Editing Gnosticism (section)

===Platonic influences===
{{See also|Platonic Academy|Neoplatonism and Gnosticism|Neoplatonism and Christianity}}
In the 1880s Gnostic connections with [[Platonism]] were proposed.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3534}} Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pearson|first=Birger A.|date=1984|title=Gnosticism as Platonism: With Special Reference to Marsanes (NHC 10,1)|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|volume=77|issue=1|pages=55–72|jstor=1509519|doi=10.1017/S0017816000014206|s2cid=170677052}}</ref> using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as [[hypostasis (philosophy)|hypostasis]] (reality, existence), ''[[ousia]]'' (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). Both [[Sethian]] Gnostics and [[Valentinius|Valentinian]] Gnostics seem to have been influenced by [[Plato]], [[Middle Platonism]], and [[Neopythagoreanism|Neopythagorean]] academies or schools of thought.{{sfn|Turner|1986|p=59}} Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy.<ref name ="Schenke1">Schenke, Hans Martin. "The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. E.J. Brill 1978</ref>

The Gnostics were strongly opposed by [[Plotinus]] and later [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonists]], who rejected their radical [[Dualism in cosmology|dualism]] and pessimistic view of creation. In his work ''Against the Gnostics'' (''[[Enneads]]'' II.9), Plotinus criticized [[Gnostic cosmology]], arguing that the material world was not inherently evil but rather a reflection of the One through a series of divine emanations. Neoplatonists such as [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] and [[Proclus]] continued this critique, defending the [[Demiurge]] as a benevolent force and emphasizing the soul's ascent to the divine through intellectual and contemplative purification, rather than through esoteric knowledge (gnosis) alone. While Neoplatonism retained some mystical and hierarchical elements that paralleled Gnostic thought, it ultimately positioned itself as an alternative, philosophical path to transcendence that was rooted in classical Greek rationalism rather than Gnostic revelation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=John D. |chapter=Plotinus and the Gnostics: Opposed Heirs of Plato |title=The Routledge Handbook of Neoplatonism |editor1-first=Svetla |editor1-last=Slaveva-Griffin |editor2-first=Pauliina |editor2-last=Remes |pages=356–374 |place=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2014}}</ref>