Two of Ammonius's students-Origen the Pagan, and Longinus-seem to have held philosophical positions which were closer to Middle Platonism than Neoplatonism, which perhaps suggests that Ammonius's doctrines were also closer to those of Middle Platonism than the Neoplatonism developed by Plotinus ( see the Enneads ), but Plotinus does not seem to have thought that he was departing in any significant way from that of his master.

Similarly, in regard to passages from the Enneads, " The only space or place of the world is the soul " and " Time must not be assumed to exist outside the soul ", Ludwig Noiré wrote: " For the first time in Western philosophy we find idealism proper in Plotinus, However, Plotinus does not address whether we know external objects, unlike Schopenhauer and other modern philosophers.

For example he uses Plotinus ' well-known analogy of a sculptor cutting away that which does not enhance the desired image.

Like Plotinus and the Cappadocian Fathers before him, Dionysius does not claim to be an innovator, but rather a communicator of a tradition.

Proclus also gives a much more elaborate account of Intellect than does Plotinus.

Gregory does not refer to any neoplatonist philosophers in his work, and there is only one disputed passage which may directly quote Plotinus.

Because happiness is beyond anything physical, Plotinus stresses the point that worldly fortune does not control true human happiness, and thus “… there exists no single human being that does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing we hold to constitute happiness .” ( Enneads I. 4. 4 ) The issue of happiness is one of Plotinus ’ greatest imprints on Western thought, as he is one of the first to introduce the idea that eudaimonia ( happiness ) is attainable only within consciousness.

However we are told by Longinus that Ammonius wrote nothing, and if Ammonius was the principal influence on Plotinus, then it is unlikely that Ammonius would have been a Christian.

" In his early years he was heavily influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by the Neo-Platonism of Plotinus.

Medieval aesthetics in the realm of philosophy built upon Classical thought, continuing the practice of Plotinus by employing theological terminology in its explications.

By the third century criticism of Christianity had mounted, partly as a defense against it, and the 15 volume Adversus Christianos by Porphyry was written as a comprehensive attack on Christianity, in part building on the pre-Christian concepts of Plotinus.

This self-reflection of the indeterminate vitality was referred to by Plotinus as the " Demiurge " or creator.

Gnosticism's conception of the Demiurge was criticised by Plotinus.

Plotinus criticizes his opponents for “ all the novelties through which they seek to establish a philosophy of their own ” which, he declares, “ have been picked up outside of the truth ”; they attempt to conceal rather than admit their indebtedness to ancient philosophy, which they have corrupted by their extraneous and misguided embellishments.

Plotinus marks his arguments with the disconnect or great barrier that is created between the nous or mind's noumenon ( see Heraclitus ) and the material world ( phenomenon ) by believing the material world is evil.

Emil Cioran also write his " Le mauvais démiurge ( The evil Demiurge )" published in 1969, influenced by gnosticism and Schopenhauerian interpretation of Platonic ontology as well as that of Plotinus.

With the neoplatonist Plotinus, wrote Nathaniel Alfred Boll ; " there even appears, probably for the first time in Western philosophy, idealism that had long been current in the East even at that time, for it taught … that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time …".

In response to the sceptical position that we only know the appearances presented by our senses, and not the world as it is, Plotinus placed the object of knowledge inside the soul itself, and accounted for this interior truth through the soul's kinship with its own productive principles.

Founded in the 3rd century CE by Plotinus, The Neoplatonist tradition has clear echoes in the Zohar, as indeed in many forms of mystical spirituality, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim.

The traditional view of Gregory is that he was an orthodox Trinitarian theologian, who was influenced by the neoplatonism of Plotinus and believed in universal salvation following Origen.

As a Neoplatonist philosopher, she belonged to the mathematic tradition of the Academy of Athens, as represented by Eudoxus of Cnidus ; she was of the intellectual school of the 3rd century thinker Plotinus, which encouraged logic and mathematical study in place of empirical enquiry and strongly encouraged law in place of nature.

Besides Ammonius, Plotinus was also influenced by the works of Alexander of Aphrodisias, Numenius, and various Stoics.

Other students included: Zethos, an Arab by ancestry who died before Plotinus, leaving him a legacy and some land ; Zoticus, a critic and poet ; Paulinus, a doctor of Scythopolis ; and Serapion from Alexandria.

