View of Plotinus is Hierarchical system
2/27/2014
View of Plotinus is Hierarchical system.
[Hierarchical system of Plotinus]
The One is at the top of Plotinus's hierarchy,
represents pure unity, and is sometimes translated as the Good or the Divine
Mind. Below that is the Intellect, and below that the Soul. The Soul links the
Intellect to the material world, a world that is really made up of little more
than images. Matter is at the lowest level of the hierarchy. Plotinus showed
disdain for much of the earthly world and for art that attempts to copy
reality.
[Understanding of Augustine]
Augustine’s Christian theology has also adopted the framework of Plotinus. For Augustine God is the ultimate of being and goodness. However, in one aspect regarding gradations of being Augustine significantly diverges from Plotinus, namely he does not hold matter to be evil. On the contrary, the whole creation, including the material world, is good, though capable of being corrupted. In fact, this is one of the central themes of Augustine’s thought: the whole creation is good.
"all natures, then, inasmuch as they are, and have therefore a rank
and species of their own, and a kind of internal harmony, are certainly
good" - City of God -
[Understanding of God and evil]
Augustine
explicitly testifies in Confession Book 7 that Plotinus helped him understand
the relation of an infinite God to a finite Creation, and to understand evil.
+ Plotinus: The Supreme Being, the ultimate One, is in one of its
aspects the God; and evil has no place or part in it.
"if such be the Nature of beings and of
That which transcends all the realm of Being, Evil cannot have place among
Beings or in the Beyond-Being these are good." (Enneads, I, 8, 3)
+ Augustine: The nature of evil; the evil is privation of all good, so
the evil is absolutely nothing.
Labels:
philosophy,
Plotinus
