The Greek philosopher Plotinus lived in the third century AD. His doctrine is usually classified as a philosophical neoplatonism. This thinker was born in Egypt and subsequently moved to Rome. Very little is known about his life and the details of his biography. Many historians are inclined to believe that throughout his life Plotinus deliberately hid the facts of his biography from future generations, because he wanted to focus their attention on his philosophical views. In his treatises, he never mentions any information concerning the life of the author.
About his fate is known only from the works of his student, who composed a biography. This life position of the philosopher Plotinus is similar to the classic of Russian painting Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov, whose later works are distinguished by neglect of the fine details of the composition. The artist focuses only on the main subject of the canvas.
Philosopher's Biography
However, some facts of the biography of the philosopher Plotinus still reached the descendants, and therefore a few words should be said about his life and the scientific and creative path. Having moved to Alexandria at a fairly young age, Plotin received his education there, which included, among other things, courses on the study of the works of philosophers of past years. Together with him, one of the Alexandrian schools was also visited by Origen, who later became famous as an early Christian thinker.
It is known that soon Plotinus achieved what became a particularly close face to the Roman emperor. He even made a trip to Syria in his retinue to study in detail the works of eastern philosophers, but due to certain circumstances he did not reach this country. Upon returning from travel, the scientist organized his own school, where he taught his students the basics of his own religious concept.
With the assistance of the new ruler, the thinker attempted to create an ideal state, thereby realizing the utopia of Plato about the country of sages and artists. It is known that this undertaking of the scientist failed to implement Plotinus.
Main ideas
The philosopher created the doctrine, which is an intermediate stage between the thought of the era of antiquity and the teachings of Christian, namely, early Christian authors.
But despite many ideas that were extremely progressive for their time, it is still customary to rank him among the philosophers of the ancient Roman period.
This author himself ranked himself and belongs by many researchers in the field of philosophy to the followers of Plato.
Plotinus called this philosopher his teacher. The views of the two sages are based on a similar position that the world was created by a higher substance as a result of going beyond its limits due to oversaturation. According to the teachings of Plotinus, the divine essence, which is the beginning of the whole universe, cannot be comprehended by the human mind. It should be repeated that Plotinus received his education by studying at the same school with some Christian philosophers. Accordingly, he could well be familiar with the general principles of their creed. This is also evidenced by certain features of his philosophy, for example, the provision on the trinity of the highest substance. According to the philosopher, everything that exists came from one source, which consists of the mind, soul and the One.
It is the last element that is the progenitor of all things, which is contained in various objects of the material world and at the same time contains these objects. According to Plotinus, the one is the creator of the whole world, but the process of creating the universe did not occur arbitrarily, as representatives of the Christian religion believe, but unconsciously. The essence of the One seemed to go beyond its borders, forming more and more new forms. At the same time, the creator of the universe himself did not lose anything in the process of creating his brainchild.
Mind, Soul and One
This transition from the intangible to the material state, contemporaries of Plotinus and he himself called degradation, because parts of the One gradually moved away from it in their internal qualities.
In Plato, such a beginning of everything in the world is called Good. This name largely explains the essence of this substance, which, though not consciously, but acts with a positive attitude. Mind and Soul, in turn, are the second and third rebirths of the One, and, therefore, the corresponding stages of degradation.
The intermediate step between the mind and the One is called the number. Thus, one embodiment flows into another with the help of a quantitative assessment of primordial matter. So, we can conclude that the mind is a grosser reflection of the One. The next emanation in this chain is the soul. This is a grosser entity inherent in sensual nature. The last link in the chain of degradation is matter. She alone cannot carry out any rebirths.
Difficult times
Plotinus moved to Rome at a time when the empire was in both political and cultural decline. The philosophers of antiquity, who were so revered in the past, during the collapse of the empire had already lost their popularity, and their teachings were gradually forgotten, not finding followers. Yes, and pagan science itself was at the last turn of its development, losing weight before the new school that appeared then, represented by Christian authors.
Live and learn
We can conclude that the philosopher Plotinus belonged to the strata of the elite, since he could afford to choose education very carefully and leisurely. He passed from one teacher to another, not finding the wisdom he was looking for.
Finally, he came across a certain Ammonium, who taught him the basics of philosophical science. The training of this man lasted about eleven years, which was rare for that time. The future philosopher finished his education only by the age of forty. After that, he began to develop his own philosophical concept.
Interpenetration of cultures
Plotin himself did not consider himself the creator of a new direction in science, but only said that he slightly rethought the words of Plato, Aristotle and other ancient representatives of science. Thus, he was the continuation of the work that the authors of antiquity began.
Under him, the works of thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle acquired cult status for those who study them. They began to worship them as sacred spiritual literature. Christian philosophers were of the opinion that the most valuable ideas should be taken from ancient thought and used in their work. The most progressive contemporaries of Plotinus and the followers of his philosophical worldviews believed that the young religious movement should be treated with due attention. Thus, ancient thought gradually passed from the stage of paganism to Christianity.
Nevertheless, the student of the philosopher Plotinus, Porfiry, who is his main biographer and who wrote down information about the teachings of this sage, was extremely tense with Christianity.
Pagan saint
He did not understand the true essence of the new dogma and believed that this religion kills individuality in philosophers. In contrast to the Christian descriptions of the life of holy people, he created a biography of his teacher, more similar in his style to living.
Some scholars of Plotinus later called him a non-Christian saint or pagan righteous. This was largely due to the manner in which he presented a few facts from the life of Plotinus his student. It is worth saying that the philosopher himself was extremely stingy with the stories about the details of his biography. This was largely due to the fact that he was ashamed of his material body. The philosopher was unhappy that, according to his teachings, he was at the last stage of the degradation of the being.
The escape
For this reason, Plotinus, who all his life sought to gain new knowledge and studied Eastern teachings, then delved into Roman and Greek philosophy, then paid attention to the Christian religion, did all this not only with the aim of gaining new knowledge. He also sought to escape from his material body, from his rough shell.
According to Plato, the follower of which he was, the soul was not obliged to exist in the body, and her stay in it was conditioned by the previous sins of man. To leave this existence, to go on to one’s true destiny, to stay in one’s soul - that’s what Plotinus called for, exclaiming: “Let us return to our fatherland!”
Teachers
He said that he was not only a student of the philosophers of antiquity Socrates and Aristotle, but also a follower of his teacher Ammonius. His school was distinguished by the fact that students vowed not to disclose their knowledge to strangers. The only one who dared to rebel against this rule was Plotinus. However, he does not reveal the essence of the teachings of Ammonia, but only sets out the foundations of his concept.
Proceedings of the philosopher Plotinus
The sage himself left behind a small number of written records.
The philosophy of Plotinus was systematized and described in several books, which were called "Enneads", that is, nine in Greek.
The six volumes of the Ennead were divided into nine sections each. In Europe, interest in Plotinus' books woke up among philosophers in the 18-19 centuries, when numerous translations of the works of this scientist were made.
It should be said that the author’s language is highly poetic, and therefore the translation of these works is quite painstaking work. This was the reason that there are numerous versions of his works. Most of all, German philosophers and philologists of the nineteenth century showed interest in the works of Plotinus.
