An Essay on the Beautiful, from the Greek of Plotinus

Name: An Essay on the Beautiful, from the Greek of Plotinus
Author: Plotinus

By Plotinus

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Philosophy & Ethics

About This Book

The essay presents a Neoplatonic account of beauty as an intelligible, unified principle expressed through proportion, harmony, and radiance within sensible forms and within the soul; bodily attractiveness is valuable chiefly insofar as it partakes in and recalls that higher Beauty. It criticizes reliance on language and sensory investigation alone and advocates ascent by love, philosophical contemplation, and purification of perception from the mutable to the intellectual and divine. The text locates aesthetic properties within a hierarchical metaphysics, describes how encounters with beauty prompt moral and intellectual elevation, and suggests how desire can be reoriented toward the timeless and immutable.

About the Author

Plotinus

Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world, known for his foundational role in Neoplatonism. His works explore the nature of reality, the concept of the One, and the relationship between the material and the spiritual. Among his notable writings is "An Essay on the Beautiful," where he delves into aesthetics and the nature of beauty as a reflection of the divine. His complete works, organized in chronological order, provide insight into his philosophical development and the influence of his thought on later philosophical traditions. Plotinus's ideas continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of metaphysics and ethics.