Plotinus Innovative Synthesis of Plato and Aristotle - Essay Example

PLOTINUS’ INNOVATIVE SYNTHESIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLE By of the of the of the School 29 July 2014 Greece is well known for being home to the world’s greatest philosophers, among them Plotinus. Plotinus sought to adopt a master of philosophy in world ideal forms. He had three basic principles, namely ‘the one’, intellect and the soul. These principles were also recognized by Plato; in fact, Plotinus was an advocate of Plato. His primary aim was to provide a meaningful interpretation and defended Plato’s philosophy. For years, Plotinus’ apprehended the works of Plato. He was considered as the commenter and interpreter of Plato. He was a thinker and got his influence from Plato and Aristotle. He was the founder of Neo-Platonism (Stamatellos, 2007). Plotinus developed three foundational elements; the one, the intelligence and the soul. He considered it as a productive unity of three beings that are all in existence. He also came up with a theory of sense-perception and knowledge, and stated that the idea of the mind plays a vital role in shaping and organizing the objects of its perceptions, rather than passively receiving data from senses and experience. His doctrine of the perception of the soul argues that the soul is composed of the higher and lower part; the higher part is unchangeable and divine and the lower part is the set of personality. Plotinus wrote about ethics and virtue, beauty and happiness. Beauty and happiness was about cosmology that dealt with matter, time and love. The fourth was about the soul, the fifth was about intellect and knowing or know-ability and the sixth addresses “the one”. The one is said to have a great impact on the Christian of God, as the Alpha and Omega, or the first and last. The One is the first principle of all. It is both self-caused and the cause of being for everything in the universe. The One can be described as self-sufficient, unchangeable, and perfect. It creates the world and is not created. According to Uždavinys, “being formless and infinite, the One, as a perfect actuality, contains everything and lacks nothing, thus having the supreme power to generate the noetic world” (2009, p. 22).This however doesn’t mean that the One is compelled to create being, life and intelligence. Rather, it causes the existence of all manifested reality by the doctrine of perfection. Plotinus stated that below the one in the hierarchy of reality is the principle of intellectual and this principle of intelligible embraces form and the thought itself. He used the soul to refer to the world. Plotinus came up with the theory of intellect, which was one of the most original concepts of the Greek philosophy. His motivation came from one concept the Plato’s world of form. This is Plato’s idea of the form as thought of God. The theory of intellect is a unified organism of intelligence and it is self-produced through the external generation of the one. He distinguished his philosophy based on ideals that accommodated the aspect of human freedom and the philosophy of the atomists, basing all the truth on material forces (Lawson, 2004). Plato was a philosopher and a scholar. He was the student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. He later formed the University and called it the Academy. He is well remembered for his work of The Republic and the theories of Forms. His works were influenced by Socrates, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Pythagoreans. Plato developed a cosmic principle that would unify the physical universe with morals. Hall points out that “Plato combined two different but related principles, sharing and geometrical equality, or what later in the Laws Plato called proportional equality, giving each individual what he deserved” (1981, p. 24). The theory of form can be defined as a belief that the material world seems to be not in a real world, but in an image or copy of the real world. Despite the numerous theories Plato came with, he himself was aware of the problems involved with the forms, and he faced severe critics on his doctrine of Parmenides. To this day, his doctrine of Parmenides is still a matter of dispute. The Unitarists defended the unity of Plato’s thought, stating the view that Plato’s self-criticism was quite severe; this forced him to discard the theory. The ‘Revisionist’ argues that the critics were meant to put aside the theory of the form, and Plato later came up with a new metaphysical or ontological scheme. Plato’s criticism was taken over, in a more extreme form by Aristotle (Riel, Mace and Campe, 2004). Plato, in the theory of form explained that there is the realm of being, where the forms exist and the realm of becoming our world, where people dwell. This has led to the issue of the two-world and the world of becoming. This means the one world is our everyday world of change and the world we live in, and the other world is full of ideal forms (Solomon and Higgins, 1997). His vision was appealing and he explained that the two worlds were interrelated, and not unrelated. In the world of becoming, our world was defined by a world of human beings and the world of ideal forms. These forms were a perfect model, the first of all practical philosophy and the Republic. The Republic described by Plato had a lot in common and had displayed different ideas. In his theory of form, he stated