The Enneads
Plotinus, Stephen MacKenna (Translator), John Dillon (Abridged by), John Dillon (Introduction), John DillonBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Plotinus is the last great philosopher of antiquity, although in more than one respect he is a precursor of modern times. TheEnneadsbring together Platonism, mystic passion and ideas from Greek philosophy, together with striking variants of the Trinity and other central Christian doctrines, to produce a higly original synthesis. Yet despite the porfundity of his thought, and his immense influence on mystics and religious writers, Plotinus remained largely inaccessibleSynopsis
Compiled in the 3rd century AD by his student Porphyry, "The Enneads" unfolds Plotinus' study of the principles of the universe. This work is organized into 54 treatises, which are in turn more largely grouped into six books, which form the foundational concepts of Neo-Platonism. The first Ennead deals principally with ethical topics and human subjects, such as happiness, virtue, beauty, and evil. The second and third Enneads discuss mainly physical reality and cosmology, including heaven, substance, fate, eternity, time, stars, and guardian spirits. The fourth Ennead focuses exclusively on the soul, while the fifth Ennead delves into comprehensible reality and knowledge, particularly on the human intellect. Finally, the sixth Ennead considers Being and One. Overall, "The Enneads" reveal the organized thoughts of one of the last great philosophers of antiquity, a man who believed in the ability of the human soul to ascend through ever higher levels of existence toward a supreme perfection. In synthesizing philosophical thought with a mystic and nearly religious belief, this work would come to powerfully influence the Christian and Islamic theology that would follow.