The New Cambridge Companion to Plotinus

A new Companion offering student-friendly essays on this major figure in the Platonic tradition and in Greek philosophy.

Lloyd Gerson (Edited by), James Wilberding (Edited by)

9781108488341, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 June 2022

400 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 3.2 cm, 0.859 kg

Plotinus stands at a crossroads in ancient philosophy, between the more than 600 years of philosophy that came before him and the new Platonic tradition. He was the first and perhaps the greatest systematizer of Plato's thought, and all later students of Plato in the following centuries approached Plato through him. This Companion from a new generation of ancient philosophy scholars reflects the current state of research on Plotinus, with chapters on topics including mathematics, fate and determinism, happiness, the theory of forms, categories of reality, matter and evil, and Plotinus' legacy. The volume offers an accessible overview of the thought of one of the pivotal figures in the history of philosophy, and reveals his importance as a thinker whose impact goes far beyond his importance as an interpreter of Plato.

Introduction Lloyd P. Gerson
1. Plato and Aristotle in the enneads Eric D. Perl
2. Plotinus, gnosticism, and christianity Sebastian Gertz
3. From Plotinus to Proclus Marije Martijn
4. The one as first principle of all Gwenaëlle Aubry
5. Plotinus and the theory of forms Mauro Bonazzi
6. Plotinus on number Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
7. Plotinus on categories Michael Griffin
8. Plotinus on knowledge Christian Tornau
9. The embodied soul Damian Caluori
10. Self-knowledge and self-reflexivity Pauliina Remes
11. Eternity and time Riccardo Chiaradonna
12. Composition of sensible bodies D. M. Hutchinson
13. Nature: Plotinus' fourth hypostasis? James Wilberding
14. Matter and evil Jan Opsomer
15. Virtue and happiness Miira Tuominen
16. Plotinus on providence and fate Christopher Isaac Noble
Bibliography
Index Locorum
General Index.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy: aesthetics [HPN], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]