that if the soul belonged to the world of being, this meant that it already contained the knowledge of form. This knowledge included virtue, beauty and the good. He explained that for one to be free from the body and face the reality with the eyes of the soul alone, one needs to know everything absolutely. The two worlds were in two groups; the metaphysics and the epistemology. Metaphysics was defined as the theory of reality and the epistemology was the theory of knowledge. The two worlds are different and the theory of reality and the physical object are less real. The physical things are always changing. The knowledge of the forms also enables us to better understand the visible world and the sun is the only object that allows us to see objects (Solomon and Higgins, 1997). In the world of knowledge, the objects are unchanged and external, the forms are what really exist, and the good is what allows us to comprehend the forms. Aristotle is often referred to as the father of science. He was Plato’s student. He majorly contributed to logics, metaphysics, math, physics, biology, ethics and many others. He was empirically-minded as compared to his teacher Plato and he strongly rejected Plato’s theory of form. He was inspired and changed most areas of knowledge. He specifically rejected Plato’s theory of form, which stated that beauty is an abstract that exists independent of the objects themselves. Aristotle explained that these forms are intrinsic to the object. He viewed the world as a lying scale between two extremes; form without matter and the other end matter without form. Aristotle explained that nature has its end and function and that nothing is without its purpose. He rejected Plato’s argument that space is composed of geometrical figures and defined space as the limit in which surrounding body is surrounded. He then defined soul as the perfect expression of a natural body. From this, it is clear that Aristotle and Plato were different. Plato doesn’t acknowledge the difficulty understanding the part of definable form as a unity and maintains the idea that definable form as whole is formal, but Aristotle explained that definable form must have unity. This ensures that the unity represents the matter of the kind, which then states that form involves matter (Deslauriers, 2007). Plato and Aristotle differed in their views about the world. Plato supported the theory of forms which he said is separate from the individual of this world, whereas Aristotle said that the theory of form is immanent in the individual of this world. According to Modrak, Aristotle believed that “the world is intelligible”, a concept that is fundamental to his philosophy (2011, p. 263). He viewed the world in four masses; earth, air, fire and water and their movement. Aristotle believed in the Supreme Being ‘The One,’ and he believed the Supreme Being was the measure of all things. Though he believed that there was a supreme being, Aristotle was not a religious man. He also believed that for one to be morally upright, he or she must know what is right and wrong. This was because God lived a moral and upright life. In regard to moral virtues, Aristotle believed they are not implanted to someone. Rather, they are designed by nature and achieved through practice. He did believe in life after death and that after one dies, he goes to meet the one. Aristotle ‘self-thinking’ divine activity in metaphysics influenced Plotinus’s theory of intellect. The terms intelligence and self-intelligence are essential to God’s perfect life. Plotinus’s theory of intellect has also been influenced by Plato’s self-thinking of God, where Aristotle stated that God thinks himself, but not by thinking the forms. He explained that God doesn’t accept a separate entity. Aristotle’s influence on Plotinus was the fact that he often used the realm of forms the intellect and the form as the intelligible. In Plotinus’s point of view, he described the form as the object of thought of a divine intellect. People describe the theory of form by Plotinus and Aristotle’s doctrines of actualization attempted to explain the property of postulating things and the presence of something that by virtue, has the property at issue (Emilsson, 1988). The unity of an individual thing and the visible cosmos is explained in terms of principle that unity is a property. This leads to the principle characterized as a pure unity, which Plotinus calls The One or the Good. There is an intermediate principle between The One and the world. The synthesis of Plotinus came up with a concept of the good or relation with divinity. He explained that goodness was an attribute of the one, which is God, and is the good. He defined God as unchanged. Plotinus defined The One as a pure unity. According to him, The One cannot be positively described neither can its nature be apprehended by thought. This is because the thought involves the union of subject. The One is therefore an account of unity of things, but the extraordinary experiences can’t be characterized by unity alone. He explained that the world is made up of form and matter. According to one of Plotinus doctrines, “the principle of necessary or involuntary diffusion, the One/Good cannot be alone” (Gerber, 2012, p. 17). He continued to explain that all things will exist, if they remain in being. He stated that the source of the being is the one and the infinite and it’s the only source of life. According to