PLOTINUS Ennead IV.4.30-45 & IV.5

Problems Concerning the Soul

• Publisher: Parmenides Publishing
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781930972728
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Ennead IV.4.30-45 and IV.5 retrieves the unity in this last section of Plotinus' treatise on Problems concerning the Soul. Combining translation with commentary, Gurtler enhances both the accuracy of the translation and the recovery of Plotinus' often unsuspected originality. This is especially true for IV.5, where previous translations fail to convey the concise nature of his argument against both the Aristotelian and Platonic theories of vision. Plato and Aristotle each claim that vision depends on the light between the eye and the object, but Plotinus presents evidence that this is not the case and develops a novel theory of light as a second activity that moves from source to object directly, even arguing that color is in the light itself rather than merely a quality of the object. This theory of vision, in turn, depends on the nature of sympathy developed especially in IV.4.30-45, where Plotinus shows how action at a distance is both possible and necessary for the proper unity in diversity of the sensible cosmos.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction to the Series
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction to the Treatise
• Note on the Text
• Synopsis
• Translation of Plotinus Ennead IV.4.30-45 and IV.5
• Commentary
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33
• Chapter 34
• Chapter 35
• Chapter 36
• Chapter 37
• Chapter 38
• Chapter 39
• Chapter 40
• Chapter 41
• Chapter 42
• Chapter 43
• Chapter 44
• Chapter 45
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Appendix: Ennead IV.1.1-2 and IV.2
• Introduction
• Synopsis: Ennead IV.1
• Translation
• Commentary
• Ennead IV.1[4]
• Ennead IV.2[21]
• Select Bibliography
• Index of Ancient Authors
• Index of Names and Subjects
• Untitled