Plotinus is regarded as the last great thinker of the Roman age. Having greatly adhered to the great philosopher Plato, his philosophy became known as Neo-Platonism. He is famous for his work Enneads.
Initially influenced by his teacher, Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus opened a school in Rome. His theories were basically Platonic with elements of other Greek philosophies. Although he opposed Christianity, his teachings affected Christian thought.
Life of Plotinus in a Nutshell
Plotinus (205-270) was born in Egypt and educated almost entirely in Greek tradition. Eventually, he settled in Rome after an expedition on the Orient with the Emperor Gordian was abandoned when the latter was assassinated by the Roman army.
The fame of Plotinus lies in his rework and development of the philosophy of Plato, which became known as "Neo-Platonism," although his philosophy is also influenced by Aristotle.
Philosophy of Plotinus
His philosophy combines the mystical with the practical and had great influence on Christian theology. It mainly aims at helping the student to return, in union or communion, with the One or ultimate Being by means of contemplation.
Like Christian theology, he believed in tripartite of divinities – the One, the Intellect and the Soul. The difference is that he believes that the three are successive levels (or stages) of the contemplative person as compared to Christianity's three being on equal ground.
- The One – Sometimes referred to as "the Good" which is beyond description, The One is a mystical source of reality.
- The Intellect – The Intellect comes after the One. It is also difficult to describe in language, but offers various analogies, for instance, it's likened to the light of the sun by which One contemplates itself. It is the source of the archetypes (or Platonic Forms), or material things.
- The Soul – The Soul is the rational or discursive thinking. Plotinus explains that there is a higher and lower division, between the higher and inward-facing Soul, looking towards the divine by means of the Intellect, and the lower and outward-facing Soul. He calls this lower part "Nature" and it is this lower, outer-facing Nature responsible for the material world, that concerns the body.
The key to understanding the philosophy of Plotinus is through the three levels of reality – the One, the Intellect, and the Soul – and that they are logical progression as levels of contemplation of a singular eternal reality.
The Enneads
The Enneads is collection of treatises by Plotinus. They are filled with commentaries and corrections of the positions of various schools of philosophy, including Astrologers, Epicureans, Gnostics, Peripatetics and Stoics. Porphyry, a student of Plotinus edited his work, and divided it into six books, each with nine treatises.
Sources:
- Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London: Chancellor Press, 1978.
- Stokes, Philip. Philosophy: The Great Thinkers. London: Arcturus Publishing, 2007.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers/Harrap Publishers, 2002.
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