Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 2, Issue 4, 2018

Ancient Greek Philosophy: Neo-Platonic Philosophy

Political Implications of Plotinus’s Philosophy

The majority of commentators, in particular those who concentrate on Plotinus’s philosophy, maintain that he, in contrast to Greek philosophy in its flourishing period, and especially in contrast to Plato as founder of political philosophy, does not pay any attention to politics and to planning a good political system as ground of ancient political philosophy. However, though Plotinus does not consider the state, the government, liberty and justice independently, and he is not a political philosopher - from this point of view - we can find some political implications in his “non-political” philosophy, and thereby design his “political philosophy”. We attempt in this article to enumerate some of the most important political implications of Plotinus’s philosophy and fit them together, so that we can offer a coherent view of his ideal politics. One of the most important and influential Platonic dialogues in political terms for the Enneads is Plato’s Laws, and in this paper we will examine some very significant passages from the Laws which Plotinus appeals to them for outlining his ideal politics.