Plotinus: Volume I, Porphyry on Plotinus, Ennead I (Loeb Classical Library No. 440) by Plotinus Published by Harvard University Press 2 Rev Sub edition (1969) Hardcover

by Plotinus

Plotinus (204/5-270) was the 1st Neoplatonic philosopher. His writings were edited by his disciple Porphyry, who published them many years after his master's death in six sets of nine treatises each (the Enneads). Plotinus regarded Plato as his master. His own philosophy is an original development of the Platonism of the 1st two centuries of the Christian era & the closely related thought of the Neopythagoreans, with some influences from Aristotle & his followers & the Stoics, whose writings he knew well but used critically. He's a unique combination of mystic & Hellenic rationalist. His thought dominated later Greek philosophy & influenced both Christians & Moslems, & is continues today owing to its union of rationality & intense religious experience. In his edition of Plotinus, Armstrong provides excellent introductions to each treatise. His invaluable notes explain obscure passages & give reference to parallels in Plotinus & others.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography, Theology, Theory, History, Religion

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 250

About the author

Egyptian-born Roman philosopher Plotinus and his successors in the 3rd century at Alexandria founded and developed Neoplatonism, a philosophical system, which, based on Platonism with elements of mysticism and some Judaic and Christian concepts, posits a single source from which all existence emanates and with which one mystically can unite an individual soul; The Enneads collects his writings.

Saint Thomas Aquinas combined elements of this system and other philosophy within a context of Christian thought.

People widely consider this major of the ancient world alongside Ammonius Saccas, his teacher.
He influenced in late antiquity. Much of our biographical information about Plotinus comes from preface of Porphyry to his edition. His metaphysical writings inspired centuries of pagan, Islamic, and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plotinus' first Ennead is divided into several topics, covering subjects such as the nature of man and soul, virtue, happiness, and beauty. Obviously, being the first neoplatonic philosopher, Plotinus owes a great deal of his ideas to Plato. The difference is that Plotinus is much more sophisticated in his exposition and discussion of these ideas, often innovative. He has made a thorough study of both Plato and Aristotle, as well as other Hellenistic philosophers. The work is interesting to be sure, but I struggle with the writing style. Of course, some of this may be translation issues but I suspect it is more the fault of Plotinus. His writing is dense and cryptic, and he often jumps from one thing to another somewhat ungracefully. It can often be difficult to follow these jumps, and this is not helped by the way he often talks about a philosophical position as if he were endorsing it before suddenly rejecting it and switching track without much warning. Of course, this is, to no small degree, due to my unfamiliarity with Plotinus and Greek philosophy. While I have read the classics of Plato, Aristotle and even a chunk of the Hellenistic philosophers, I am still without much of the context and lack the intuitive grasp of the positions he is implicitly referring to. I find myself constantly going back over ambiguous passages trying to tease out what exactly is being talked about, and this detracts from my enjoyment of his work.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plotinus är känd för att ha beskrivit kärlek och skönhet på ett instinktivt vackert sätt, och för att ha förklarat att materia är ondska. Denna bok tar upp alla dessa principer, vilket gör mig nyfiken på vad jag kommer att läsa i de kommande enneaderna. Jag väljer att kategorisera Plotinus som religion snarare än filosofi, eftersom min instinkt placerar honom där. Jag rättfärdigar det genom att kommentera att till och med platon fokuserar huvuddelen av sina skrifter på hur man är en bra människa, snarare än på hur man övervinner sin mänsklighet, vilket är Plotinus fokus. Detta implicerar inte att texten är världsfrånvänd, men däremot att dess fokus är transformativt. Det är en spännande text, på samma sätt som Brunos heroiska entusiaster var spännande. Grundprincipen håller, om man är villig att acceptera premisserna - om det vi ser som det vackra faktiskt är den rena formen, så är allt levande förvrängningar. Att slipa av det avvikande blir då en religiös eller kvasireligiös plikt, och idén om ondskan som materia opåverkad av viljan till skönhet/form, är då rimlig. Därmed inte sagt att det är en självklart rimlig grundhållning att ha. Problemet är vilken vektor form skulle ha utanför materia, framförallt eftersom materia och form beskrivs som så grundligt sammanblandade.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sublime, philosophy cross pollinated with poetry.

[Joel Zartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plotinus is hard core.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is how Plato's rather scattered and poetically-expressed ideas in his dialogues were reinterpreted and systematically organized as Neoplatonism for the first time. This in turn will be the philosophical basis for the future development of Christian and other theologies – like those of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. The sections about dialectic, beauty, evil, matter, potentiality and actuality, substance, against Gnostics, love, being, and especially the one about the nature of time were my favorite. As usual, the problem with books like this are all the modern interpretations and assumptions used in the translation from Ancient Greek into current English.

[Zachary Mays · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Plotinus, what can I say. He's frustratingly terse and confusing at times, and at other times, all of a sudden, he begins to soar, taking the reader with him. That being the said compared with MacKenna and Gerson, the Armstrong translation is the one I found the most clear and unobstructed.... which still does not mean that it's always clear (see first sentence).

[☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part talks about the life of Plotinus by Porfirio, the second part has interesting views, such as the vision of happiness, beauty, etc... All centered around reaching the ideal and rejecting the body (which is the origin of all evil, matter).

[Maya Joelle]

Read the life of plotinus in translation for a class spring 2025.

[Kiki023 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first volume of Loeb's Enneads, in which Porphyry gives his account of the man who would guide his philosophical development, and in which Plotinus expounds on the dualistic nature of good and evil, matter and form, body and soul, being and becoming, and delivers commentary on topics of great philosophical concern ranging from well-being to suicide. His treatises, roughly ordered by way of ascending difficulty, draw upon the tantalizing loose ends left by the Platonic corpus and weaves them into something that, while indebted to the influence of Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics, is nevertheless unique. In the process, Plotinus provides compelling rejections of Aristotelian and (in particular) Stoic doctrines and lays out a sometimes stirring fusion of all three. This translation is more than highly readable; it is highly enjoyable, and highly recommended.

[Thomas W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plotinus is a fascinating character who blends many fruits of Greek thought into a united one under his understanding of Platonism.

He is also, generally seemingly a nice guy.

Edit: I should mention, though I rated this very highly. I do think that Plato himself was a more interesting thinker so far; though Plotinus is interesting in his own ways.

[Frostik Dar]

[this is number 204 of the Loeb classics we have in the study. I actually was after Porphyry's bio of Plotinus.]

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The difference between man and the merely animate, virtue, dialectic, happiness, beauty, primary and secondary good, evil, demitis. I'm making progress with this guy!

[Mary-Jean Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent introduction to Plotinus's philosophy, and it also includes an interesting biography written by Porphyry. The philosophy itself is laid out quite clearly and is written beautifully. The ordering of chapters might have been done differently, but if you read the intro to get an idea of the basics of Neoplatonism, it is no hindrance.