He is mainly known as the teacher of Plotinus, whom he taught for eleven years from 232 to 243.

He was undoubtably the biggest influence on Plotinus in his development of Neoplatonism, although little is known about his own philosophical views.

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.

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 sought to reconcile Aristotle's energeia with Plato's Demiurge, which, as Demiurge and mind ( nous ), is a critical component in the ontological construct of human consciousness used to explain and clarify substance theory within Platonic realism ( also called idealism ).

Plotinus also elucidates the equation of matter with nothing or non-being in his Enneads which more correctly is to express the concept of idealism or that there is not anything or anywhere outside of the " mind " or nous ( c. f.

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.

Of note here is the remark concerning the second hypostasis or Creator and third hypostasis or World Soul within Plotinus.

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.

Also, several of his criticisms bear specific similarity to Gnostic doctrine ( Plotinus pointing to the gnostic doctrine of Sophia and her emission of the Demiurge is most notable among these similarities ).

Thus, though the former understanding certainly enjoys the greatest popularity, the identification of Plotinus ’ opponents as Gnostic is not without some contention.

Of note here is that while Plotinus ' student Porphyry names Christianity specifically in Porphyry's own works, and Plotinus is to have been a known associate of the Christian Origen, none of Plotinus ' works mention Christ or Christianity.

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.

540 ), on the Dionysian Corpus constitutes the first defense of its apostolic dating, wherein he specifically argues that the work is neither Apollinarian nor a forgery, probably in response both to monophysites and Hypatius — although even he, given his unattributed citations of Plotinus in interpreting Dionysius, might have known better.

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.

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, founder of Neoplatonism

In the Enneads of Plotinus, a founder of Neoplatonism, everything is contemplation ( theoria ) and everything is derived from contemplation.

He initially studied under Anatolius of Laodicea, and later went on to study under Porphyry, a pupil of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism.

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.

He learned theurgy from Maximus of Ephesus, a student of Iamblichus ; his system bears some resemblance to the Neoplatonism of Plotinus ; Polymnia Athanassiadi has brought new attention to his relations with Mithraism, although whether he was initiated into it remains debatable ; and certain aspects of his thought ( such as his reorganization of paganism under High Priests, and his fundamental monotheism ) may show Christian influence.

Some have compared Plotinus ' teachings to the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta ( advaita meaning " not two " or " non-dual "), and has been elaborated upon in J. F. Staal, Advaita and Neoplatonism: A critical study in comparative philosophy, Madras: University of Madras, 1961.

Averroes rejected Avicenna's Neoplatonism which was partly based on the works of neo-Platonic philosophers, Plotinus and Proclus, that were mistakenly attributed to Aristotle.

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 ).

* Neoplatonism: Plotinus ( Egyptian ), Ammonius Saccas, Porphyry ( Syrian ), Zethos ( Arab ), Iamblichus ( Syrian ), Proclus

He drew particularly from Plato, the Neoplatonism of Plotinus, and Stoicism, which he altered and refined in light of divine revelation of Christian teaching and the Scriptures.

* Marsilio Ficino ( 1433 – 1499 ) Influential Italian humanist philosopher who revived Neoplatonism and was a leader in the Renaissance ; translated all of Plato's and Plotinus ' works into Latin, as well as many Neoplatonic authors and the Corpus Hermeticum.

The foundations of this theory can be traced to Neoplatonism and the philosopher Plotinus in particular.

Neoplatonist philosophers such as Plotinus ( 204 / 5 – 270 AD ) used the term " Logos " in ways that drew on Plato and the Stoics, but the term Logos was interpreted in different ways throughout Neoplatonism, and similarities to Philo's concept of Logos appear to be accidental.

Plotinus was a student of Ammonius Saccas and they were founders of Neoplatonism.

A supreme example of this form of thinking is the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and his successors.

Michaelson ( 2009: p. 130 ) identifies what he perceives to be the origins of nondualism proper founded in the Neoplatonism of Plotinus within Ancient Greece and employs the ambiguous binary construction of " the West " different to ' the East ', refer Edward Said | Saïd's utilization of the discourse of ' Other | The Other ' in Orientalism ( book ) | Orientalism ( 1978 ):

As a philosophical notion, it is most clearly found for the first time in the West in the second century C. E, in the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and his followers.

As a speculative theory, Neoplatonism had received its highest development from Plotinus.

Longinus did not embrace the Neoplatonism then being developed by Plotinus, but continued as a Platonist of the old type and his reputation as a literary critic was immense.

Of the first two Longinus was a pupil for a long time, but Longinus did not embrace the Neoplatonism then being developed by Ammonius and Plotinus, rather he continued as a Platonist of the old type.

He apprehended well the views of each of the two philosophers and Aristotle and brought them under one and the same nous and transmitted philosophy without conflicts to all of his disciples, and especially to the best of those acquainted with him, Plotinus, Origen, and their successors.

In order to reconcile Aristotelian with Platonian philosophy, Plotinus metaphorically identified the demiurge ( or nous ) within the pantheon of the Greek Gods as Zeus ( Dyeus ).

In the theoretic of Plotinus, nous produces nature through intellectual mediation, thus the intellectualizing gods are followed with a triad of psychic gods.

In its broad outlines, Proclus ' system agrees with that of Plotinus.

Considering this, it seems possible that Gregory was familiar with Plotinus and perhaps other figures in neoplatonism.

However, some significant differences between neoplatonism and Gregory's thought exist, such as Gregory's statement that beauty and goodness are equivalent, which contrasts with Plotinus ' view that they are two different qualities.

However, the campaign was a failure, and on Gordian's eventual death Plotinus found himself abandoned in a hostile land, and only with difficulty found his way back to safety in Antioch.

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

Plotinus here then reconciles the " Good over the Demiurge " from Plato's Timaeus with Aristotle's static " unmoved mover " of Actus et potentia.

From Nous proceeds the World Soul, which Plotinus subdivides into upper and lower, identifying the lower aspect of Soul with nature.

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

Authentic human happiness for Plotinus consists of the true human identifying with that which is the best in the universe.

Plotinus was not claiming to innovate with the Enneads, but to clarify aspects of the works of Plato that he considered misrepresented or misunderstood.

The Eastern Orthodox position on energy, for example, is often contrasted with the position of the Roman Catholic Church, and in part this is attributed to varying interpretations of Aristotle and Plotinus, either through Thomas Aquinas for the Roman Catholics or Gregory of Nyssa for the Orthodox.

By the 11th century, Neo-Platonism was adopted by the Fatimid state of Egypt, and taught by their da ' i. Neo-Platonism was brought to the Fatimid court by Iraqi Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, although his teachings differed from Nasafi and Sijistani, who were more aligned with original teachings of Plotinus.

Reason is for Plotinus both the provider of form to material things, and the light which brings individuals souls back into line with their source.

It was the Egyptian-born philosopher Plotinus CE who brought Greek Idealism to the Roman Empire as Neo-Platonism, and with it the concept that not only do all existents emanate from a " primary essence " but that the mind plays an active role in shaping or ordering the objects of perception, rather than passively receiving experiential data.

Plotinus urged contemplations for those who wished to perform theurgy, the goal of which was to reunite with The Divine ( called henosis ).

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.