The Six Enneads By Plotinus Written A.C.E.. Translated by Stephen Mackenna and B. S. Page. The Six Enneads has been divided into the following .
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Either way, Plato had an impact. Though this point is debatable, he strikes me much more of a mystic than a philosopher. Therefore there is always a leap to some value. To God, to gods, to truth, to experience. For Plotinus, the Sage finds answers through introspection after whittling away the illusions of life through the dialectic. This introspection yields a vision of the One from which Intelligence emanates and which thereby reflects upon the One through its own emanations which we view as the Soul. Or something close to this. At times, many times, a tedious read.
Plotinus meanders, sometimes poetically but oftentimes randomly, as he constructs an internally consistent worldview that is reminiscent of Buddhism. Goodness is gauged by the distance one is from unity with the One. The One is beyond rational thought and is beyond Activity and Rest in its august Repose.
Soul is not described as a personal attachment to the body, but an essence that surrounds us and fragments to the individual. Like a noise that is exists outside of ourselves but is heard by each or light that divides in a prism.
The Enneads - Wikipedia
It is only through the unintended emanation of Intelligence that the question can even be posed by us. The plethora of hyphenated proper nouns i. Jun 12, Jake Maguire rated it it was amazing Shelves: One of the most important and influential philosophers ever in my opinion. Don't get tangled up in the introduction for too long, once you get into the thick of it, you will need to drink a coffee and then call someone who cares!
Big foundational ideas that shaped Western civilization. It's an arcane book but a good workout for the mind. If none of the Greek writing you're familiar with seems convincing or relevant; check out Plotinus. There are some spell-binding passages in this dissertation of his. Plotinus has a sober, dry, matter-of-fact delivery; he al It's an arcane book but a good workout for the mind.
Plotinus has a sober, dry, matter-of-fact delivery; he alternates between question-and-answer style and more simple itemization. The flow of words is tight and dense and blocky. But what emerges even from the passages of near-gibberish is that he is an honest writer and not afraid to admit when his knowledge falls short.
But he is at at least writing in the Christian world and so when he talks about 'evil' he treats it with a dimension that the Socratic schools before him, lack; and in their lack, seem remote and unfamiliar to us. Plotinus uses a large lexicon of opaque terms which are marvelous in showing how ancient schools of philosophy debated about metaphysical topics. You can tell by the way he keeps combing out the same strand of thought time and time again, yet rarely the same way twice and the words themselves are quite plain: This means little to us today, but concepts like these were crucial to Plotinus, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaximander, and all these other joes.
No end of reliance on these ideas. Plotinus is naturally confronting a wide array of contradictory arguments from thinkers in other Schools and so he darts hummingbird-like, to-and-fro; over many hedges. It gets utterly incomprehensible at times; but that's because he's anatomizing abstract concepts which are meaningful to the other Greeks he was debating with, not to us. Still, his writers show a huge talent and it is enjoyable for this alone. What is the Self; what is Judgment. What is destiny and fate. One thing I admire about this cryptic sage is that he is unafraid to advance his statements.
He faces challenges squarely and stoutly. Apr 17, Lux in Caelo rated it liked it Shelves: Only read some sections. The language is lame, the translation I utilized must've been old. Plotinus provides interesting arguments for a good divine creator, and a metaphysics. I'll get back to this work later on, maybe if I find a better translation with today's language. Mar 07, Katelis Viglas rated it it was amazing Shelves: The essense of mystic thought of all times.
Grandeur of Logos and Ecstasy. This is an abridged edition, for a first contact with Plotinus's masterpiece. His thought of course isn't accesible easily. One shouldn't have the illusion that reading only one time a translation of the Enneads , in English, will understand the complicated and at the same time simple in its architecture Plotinian system of thought.
If someone tries to be absorbed in the text, probably he will be disappointed. If again tri The essense of mystic thought of all times. If again tries to read indirectly, and believes he understands the skeleton of Plotinus's thought, probably he will leave somehow or other with empty hands. Only with the combination of both, maybe, at the end, will comprehend something of his thought. MacKenna's poetic non-academic translation is an added bonus. I've now read enough interpretations and synopses of Plotinus to be truly appreciative of any writer who can communicate the spirit of Plotinus' life's work.
