The 'enneads' of Plotinus, Volume 1 (ebook)

Argumento de The 'enneads' of Plotinus, Volume 1 (ebook)

This is the first volume of a groundbreaking commentary on one of the most important works of ancient philosophy, the Enneads of Plotinus—a text that formed the basis of Neoplatonism and had a deep influence on early Christian thought and medieval and Renaissance philosophy. This volume covers the first three of the six Enneads, as well as Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus, a document in which Plotinus’s student—the collector and arranger of the Enneads—introduces the philosopher and his work. A landmark contribution to modern Plotinus scholarship, Paul Kalligas’s commentary is the most detailed and extensive ever written for the whole of the Enneads.

For each of the treatises in the first three Enneads, Kalligas provides a brief introduction that presents the philosophical background against which Plotinus’s contribution can be assessed; a synopsis giving the main lines and the articulation of the argument; and a running commentary placing Plotinus’s thought in its intellectual context and making evident the systematic association of its various parts with each other.0Preface to the English Edition vii
Translator?s Preface xvii
Main Abbreviations xix
Porphyry: On the Life of Plotinus and the Order of His Books
Introduction
The Author, His Times, and His Work 3
The Composition and Character of the VP 4
The Organization and Sources of the VP 5
The System of Dating 7
Chronological Table 9
Map 16
Other Testimonies concerning the Life of Plotinus 18
Commentary 19
Appendixes
A. Iulius Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis I 7, 13-22 93
B. The Figural Representations of Plotinus 94
C. Porphyry in Sicily and His Literary Activity There 95
First Ennead
I 1 [53]. What Is the Living Being, and What Is Man? 101
I 2 [19]. On Virtues 131
I 3 [20]. On Dialectic 148
I 4 [46]. On Well-Being 161
I 5 [36]. On Whether Well-Being Increases with Time 187
I 6 [1]. On Beauty 192
I 7 [54]. On the Primal Good and the Other Goods 219
I 8 [51]. On What Are and Whence Come Evils 223
I 9 [16]. On Going out of the Body 241
Second Ennead
II 1 [40]. On Heaven 249
II 2 [14]. On the Movement of Heaven 267
II 3 [52]. On Whether the Stars Are Causes 277
II 4 [12]. On Matter 304
II 5 [25]. On What Exists Potentially and What Actually 327
II 6 [17]. On Substance, or on Quality 336
II 7 [37]. On Complete Transfusion 346
II 8 [35]. On Sight, or How Distant Objects Appear Small 353
II 9 [33]. Against the Gnostics 363
Third Ennead
III 1 [3]. On Destiny 413
III 2-3 [47-48]. On Providence, Books I-II 440
III 4 [15]. On Our Allotted Guardian Spirit 481
III 5 [50]. On Love 501
III 6 [26]. On the Impassibility of Things without Body 534
III 7 [45]. On Eternity and Time 577
III 8 [30]. On Nature and Contemplation and the One 620
III 9 [13]. Various Considerations 646
List of Variant Readings 657
Key to the Chronological Order of Plotinus? Treatises 669
Suggested Further Readings on Individual Treatises 671
Figures 679
Index of Passages Cited 681