Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four PeriodsPlotinus
Philosophy
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinus
Plotinus
There remains for us to examine if a difference of a quality never be a
quality, as that of a being is not a being, nor that of a quantity, a
quantity. Does five differ from three by two? No: five does not differ
from three, it only exceeds it by two. How indeed could five differ
from three by two, when five contains two? Likewise, a movement does
not differ from a movement by a movement. As to virtue and vice, here
is one whole opposed to another whole, and it is thus that the wholes
are distinguished. If a distinction were drawn from the same genus,
that is, from quality, instead of founding itself on another genus; as,
for instance, if one said that such a vice referred to pleasures, some
other to anger, some other to acquisitiveness, and if one were to admit
that such a classification was good; it would evidently result that
there are differences that are not qualities.
VARIOUS DERIVATIVES OF THE CATEGORY OF QUALITY.
19. As has been indicated above, the genus of quality contains the
(beings) which are said to be qualified (qualitative entities),
inasmuch as they contain some quality (as, for instance, the handsome
man, so far as he is endowed with beauty).[410] These (beings) however
do not properly belong to this genus, for otherwise there would here
be two categories. It suffices to reduce them to the quality which
supplies their name.
So non-whiteness, if it indicate some color other than white, is a
quality; if it express merely a negation, or an enumeration, it is
only a word, or a term which recalls the object; if it be a word,
it constitutes a movement (so far as it is produced by the vocal
organ); if it be a name or a term, it constitutes, so far as it is a
significative, a relative. If things be classed not only by genera, if
it be admitted that each assertion and expression proclaim a genus, our
answer must be that some affirm things by their mere announcement, and
that others deny them. It may perhaps be best not to include negations
in the same genus as things themselves, since, to avoid mingling
several genera, we often do not include affirmations.
As to privations, it may be remarked that if the things of which
there are privations are qualities, then the privations themselves
are qualities, as "toothless," or "blind."[411] But "naked" and
(its contrary) "clothed" are neither of them qualities; they rather
constitute habits, and thus belong among relatives.
Passion, at the moment it is felt, does not constitute a quality, but
a movement; when it has been experienced, and has become durable, it
forms a quality;[410] further, if the (being) which has experienced
the passion have kept none of it, it will have to be described as
having been moved, which amounts to the same thing as really being
moved. However, in this case, the conception of time will have to be
abstracted from that of movement; for we must not add the conception of
the present to that of movement.[412]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account