ABSTRACT
Plotinus (c.205-70) may be called the most prominent systematic metaphysician of Antiquity. Daringly combining Platonism, Aristotelian theology, and Stoic ‘vitalism’ he created a coherent ‘philosophy of reflection’, in which the absolute and infinite, the One, is reflected in the finite, in its totality, and of necessity-but in such a manner that the finite can reflect infinity. Via Augustine he was-indirectly-to have important influence on medieval philosophy. The Western world gained direct access to him through the Renaissance Platonist Ficino’s Latin translation of 1492, which contributed to the reading of Plato in a Neoplatonic spirit during the Renaissance. Directly or indirectly, Plotinus’ influence extends further-to the Cambridge Platonism of the second half of the seventeenth century, to German idealist philosophy, and to romantic poetry. Nicolaus Cusanus, Leibniz and Schelling are probably the most important thinkers who-although not Plotinians-have come closest to Plotinus’ philosophical intentions.
