Plotinus on the Contemplation of the Intelligible World
Faces of Being and Mirrors of Intellect

This study offers an innovative understanding of the central role of the act of contemplation in the philosophy of Plotinus.

Mateusz Stróżyński (Author)

9781009494861, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 November 2024

382 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.8 cm, 0.7 kg

In this study, Mateusz Stróżyński offers an experiential and practical way of understanding Plotinus' thought and philosophy through a focus on the act of contemplation. He argues that contemplation, or direct seeing of the principles of reality, is not merely a part of Plotinus' thought, but rather a significant dimension of it. Moreover, he argues that Plotinus understands metaphysics as a conceptual and propositional description of reality from a third-person perspective, as well as an expression of an experience of that reality from a first-person perspective. Stróżyński focuses on the first phase of the journey to the Good, namely, on the contemplation of the intelligible world: Nature, Soul, and Intellect. He describes the fall of the soul and her return through the lens of the so-called “Great Kinds”: Being, Movement, Rest, Difference, and Identity. Stróżyński also shows how this concept, derived from Plato's Sophist, is creatively used by Plotinus to explain both the loss and the restoration of our ability to contemplate through philosophical practice.

Introduction
Part I. Descent and Fall: 1. So many mirrors
2. Out of the father's house
Part II. Soul: 3. The beautiful face of justice
4. The mirror of nature
5. The luminous sphere
Part III. Intellect: 6. Looking into our face
7. All together in eternity
8. There is only one world
9. Pamprosopon
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]