And MacKenna does just this. I cannot say enough about the importance of this book. This does not refer to John Dillon's abridged version, as I have not read it. Feb 28, Georges E. If there was ever a work that would require a lifetime of reading and rereading it would be "The Enneads". Every passage can become a basis for treatise and many in fact have. I have combined its reading with multiple commentaries on it and some available lectures that try to expound the main ideas and concepts of the work.
Would be going back and forth in this work for many years to come trying to untangle the many levels of meaning and interpretations of core ideas. Jul 23, Patrick Hadley rated it really liked it Shelves: Plotinus imagined himself as Plato's best and most dedicated student. He Casts Plato's philosophy in a new light which, while not always easy to understand, is somehow comforting and interesting to read. I don't like how he codifies what he believes to be THE Platonic philosophy, but I think that, unlike Aristotle, he was at least well-intentioned in doing so.
Jan 25, Aaron Crofut rated it it was ok Shelves: Invoking the Tyler Cowen rule: Too much mysticism for my taste anymore. Jan 02, Blakely rated it liked it. One of the most important of the great world mystics. Oct 29, Red rated it really liked it Shelves: Love is all you need, love is all you need at the Butterfly Ball.
O pienso que soy? Este texto es muy, muy, MUY espeso. Pero al mismo tiempo es muy interesante y deja un sabor de boca dulce. Es casi como un trance extatico. Al diablo, me voy a hacer algo mas mundano, un sandwich por ejemplo. Nov 05, Peter Crouse rated it it was ok Shelves: The foundational text of Neo-Platonism and the western mystical tradition. Building on Plato, concepts like transcendence, the emanation of Being and the ascent of the soul are here given a much fuller treatment.
The debt to Aristotelian metaphysics and the Stoic idea of Providence is also heavy.
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While I admit to being drawn at least in part to mystical ideas, I can't help being stupefied by certain fundamental problems that are raised again and again in the course of the treatises which Plotinus The foundational text of Neo-Platonism and the western mystical tradition. While I admit to being drawn at least in part to mystical ideas, I can't help being stupefied by certain fundamental problems that are raised again and again in the course of the treatises which Plotinus fails to answer in a satisfactory manner.
One of the most vexing is the question of the nature of Matter. It would seem to me to be easy to admit a kind of dualism between Good and Evil to reality, much as the Gnostics did, thereby granting actual existence to the latter and explaining why the material universe falls short of perfection. More important is the question of the transcendental One and how something technically beyond all being, knowledge and ability to be classified can be expounded upon, experienced by the soul and be the source of all reality.
A wise course of action would be to draw a veil of Wittgensteinian silence over the entire subject. Initially I was disappointed to have picked up Penguin's abridged edition of the Enneads, but after reading all pages of Mackenna's admittedly eloquent translation I actually wish that they had cut out more. The problem is that Porphery never meant his collection of his master's treatises to be a systematic exposition of doctrine and thus the finished product tends to be VERY repetitive as it glides from one topic to the next, often discussing relatively archaic and trivial matters regarding the nature of soul and astrology.
The edition also includes far too much introductory material, including an unnecessary biography of the translator. Occasionally beautiful and often meandering, I find there's nothing in the Enneads that Plato hasn't said better already. On the other hand, my wayword soul is probably too blind to glimpse the truer realm of Real-Being and Intellegence anyway What's refreshing about Plotinus is his positive attitude to creation and the cosmos: May 18, JP rated it liked it.
While exhibiting depth and some implication, the work is still best classified, in my opinion, as Platonic fluff.
It falls into the class of philosophy starting with huge leaps about mystical concepts, followed by giant defining assumptions. It is beautiful, sensuous writing but to no worthy end. In "Descent" we are shown the possible alternatives to explain the free, lasting soul, descending into the limited, terminal body. My critique is best summarized by the introduction's point of highlight While exhibiting depth and some implication, the work is still best classified, in my opinion, as Platonic fluff. My critique is best summarized by the introduction's point of highlighting an "unusually positive view of Matter.
