and Aristotle were in full agreement with each other: He was the first who had a godly zeal for the truth in philosophy and despised the views of the majority, which were a disgrace to philosophy. He apprehended well the views of each of the two philosophers [Plato and Aristotle] and brought them under one and the same nous and transmitted philosophy without conflicts to all of his disciples, and especially to the best of those acquainted with him, Plotinus, Origen, and their successors. According to Nemesius, a bishop and neoplatonist c. 400, Ammonius held that the soul was immaterial. Little is known about Ammonius's role in the development of neoplatonism. Porphyry seems to suggest that Ammonius was instrumental in helping Plotinus think about philosophy in new ways: But he [Plotinus] did not just speak straight out of these books but took a distinctive personal line in his consideration, and brought the mind of Ammonius' to bear on the investigation in hand. Two of Ammonius's students – Origen the Pagan, and Longinus – seem to have held philosophical positions which were closer to middle Platonism than neoplatonism, which perhaps suggests that Ammonius's doctrines were also closer to those of middle Platonism than the neoplatonism developed by Plotinus (see the Enneads), but Plotinus does not seem to have thought that he was departing in any significant way from that of his master. Like Porphyry (The Life of Plotinus, 3, 24–29), also Nemesius refers of Ammonius Saccas as the teacher or the master of Plotinus (Nemesius, Nature of Man, 2.103). See also Theodidaktos Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations Notes References Armstrong, A., (1967), The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, pp. 196–200. Karamanolis, G., (2006), Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry, Oxford University Press, pp. 191–215. Reale, G., (1990), A History of Ancient Philosophy IV: The Schools of the Imperial Age, SUNY Press, pp. 297–303. External links Porphyry, Against the Christians (2004). Fragments. The Reaction to the Bible in Paganism Origen of Alexandria – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 175 births 242 deaths 2nd-century Egyptian people 2nd-century Greek people 2nd-century philosophers 2nd-century Romans 3rd-century Egyptian people 3rd-century Greek people 3rd-century philosophers 3rd-century Romans Ancient Greek metaphysicians Ancient Greek philosophers of mind Neoplatonists