotinus' One generates things compares (unfavourably) with the free act of love whereby God creates. I assume some…
Frank Hubeny
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Does the concept of a God who is both immanent and transcendent originate with Plotinus?

In discussing the One of Plotinus, Dominic J. O'Meara writes the following (page 46): Plotinus points to a distinction between elements which exist only as components of a whole (they depend on their status as parts of a whole in order to exist)…
Frank Hubeny
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What is the difference between the Hypostasis Soul, the World Soul, and individual souls in Plotinus' philosophy?

Recently, I've been reading a selection of Enneads (The Essential Plotinus) with my friend, and I initially got the impression that the hypostasis Soul was the World Soul, that it contained images of the Forms from the Intellect, and stamped those…
Julian Jefko
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What is Plotinus' theory (of graduationism) that inspired Augustine about?

I want to know what Plotinus' gradualism is exactly about. I've heard in a lecture about Augustine being inspired by that theory, but can't seem to find anything about this. Is this gradualism just another name for Plotinus' theory of emanation (aka…
Mariusz Popieluch
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How does Plotinus view body going in soul?

Plotinus claimed that soul is not a body nor is it dependent on body. But why is the soul in the body at all and how could soul which is immaterial be in multiple bodies? These questions led Plotinus to the position that it is not the soul that is…
Frank Hubeny
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What are the differences between Christianity, Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism during the time of Plotinus?

A. H. Armstrong writes in the introduction to his translation of the Enneads of Plotinus the following (Plotinus George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1953, p. 27): We may sum up the general philosophical and religious situation in the age of Plotinus in the…
Frank Hubeny
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Truth and Beauty in Platonism

Keats ended his Ode to a Grecian Urn with the lines: Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know When was the equivalence, or relation between beauty and truth posited? I've taken it to be a feature of…
Mozibur Ullah
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