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
INTELLIGIBLE ANIMALS DO NOT INCLINE TOWARDS THE SENSE-WORLD FOR THEY
ARE PRE-EXISTING, AND ARE DISTINCT FROM THEIR CREATING IMAGE.
8. (Now let us pass to the other question we asked). How does it
happen that all the Animals who, like the Horse itself, are contained
in divine Intelligence, do not incline towards the things here below
(by generating them)? Doubtless, to beget a horse, or any other animal
here below, divine Intelligence must hold its conception; nevertheless
it must not be believed that it first had the volition of producing
the horse, and only later its conception. Evidently, it could not have
wished to produce the horse, but because it already had the conception
thereof; and it could not have had the conception thereof but because
it had to produce the horse. Consequently, the Horse who was not
begotten preceded the horse who later was to be begotten. Since the
first Horse has been anterior to all generation, and was not conceived
to be begotten, it is not because the divine Intelligence inclines
towards the things here below, nor because it produces them, that it
contains the intelligible Horse and the other beings. The intelligible
entities existed already in Intelligence (before it begat) and the
sense-things were later begotten by necessary consequence; for it was
impossible that the procession should cease with the intelligibles. Who
indeed could have stopped this power of the (Intelligence) which is
capable of simultaneous procession, and of remaining within itself?
IRRATIONAL ANIMALS MUST EXIST WITHIN INTELLIGENCE, UNLESS MAN ALONE WAS
TO EXIST.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account