Plotinus on Beauty

Ota Gál, Ph.D. (1984), is a philosopher and physiotherapist working in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, and the Department of Neurology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University (Prague). He has published articles on Plato and Plotinus, as well as several medical papers and books.

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviations1 Introduction1.1 Beauty in Plotinus: Where and How to Start?1.2 Treatise V.8: Plotinus the Defender, or the Top-Down Perspective1.3 Treatise I.6: An Introduction to Plotinus, or the Bottom-Up Perspective1.4 On the Kinds of Being: Plotinus the Exegete1.5 On Number: Plotinus the Explorer1.6 Treatise VI.7: The Many Faces of Plotinus and Beauty2 Beauty as a Stepping-Stone (Treatise I.6)2.1 The Phenomenal Field of Beauty2.2 The Context of the Question: The Symposium and Beauty as Symmetry2.3 The Cause of Beauty and Ugliness in Bodies2.4 The Impact of Beauty on Soul2.5 The Cause of Beauty and Ugliness in Soul2.6 The Hierarchy of Beauty and What Is at the Top3 Intelligible Beauty (Treatise V.8)3.1 Productive Contemplation3.2 The Defence of τέχνη and Sensible Beauty3.3 The Beauty of Soul: The Cosmic Dimension3.4 The Correct Understanding of Intellect and Its Beauty3.5 The Οὐρανός—Κρόνος—Ζεύς Myth: Consequences for Beauty and the Good4 Unity, Multiplicity and the Highest Kinds (Treatise VI.2)4.1 The Focus of VI.1–3 and the Quest for the Highest Kinds (VI.2.1–3)4.2 Establishing the Five Highest Kinds (VI.2.4–8)4.3 Is the One To Be Counted among the Highest Kinds? (VI.2.9–11)4.4 Tentative Summary: The Unity and Multiplicity of Intellect in VI.24.5 Is Beauty To Be Counted among the Highest Kinds? (VI.2.17–18)5 Unity, Multiplicity and the Numbers (Treatise VI.6)5.1 The Context of the Quest for the Notion of Number (V.5.4–5 and VI.6.1)5.2 Defined Multiplicity, Form of Beauty and the Indefinite Dyad (VI.6.1–3)5.3 Number in the Intelligible (VI.6.4–8)5.4 The Role of Number in the Generation of Beings (VI.6.9–10)5.5 Number and Beauty (VI.6.18)6 Beauty as the Manifestation of the Good (Treatise VI.7)6.1 The Ascent to Intellect as Life (VI.7.1–12)6.2 The Context of the Question of the Presence of the Good in Intellect (VI.7.13–14)6.3 The Presence of the Good in Intellect: The Top-Down Answer (VI.7.15–17)6.4 The Presence of the Good in Intellect: The Bottom-Up Answer (VI.7.18–23)6.5 Alternative Notions of the Good and the True Meaning of Plato’s Doctrine (VI.7.24–30)6.6 The Good from the Perspective of Beauty and Love (VI.7.31–36)6.7 The Good and Intellection (VI.7.37–42)7 Beauty as Illuminated Unity in Multiplicity7.1 Beauty on the Level of Sensibles7.2 Beauty on the Level of Soul7.3 Beauty on the Level of Intellect7.4 Beauty and the Good7.5 Beauty as SuchBibliographyIndex

"...this is a very good book, well worth the time not only of one interested in Plotinus and in the topic of beauty, but also in the view held universally by all Platonists that beauty is not separable from morality or from metaphysics." - Lloyd P. Gerson, BMCR 2023.01.35