Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3 In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods

Indeed, as it was not possible to determine the time itself of the Soul, and to measure within themselves the parts of an invisible and uncognizable duration, especially for men...

9. It remains for us to discover whether it were "Being," in the process of division, that begat number, or whether it be the number that divided "Being." (This is the alternati...

37. They who attributed thought to the First Principle have at least not attributed to Him the thought of things that are inferior to Him, or which proceed from Him.[145] Nevert...

It will further be suggested (by followers of Aristotle) that we stop at Intelligence, predicating goodness of it. For life and soul are images of Intelligence. It is to Intelli...

But what is the soul considered apart from all action, if we examine in her the part which does not work at formation of the bodies?[304] Will not a plurality of powers still be...

5. Such are the characteristics of sense-being. If in any way they also suit intelligible "being," it is only by analogy,[343] or by figure of speech (homonymy).[361] So, for in...

But why should we not regard the stability of intelligible things also as a negation of movement? Because stability is not the privation of movement; it does not begin to exist...

If the divinity reason, we are forced to wonder what are the principles of this reasoning; for, if it were objected that these principles are derived from some other reasoning,...

Some person might try to establish a distinction founded on the fact that the animal and the soul do not act unconsciously. If they know it by mere sensation, how far does that...

2. Some[51] hold that distant objects seem to us lesser only because they are seen under a smaller visual angle. Elsewhere[52] we have shown that this is wrong; and here we shal...

3. (It might however be objected) that the body of the world could not contribute to the immortality of the world, since the body itself fluctuates perpetually. But this fluctua...

For space, there is no contrary, because strictly space does not belong to the genus of quantity. Even if space were part of quantity, "high" would not be the contrary of anythi...

Essences ("beings") therefore cannot exist without an actualization of Intelligence. By this actualization, after having produced some ("being"), Intelligence always produces so...

15. (From the above discussion about the intelligibility of numbers) let us now return to what we said in the beginning. The universal (Being) is veritable Essence, Intelligence...

16. As we assert, and as it seems evident that (the Divinity) is everywhere and nowhere, it is necessary thoroughly to grasp and understand this conception, as it applies to the...

28. The Stoic theory raises numberless further objections; but we halt here lest we ourselves incur ridicule in combating so evident an absurdity. It suffices if we have demonst...

1. Does manifoldness consist in distance from unity? Is infinity this distance carried to the extreme, because it is an innumerable manifoldness? Is then infinity an evil, and a...

20. Let it be granted, then, that reaction is not the contrary of action. Nevertheless, as it differs therefrom, it could not share the same genus. If both reaction and action b...

30. Now, rising in thought to the Good, we must examine whether pleasure must be mingled with the Good to keep life from remaining imperfect, even if we should, besides, contemp...

6. Let us now consider relation. Let us see whether, in relative matters, there be something common that constitutes a kind, or which is a point of union in any other manner. Le...

7. (8). Time cannot (as the Stoics claim,[447]) be movement. Neither can we gather together all movements, so as to form but a single one, nor can we consider the regular moveme...

(Of the essences it contains) it possesses the number, as it is both one and many. It is many, that is, (it is) many potentialities, which are admirable powers, full of force an...

It remains to examine if we must refer to the genus of quality "being red" without also doing so for "reddening"[410] for "blushing" does not belong to it, because he who blushe...

Consequently, in speaking of (beings) other than (essence itself), as, for instance, of man, we say simply "man" (without adding to it the idea of unity[312]); if however we say...

The case of hearing is similar to that of sight. The impression is in the air; the sounds consist in a series of distinct vibrations, similar to letters traced by some person wh...

10. He (Strato the Peripatetic?) who insists that the Good is what it is by chance, should be asked how he would like to have it demonstrated to him that the hypothesis of chanc...

Such considerations have been arrived at merely as result of scrutiny of the consequences of the principles laid down. Our purpose was to discover how sensibility occurs in the...

How can the thing qualified by a quality refer to the quality? This must be studied, because the thing qualified and the quality do not belong to a common kind. If the man capab...

[342] Here Plotinos purposely mentions Numenius's name for the divinity (fr. 20.6), and disagrees with it, erecting above it a supreme Unity. This, however, was only Platonic, R...