Abstract
The article is concerned with the adoption and transformation of Plato’s doctrine of the genera of being by the Neoplatonic authors: Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus and Marius Victorinus. The inquiry is focused on the role of sameness and otherness in their metaphysical systems.
It is argued that in the late antiquity existed a parallel tradition to the Neoplatonic mainstream. This parallel tradition departed from the main Neoplatonic line i. a. by its specific concept of otherness.
This variant concept of otherness contributed to a deep transformation of the Neoplatonic metaphysical system which in this form could serve as a suitable model for the Christian doctrine of Trinity.