Book Description
Volume 3 and 4. The works of Plotinus are presented in chronological order, grouped into four periods; with Biography by Porphyry, Eunapius and Suidas, Commentary by Porphyry, Illustrations by Iamblichus and Ammonius, Studies in sources, development, influence; and an Index of subjects, thoughts and words. By fusing parallel streams of thought, Plotinus became the representative of the post-Platonic age, and translated Greek philosophy into terms later taken up by Christianity. He was the bridge between Plato and Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Calvin and the Thirty-nine Articles. For his age he did what Plato had done for his, and thereby takes rank beside the latter as one of the peaks in the mountain chains of human thought. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The most useful English edition of Plotinus
'Plotinos Complete Works, Parts 1 and 2' (ISBN 076617753X) is a well-printed and sturdy paperback reprint of Volumes 1 and 2 (of 4) of the first complete English translation (1918) of Plotinus by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie.

Unlike both MacKenna and Armstrong, Guthrie has had the good sense to place the treatises in chronological order and not in the artificial and awkward order established by Porphyry. He has also considerably lightened the reader's burden by summarizing, in brief captions at the head of each passage, each step in Plotinus's often involved arguments.

He admits that his translation is hardly perfect, but both MacKenna and Armstrong make similar admissions since 'perfection' is hardly attainable with such a problematic text, and Guthrie is to be given credit for having provided us with the most comprehensive edition of Plotinus and the one that is easiest to use.

The second volume of the paperback 2-volume reprint, 'Plotinos Complete Works, Parts 3 and 4' (ISBN 0766177564) contains, in addition to the remainder of the treatises, much valuable supplementary material that is not found in either MacKenna or Armstrong. This material includes a COMMENTARY on the Enneads by Porphyry; STUDIES in Sources, Development, and Influence; and a valuable INDEX of Subjects, Thoughts, and Words. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on March 1, 1993. The length of the article is 7035 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Plotinus's metaphysics, although usually understood as emanationism, is better described as instrumental creationism. A careful analysis shows that the criteria which define emanationism, such as denial of creation 'ex nihilo' and a belief that creatures exist necessarily, do not accurately characterize Plotinus's position, although he does not subscribe to the same form of creationism as Aquinas. According to Plotinus, the One is the first principle which causes existence, but being is instrumentally caused by the 'ousia.' The causal activity of the One is therefore instrumental.

Citation Details
Title: Plotinus's metaphysics: emanation or creation?
Author: Lloyd P. Gerson
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1993
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: v46Issue: n3Page: p559(16)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
But does not Likeness by way of Virtue imply Likeness to some being that has Virtue? To what Divine Being, then, would our Likeness be? To the Being- must we not think?- in Which, above all, such excellence seems to inhere, that is to the Soul of the Kosmos and to the Principle ruling within it, the Principle endowed with a wisdom most wonderful. What could be more fitting than that we, living in this world, should become Like to its ruler?Download Description
But does not Likeness by way of Virtue imply Likeness to some being that has Virtue? To what Divine Being, then, would our Likeness be? To the Being- must we not think?- in Which, above all, such excellence seems to inhere, that is to the Soul of the Kosmos and to the Principle ruling within it, the Principle endowed with a wisdom most wonderful. What could be more fitting than that we, living in this world, should become Like to its ruler? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Slow going
This work by a well known Jungian is slow going and relies too much on esoteric quotes form C.G. Jung. When he writes about the New Testament, Edinger is very informative though his style is tedius. The suplementary quotes from Jung are too long, over used and distrative.Jung's view on Christianity are hindered by his ambivalence about it and trying too hard to mythologize its message and mysteries.Edinger would have beeb better served using Jungian authors who are also believers.

True Courage
How many of us have the courage, the understanding and the wisdom to really know, let alone live our destiny?Edinger qoutes Jung (CW17,par296)as saying, "A man can make a moral decision to go his own way only ifhe holds that way to be best.If any other way were held to be better,then he would live and develope that other personality instead of hisown" (p. 26)Sounds like a Koan of sorts, yet if one is trulystriving to individuate, "blindly pursuing our way," we mayeventiallybe on the "Road to Dasmascus."What to do?We needguides, "Old Wise Men and Women." A Yoda or two to interpret thesymbols, the numinosum...this book is like bumping into Yoda in the deeppart of the forest, when conflicts are almost too much to bare.

Brilliant!
I must sometimes grit my teeth and slog through Edinger to discover his pearls of wisdom. Not this time. This work I found quite accesible, the material thoroughly digested, well laid out and clearly explained. My copyis already massively underlined and dog-eared. (I'm presuming you'd havesome knowledge of Jung before reading this book.) ... Read more

Book Description

Plotinus (204/5-270 CE) was the first and greatest of Neoplatonic philosophers. His writings were edited by his disciple Porphyry, who published them many years after his master's death in six sets of nine treatises each (the Enneads).

Plotinus regarded Plato as his master, and his own philosophy is a profoundly original development of the Platonism of the first two centuries of the Christian era and the closely related thought of the Neopythagoreans, with some influences from Aristotle and his followers and the Stoics, whose writings he knew well but used critically. He is a unique combination of mystic and Hellenic rationalist. His thought dominated later Greek philosophy and influenced both Christians and Moslems, and is still alive today because of its union of rationality and intense religious experience.

