Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four PeriodsPlotinus
Philosophy
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinus
Plotinus
To begin with, this Necessity and Fate would by their excess destroy
themselves, and render impossible the sequence and concatenation of
the causes. It is, indeed, absurd to insist that our members are moved
by Fate when they are set in motion, or innervated, by the "governing
principle." It is a mistake to suppose that there is a part which
imparts motion, and on the other hand, a part which receives it from
the former; it is the governing principle that moves the leg, as it
would any other part. Likewise, if in the universe exists but a single
principle which "acts and reacts," if things derive from each other
by a series of causes each of which refers to the preceding one, it
will no longer be possible to say truly that all things arise through
causes, for their totality will constitute but a single being. In that
case, we are no longer ourselves; actions are no longer ours; it is no
longer we who reason; it is a foreign principle which reasons, wills,
and acts in us, just as it is not our feet that walk, but we who walk
by the agency of our feet. On the contrary, common sense admits that
every person lives, thinks, and acts by his own individual, proper
life, thought and action; to each must be left the responsibility of
his actions, good or evil, and not attribute shameful deeds to the
universal cause.
RESTATEMENT OF THE ASTROLOGICAL THEORY OF FATE.
5. Others, again, insist that this is not the state of affairs. Their
disposition depends on the circular movement of the heaven which
governs everything, on the course of the stars, of their mutual
relative position at the time of their rising, of their setting, of
their zenith, or of their conjunction. Indeed, such are the signs
on which are founded prognostications and predictions of what is to
happen, not only to the universe, but also to each individual, both as
to his fortunes and his thought. It is noticed that the other animals
and vegetables increase or decrease according to the kind of sympathy
existing between them and the stars, that all other things experience
their influence, that various regions of the earth differ according to
their adjustment with the stars, and especially the sun; that from the
nature of these regions depend not only the character of the plants
and animals, but also human forms, size, color, affections, passions,
tastes, and customs. In this system, therefore, the course of the stars
is the absolute cause of everything.
REFUTATION OF THE ASTROLOGICAL SYSTEM.
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