Dusseldorf/Chapters/4-plotinus.rtf
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4. Plotinus, 250 CE

The main stimulus for the Neoplatonism of Plotinus (204-270) was Plato, the Middle Platonists, and to a lesser extent, the Stoics. From Plato came Plotinus' main cosmology of the three hypostases: the One, the Intellectual Principle, and the World Soul.  (Turnbull, 1948; p. 14)
The sections from Platonic dialogues relevant to Plotinus are extracted in (Turnbull, 1948; Appendix), from: Symposium, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Timaeus, Laws, and Republic.

The logos, for Plotinus, was a supplementary structure that intertwined the three hypostases. He defined it as "a power that acts upon matter, not conscious of it, but merely acting upon it." (Turnbull, 1948, p. 15)

This Neoplatonic cosmology, although further developed by Iamblichus, Proclus, and others, may be regarded as the main trunk of the Western Esoteric Tradition.

Refs

Damiani, Anthony J., Astronoesis. Burdett, NY: Larson, 2000. PAL
	correlates hindu, kaballah, astrol, etc
Deck, John, Nature, Contemplation, and the One, a Study in the Philosophy of Plotinus.
	Burdett, NY: Larson, 1967/1991. RHA B693 Z7 D4
Gregory, John The Neoplatonists, a Reader. London: Routledge, 1991/1999. RHA B517 N466
Turnbull, Grace H., The Essence of Plotinus. New York: oxford Univ. Press, 1948. McH: B693 E5 E5 1948