What do you think?
Rate this book
The New Cambridge Companion to Plotinus
Plotinus is the greatest philosopher in the 700 year period between Aristotle and Augustine. He thought of himself as a disciple of Plato, but in his efforts to defend Platonism against Aristotelians, Stoics, and others, he actually produced a reinvigorated version of Platonism that later came to be known as "Neoplatonism". In this volume, sixteen leading scholars introduce and explain the many facets of Plotinus' complex system. They place Plotinus in the history of ancient philosophy while showing how he was a founder of medieval philosophy.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published August 13, 1996
15 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Lloyd P. Gerson
29 books24 followersLloyd Gerson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2020
The great thing about Plotinus or essays about Plotinus is that by the time you get completely confused about what the topic under discussion is really about, they’ve moved on to the next topic if only to confuse you further about something completely different.
Whenever I get confused reading Plotinus or about Plotinus, I’ll always re-center myself by asking, ‘oh yeah, what did Thomas Aquinas say about the same topic’, or ‘what did Maimonides say in In the Guide for The Perplex, or a host of others such as Spinoza, Hegel, Schopenhauer or even at times Nietzsche because Plotinus did more to influence everything that came after him than anyone before him except for maybe Plato or Aristotle. It sounds hyperbolic and maybe it is just a little, but Augustine synthesizes the ethics of Cicero through the metaphysics of Plotinus and the zealousness of St. Paul and defines the middle ages with all of its weirdness for at least the next 1000 years, and that has led to who we are today.
Plotinus’ mysticism is what permeates all of the new age thought of today, but yet most people have never heard of him or let alone have read him or know what he believed. He’s actually not that hard to grasp once you realize that the confusion you feel intuitively is antithetical to his One, Intellect and Soul and that the more you understand yourself it brings you further away from understanding your authentic being through your intellect that arises from the One through a multiplicity. Plotinus is about being and does not divide the world from itself as Descartes will do and he believes the truth is out there even if it needs to be found inside of us not outside of us at least until we return to the One (at least some of the essays will say that, while others might imply differently, because Plotinus does give multiple reasonable interpretations).
Augustine was quoted in these essays saying something along the lines that when ‘God created the universe nothing was generated because God’s existence is his essence’. I’m really paraphrasing and taking liberties but within that paraphrase is part of why Augustine needs Plotinus because Plotinus takes the pagan metaphysics and gives it substance such that it can be reshaped into medieval Christianity (and Maimonides’ 12th century Judaism). Plotinus’ end point (and beginning point) is the Good as an end in itself and that meaning comes from the contemplation of the Good itself. If you don’t see Aquinas, Maimonides, Hegel, or of course, Aristotle in that you probably have some good readings ahead of you.
If at all possible, go back to the original sources of all that we believe today and understand beyond the Deepak Chopra woo-woo and rediscover Plotinus and what a remarkable foundation that mysticism really does have. I’ll admit that my favorite book is antithetical to Plotinus, namely Lucretius’ book On the Nature of Things and another way I understand what Plotinus is getting at is to just think the opposite from what Lucretius meant, but even after having said that I have just as much of a spiritual nature as the next fellow and always enjoy reading Plotinus for his well-constructed mystical leanings.
Why did I read this series of essays now? This book or the Enneads were necessary in order to understand a book I’ve been concurrently reading Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. I had already read Plotinus’ Enneads and I wanted a deeper understanding beyond Wiki for what Plotinus means. These essays most certainly will give the reader that, and I would even say they or The Enneads are a necessary supplement to Mann’s book.
One note, these essays aren’t the easiest of all essays to follow, but Plotinus is not either at times, but one needs to start somewhere and these essays are a great starting place and they are especially good if they keep you away from Deepak Chopra type woo-woo, but perhaps a little fluency in Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas or Spinoza would be recommended.
Whenever I get confused reading Plotinus or about Plotinus, I’ll always re-center myself by asking, ‘oh yeah, what did Thomas Aquinas say about the same topic’, or ‘what did Maimonides say in In the Guide for The Perplex, or a host of others such as Spinoza, Hegel, Schopenhauer or even at times Nietzsche because Plotinus did more to influence everything that came after him than anyone before him except for maybe Plato or Aristotle. It sounds hyperbolic and maybe it is just a little, but Augustine synthesizes the ethics of Cicero through the metaphysics of Plotinus and the zealousness of St. Paul and defines the middle ages with all of its weirdness for at least the next 1000 years, and that has led to who we are today.
Plotinus’ mysticism is what permeates all of the new age thought of today, but yet most people have never heard of him or let alone have read him or know what he believed. He’s actually not that hard to grasp once you realize that the confusion you feel intuitively is antithetical to his One, Intellect and Soul and that the more you understand yourself it brings you further away from understanding your authentic being through your intellect that arises from the One through a multiplicity. Plotinus is about being and does not divide the world from itself as Descartes will do and he believes the truth is out there even if it needs to be found inside of us not outside of us at least until we return to the One (at least some of the essays will say that, while others might imply differently, because Plotinus does give multiple reasonable interpretations).
Augustine was quoted in these essays saying something along the lines that when ‘God created the universe nothing was generated because God’s existence is his essence’. I’m really paraphrasing and taking liberties but within that paraphrase is part of why Augustine needs Plotinus because Plotinus takes the pagan metaphysics and gives it substance such that it can be reshaped into medieval Christianity (and Maimonides’ 12th century Judaism). Plotinus’ end point (and beginning point) is the Good as an end in itself and that meaning comes from the contemplation of the Good itself. If you don’t see Aquinas, Maimonides, Hegel, or of course, Aristotle in that you probably have some good readings ahead of you.
If at all possible, go back to the original sources of all that we believe today and understand beyond the Deepak Chopra woo-woo and rediscover Plotinus and what a remarkable foundation that mysticism really does have. I’ll admit that my favorite book is antithetical to Plotinus, namely Lucretius’ book On the Nature of Things and another way I understand what Plotinus is getting at is to just think the opposite from what Lucretius meant, but even after having said that I have just as much of a spiritual nature as the next fellow and always enjoy reading Plotinus for his well-constructed mystical leanings.
Why did I read this series of essays now? This book or the Enneads were necessary in order to understand a book I’ve been concurrently reading Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. I had already read Plotinus’ Enneads and I wanted a deeper understanding beyond Wiki for what Plotinus means. These essays most certainly will give the reader that, and I would even say they or The Enneads are a necessary supplement to Mann’s book.
One note, these essays aren’t the easiest of all essays to follow, but Plotinus is not either at times, but one needs to start somewhere and these essays are a great starting place and they are especially good if they keep you away from Deepak Chopra type woo-woo, but perhaps a little fluency in Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas or Spinoza would be recommended.
June 19, 2022
Like other volumes in this series, it's well written. Unlike other volumes, however, it's written at a somewhat more advanced level. Overall, an excellent introduction.
January 24, 2023
Pretty good for an indepth look at the Enneads, but I don't think I got much out of it that I didnt already get from reading the Enneads directly. Still, it wasn't bad.
October 28, 2010
I used this book for my thesis, which applied persistence theory to Plotinus' metaphysics.
Clear-cut sections tackle different aspects of Plotinus' philosophy in quite some detail. The sections are written by prominent Plotinus scholars, which makes for good references and an essential read for anyone wanting to know more about Plotinus' worldview.
Clear-cut sections tackle different aspects of Plotinus' philosophy in quite some detail. The sections are written by prominent Plotinus scholars, which makes for good references and an essential read for anyone wanting to know more about Plotinus' worldview.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews