Plotinus

Egyptian philosopher

• Born: 205
• Birthplace: Possibly Lycopolis, Upper Egypt
• Died: 270
• Place of death: Campania (now in Italy)

As the founder of Neoplatonism, Plotinus has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophical and religious thought, from his own day to the present.

Early Life

Plotinus (ploh-TI-nuhs) was born in 205 c.e., but there is almost no information about his origins or his early life. His nationality, race, and family are unknown, and information about his birthplace comes from a fourth century source that may not be reliable. Plotinus told his disciples little about himself; he would not even divulge the date of his birth. Only one thing can certainly be said: Plotinus’s education and intellectual background were entirely Greek. This fact can be deduced from his writings; Plotinus shows little knowledge of Egyptian religion and misinterprets Egyptian hieroglyphic symbolism. Porphyry (c. 234-c. 305 c.e.), Plotinus’s pupil and biographer, reports that Plotinus had a complete knowledge of geometry, arithmetic, mechanics, optics, and music, and he must have acquired some of this knowledge during the early years of his education.

Porphyry reports that in 232 c.e., when Plotinus was twenty-seven, he felt a strong desire to study philosophy. He consulted the best teachers in Alexandria, but they all disappointed him. Then a friend recommended a teacher named Ammonius Saccas (c. 175-242 c.e.). Plotinus went to hear him and immediately declared, “This is the man I was looking for.” Little is known, however, of Ammonius’s philosophy; he was self-taught, wrote nothing, and made his followers promise not to divulge his teachings.

Beginning in late 232 or early 233 c.e., Plotinus studied with Ammonius for eleven years (Plotinus’s long stay in Alexandria may be the only reason for the common belief that he was originally from Egypt). Following that, Plotinus wanted to learn more of the philosophy of the Persians and the Indians, and he joined the army of Emperor Gordianus III, which was marching against the Persians.

It is not known in what capacity Plotinus served; he may have been a scientific adviser, or he may have occupied a more lowly position. The expedition, however, did not achieve its objective. Gordianus was assassinated in Mesopotamia, and Plotinus escaped with difficulty to Antioch. He made no attempt to return to Ammonius (nor did he ever return to the East). Instead, in 245 c.e., at the age of forty, he traveled to Rome, where he was to remain for twenty-five years, until shortly before his death. The stage was set for him to emerge as the last great pagan philosopher.

Life’s Work

For the next ten years, Plotinus established himself in Rome. He accepted private students and based his teaching on that of Ammonius. During this time he wrote nothing, but by the time Porphyry joined him in 264 c.e., Plotinus no longer considered himself bound by the restrictions on publication that Ammonius had imposed; other pupils of Ammonius, such as Origen (c. 185-c. 254 c.e.) and Erennius, had already published. Plotinus had therefore written twenty-one treatises by 264 c.e., although none of them had circulated widely. Porphyry urged him to write more, and twenty-four treatises followed during the six years that Porphyry was his pupil.

Only one story survives about Plotinus’s life in Rome before Porphyry’s arrival. A philosopher named Olympias, from Alexandria, who was also a former pupil of Ammonius, attempted to “bring a star-stroke upon him [Plotinus] by magic.” Plotinus, who apparently believed in the power of magic, felt the effects of this attack, but Olympias found his attempt recoiling on himself. He ceased his attack and confessed that “the soul of Plotinus had such great power as to be able to throw back attacks on him on to those who were seeking to do him harm.”

During the time that Porphyry was his pupil, Plotinus lived comfortably in what must have been a large house, owned by a wealthy widow named Gemina. He earned a reputation for kindness and gentleness and was always generous in offering help to others. Many people entrusted their sons and daughters to his care, “considering that he would be a holy and godlike guardian.” Although Plotinus was an otherworldly philosopher, he also believed in the importance of the social virtues, that the practice of them contributed to the soul’s ultimate liberation. He was therefore practical, wise, and diplomatic in daily affairs, taking good care of the worldly interests of the young people in his charge. For example, they would be encouraged to give up property only if they decided to become philosophers, and even this was a decision that they would have to make for themselves. The same was true of Plotinus’s attitude toward the physical body and its desires. Although he believed in self-discipline, he acknowledged that legitimate physical needs must be looked after, and he never advocated the kind of asceticism that was found in some other ancient philosophical schools.

Plotinus often acted as arbitrator in disputes, without ever incurring an enemy. The only opposition he appears ever to have aroused (apart from that of Olympias) was when some Greek philosophers accused him of stealing some of his philosophy from fellow Neoplatonist Numenius, a charge that modern scholars have not accepted. Plotinus was also a good judge of character, and his advice was sound. When Porphyry, for example, confessed that he was contemplating suicide, Plotinus told him that the desire was caused by physiological reasons, not by rational thought, and advised him to take a vacation. Porphyry accepted his advice.

Plotinus had a number of aristocratic friends, and members of the senate attended his lectures. One of them, Rogatianus, relinquished his property and became an ascetic after being exposed to Plotinus’s teaching. Emperor Gallienus, sole emperor from 260 to 268 c.e., and his wife Salonia venerated Plotinus. Plotinus once asked them to found a “city of philosophers” in Campania, to be called Platonopolis, which would serve as a monastic retreat for him and his followers. The scheme failed, however, as a result of opposition in the Roman senate. Gallienus’s assassination in 268 c.e. must have been a blow to Plotinus, since Gallienus’s successors showed no interest in Greek philosophy.

Plotinus’s lectures were more like conversations; discussion was always encouraged. One of his pupils once complained that he would prefer to hear Plotinus expound a set treatise and was exhausted by Porphyry’s continuous questions. Plotinus replied, “But if when Porphyry asks questions we do not solve his difficulties we shall not be able to say anything at all to put into the treatise.” Plotinus was a thoroughly engaging teacher; when he was speaking, “his intellect visibly lit up his face: there was always a charm about his appearance . . . kindliness shone out from him.”

Plotinus would never revise his written work; he complained that writing gave him eyestrain. He was careless in the formation of the letters, and he showed no interest in spelling. Porphyry comments that Plotinus would compose everything in his mind. When he came to write, the thoughts were already fully formed, and he wrote “as continuously as if he was copying from a book.” Even if someone engaged him in conversation, he would continue writing and not lose his train of thought. This ability to focus on the inner life enabled him to achieve a high level of mystical experience. He attained complete mystic union four times during Porphyry’s stay with him, and in a treatise written before Porphyry’s arrival, Plotinus says that he had experienced it often.

In his final years he suffered from a painful illness that may have been leprosy. Although he stopped teaching and withdrew from his friends and pupils, who feared contagion, he continued to write. Nine treatises appeared in his last two years (268-270 c.e.)—bringing the total to fifty-four—which were collected and edited by Porphyry, at Plotinus’s request. Finally, Plotinus went away to the estate of his late friend Zethus in Campania, where he died alone, except for the presence of his doctor, Eustochius. His last words, according to Eustochius, were “Try to bring back the god in you to the divine in the All!”

Significance

As the last great philosopher of antiquity, and the only one to rank with Plato and Aristotle, Plotinus’s philosophy has exerted an enormous influence both on the thought of his own period and on that of later times. Although he probably thought of himself as no more than an interpreter of Plato, Plotinus became the founder of Neoplatonism. His thought lived on in his pupils Porphyry and Amelius, and all later Neoplatonic philosophers regarded him as a respected, although not a supreme, authority.

Plotinus’s system was a comprehensive and original one. He brought to the best of Greek philosophy a dimension of mystical thought, which in its force, immediacy, and beauty has rarely, if ever, been equaled in the West. The Enneads (c. 256-270 c.e.; English translation, 1918) are not merely an ethical or metaphysical system; they are a guide to the soul’s liberation, culminating in the experience and contemplation of the One. This experience is seen as the goal of the philosopher’s quest, and that of all humankind.

Plotinus, and Neoplatonism in general, were also major influences on the development of Christian theology. Saint Augustine (354-430 c.e.) knew all the six Enneads and quotes Plotinus by name five times. The fourth century Cappadocian Fathers, especially Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-c. 394 c.e.), also came under his spell. His thought emerged again in the Renaissance in the work of Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), who translated Plotinus into Latin, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494). In modern thought, Plotinus’s influence can be traced in the work of German Idealist philosopher Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854), French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941), and poets such as William Blake (1757-1827) and William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), whose interest in Plotinus was prompted by the translations made by the English Platonist Thomas Taylor in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Bibliography

Dodds, E. R. Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. 1965. Reprint. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. This brief but wide-ranging book by a renowned classical scholar discusses the historical and social background of Neoplatonism, the conflict between Neoplatonism and Christianity, and the many types of religious and psychological experience that flourished during the period. The section on Plotinus’s mysticism is particularly valuable. Well written and scholarly, but accessible to the general reader.

Dufour, Richard. Plotinus: A Bibliography, 1950-2000. Boston: E. J. Brill, 2002. A very useful guide for further research.

Edwards, M. J., ed. Neoplatonic Saints: The Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by Their Students. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. A translation of Porphyry’s work on his teacher.

Gerson, Lloyd P., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Fifteen essays explore the facets of Plotinus’s philosophy and its legacy. Requires some familiarity with Neoplatonic philosophy.

Mayhall, C. Wayne, Steve Wainwright, and Worth Hawes. On Plotinus. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2002. A concise introduction to Plotinus’s thought and legacy. Intended for students first encountering his philosophy.

Miles, Margaret Ruth. Plotinus on Body and Beauty: Society, Philosophy, and Religion in Third Century Rome. Boston: Blackwell, 1999. This introduction to Plotinus’s philosophy explores his thought by relating his Neoplatonism to modern concerns. Bibliography and index.

O’Meara, Dominic J. Plotinus: An Introduction to the Enneads. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. An introduction devoting separate chapters to important themes in Plotinus’s philosophy.

Plotinus. The Enneads. Translated by Stephen MacKenna. Burdett, N.Y.: Larson, 1994. A well-respected translation of Plotinus’s work.