Quick Answer
Neoplatonism — the philosophical school founded by Plotinus in the 3rd century AD — and Gnosticism shared so much common ground that Plotinus felt compelled to attack the Gnostics directly. His treatise "Against the Gnostics" (Enneads II.9) is the most detailed pagan critique of Gnostic thought to survive from antiquity.
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Quick Facts
- Both traditions posit a transcendent One/God beyond being and description
- Both describe the material world as a degraded emanation of higher divine reality
- Key difference: for Plotinus, the material world is still beautiful and good; for Gnostics, it is a corrupt prison
- Plotinus accused the Gnostics of arrogance — claiming special elect status — and of distorting Platonic ideas