Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods — John Shaqi
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
IN THE INTELLIGIBLE, EVERYTHING POSSESSES ITS REASON AS WELL AS ITS
FORM.
2. (By this process) we also know the nature of Intelligence, which
we see still better than the other things, though we cannot grasp
its magnitude. We admit, in fact, that it possesses the whatness
(essence[71]), of everything, but not its "whyness" (its cause); or,
if we grant (that this "cause" be in Intelligence), we do not think
that it is separated (from its "whatness" (or, essence[72]). Let
us suppose that, for instance, the man, or, if possible, the eye,
should offer itself to our contemplation (in the intelligible world)
as a statue, or as a part of it, would do. The man that we see on
high is both essence[73] and cause. As well as the eye, he must be
intellectual, and contain his cause. Otherwise, he could not exist in
the intelligible world. Here below, just as each part is separated from
the others, so is the cause separated (from the essence). On high, on
the contrary, all things exist in unity, and each thing is identical
with its cause. This identity may often be noticed even here below, as
for instance, in eclipses.[74] It would therefore seem probable that
in the intelligible world everything would, besides the rest, possess
its cause, and that its cause constitutes its essence. This must be
admitted; and that is the reason why those who apply themselves to
grasp the characteristic[75] of each being succeed (in also grasping
its cause). Indeed that which each (being) is, depends on the "cause of
such a form."[76] To repeat: not only is a (being's) form its cause,
(which is incontestable), but yet, if one analyses each form considered
in itself, its cause will be found. The only things which do not
contain their causes are those whose life is without reality, and whose
existence is shadowy.
INTELLIGENCE CONTAINS THE CAUSE OF ALL ITS FORMS.
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