Plotinus and the Gnostics

<h3 >Plotinus and the Gnostics[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plotinus&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Plotinus and the Gnostics" >edit</a>]</h3>

<div class="hatnote boilerplate seealso" >See also: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism_and_Gnosticism" title="Neoplatonism and Gnosticism" >Neoplatonism and Gnosticism</a></div>

At least two modern conferences within Hellenic philosophy fields of study have been held in order to address what Plotinus stated in his tract Against the Gnostics and who he was addressing it to, in order to separate and clarify the events and persons involved in the origin of the term "Gnostic". From the dialogue, it appears that the word had an origin in the Platonic and Hellenistic tradition long before the group calling themselves "Gnostics"—or the group covered under the modern term "Gnosticism"—ever appeared. It would seem that this shift from Platonic to Gnostic usage has led many people to confusion. The strategy of sectarians taking<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language" >Greek</a> terms from philosophical contexts and re-applying them to religious contexts was popular in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity" >Christianity</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Isis" title="Cult of Isis" class="mw-redirect" >Cult of Isis</a> and other ancient religious contexts including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetica" title="Hermetica" >Hermetic</a> ones (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Abonutichus" title="Alexander of Abonutichus" class="mw-redirect" >Alexander of Abonutichus</a>for an example).

Plotinus and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism" title="Neoplatonism" >Neoplatonists</a> viewed Gnosticism as a form of heresy or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarian" title="Sectarian" class="mw-redirect" >sectarianism</a> to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoreanism" title="Pythagoreanism" >Pythagorean</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonism" title="Platonism" >Platonic</a> philosophy of the Mediterranean and Middle East.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-12" >[note 1]</a> He accused them of using senseless jargon and being overly dramatic and insolent in their distortion of Plato's ontology."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-13" >[note 2]</a> Plotinus attacks his opponents as untraditional, irrational and immoral<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-14" >[note 3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-15" >[note 4]</a> and arrogant.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-16" >[note 5]</a> He also attacks them as elitist and blasphemous to Plato for the Gnostics despising the material world and its maker.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-17" >[note 6]</a>

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.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-19" >[note 7]</a> Plotinus was not claiming to innovate with the Enneads, but to clarify aspects of the works of Plato that he considered misrepresented or misunderstood.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-Stanford1-2" >[2]</a> Plotinus does not claim to be an innovator, but rather a communicator of a tradition.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus#cite_note-20" >[13]</a> Plotinus referred to tradition as a way to interpret Plato's intentions. Because the teachings of Plato were for members of the academy rather than the general public, it was easy for outsiders to misunderstand Plato's meaning. However, Plotinus attempted to clarify how the philosophers of the academy had not arrived at the same conclusions (such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism" title="Misotheism" >misotheism</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutheism_and_dystheism" title="Eutheism and dystheism" class="mw-redirect" >dystheism</a> of the creator God as an answer to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil" title="Problem of evil" >problem of evil</a>) as the targets of his criticism.