Plotinus the one is the ultimate source of the hierarchy; it’s the first in line of a sequence. Aristotle’s god was absolute, simple and constituted the perfection of activity on which it depended on all changes of the world. Plato believed in the thought of numbers as the cause of being. He viewed mathematical progression as what produces reality “in which the point is an element of, and produces, the line, just as the line is an element of, and produces, the surface, which in turn produces a solid” (O’Meara, 1993, p. 47). Plato’s idea of wisdom, goodness and perfection, and beauty show that God is love and without any negative effect. Plotinus idea of the one came from Plato’s Republic, which was the idea of good and in Plato’s Parmenides. Plotinus explained that it is not right to see the one as a standard of oneness or goodness, on the basis of intelligible attributes. The philosophers had different views when it came to the world. Plotinus stated the movement, the orbit and universe could be used to measure time, since the circuit occupies a certain quantity of time, whereas Plato explained that time came into existence with the universe. He said that this was possible because the soul generated time and the universe altogether. Plotinus viewed the world as perfect and self-sufficient and he couldn’t understand where evil came from. In the one, there is no evil. Evil and bad morals lie only in an individual and not the effects of their actions. Evil has been a touchstone for many religions. In the world, there are two kinds of evil; evil suffered and evil done. Evil suffered is evil that is afflicted by individuals as a non-rational thing in the world and evil done freely concerns acting badly and doing actual wrong (Davies, 2006). Evil has been divided into three; metaphysics, physics and moral. It is striking that Plotinus explains the problem of evil in the world. The soul is sympatric to the body, and it opens the door to moral evil. The soul intrigues with evil. Plotinus tries to explain that there is no evil in the world. The world is viewed as evil for no reason than an individual’s imperfection because he is himself or herself and not another person. Plato explained that the world exists and in this metaphysics, physical evil and moral evil are natural ways. The physical evil is used to show the fact that there is suffering in the world. Moral evil on the other hand, is used to show the conflict of one human interest with another (Fuller, 2011). According to Plotinus, evil has no existence in itself, but ii simply lacks goodness, in the same way that darkness lacks light. The world, being far from the one is the least real and the good exist. The one is good and pure but the further one moves from the source, the nearer he or she gets to the evil. Plotinus explained that matter must be purely evil. From his point of view, evil entered the world years ago; this meant that evil has no actual being. Evil posed the question whether the world contains an undesirable state of affairs that provide unreasonable reason that God exists. Evil is the product of a dissatisfied will. Plotinus states that evil is matter, hence it is a non-being. He explains that evil is merely a finite error. Plotinus responded to Aristotle’s objection against Plato, who claimed that evil exists because good is contrary. This claim argues that good is contrary of substance, but Plotinus explained that good is not contrary and that matter should be understood. He further explained that the doctrine of matter is the origin of evil and it also holds human evil, such as the weakness of the soul and the external evil, such as sickness and poverty and this is the case of lack of matter. Plotinus explained the purpose of the soul is to escape from evil. If the soul is unstable, there is always evil and one should instill the virtue of goodness and beauty that comes from the one. Reference List Davies, B., 2006. The Reality of God and the Problem of Evil. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. Deslauriers, M., 2007. Aristotle on Definition. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. Emilsson, E. K., 1988. Plotinus on Sense-perception: A Philosophical Study. New York: Cambridge University Press. Fuller, B. A. G., 2011. The Problem of Evil in Plotinus. Cambridge: Cambrige University Press. Gerber, C. T., 2012. The Spirit of Augustines Early Theology: Contextualizing Augustines Pneumatology. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Hall, R., 1981. Plato. London: Routledge. Lawson, Russell M., 2004. Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia. California: ABC-CLIO, Inc. Modrak, Deborah K. W., 2001. Aristotles Theory of Language and Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.   OMeara, Dominic J., 1993. Plotinus: An Introduction to the Enneads. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Riel, G., Macé, C. and Campe, L., 2004. Platonic Ideas and Concept Formation in Ancient and Medieval Thought. Leuven: De Wulf-Mansion Centre. Stamatellos, G., 2007. Plotinus and the Presocratics: A Philosophical Study of Presocratic Influences in Plotinus Enneads. Albany: State University of New York Press, Solomon, Robert C. and Higgins Kathleen M., 1997. A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. Uždavinys, A., 2009. The Heart of Plotinus: The Essential Eneads Including Porphyrys On the Cave of Nymphs. Indiana: World Wisdom, Inc. Read More