We are shown that unity is good because it neither seeks nor needs to be anything else. He also references Aristotle positively for considering every possible state but then not for considering probability. May 29, Paul rated it it was amazing Shelves: The peak of pagan philosophy; like a cathedral in thought. You can immediately see why so many Church Fathers adopted Plotinian themes though adapted for Trinitarian theology, of course. One curious thing about Plotinus is that you keep expecting him or at least I kept expecting him to refer to a revelation as the source of his system I found myself thinking, "wait, how does Plotinus know this?
This is an early complete interpretive translation of the Plotinus' Enneads. Plotinus is an extremely influential Neoplatonist. Required reading for people interested in Western esotericism, kabbalah, Christian mysticism, and sufism. Because this is interpretive, for serious study you will need to supplement it with the Loeb Classical Library edition as well that is extremely This is an early complete interpretive translation of the Plotinus' Enneads.
Because this is interpretive, for serious study you will need to supplement it with the Loeb Classical Library edition as well that is extremely literal and very difficult on its own to understand. Apr 15, David A. Beardsley rated it really liked it.
The Enneads
Plotinus was a third-century neoPlatonist, based in Rome, and these "essays" are largely transcriptions of lectures he gave to his circle of students, which sometimes included the emperor Gallienus. They run the gamut from inspired poetry to, it must be said, mind-numbing hair-splitting, but Plotinus' inspiration is always the search for the Ideal.
A better place to start might be Elmer O'Brien's translation of selected works, also reviewed here. Sep 09, Iscritto Iscritti rated it really liked it. I haven't read it all, just the most interesting parts. Beside the fact that he was a philospher and I am ignorant, my opinion is: May 20, James Violand rated it really liked it Recommends it for: A major philosopher of the ancient world in the tradition of Plato. He developed a system of belief based on three principles: The composite of these principles is easily to prove the existence of God to most Christians, but it is unlikely that Plotinus meant any such thing - even though our concept of the Trinity seems to borrow an awful lot from him.
A very difficult read. As far as content goes, not much can be said about the Enneads that hasn't been said before. Second only in importance to the Platonic corpus in terms of Western esotericism's origins, Plotinus sets the stage for the multi-tiered emanative hierarchies that continue to dominate occult theology to this day. While the translation is, for the most part, very good, my sole substantial complaint about this volume is the omission of the original Greek text.
Jan 16, Joshua Thornton rated it really liked it Shelves: This was the first dry philosophical text that I have ever read cover to cover. The argument was good; somewhat enlightening?
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I wasn't sure why The Enneads had to be so damn long! As a takeaway, it is hard to deny the importance this text had on Western Spirituality and Religion. Thanks to his amanuensis, Porphyry, we have the most influential book from a heathen that influenced and, in some measure, reintroduced mysticism into the Church. This is a bit heavy to read, and in some parts appears nonsensical, but always gets you to where you want to go in understanding.
Try Underhill's exposition of this work. Will clear things up. Paris-Bruxelles, and the revised one Plotini Opera. Clarendon Press, there is an academic convention of citing the Enneads by first mentioning the number of Ennead usually in Romans from I to VI , the number of treatise within each Ennead in arabics from 1 to 9 , the number of chapter in arabics also , and the line s in one of the mentioned editions. These numbers are divided by periods, commas, or blank spaces. For Fourth Ennead IV , treatise number seven 7 , chapter two 2 , lines one to five , we write:. It is important to remark that some translations or editions do not include the line numbers according to P.
In addition to this, the chronological order of the treatises is numbered between brackets or parentheses, and given below. The names of treatises may differ according to translation. The numbers in square brackets before the individual works refer to the chronological order they were written according to Porphyry's Life of Plotinus. After the fall of Western Roman Empire and during the period of the Byzantine Empire, the authorship of some Plotinus' texts became clouded.
The writings had a significant effect on Islamic philosophy , due to Islamic interest in Aristotle. A Latin version of the so-called Theology appeared in Europe in From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Not to be confused with the Ennead or the Aeneid. Retrieved from " https: