Six Lectures on Plotinus and Gnosticism
In this book an attempt is made to single out those elements in the philosophical system of the Enneads that stand apart from the Platonist tradition. On the basis of an extensive analysis of fundamental texts the author shows that what Plotinus had in mi
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SIX LECTURES ON PLOTINUS AND GNOSTICISM
Dr. Th.G. Sinnige Senior Lecturer for Philosophy ofAntiquity, Catholic University ofNijmegen
SPRlNGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.Y.
A CJ.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5193-6 ISBN 978-94-017-3006-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-3006-8
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved © 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1999 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
CONTENTS
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Vll
INTRODUCTION . EMANATION
5
II MYSTICISM.
14
III THE SOUL'S RETURN TO HER ORIGIN IN ALEXANDRIAN LITERATURE A. Basilides (floruit ca. 120-145, Alexandria) B. Valentinus (floruit ca. 135-160) . . C. Clement (floruit ca. 150-215 AD) . D. Origen (floruit ca. 185-254 AD) .
26 28 35 40 42
IV THE CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PLOTINUS' THEORY OF SOUL
48 49 61 65
I
A. B. C. V
The early treatises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussions within the school. Analytical methods The Gnostic discussions. . . .
75 75
CONVERSION. THE LATE TREATISES
A. B.
Conversion . . . The late treatises
78
VI THE HUMAN PERSON
86
SUMMARY . . . . .
101
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
106
......... .
109
INDEX
v
PREFACE
In the chapters of this book a series of problems is condensed that for decades has haunted the literature on Plotinus and Neoplatonism. A tradition of seeing everything in a Platonic perspective was and is still alive and at work, but increasingly a different paradigm makes itself felt in our days under the influence of a growing interest in Gnosticism. Gathering the evidence for Gnostic views, I read the Enneads in chronological order. This had the unexpected effect of making periodization possible. I hope the short track of my arguments may be sufficiently clear for the reader to see the landscape in which Gnostic and other influences find their place. At several places, where quotations from the Enneads are given in translation, single words or short expressions are added in Greek. This is done in order to avoid the argument being diverted as a consequence of the different linguistic context. The translation of Nove:, as "Intellect" is chosen in accordance with a prevailing tradition, but with the proviso that no adequate rendering is possible for a concept that in one word carries so much fundamental theory.
vii
INTRODUCTION
In the chapters of this book a series of problems is condensed that for decades has haunted the literature on Plotinus and Neoplatonism. A tradition of seeing everything in a Platonic perspective was and is still alive and at work, but increasingly a different paradigm makes itself felt in our days under the influence of a gro
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