Plotinus

Plotinus was a philosopher of the Roman Empire, probably born in Egypt, who studied in Alexandria under Ammonius Saccas and taught in Rome from the 240s. He is regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism. He held that all things depend on the One, which is beyond being and thought, through a timeless derivation that passes through Intellect and Soul. In his treatise on beauty he argued that beauty is not mere proportion but the presence of form shining through matter.

Key ideas

• The One is the first principle, beyond being, thought and every predicate.
• Reality derives from the One through Intellect and Soul by atemporal dependence, not by a process in time.
• Beauty is the appearance of form in matter, so simple things such as light can be beautiful without parts in proportion.
• The soul can return to its source by turning inward, culminating in union with the One.

Major works

• Enneads (Ἐννεάδες), edited by Porphyry
• "On Beauty" (Ennead I.6)
• Porphyry, On the Life of Plotinus and the Order of His Books (biographical record)

In the conversation

• Question If the One cannot be described, how did Plotinus manage to write so much about it? Chiara Bellandi · 6 replies
• Discussion One sustained note on the organ, and the case against beauty as proportion Agnieszka Malinowska · 5 replies
• Debate Emanation cannot be squared with a God who freely creates, and al-Ghazālī saw exactly why Abdulrahman Al-Bassam · 6 replies
• Reading group Reading group: Augustine’s Confessions Book X, the books of memory, in Chadwick’s translation Aoife Kilbride · 5 replies
• Discussion A source that is not one of the things it produces: Anaximander’s apeiron and Plotinus’s One Mona Fathy · 6 replies
• Reading group Reading group: Plotinus, “On Beauty” (Ennead I.6), the treatise he is said to have written first Mona Fathy · 5 replies

In the Journal

• Journal What is aesthetics? A beginner’s guide Chiara Bellandi · 0 replies
• Journal Not a warehouse: what the Baghdad translators actually did Layla Sfeir · 0 replies