In his acclaimed edition of Plotinus, Armstrong provides excellent introductions to each treatise. His invaluable notes explain obscure passages and give reference to parallels in Plotinus and others.

Customer Reviews (2)

The Loeb Edition Table of Contents
This Loeb Classical Library edition of the works of Plotinus is in seven volumes. The titles are as follows:

Plotinus I: Porphyry on Plotinus, Ennead I (Loeb Classical Library, 440)

Plotinus II: Ennead II (Loeb Classical Library, 441)

Plotinus III: Ennead III (Loeb Classical Library, 442)

Plotinus IV: Ennead IV (Loeb Classical Library, 443)

Plotinus V: Ennead V (Loeb Classical Library, 444)

Plotinus VI: Ennead VI, Books 1-5 (Loeb Classical Library, 445)

Plotinus VII: Ennead VI, Books 6-9 (Loeb Classical Library, 468)

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Below is the combined table of contents for those volumes:

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME I:

Preface (editors)

Sigla (editors)

On the Life of Plotinus and the Order of his Books (Porphyry)

Ennead I:

1. What is the Living Being, and What is Man? (53)

2. On Virtues (19)

3. On Dialectic (20)

4. On Well-being (46)

5. On Whether Well-being Increases with Time (36)

6. On Beauty (1)

7. On the Primal Good and the Other Goods (54)

8. On What Are and Whence Come Evils (51)

9. On Going Out of the Body (16)

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME II:

Sigla (editors)

Ennead II:

1. On Heaven (40)

2. On the Movement of Heaven (14)

3. On Whether the Stars are Causes (52)

4. On Matter (12)

5. On What Exists Actually and What Potentially (25)

6. On Substance, or On Quality (17)

7. On Complete Transfusion (37)

8. On Sight, or How Distant Objects Appear Small (35)

9. Against the Gnostics (33)

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME III:

Sigla (editors)

Ennead III:

1. On Destiny (3)

2. On Providence I (47)

3. On Providence II (48)

4. On Our Allotted Guardian Spirit (15)

5. On Love (50)

6. On the Impassibility of Things without Body (26)

7. On Eternity and Time (45)

8. On Nature and Contemplation and the One (30)

9. Various Considerations (13)

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME IV:

Preface to the Loeb Plotinus IV-V (A. H. Armstrong)

Sigla (editors)

Ennead IV:

1. [2] On the Essence of the Soul I (4)

2. [1] On the Essence of the Soul II (21)

3. On Difficulties About of the Soul I (27)

4. On Difficulties About of the Soul I (28)

5. On Difficulties About of the Soul III, Or On Sight (29)

6. On Sense Perception and Memory (41)

7. On the Immortality of the Soul (2)

8. On the Descent of the Soul into Bodies (6)

9. If All Souls are One (8)

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME V:

Preface to the Loeb Plotinus IV-V (A. H. Armstrong)

Sigla (editors)

Ennead V:

1. On the Three Primary Hypostases (10)

2. On the Origin and Order of the Beings Which Come After the First (11)

3. On the Knowing Hypostases and That Which is Beyond (49)

4. How That Which is After the First Comes From the First, And on the One (7)

5. That the Intelligibles are not Outside the Intellect, and on the Good (32)

6. On the Fact that that Which is Beyond Being does not Think, and on What is the Primary and What the Secondary Thinking Principle (24)

7. On the Question Whether there are Ideas of Particular Things (18)

8. On the Intelligible Beauty (31)

9. On Intellect, the Forms, and Being (5)

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME VI:

Preface to the Loeb Plotinus VI, VII (A. H. Armstrong)

Sigla (editors)

Ennead VI (continued in volume VII):

1. On the Kinds of Being I (42)

2. On the Kinds of Being II (43)

3. On the Kinds of Being III (44)

4. On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole I (22)

5. On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole II (23)

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR VOLUME VII:

Preface to the Loeb Plotinus VI, VII (A. H. Armstrong)

Sigla (editors)

Ennead VI (continued from volume VI):

6. On Numbers (34)

7. How the Multitude of Forms Came into Being, and on the Good (38)

8. On Free Will and the Will of the One (39)

9. On the Good or the One (9)

The numbers in parentheses indicate Plotinus' order of composition, which differs from the order given them by Porphyry and which this edition follows.

The bracketed numbers for the first two chapters of Ennead IV are an alternate ordering for them.

An Excellent Edition of Plotinus
As is typical for the Loeb classical library books, the volumes are physically small, and the original text (Greek, for Plotinus) is given on the left hand page, with the English translation on the right.

The Preface describes the historical context within which Plotinus wrote, offers a summary of this thought, and a survey of Plotinus translations, commentaries, and studies. This material is supplemented by short introductions and synopses at the start of each chapter, and by abundant and detailed footnotes. The footnotes explain translation difficulties (not uncommon with Plotinus), and also identify the sources of Plotinus' references to other writers. These materials are excellent.

