ABSTRACT
This chapter determines some points of convergence and divergence between Plotinus and his Gnostic friends and highlights the significant role the latter played in the philosophy of the former. Plotinus is famously known for his extensive recourse to the concept of contemplation not only to express the innate desire of men to contemplate higher realities, but also to describe the way by which each level of being, through contemplation, produces the reality immediately next to itself. Plotinus complained heavily about the so-called condemnation or despising of the world by his fellow Gnostics. Nowhere more than in Treatise 33 Against the Gnostics does Plotinus express his own personal view about what he considers to be a real philosophical life, and to dwell upon the fundamental difference between his own attitude as opposed to the custom and manner of his Gnostic opponents.
