The Greek Philosophers, Vol. 2 (of 2)Benn, Alfred William
Philosophy
The Greek Philosophers, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Benn, Alfred William
Philosophy, Ancient
II. Life of Plotinus, 273—His personal influence and popularity,
275—The part assigned to him in a dialogue of Leopardi’s,
277—Composition and arrangement of his writings, 277—Mythical elements
in his biography, 280—Alleged derivation of his teaching from Ammonius
Saccas, 281.
III. Difficulties presented by the style of Plotinus, 282—General
clearness of his philosophy, 284—His dependence on Plato and exclusive
attention to the metaphysical side of Plato’s teaching, 285—His
unacknowledged obligations to Aristotle, 287.
IV. Plotinus on the spiritual interpretation of love and beauty,
287—His departure from the method of Plato, 289—Aristotelian
influences, 290—His subjective standpoint shared by Plato and
Aristotle, 291—Relation of the post-Aristotelian schools to their
predecessors, 292—The antithesis between materialism and spiritualism
common to both, 292—Services rendered by the later schools, 293.
V. Anti-materialistic arguments of Plotinus, 294—Coincidence with
modern philosophy, 295—Criticism of the Aristotelian doctrine,
296—Weakness of Greek philosophy in dealing with the phenomena of
volition, 297—Difficulties raised by astrology, 298—Plotinus as a
philosophical critic and reformer, 299.
VI. Intermediate position of the soul between the principles of unity
and division, 302—Combination of the Aristotelian Nous with the
Platonic Ideas, 303—Difficulties to which it gave rise, 304—Unity and
plurality in the Ideas and in the Nous, 304—Descent of the soul into
the material world, 305—The triad of body, soul, and spirit, 307—Search
for a supreme principle of existence: data furnished by Plato and
Aristotle, 307—The unity of all souls, 309—Universal dependence of
existence on unity, 310—Method for arriving at the One, 310—To what
extent Plotinus can be called a mystic, 312—Mystical elements in the
systems of his predecessors, 313.
VII. Retrospect and recapitulation, 315—Transition to the constructive
philosophy of Plotinus, 317—Three aspects of the supreme principle,
317—Creative power of the One, 318—Influence of false physical
analogies on metaphysics, 319—Inconceivability of causation apart from
time, 320—Subjective nature of logical and mathematical sequence,
321—The Neo-Platonic method in the Christian creeds, 322—How Plotinus
employed the method of generation by contraries, 322—Difficulty of
explaining the derivation of Soul from Nous, 323—and of accounting for
the existence of Matter, 323—Return to the Platonic identification of
Matter with Extension, 326—Generation of the Infinite from the One,
327—Hesitation of Plotinus between monism and dualism, 328—Influence of
Stoicism, 329—Substitution of contemplation for action as a creative
principle, 330.
VIII. The ethics of Plotinus: derivation of the cardinal virtues,
331—Absence of asceticism, 332—Condemnation of suicide, 332—Similar
view expressed by Schopenhauer, 333—Dialectic as a method for attaining
perfection, 333—The later writings of Plotinus, 334.
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