The only thing that this edition lacks is an index. The editors plead the difficulty of indexing Plotinus, and recommend "Lexicon Plotinianum" by J. H. Sleeman and Gilbert Pollet as an alternative. This work is, however, out of print (is it even in English? I am not sure) so it is not a very helpful suggestion. As it is, given Plotinus' rather scattered way of writing, an index is missed.

The Enneads are a collection of Plotinus' writings from fairly late in his life. Porphyry, his student, encouraged him in writing down his teachings, and acted as his posthumous editor (he also wrote a short biography of Plotinus which is included in the first volume). The works as they exist today are as they were received from Porphyry. As editor, Porphyry created his own organization for the works based on subject matter. This order is completely different from the order in which Plotinus wrote them. Porphyry, however, did document the original ordering.

From my own experience, however, I would recommend strongly reading Plotinus' writings in the order Plotinus wrote them rather than the order in which Porphyry arranged them. The major advantage I found was that it was much easier to follow the reasons why Plotinus believed what he did, even if the subject matter does jump around a bit. I tried Porphyry's order first, and almost gave up in despair before trying again in Plotinus' order. I have come to the conclusion that much of Plotinus' reputation as a bad writer is due to unfortunate but well-intended editorial decisions by Porphyry. Given that the Loeb edition presents Plotinus' writings in Porphyry's order, and that the Loeb edition is in multiple volumes, reading Plotinus this way does have a certain entertaining quality as well (first get volume IV, read a treatise, then get volume VI, read another, then get volume I, read another, and so on).

An important recommendation I would make for the reader is that he be properly prepared in his background reading. All of Aristotle and all of Plato would be ideal (as well as a worthwhile activity in its own right), but if the would-be reader of Plotinus finds that a little daunting and wants to get started sooner, there are a few works that he should make a particular effort to read: Plato's "Phaedo", "Republic" (Books VI, VII), "Parmenides", and "Timaeus"; Aristotle's "Physics", "On the Heavens", "On the Soul", and "Metaphysics". Plato, as the earlier writer, should be read first (by the way - don't be discouraged when you find you don't understand the second half of "Parmenides", Plotinus is going to tell you what he thinks it means in due course, so all you need to do is understand the references). If you don't have Plato or Aristotle, for Plato, Cooper's "Plato: Complete Works" (in one volume), and for Aristotle, Barnes' "Complete Works of Aristotle" (in two volumes), are excellent. ... Read more

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Taken from the Great Philosphers, Volume II.
... Read more

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Outline of the System of Plotinus; Terminology; Extracts from the Enneads; Sources from which Plotinus drew extracts from Plato's Dialogues; Influence of Plotinus on St. Augustine, Dante, Schiller, Spenser, Vaughan, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Emerson, Tennyson; Index. ... Read more

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Contains the complete text of The Six Enneads ... Read more

Book Description
Edited, preface, and bibliography by G.R.S. Mead.Contents:On the virtues; On Dialectic; On Matter; Against the Gnostics; On the Impassivity of Incorporeal Natures; On Eternity and Time; On the Immortality of the Soul; On the Three Hypostases that rank as the Principles of Things; On Intellect, Ideas, and Real Being; On the Essence of the Soul; A discussion of Doubts relative to the Soul; On the Generation and Order of Things after the First; On Gnostic Hypostases, and That which is beyond Them; That the Nature which is beyond Being is not Intellective, etc.; On the Good, or the One. ... Read more

Book Description
ON PLOTINUS, like other titles in the Wadsworth Philosopher's Series, offers a concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to this philosopher's most important ideas. Presenting the most important insights of well over a hundred seminal philosophers in both the Eastern and Western traditions, the Wadsworth Philosophers Series contains volumes written by scholars noted for their excellence in teaching and for their well-versed comprehension of each featured philosopher's major works and contributions. These titles have proven valuable in a number of ways. Serving as standalone texts when tackling a philosophers' original sources or as helpful resources for focusing philosophy students' engagements with these philosopher's often conceptually daunting works, these titles have also gained extraordinary popularity with a lay readership and quite often serve as "refreshers" for philosophy instructors. ... Read more

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Original essays be leading scholars on Plotinus' philosophy of nature. ... Read more

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THIS 8 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Essence of Plotinus: Extracts from the Six Enneads and Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, by Stephen MacKenna. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766100928.Download Description
THIS 8 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Essence of Plotinus: Extracts from the Six Enneads and Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, by Stephen MacKenna. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766100928. ... Read more

Book Description
A philosophical commentary on a section of the Enneads written by the last great Neoplatonist thinker, Plotinus. The treatise is entitled 'Concerning Well-Being' and was written at a late stage in Plotinus' life when he was suffering from an illness that was shortly to kill him. Its main concern is with the good man and how he should pursue the good life. The treatise is therefore central to our understanding of Plotinus' ethical theory, and the commentary seeks to explicate and elucidate that theory. Plotinus' views on how one should live in order to fulfil oneself as a human being are as relevant now as they were in the third century AD. All Greek and Latin is translated, while short summaries introducing the content of each chapter help to make Plotinus' argument clear even to the non-specialist. ... Read more