Plotinus in Dialogue with the Gnostics

Contents......Page 8
Note on Publications......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
Part I. Plotinus and the Gnostics on the Generation of Matter (33 [II 9], 12 and 51 [I 8], 14)......Page 24
1. Sources......Page 42
2.1.The Historical Dimension......Page 51
2.2. The Doctrinal Dimension......Page 55
3. The Double Originality of Plotinus......Page 60
Study Two. The Riddle of the Partly Undescendend Soul in Plotinus: The Gnostic/Hermetic Path of the ὁμοούσιος......Page 68
I. The Term ὁμοούσιος......Page 69
II. “And, if one ought to dare to express one’s own view more clearly, contradicting the opinion of others\"......Page 77
III. The Unification with the Divine: The Gnostic Variant and Its Plotinian Counterpart......Page 82
IV. Treatise 6 (IV 8): Plotinus’ First Anti-Gnostic Manifesto?......Page 88
Study Three. A Doctrinal Evolution in Plotinus? The Weakness of the Soul in Its Relation to Evil......Page 92
Sensible Matter, By-product of the Emanative Process......Page 101
The Proper Goal of Treatise 51......Page 105
I. Μόνου πρὸς μόνον, or the Solitary Ascent of the Soul in 9 (VI 9)......Page 110
II. The Accompanied Ascent of the Soul in 38 (VI 7), 36......Page 113
III. The Plotinian Critique of the Soul’s Ascent According to the Gnostics......Page 116
III.1. The Gnostic’s Privileged Status in the Face of Other Men......Page 118
III.2. The Gnostic’s Privileged Status in the Face of Other Divine Beings......Page 121
III.3. The Privileged Status of the Gnostic with Regard to the Intellect......Page 124
IV. The Ascent of the Soul in Association with the Intellect in 38 (VI 7), 36: A Radical or a Relative Novelty?......Page 126
Study Five. A New Type of Causality: Plotinian Contemplative Demiurgy......Page 130
An Invention of Contemplation?......Page 135
Study Six. New Reflections on God as CAUSA SUI in Plotinus and Its Possible Gnostic Sources......Page 142
Works Consulted......Page 156
Index Nominum......Page 164