Editing Plotinus (section)

== Influence ==

=== Ancient world ===
The emperor [[Julian the Apostate]] was deeply influenced by neoplatonism,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Religious Competition in the Greco-Roman World|last=Dingeldein|first=Laura B.|publisher=SBL Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0884141587|editor-last=DesRosiers|editor-first=Nathaniel P.|location=Atlanta|pages=119–129|chapter=Julian's Philosophy and His Religious Program|editor-last2=Vuong|editor-first2=Lily C.}}</ref> as was [[Hypatia|Hypatia of Alexandria]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hypatia|title=Hypatia|last=Michael A. B. Deakin|author-link=Michael A. B. Deakin|date=2018-02-22|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326144546/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hypatia|archive-date=2018-03-26|language=en}}</ref> Neoplatonism influenced many Christians as well, including [[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=W. R. Inge|author-link=W. R. Inge|date=April 1900|title=The Permanent Influence of Neoplatonism upon Christianity|jstor=3153114|journal=[[The American Journal of Theology]]|volume=4|issue=2|pages=328–344|doi=10.1086/477376}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rhodes|first=Michael Craig|date=2014|title=Pseudo-Dionysius' concept of God|journal=International Journal of Philosophy and Theology|volume=75|issue=4|pages=306–318|doi=10.1080/21692327.2015.1011683|s2cid=170105090}}</ref> [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], though often referred to as a "Platonist", acquired his Platonist philosophy through the mediation of the Neoplatonist teachings of Plotinus.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/augustine/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|last=Mendelson|first=Michael|date=2016|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|editor-last=[[Edward N. Zalta]]|edition=Winter 2016|location=Stanford|chapter=Saint Augustine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gersh|first=Stephen|date=2012|title=The First Principles of Latin Neoplatonism: Augustine, Macrobius, Boethius|jstor=41963885|journal=Vivarium|volume=50|issue=2|pages=113–117, 120–125, 130–132, 134–138|doi=10.1163/15685349-12341236}}</ref>

=== Christianity ===
Plotinus' philosophy had an influence on the development of [[Christian theology]]. In ''A History of Western Philosophy'', philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] wrote that:
{{quote|To the Christian, the Other World was the Kingdom of Heaven, to be enjoyed after death; to the Platonist, it was the eternal world of ideas, the real world as opposed to that of illusory appearance. Christian theologians combined these points of view, and embodied much of the philosophy of Plotinus. [...] Plotinus, accordingly, is historically important as an influence in moulding the Christianity of the Middle Ages and of theology.<ref>"A History of Western Philosophy." Bertrand Russell. Simon & Schuster, INC. 1945. pp. 284–285</ref>}}

The [[Eastern Orthodox]] position on ''energy,'' for example, is often contrasted with the position of the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and in part this is attributed to varying interpretations of [[Aristotle]] and Plotinus, either through [[Thomas Aquinas]] for the Roman Catholics or [[Gregory Palamas]] for the Orthodox Christians.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

=== Islam ===
Neoplatonism and the ideas of Plotinus influenced medieval Islam as well, since the [[Mutazilite]] [[Abbasid]]s fused Greek concepts into sponsored state texts, and found great influence amongst the [[Ismaili]] [[Shia]]<ref name="halm 176">Heinz Halm, ''Shi'ism'', Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 176.</ref> and Persian philosophers as well, such as Muhammad al-Nasafi and [[Abu Yaqub Sijistani]]. By the 11th century, neoplatonism was adopted by the [[Fatimid]] state of Egypt, and taught by their [[da'i (Islam)|da'i]].<ref name="halm 176"/> Neoplatonism was brought to the Fatimid court by [[Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani]], although his teachings differed from Nasafi and Sijistani, who were more aligned with the original teachings of Plotinus.<ref name="halm 177">Heinz Halm, ''Shi'ism'', Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 177.</ref> The teachings of Kirmani in turn influenced philosophers such as [[Nasir Khusraw]] of Persia.<ref name="halm 177"/>

=== Judaism ===
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2020}}
As with Islam and Christianity, neoplatonism in general and Plotinus in particular influenced speculative thought. Notable thinkers expressing neoplatonist themes are [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]] (Latin: Avicebron) and Moses ben Maimon (Latin: [[Maimonides]]). As with Islam and Christianity, apophatic theology and the privative nature of evil are two prominent themes that such thinkers picked up from either Plotinus or his successors.

=== Renaissance ===
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2020}}
In the [[Renaissance]] the philosopher [[Marsilio Ficino]] set up an Academy under the patronage of [[Cosimo de Medici]] in [[Florence]], mirroring that of Plato. His work was of great importance in reconciling the philosophy of Plato directly with Christianity. One of his most distinguished pupils was [[Pico della Mirandola]], author of ''An Oration on the Dignity of Man''.

=== England ===
In England, Plotinus was the cardinal influence on the 17th-century school of the [[Cambridge Platonists]], and on numerous writers from [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] to [[William Butler Yeats|W. B. Yeats]] and [[Kathleen Raine]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaud |first1=Derek |title=Reason Turned into Sense: John Smith on Spiritual Sensation |date=2017 |publisher=Peeters |pages=102–105, 114, 115, 129, 137, 146, 153, 154, 155, 172, 174, 175, 177–178, 180, 181, 181, 184, 185, 188, 195 |url=https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/g/11d_d25j5m&hl=en-US&kgs=a7431abb1012e2dd&q=Reason+Turned+Into+Sense:+John+Smith+on+Spiritual+Sensation+Derek+A.+Michaud&shndl=0&source=sh/x/kp&entrypoint=sh/x/kp}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.yeatsvision.com/Plotinus.html |title = W. B. Yeats and "A Vision": Plotinus and the Principles}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Samuel Taylor Coleridge|title=The Notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Volume 4: 1819–1826: Notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZWaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA453|date=2019|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=978-0-691-65599-4|pages=453}}</ref><ref name="BaldwinHutton1994">{{cite book|author1=Anna Baldwin|author2=Sarah Hutton|author3=Senior Lecturer School of Humanities Sarah Hutton|title=Platonism and the English Imagination|url=https://archive.org/details/platonismenglish00anna|url-access=registration|date=24 March 1994|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-40308-5}}</ref>

=== India ===
[[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] and [[Ananda Coomaraswamy]] used the writing of Plotinus in their own texts as a superlative elaboration upon Indian [[monism]], specifically [[Upanishad]]ic and [[Advaita]] [[Vedantic]] thought.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} Coomaraswamy has compared Plotinus' teachings to the Hindu school of [[Advaita Vedanta]] (''advaita'' meaning "not two" or "non-dual").<ref>[http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/com/com_plot.html Swami-krishnananda.org]</ref> M. Vasudevacharya says, "Though Plotinus never managed to reach India, his method shows an affinity to the 'method of negation' as taught in some of the Upanishads, such as the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, and also to the practice of yoga."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Vasudevacharya|first=M.|title=The Maker and the Material|publisher=Milton Keynes, UK|year=2017|isbn=978-1-925666-82-3|pages=84}}</ref>

Advaita Vedanta and neoplatonism have been compared by [[Frits Staal|J. F. Staal]],<ref>J. F. Staal (1961), ''Advaita and Neoplatonism: A critical study in comparative philosophy'', Madras: University of Madras</ref> [[Frederick Copleston]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Frederick Charles Copleston |url=http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPRATO&Cover=TRUE |title=Religion and the One 1979–1981 |publisher=Giffordlectures.org |access-date=2010-01-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409195724/http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPRATO&Cover=TRUE |archive-date=2010-04-09 }}</ref> Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli,<ref>Special section "Fra Oriente e Occidente" in ''Annuario filosofico'' No. 6 (1990), including the articles "Plotino e l'India" by Aldo Magris and "L'India e Plotino" by Mario Piantelli</ref> Radhakrishnan,<ref>Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (ed.)(1952), ''History of Philosophy Eastern and Western'', Vol.2. London: George Allen & Unwin. p.&nbsp;114</ref> Gwen Griffith-Dickson,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=39&EventId=157 |title=''Creator'' (or not?) |publisher=Gresham.ac.uk |access-date=2010-01-08 |archive-date=2009-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214002122/http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=39&EventId=157 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and John Y. Fenton.<ref>John Y. Fenton (1981), "Mystical Experience as a Bridge for Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Religion: A Critique", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, p.&nbsp;55</ref>

The joint influence of Advaitin and neoplatonic ideas on [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] was considered by Dale Riepe in 1967.<ref>Dale Riepe (1967), "Emerson and Indian Philosophy", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''28'''(1):115 (1967)</ref>