Publisher
Plotinus is the
greatest philosopher in the 700-year period between Aristotle and
Augustine. He thought of himself as a disciple of Plato, but in his
efforts to defend Platonism against Aristotelians, Stoics, and others,
he actually produced a reinvigorated version of Platonism that later
came to be known as "Neoplatonism." In this volume, sixteen
leading scholars introduce and explain the many facets of Plotinus's
complex system. They place Plotinus in the history of ancient philosophy
while showing how he was a founder of medieval philosophy. New readers
and non-specialists will find this the most convenient and accessible
guide to Plotinus currently available. Advanced students and specialists
will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of
Plotinus.
Table
of Contents
List of contributors
The Enneads
Introduction
1
1
Plotinus: The Platonic tradition and the
foundation of Neoplatonism
10
2
Plotinus's metaphysics of the One
38
3
The hierarchical ordering of reality in Plotinus
66
4
On soul and intellect
82
5
Essence and existence in the Enneads
105
6
Plotinus on the nature of physical reality
130
7
Plotinus on matter and evil
171
8
Eternity and time
196
9
Cognition and its object
217
10
Self-knowledge and subjectivity in the Enneads
250
11
Plotinus: Body and soul
275
12
Human freedom in the thought of Plotinus
292
13
An ethic for the late antique sage
315
14
Plotinus and language
336
15
Plotinus and later Platonic philosophers on the
causality of the First Principle
The
Cambridge Companion to Plotinus