Plotinus on the soul

238 Pages·2015·2.01 MB·English

by  Caluori

PLOTINUS ON THE SOUL
Plotinus on the Soul is a study of Plotinus’ psychology, which is
arguablythemostsophisticatedPlatonisttheoryofthesoulinanti-
quity. Plotinus offers a Platonist response to Aristotelian and Stoic
conceptionsofthesoulthatisatthesametimeaninnovativeinter-
pretationofPlato’sTimaeus.Heconsidersthenotionofthesoultobe
crucialforexplainingtherationalorderoftheworld.Tothisend,he
discussesnotonlydifferenttypesofindividualsoul(suchasthesouls
ofthestars,andhumanandanimalsouls)butalsoanentitythathe
was the first to introduce into philosophy: the so-called hypostasis
Soul.Thisisthefirststudytoprovideadetailedexplanationofthis
entity,butitalsodiscussestheothertypesofsoul,withanemphasis
onthehumansoul,andexplainsPlotinus’originalviewsonrational
thoughtanditsrelationtoexperience.
damian caluori is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Trinity
University,SanAntonioTexas.Hisresearchfocusesonancientphilo-
sophy,withanemphasisonlateancientPlatonism.Hehaspublished
articles on Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Damascius and the Renaissance
skepticFranciscusSanchez,whosemainwork,ThatNothingisKnown,
heco-translatedfromLatinintoGerman.In2013heeditedavolume
onthephilosophyoffriendship,ThinkingaboutFriendship:Historical
andContemporaryPhilosophicalPerspectives.

PLOTINUS ON THE SOUL
DAMIAN CALUORI
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©DamianCaluori2015
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permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2015
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Caluori,Damian,1970–
Plotinusonthesoul/DamianCaluori.
pages cm
isbn978-1-107-10595-9
1. Plotinus. 2. Soul. I. Title.
b693.z7c35 2015
1280.1092–dc23
2014048681
isbn978-1-107-10595-9Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
To the memory of Michael Frede
To the memory of my parents, Moritz and Agnes
Caluori-Caminada

Contents
Prefaceandacknowledgements pageix
Listofabbreviations xii
Introduction 1
1 Unityandcreation:whyPlotinusintroduced
thehypostasisSoul 15
Theunityofallsouls 17
TheCraftsmanandthecreationofasensibleworld 25
2 ThehypostasisSoul 37
ThehypostasisIntellectandtheTimaeanLivingBeing 38
Propositionalandnon-propositionalthought 44
Theoreticalandpracticalthought 51
Creation,contemplationandtheCraftsman 61
3 ThehypostasisSoulanditsrelationtoindividualsouls 69
Beingoneandmany 70
ThehypostasisIntellect,individualintellectsandtheir
individuation 78
ThehypostasisSoul,individualsoulsandtheirindividuation 86
4 Theindividualsoulintheintelligibleandinthe
sensibleworld 91
Thetwolivesoftheindividualsoul 92
Thepriorityofthelifeintheintelligibleworld 101
5 Divineindividualsouls 111
TheWorldSoul 112
Thesoulsofthestars 120
Thesouloftheearth 125
Theblissfullyunperturbedlifeofdivinesouls 128
vii
viii Contents
6 Thehumansoul:itsdescentanditsconfusion
inthesensibleworld 134
Descentasexperience 134
Experienceandtheconfusionofthehumansoulinthesensibleworld 146
7 Thehumansoul:thehigherandthelowersoul 152
Thehighersoulanditspowerinthesensibleworld 153
Thelowersoulasfacultyofpresentation 163
DoesthelowersoulstemfromtheWorldSoul? 171
8 Thesoulandthebody 180
Beingin 180
Nature,thetraceofthesoulandthequalifiedbody 186
Animalsandplants 192
Bibliography 198
Generalindex 211
Indexlocorum 219