Plotinus´ Debate with the Gnostics in the Enneads

Dr. Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete and Prof. George Karamanolis. Plotinus, whose ideas shaped Christian theology and have continued to influence Western philosophy and culture to the present time, was among the most important interpreters of Platonism in Late Antiquity. He formulated his thought partly as a response to Gnosticisms interpretation of the Platonic tradition. To properly understand Plotinus, and thus also our own cultural tradition, we must therefore understand his relationship with Gnosticism. As yet, this has been only partially achieved and it is my aim to fill this gap in the research. The project proposed here continues research on Plotinus that the applicant has carried out since her graduate studies, and will form part of her Habilitation. In 1936 Richard Harder posited that Plotinus wrote one major treatise against the Gnostics that was subsequently divided into four (the tetralogy, now Treatises 30-33). My goal is to show that, in fact, the ideas developed there can also be traced through the remaining work before and after the tetralogy. Identifying those elements throughout his entire uvre (54 treatises), will enable a better understanding of the evolution of Plotinus philosophy. This research is highly topical. In fact, the undertaking of a comprehensive study from this perspective is possible today because of the new editions, studies and translations of an extensive, hitherto largely unavailable corpus of ca. 60 Gnostic writings discovered in the 20th century, most of them in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, so that the direct sources of Plotinus knowledge of Gnosticism can now be more confidently and precisely identified. This research is innovative in its interdisciplinary approach, both in combining philosophical and religious studies more commonly undertaken separately, and in its philological examination of technical terms and concepts as evidence of Plotinus interpretation of earlier and contemporary commentators on the Platonic dialogues, including Gnostics. It plans to provide an original and more profound insight into Plotinus thought and will also demonstrate the extreme complexity of the religious and philosophical environment of Late Antiquity and the cross-fertilisation of ideas that then shaped the transition from the pagan world to a Christian one. This project will produce the first collective monograph devoted to the debate between Plotinus and the Gnostics as reflected throughout all of the Enneads. This monograph will be published by Brepols and will be composed of 35 original contributions written by specialists in two areas: Neo-Platonic philosophy and Gnostic literature from different European and overseas institutions. The applicant will also write six studies bearing on this intellectual interaction (four of which will be included in the monograph, the other two will be published in philosophy journals). The results of this research will be also published online in the database Les Platonismes de lAntiquité Tardive . 1

Plotinus' Debate with the Gnostics in the Enneads. Plotinus, whose ideas shaped Christian theology and have continued to influence Western philosophy and culture to the present time, was among the most important interpreters of Platonism in Late Antiquity. He formulated his thought partly as a response to Gnosticism's interpretation of the Platonic tradition. To properly understand Plotinus, and thus also our own cultural tradition, we must therefore understand his relationship with Gnosticism. As yet, this has been only partially achieved and it is my aim to fill this gap in the research. In 1936 Richard Harder posited that Plotinus wrote one major treatise against the Gnostics that was subsequently divided into four (the tetralogy, now Treatises 30-33). The project show that, in fact, the ideas developed there can also be traced through the remaining work before and after the tetralogy. Identifying those elements throughout his entire uvre (54 treatises), will enable a better understanding of the evolution of Plotinus' philosophy. This research is highly topical. In fact, the undertaking of a comprehensive study from this perspective is possible today because of the new editions, studies and translations of an extensive, hitherto largely unavailable corpus of ca. 60 Gnostic writings discovered in the 20th century, most of them in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, so that the direct sources of Plotinus' knowledge of Gnosticism can now be more confidently and precisely identified. This research is innovative in its interdisciplinary approach, both in combining philosophical and religious studies more commonly undertaken separately, and in its philological examination of technical terms and concepts as evidence of Plotinus' interpretation of earlier and contemporary commentators on the Platonic dialogues, including Gnostics. It provides an original and more profound insight into Plotinus' thought and will also demonstrate the extreme complexity of the religious and philosophical environment of Late Antiquity and the cross-fertilisation of ideas that then shaped the transition from the pagan world to a Christian one. This project produced the database and blog "Les Platonismes de l'Antiquité Tardive" (https://platonismes.huma-num.fr) aimed at understanding the construction of Neoplatonic philosophies from the study of their interactions with the philosophical and religious thoughts of Antiquity. The database presents, in the form of an online and evolving edition of Plotinus' treatises, modern commentaries establishing relationships between Plotinus, the Medioplatonists, the Gnostics, the Christians of the Orthodox Church, the Hermetics and the Chaldean Oracles. This project produced also the first collective monograph devoted to the debate between Plotinus and the Gnostics as reflected throughout all of the Enneads. This monograph will be published by Brepols and will be composed of many original contributions written by specialists in two areas: Neo-Platonic philosophy and Gnostic literature from different European and overseas institutions.