Book

Plotinos

by Plotinus (204–270)

164 chapters, about 76,000 words. The text is in the public domain in the United States and comes from Project Gutenberg.

Chapters

1. Chapter 1 200 words
2. FOREWORD 300 words
3. CONCORDANCE OF CHRONOLOGICAL NUMBERS AND ENNEADS 800 words
4. III. PLOTINOS'S EARLY EDUCATION. 400 words
5. AMELIUS, PLOTINOS'S FIRST SECRETARY. 1,200 words
6. VII. VARIOUS DISCIPLES OF PLOTINOS. 600 words
7. VIII. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLOTINOS. 200 words
8. IX. PLOTINOS AS GUARDIAN AND ARBITRATOR. 200 words
9. X. HOW PLOTINOS TREATED HIS ADVERSARY, OLYMPIUS. 200 words
10. HOMAGE TO PLOTINOS FROM A VISITING EGYPTIAN PRIEST. 200 words
11. PLOTINOS'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PUBLIC MYSTERIES. 500 words
12. XIII. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLOTINOS'S DELIVERY. 200 words
13. XIV. PHILOSOPHICAL RELATIONS OF PLOTINOS. 600 words
14. XVI. PLOTINOS'S POLEMIC AGAINST THE GNOSTICS. 2,300 words
15. XXII. THE APOLLONIAN ORACLE ABOUT PLOTINOS. 1,100 words
16. XXIV. CONTENTS OF THE VARIOUS ENNEADS. 800 words
17. LIFE OF PLOTINOS, BY EUNAPIUS. 300 words
18. PROBLEMS CONCERNING HIGHER BEAUTY. 200 words
19. POLEMIC AGAINST SYMMETRY, THE STOIC DEFINITION OF BEAUTY. 400 words
20. BEAUTY CONSISTS IN KINSHIP TO THE SOUL. 100 words
21. BEAUTY CONSISTS IN PARTICIPATION IN A FORM. 700 words
22. TRANSITION FROM SENSE BEAUTY TO INTELLECTUAL BEAUTY. 200 words
23. MORAL BEAUTIES MORE DELIGHTFUL THAN SENSE-BEAUTIES. 400 words
24. LOVE OF BEAUTY EXPLAINED BY AVERSION FOR OPPOSITE. 300 words
25. UGLINESS IS ONLY A FOREIGN ACCRETION. 100 words
26. VIRTUES ARE ONLY PURIFICATIONS. 200 words
27. THE SOUL'S WELFARE IS TO RESEMBLE THE DIVINITY. 200 words
28. APPROACH TO THE GOOD CONSISTS IN SIMPLIFICATION. 700 words
29. HOW TO FLY TO OUR FATHERLAND. 200 words
30. HOW TO TRAIN THIS INTERIOR VISION. 400 words
31. THE LANDMARKS OF THE PATH TO ECSTASY. 100 words
32. REFERENCES. 400 words
33. THE BODY IS COMPOSITE, AND THEREFORE PERISHABLE. 1,600 words
34. BODIES CAN LOSE PARTS, NOT SO THE SOUL. 400 words
35. IMPOSSIBILITY FOR THE BODY TO HAVE SENSATION. 1,000 words
36. THE BODY CANNOT THINK. 300 words
37. THE BODY CANNOT POSSESS VIRTUE. 200 words
38. IF VIRTUE WERE CORPOREAL IT WOULD BE PERISHABLE. 200 words
39. WHY BODIES ARE ACTIVATED BY INCORPOREAL POWERS. 1,200 words
40. WHY THE SOUL IS NOT A HARMONY. 2,800 words
41. THE SOUL AS THE ARTIST OF THE UNIVERSE. 300 words
42. THE HISTORIC EVIDENCE FOR IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 300 words
43. EXCEPT THE FIRST, ALL THINGS ARE CAUSED. 900 words
44. THE STOIC POLEMIC AGAINST THE EPICUREANS. 300 words
45. RESTATEMENT OF HERACLITUS'S POSITION. 300 words
46. RESTATEMENT OF THE ASTROLOGICAL THEORY OF FATE. 200 words
47. REFUTATION OF THE ASTROLOGICAL SYSTEM. 700 words
48. IRRATIONAL CLAIMS OF ASTROLOGERS. 300 words
49. ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIA'S POLEMIC AGAINST THE STOICS. 200 words
50. THE HUMAN SOUL AS AN INDEPENDENT PRINCIPLE. 300 words
51. THE SOUL IS FREE WHEN FOLLOWING REASON. 200 words
52. THE SOUL OBEYS FATE ONLY WHEN EVIL. 200 words
53. FOURTH ENNEAD, BOOK FIRST. 300 words
54. THE SENSUAL MAN, THE MORAL, AND THE SPIRITUAL. 400 words
55. LOVE IS TRANSFORMED INTO PROGRESSIVELY HIGHER STAGES. 200 words
56. PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE. 500 words
57. WHY OUR ASCENT CANNOT STOP WITH THE SOUL. 1,000 words
