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

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 referred to tradition as a way to interpret Plato's intentions.

St. Augustine, though often referred to as a " Platonist ," acquired his Platonist philosophy through the mediation of Plotinus ' teachings.

* Plotinian Bibliography 2001-by Richard Dufour ( French and English versions ), continues his research presented in Plotinus: a Bibliography 1950-2000, referred above.

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.

According to the account of Eustochius, who attended him at the end, Plotinus ' final words were: " Strive to give back the Divine in yourselves to the Divine in the All.

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.

Varieties of the doctrine may be found in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim philosophical theologians, especially during the heyday of scholasticism, though the doctrine's origins may be traced back to ancient Greek thought, finding apotheosis in Plotinus ' Enneads as the Simplex.

The first hypostasis, the One, is contemplation ( by the nous, or second hypostasis ) in that " it turns to itself in the simplest regard, implying no complexity or need "; this reflecting back on itself emanated ( not created ) the second hypostasis, Intellect ( in Greek Νοῦς, Nous ), Plotinus describes as " living contemplation ", being " self-reflective and contemplative activity par excellence ", and the third hypostatic level has theoria.

The difference between Thomism and Scotism could be expressed by saying that, while both derive from Arabic Neoplatonized Aristotelianism, Thomism is closer to the orthodox Aristotelianism of Maimonides, Averroes and Avicenna, while Scotism reflects the Platonizing tendency going back through Avicebron, the Brethren of Purity, the Liber de Causis and Proclus to Plotinus.

He is the immediate ancestor in a long line that stretches back through Freud, Dilthey, Coleridge, Schelling, Vico, Ficino, Plotinus, and Plato to Heraclitus-and with even more branches yet to be traced ” ( p. xvii ).

Finally this pagan theosophy was driven from Alexandria back to Athens under Plutarch of Athens and Proclus, and occupied itself largely in commentaries based mainly on the attempt to re-organize ancient philosophy in conformity with the system of Plotinus.

He is the immediate ancestor in a long line that stretches back through Freud, Dilthey, Coleridge, Schelling, Vico, Ficino, Plotinus, and Plato to Heraclitus — and with even more branches yet to be traced ( p. xvii ).

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.

Procline scholarship, however, still ( 2006 ) falls far short of the attention paid to Plotinus.

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.

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.

The Logos was a key element in the meditations of Plotinus regarded as the first Neoplatonist.

For Plotinus, the relationship between the three elements of his trinity is conducted by the outpouring of Logos from the higher principle, and eros ( loving ) upward from the lower principle.

Plotinus relied heavily on the concept of Logos, but no explicit references to Christian thought can be found in his works, although there are significant traces of them in his doctrine.

Plotinus specifically avoided using the term Logos to refer to the second person of his trinity.

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

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 ).

Life of Plotinus, chapters. 24-26 ) that the First Ennead deals with Human or ethical topics ; the Second and Third Enneads are mostly devoted to cosmological subjects or physical reality ; The Fourth concerns about Soul ; the Fifth to knowledge and intelligible reality ; and finally the Sixth has for topics Being and what is above it, the One or first principle of all.

St. Augustine follows Plotinus by identifying nous, which bears the logos, with the creative principle.

In the 3rd century AD, Plotinus added mystical elements, establishing Neoplatonism, in which the summit of existence was the One or the Good, the source of all things ; in virtue and meditation the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One.

In Plotinus we find the distinction between Being and Thinking in Intellect.

There are many similarities between Gregory's theology and neoplatonist philosophy, especially that of Plotinus.

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.

Plotinus here resolves the issues between Plato's ontology and Aristotle's Actus et potentia.

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.

Plotinus writes, " We ought not even to say that he will see, but he will be that which he sees, if indeed it is possible any longer to distinguish between seer and seen, and not boldly to affirm that the two are one.

( Enneads I. 4. 4 ) A happy person will not sway between happy and sad, as many of Plotinus ’ contemporaries believed.

David Lodge's novel Changing Places tells the story of exchange of professors between the universities of Rummidge and Euphoric State, Plotinus ( thinly disguised fictional versions of Birmingham and Berkeley ), which in the book both have replicas of the Leaning Tower of Pisa on campus.

David Lodge's novel Changing Places tells the story of exchange of professors between the universities of Rummidge and Euphoric State, Plotinus ( thinly disguised fictional versions of Birmingham and Berkeley ), which in the book both have replicas of the Leaning Tower of Pisa on campus.

Plotinus agreed with Aristotle's systematic distinction between contemplation ( theoria ) and practice ( praxis ): dedication to the superior life of theoria requires abstension from practical, active life.

It tells the story of the six-month academic exchange between fictional universities located in Rummidge ( modelled on Birmingham in England ) and Plotinus, in the state of Euphoria ( modeled on Berkeley in California ).

The main theme of this canto is one of harmony between human society and the natural order, and a number of passing references are made to related items from earlier cantos: Confucius, Kati, Dante on citizenship, the Book of the Prefect and Plotinus amongst them.

Plotinus ' attack on Gnosticism is described in order to trace differences between healthy and pathological approaches to ascent.

During their stagecoach journey, Pierre finds and reads a fragment of a treatise on “ Chronometricals and Horologicals ” on the differences between absolute and relative virtue by one Plotinus Plinlimmon.