Plotinus on Consciousness

Examines the first theory of consciousness in Western philosophy, dispelling the dogma that consciousness studies begins with Descartes.

D. M. Hutchinson (Author)

9781108424769, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 April 2018

218 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

'… the book is a valuable contribution to Plotinus scholarship and will be of interest to any student of ancient philosophy and of the history of the philosophy of consciousness.' Damian Caluori, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Plotinus is the first Greek philosopher to hold a systematic theory of consciousness. The key feature of his theory is that it involves multiple layers of experience: different layers of consciousness occur in different levels of self. This layering of higher modes of consciousness on lower ones provides human beings with a rich experiential world, and enables human beings to draw on their own experience to investigate their true self and the nature of reality. This involves a robust notion of subjectivity. However, it is a notion of subjectivity that is unique to Plotinus, and remarkably different from the Post-Cartesian tradition. Behind the plurality of terms Plotinus uses to express consciousness, and behind the plurality of entities to which Plotinus attributes consciousness (such as the divine souls and the hypostases), lies a theory of human consciousness. It is a Platonist theory shaped by engagement with rival schools of ancient thought.

Introduction
1. Self
2. Consciousness terms
3. First layer: the soul-trace
4. Second layer: the lower soul
5. Third layer: the higher soul
6. Self-determination
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: States of consciousness [JMT], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Church history [HRCC2], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]