Plotinus on Intellect

Plotinus (205-269 AD) led the philosophical movement of Neoplatonism, which reinterpreted Plato's thought later in antiquity and went on to become a dominant force in the history of ideas. Emilsson's in-depth study of Plotinus' central doctrine of Intellect caters for the increasing interest in Plotinus with philosophical clarity and rigor. Contents......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 1. Emanation and Activity......Page 31 1. Internal and External Activity......Page 33 2. One or Two Acts?......Page 39 3. Motion and Activity in VI.1 and VI.3......Page 43 4. Absolute Motions......Page 47 5. The Case of Walking and its Trace......Page 51 6. Emanation and Internal and External Acts Again......Page 57 7. The Sources of the Double Act Doctrine I: Aristotle......Page 61 8. The Sources of the Double Act Doctrine II: Plato......Page 69 2. The Genesis of Intellect......Page 78 1. The Inchoate Intellect and its Conversion......Page 79 2. Kinds of Plurality or Otherness......Page 87 3. Analysis of V.3.10......Page 89 4. The Intellect’s Undifferentiated Impression of the One......Page 99 5. Pre-noetic Experience and Mystical Union with the One......Page 110 6. The Two Kinds of Otherness Again......Page 112 7. Self-Thinking and the First Person......Page 116 1. Cognition, Images, and the Real......Page 133 2. The Nature of Sense-Perception......Page 136 3. Evidence for Subjectivism or Idealism......Page 138 4. The Identity of Subject and Object in Intellect......Page 150 5. The Puzzles of Ennead V.3.5: Self-Thinking Revisited......Page 153 6. Being and Thought......Page 161 7. The Difference and Identity between Subject and Object......Page 166 8. Subordinate Intelligibles and Subordinate Intellects......Page 169 9. Truth in Intellect......Page 174 10. The Notion of the Given......Page 179 11. Plotinus’ Idealism......Page 182 4. Discursive and Non-discursive Thought......Page 185 1. Non-discursive vs. Discursive Thought: the Main Contrasts......Page 186 2. Is Non-discursive Thought Propositional?......Page 194 3. Non-discursive Thought and Perceptual Imagery......Page 200 4. The Holism of Intellect......Page 208 5. Discursive Thought’s Dependence on Intellect......Page 216 References......Page 223 A......Page 230 P......Page 231 S......Page 236 F......Page 238 O......Page 239 S......Page 240 W......Page 241 Contents 8 Introduction 10 1. Emanation and Activity 31 1. Internal and External Activity 33 2. One or Two Acts? 39 3. Motion and Activity in VI.1 and VI.3 43 4. Absolute Motions 47 5. The Case of Walking and its Trace 51 6. Emanation and Internal and External Acts Again 57 7. The Sources of the Double Act Doctrine I: Aristotle 61 8. The Sources of the Double Act Doctrine II: Plato 69 2. The Genesis of Intellect 78 1. The Inchoate Intellect and its Conversion 79 2. Kinds of Plurality or Otherness 87 3. Analysis of V.3.10 89 4. The Intellect’s Undifferentiated Impression of the One 99 5. Pre-noetic Experience and Mystical Union with the One 110 6. The Two Kinds of Otherness Again 112 7. Self-Thinking and the First Person 116 3. Intellect and Being 133 1. Cognition, Images, and the Real 133 2. The Nature of Sense-Perception 136 3. Evidence for Subjectivism or Idealism 138 4. The Identity of Subject and Object in Intellect 150 5. The Puzzles of Ennead V.3.5: Self-Thinking Revisited 153 6. Being and Thought 161 7. The Difference and Identity between Subject and Object 166 8. Subordinate Intelligibles and Subordinate Intellects 169 9. Truth in Intellect 174 10. The Notion of the Given 179 11. Plotinus’ Idealism 182 4. Discursive and Non-discursive Thought 185 1. Non-discursive vs. Discursive Thought: the Main Contrasts 186 2. Is Non-discursive Thought Propositional? 194 3. Non-discursive Thought and Perceptual Imagery 200 4. The Holism of Intellect 208 5. Discursive Thought’s Dependence on Intellect 216 References 223 Index of cited texts 230 A 230 C 231 D 231 I 231 N 231 P 231 S 236 General index 238 A 238 B 238 C 238 D 238 E 238 F 238 G 239 H 239 I 239 J 239 K 239 L 239 M 239 N 239 O 239 P 240 Q 240 R 240 S 240 T 241 U 241 V 241 W 241 Plotinus (205-269 AD) is considered the founder of Neoplatonism, the dominant philosophical movement of late antiquity, and a rich seam of current scholarly interest. Whilst Plotinus' influence on the subsequent philosophical tradition was enormous, his ideas can also be seen as the culmination of some implicit trends in the Greek tradition from Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. Emilsson's in-depth study focuses on Plotinus' notion of Intellect, which comes second in his hierarchical model of reality, after the One, the unknowable first cause of everything. As opposed to ordinary human discursive thinking, Intellect's thought is all-at-once, timeless, truthful, and a direct intuition into 'the things themselves'; it is presumably not even propositional. Emilsson discusses and explains this strong notion of non-discursive thought and explores Plotinus' insistence that this must be the primary form of thought. Plotinus' doctrine of Intellect raises a host of questions that Emilsson addresses. First, Intellect's thought is described as an attempt to grasp the One and at the same time as self-thought. How are these two claims related? How are they compatible? What lies in Plotinus' insistence that Intellect's thought is a thought of itself? Second, Plotinus gives two minimum requirements of thought: that it must involve a distinction between thinker and object of thought, and that the object itself must be varied. How are these two pluralist claims related? Third, what is the relation between Intellect as a thinker and Intellect as an object of thought? Plotinus' position here seems to amount to a form of idealism, and this is explored.-- Book jacket Plotinus led the philosophical movement of Neoplatonism, which interpreted Plato's thought later in antiquity and went on to become a dominant force in the history of ideas. Emilsson's study of Plotinus' central doctrine of Intellect caters for the increasing interest in Plotinus with philosophical clarity and rigour Before I set out to introduce this book as such, it may be worthwhile to have a bird's eye view on the world according to Plotinus.