Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four PeriodsPlotinus
Philosophy
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinus
Plotinus
9. In this conception of the soul, she will be foreign to the cause of
the evils which the man does and suffers. These refer to the organism,
that common part, understood as above. Although opinion be deceptive,
and makes us commit much evil, and although opinion and ratiocination
both belong to the soul, yet the soul may be sinless, inasmuch as we
are only mastered by the worse part of our nature.[306] Often, indeed,
we yield to appetite, to anger, and we are the dupes of some imperfect
image. The conception of false things, the imagination[307] does not
await the judgment of discursive reason. There are still other cases
where we yield to the lower part of ourselves; in sensation, for
instance, we see things that do not exist, because we rely on the
common sensation of soul and body, before having discerned its objects
by discursive reason.
INTELLECT DID NOT GRASP THE OBJECT ITSELF.
In this case did the intellect grasp the object itself? Certainly
not; and, therefore, it is not the intellect that is responsible
for the error. We say as much for the "we," according as we will or
will not have perceived the object, either in the intellect, or in
ourselves;--for it is possible to possess an object without having it
actually present.
TRUE CONCEPTION ACT OF INTUITION.
We have distinguished from things common to soul and body, those
peculiar to the soul. The former are corporeal, and cannot be produced
without the organs, while the latter's occurrence is independent of
the body. Ratiocination[276] is the essential and constitutive faculty
of the real soul, because it determines the typical forms derived from
sensation, it looks, it somehow feels the images, and really is the
dominating part of the soul. The conception of true things is the act
of intuitive thoughts.
MODIFICATIONS DERIVE FROM FOREIGN SOURCES.
There is often a resemblance and community between exterior and
interior things; in this case the soul will not any the less exercise
herself on herself, will not any the less remain within herself,
without feeling any passive modification. As to the modifications and
troubles which may arise in us, they derive from foreign elements,
attached to the soul, as well as from passions experienced by the above
described common part.
DISTINCTIONS IN "WE" AND THE "REAL MAN."
10. But if "we" are the "soul," we must admit that when we experience
passions, the soul experiences them also; that when we act, the soul
acts. We may even say that the common part is also "ours," especially
before philosophy separated the soul from the body;[308] in fact, we
even say "we" suffer, when our body suffers. "We" is, therefore, taken
in a double sense: either the soul with the animal part, or living
body; or simply the upper part; while the vivified body is a wild
beast.
REAL MAN DIFFERS FROM BODY.
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