Porphyry makes note that the Enneads, before being compiled and arranged by himself, were merely the enormous collection of notes and essays which Plotinus used in his lectures and debates, rather than a formal book.

The essentially devotional nature of Plotinus ' philosophy may be further illustrated by his concept of attaining ecstatic union with the One ( henosis see Iamblichus ).

Even in daily, physical action, the flourishing human ’ s “… Act is determined by the higher phase of the Soul .” ( Enneads III. 4. 6 ) Even in the most dramatic arguments Plotinus considers ( if the Proficient is subject to extreme physical torture, for example ), he concludes this only strengthens his claim of true happiness being metaphysical, as the truly happy human being would understand that which is being tortured is merely a body, not the conscious self, and happiness could persist.

Plotinus, for example, attacked the Gnostics for vilifying Plato's ontology of the universe contained in Timaeus, and the universes ' creation by the demiurge.

The Neoplatonic movement ( though Plotinus would have simply referred to himself as a philosopher of Plato ) seems to be motivated by the desire of Plotinus to revive the pagan philosophical tradition.

Plotinus ' form of Platonic idealism is to treat the Demiurge, nous as the contemplative faculty ( ergon ) within man which orders the force ( dynamis ) into conscious reality.

To Plotinus the highest contemplation was to experience the vision of God, the Monad or the One.

One way to explain much of the confusion concerning Ammonius is to assume that there were two people called Ammonius: Ammonius Saccas who taught Plotinus, and an Ammonius the Christian who wrote biblical texts.

Plotinus, a third-century Platonist, taught that the One transcendent absolute caused the universe to exist simply as a consequence of its existence-" creatio ex deo.

The Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus taught that above the gods of traditional belief was " The One " and polytheist grammarian Maximus of Madauros even stated that only a mad person would deny the existence of the supreme God.

Plotinus taught that there was an ineffable transcendent god, ' The One ,' of which subsequent realities were emanations.

Plotinus taught that there was an ineffable transcendent " God " ( The One ) of which subsequent realities were emanations.

Plotinus speaks about the generation of Intellect from the One, and Intellect's attempt to return to the One in a thinking which is also a desiring.

Plotinus ' " One " pictured as light amidst the darkness of nothingness

Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent " One ", containing no division, multiplicity or distinction ; beyond all categories of being and non-being.

Plotinus identified his " One " with the concept of ' Good ' and the principle of ' Beauty '.

" Plotinus denies sentience, self-awareness or any other action ( ergon ) to the One.

As Plotinus explains in both places and elsewhere V. 6. 3, it is impossible for the One to be Being or a self-aware Creator God.

At, Plotinus compared the One to " light ", the Divine Nous ( first will towards Good ) to the " Sun ", and lastly the Soul to the " Moon " whose light is merely a " derivative conglomeration of light from the ' Sun '".

Later Neoplatonic philosophers, especially Iamblichus, added hundreds of intermediate beings as emanations between the One and humanity ; but Plotinus ' system was much simpler in comparison.

Despite this relatively pedestrian assessment of the material world, Plotinus asserted the ultimately divine nature of material creation since it ultimately derives from the One, through the mediums of nous and the world soul.

In the Enneads Plotinus writes: " Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul … To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One.

In Neoplatonism, the Intelligence ( Nous ) is the true first principle — the determinate, referential " foundation " ( arkhe )— of all existents ; for it is not a self-sufficient entity like the One, but rather possesses the ability or capacity to contemplate both the One, as its prior, as well as its own thoughts, which Plotinus identifies with the Platonic Ideas or Forms ( eide ).

The primary classical exponent of emanationism was Plotinus, wherein his work, the Enneads, all things phenomenal and otherwise were an emanation from the One ( Hen ).

The presentation of the three natures by Vasubandhu is consistent with the Neo-platonist views of Plotinus and his universal ' One ', ' Mind ', and ' Soul '.

Plotinus referred back to Heraclitus and as far back as Thales in interpreting Logos as the principle of meditation, existing as the interrelationship between the Hypostases ( The ' One ', ' Spirit ' ( nous ) and ' Soul ').

Plotinus used a trinity concept that consisted of " The One ", the " Spirit " and " Soul ".