58. INTELLIGENCE CONTAINS ALL BEINGS GENERATIVELY. 800 words
59. INTELLIGENCE CONTAINS THE UNIVERSAL ARCHETYPE. 1,600 words
60. THE EXPERIENCE OF ECSTASY LEADS TO QUESTIONS. 200 words
61. EMPEDOCLES, AS A POET, TELLS OF PYTHAGOREAN MYTHS. 400 words
62. QUESTIONS RAISED BY PLATO'S THEORIES. 300 words
63. HOW THE TWO-FOLD SOUL EXERTS A TWO-FOLD PROVIDENCE. 300 words
64. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HUMAN AND COSMIC INCARNATION. 300 words
65. THE RATIONAL SOUL POSSESSES ALSO AN INDIVIDUALITY. 600 words
66. SOULS AS AMPHIBIANS. 200 words
67. SOULS DESCENDING TO HELP ARE SENT BY GOD. 200 words
68. THE TWO POSSIBLE FAULTS OF THE SOUL. 300 words
69. CONTINUOUS PROCESSION NECESSARY TO THE SUPREME. 400 words
70. THE SOUL'S NATURE IS OF AN INTERMEDIATE KIND. 800 words
71. NECESSITY OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE FIRST. 1,200 words
72. HOW THE FIRST IS ABOVE ALL BEING. 200 words
73. FOURTH ENNEAD, BOOK NINE. 700 words
74. SYMPATHY DOES NOT FORCE IDENTITY OF SENSATION. 1,700 words
75. UNITY NECESSARY TO EXISTENCE OF ALL BEINGS. 600 words
76. BEING AND ESSENCE IDENTICAL WITH UNITY. 200 words
77. EVEN UNIVERSAL ESSENCE CONTAINS MANIFOLDNESS. 400 words
78. UNITY AS ABOVE ALL THINGS, INTELLIGENCE AND ESSENCE. 200 words
79. THE PATH OF SIMPLIFICATION TO UNITY. 500 words
80. BEING A PRIMARY CAUSE, UNITY IS NOTHING CONTINGENT. 2,100 words
81. THE ONE IS NOT THINKER BUT THOUGHT ITSELF. 800 words
82. TO BE ATTACHED TO THE CENTRE CONSTITUTES DIVINITY. 500 words
83. THE FAMOUS ILLUSTRATION OF THE COSMIC CHORAL BALLET. 200 words
84. FOLLOWING NUMENIUS, PLOTINOS DESCRIBES THE SUPREME AS GIVER. 1,300 words
85. THE TRANCE OR ENTHEASM OF ECSTASY. 400 words
86. THE SPIRITUAL TRUTH OF THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 100 words
87. SUBSEQUENT ECSTATIC EXPERIENCES OF THE SOUL. 300 words
88. FIFTH ENNEAD, BOOK ONE. 400 words
89. KINSHIP OF THE HUMAN SOUL WITH THE DIVINE. 800 words
90. THE SOUL AS THE HYPOSTATIC ACTUALIZATION OF INTELLIGENCE. 400 words
91. THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD IS THE ARCHETYPE OF OURS. 600 words
92. THE SOUL AS NUMBER CONNECTED WITH INTELLIGENCE. 300 words
93. MYSTERY OR DERIVATION OF SECOND FROM FIRST. 200 words
94. GENERATION IS THE RADIATION OF AN IMAGE. 900 words
95. MYTHS OF SATURN, JUPITER AND RHEA. 300 words
96. PLATO TEACHES THREE SPHERES OF EXISTENCE.[242] 200 words
97. THIS DOCTRINE TAUGHT BY PARMENIDES. 200 words
98. ARISTOTLE TAUGHT THE SAME THING. 300 words
99. WHAT THE PYTHAGOREANS TAUGHT ON THE SUBJECT. 900 words
100. FIFTH ENNEAD, BOOK TWO. 300 words
101. SIMILARLY THE UNIVERSAL SOUL, BY PROCESSION, BEGETS NATURE. 200 words
102. PROCESSION IS UNIVERSAL FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST. 300 words
103. THE SOUL MAY REMAIN IN AN INTERMEDIATE LIFE. 200 words
104. THE STOIC CONCEPTION OF MATTER. 200 words
105. THE ARISTOTELIAN INTELLIGIBLE MATTER. 200 words
106. INTELLIGIBLE MATTER IS NOT SHAPELESS. 1,400 words
107. THE VIEWS OF EMPEDOCLES AND ANAXAGORAS ON MATTER. 300 words
108. REFUTATION OF DEMOCRITUS'S ATOMS AS EXPLANATIONS OF MATTER. 1,300 words
109. THE COMPOSITION OF A BODY NEEDS A SUBSTRATE. 1,600 words
110. PRIVATION IS A FORM OF MATTER. 200 words
111. PRIVATION IS NONENTITY, AND ADDS NO NEW CONCEPT. 200 words
112. MATTER AS THE INFINITE IN ITSELF. 500 words
113. MATTER IS NONESSENTIAL OTHERNESS. 200 words
114. INDIGENCE IS NECESSARILY EVIL. 200 words
115. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTELLIGENCE AND THE EXISTING ANIMAL. 100 words
116. RELATION BETWEEN INTELLIGENCE AND THE INTELLIGIBLE. 200 words
117. THE WORLD-SOUL IS THE CONCEIVING-PRINCIPLE. 500 words
118. HOW THE SOUL INCARNATES. 500 words
119. OF ACTUALITY AND POTENTIALITY. 500 words
120. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAVENS. 100 words
121. THREE KINDS OF MOVEMENT. 200 words
122. FIRE MOVES STRAIGHT ONLY PRELIMINARILY. 200 words
123. WHY SOUL ASSUMES A CIRCULAR MOTION. 500 words
124. WHY THE HEAVENS MOVE IN A CIRCLE. 200 words
125. THE ADDITION OF OUR BODIES INTRODUCES CONFLICTING MOTIONS. 200 words
126. HOW MOTION IS IMPARTED TO LOWER EXISTENCES. 300 words
127. OUTLINE OF NATURES IN THE UNIVERSE. 200 words
128. AFTER DEATH, MAN BECOMES WHAT HE HAS LIVED. 300 words
129. LAWS OF TRANSMIGRATION. 1,800 words
130. CONDITION OF SOULS IN THE HIGHER REGIONS. 200 words
131. FATE OF THE DIVISIBLE HUMAN SOUL. 400 words
132. EVIL EFFECTS OF SUICIDE ON THE SOUL HERSELF. 400 words
133. DISTINCTION BETWEEN ESSENCE AND BEING. 200 words
134. DISTINCTION BETWEEN COMPLEMENTS OF BEING, AND QUALITIES. 200 words
135. DISTINCTION BETWEEN ESSENTIAL AND MODAL QUALITIES. 200 words
136. DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHATNESS AND AFFECTIONS OF BEING. 100 words
137. ACTUALIZED BEING LESS PERFECT THAN ESSENCE. 300 words
138. FORM IS NOT A QUALITY; BUT A REASON. 200 words
139. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTELLIGIBLE AND SENSE-QUALITY. 200 words
140. QUALITIES ARE ACCIDENTAL SHAPES OF BEING. 100 words
141. TWO POSSIBLE HYPOTHESES OF IDEAS OF INDIVIDUALS. 200 words
142. DIFFERENCE OF THINGS DEPEND ON THEIR SEMINAL REASONS. 300 words
143. EXPLANATION OF THE DIVERSITY FROM SAME PARENTS 200 words
144. CAN THESE VIRTUES BE ASCRIBED TO THE DIVINITY? 200 words
145. HOMELY VIRTUES ASSIMILATE US TO DIVINITY ONLY PARTIALLY. 500 words
146. THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF RESEMBLANCE. 600 words
147. SELF-CONTROL IS ASSIMILATION TO THE DIVINITY. 900 words
148. THE INFLUENCE OF REASON IS SUGGESTIVE. 100 words
149. THE GOAL OF PURIFICATION IS SECOND DIVINITY, INTELLIGENCE. 200 words
150. THE HIGHER VIRTUES MERGE INTO WISDOM. 300 words
151. EVEN THE LOWER VIRTUES ARE MUTUALLY RELATED. 500 words
152. FIRST ENNEAD, BOOK THREE. 300 words
153. HOW THE MUSICIAN RISES TO THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD. 200 words
154. HOW THE LOVER RISES TO THE INTELLIGIBLE. 200 words
155. HOW THE PHILOSOPHER RISES TO THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD. 200 words
156. WHAT DIALECTICS IS. 300 words
157. DIALECTICS IS THE HIGHEST PART OF PHILOSOPHY. 300 words
158. THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY CROWNED BY DIALECTICS. 200 words
159. WITHOUT DIALECTICS LOWER KNOWLEDGE WOULD BE IMPERFECT. 100 words
160. OUTLINE OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF IV. 7. 200 words
161. DESCRIPTION OF INDIVISIBLE ESSENCE. 300 words
162. BY PROCESSION THE SOUL CONNECTS THE TWO. 500 words
163. SOUL AS BOTH ESSENTIALLY DIVISIBLE AND INDIVISIBLE. 800 words
164. [325] C90. 400 words

Ideas discussed in this book

• Beauty
• Dialectic
• Divinity
• Ecstasy (philosophy)
• Essence
• Harmony
• Individual
• Intelligence
• Phaedrus (Athenian)
• Quality (philosophy)
• Quantity
• Soul
• Substantial form
• Unity (concept)
• Virtue
• World

Open Plotinos in the reader →