Enneads
Encyclopedia
The Six Enneads, sometimes abbreviated to The Enneads or Enneads , is the collection of writings of Plotinus
, edited and compiled by his student Porphyry
(c. 270 AD). Plotinus was a student of Ammonius Saccas
and they were founders of Neoplatonism
. His work, through Augustine of Hippo
, and therefore subsequent Christian and Muslim thinkers, has greatly influenced Western and Near-Eastern thought.
s, which greatly vary in length and number of chapters, mostly because he split some original texts and joined others together to match this very number. Then he proceeded to set the fifty-four treatises in groups of nine (Greek. ennea) or Enneads. He also collected The Enneads into three volumes. The first volume contained the three firsts Enneads (I, II, III); the second the Fourth (IV) and the Fifth (V) Enneads; and the remaining volume was devoted to the Sixth (VI) and last. After correcting and naming each treatise, Porphyry wrote a biography of his master, Life of Plotinus, intended to be an Introduction to the Enneads.
Porphyry's edition does not follow the chronological order in which Enneads were written (see Chronological Listing below), but responds to a plan of study which leads the learner from subjects related to his own affairs to subjects concerning the uttermost principles of the universe.
Although not exclusively, Porphyry tells us (Cf. Life of Plotinus, chapters.24-26) that the First Ennead deals with Human or ethical topics; the Second and Third Enneads are mostly devoted to cosmological subjects or physical reality; The Fourth concerns about Soul; the Fifth to knowledge and intelligible reality; and finally the Sixth has for topics Being and what is above it, the One or first principle of all.
E.g. For Fourth Ennead (IV), treatise number seven (7), chapter two (2), lines one to five (1-5), we write:
E.g. The following three mean Third Ennead (III), treatise number five (5), chapter nine (9), line eight (8):
It is important to remark that some translations or editions do not include the line numbers according to P. Henry and H.-R. Schwyzer’s edition. In addition to this, the chronological order of the treatises is numbered between brackets or parentheses.
E.g. For the previously given:
and during the period of the Byzantine
Empire, the authorship of some Plotinus' texts became clouded.
Many passages of Enneads IV-VI, now known as Plotiniana Arabica, circulated among Islam
ic scholars (as Al-Kindi
, Al-Farabi
and Avicenna
) under the name The Theology of Aristotle
or quoted as "Sayings of an old [wise] man".
The writings had a significant effect on Islamic philosophy
, due to Islamic interest in Aristotle
. A Latin version of the so called Theology appeared in Europe in 1519. (Cf. O'MEARA, An Introduction the Enneads. Oxford: 1995, 111ff.)
Useful tools for the study of the Enneads are
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
, edited and compiled by his student Porphyry
Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry of Tyre , Porphyrios, AD 234–c. 305) was a Neoplatonic philosopher who was born in Tyre. He edited and published the Enneads, the only collection of the work of his teacher Plotinus. He also wrote many works himself on a wide variety of topics...
(c. 270 AD). Plotinus was a student of Ammonius Saccas
Ammonius Saccas
Ammonius Saccas was a Greek philosopher from Alexandria who was often referred to as one of the founders of Neoplatonism. He is mainly known as the teacher of Plotinus, whom he taught for eleven years from 232 to 243. He was undoubtably the biggest influence on Plotinus in his development of...
and they were founders of Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
. His work, through Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, and therefore subsequent Christian and Muslim thinkers, has greatly influenced Western and Near-Eastern thought.
Organization and content
Porphyry edited the writings of Plotinus in fifty-four treatiseTreatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject.-Noteworthy treatises:...
s, which greatly vary in length and number of chapters, mostly because he split some original texts and joined others together to match this very number. Then he proceeded to set the fifty-four treatises in groups of nine (Greek. ennea) or Enneads. He also collected The Enneads into three volumes. The first volume contained the three firsts Enneads (I, II, III); the second the Fourth (IV) and the Fifth (V) Enneads; and the remaining volume was devoted to the Sixth (VI) and last. After correcting and naming each treatise, Porphyry wrote a biography of his master, Life of Plotinus, intended to be an Introduction to the Enneads.
Porphyry's edition does not follow the chronological order in which Enneads were written (see Chronological Listing below), but responds to a plan of study which leads the learner from subjects related to his own affairs to subjects concerning the uttermost principles of the universe.
Although not exclusively, Porphyry tells us (Cf. Life of Plotinus, chapters.24-26) that the First Ennead deals with Human or ethical topics; the Second and Third Enneads are mostly devoted to cosmological subjects or physical reality; The Fourth concerns about Soul; the Fifth to knowledge and intelligible reality; and finally the Sixth has for topics Being and what is above it, the One or first principle of all.
How to quote and refer to The Enneads
Since the publishing of a modern critical edition of the Greek text by P. Henry and H.-R. Schwyzer (Plotini Opera. 3 volumes. Paris-Bruxelles, 1951-1973) and the revised one (Plotini Opera. 3 volumes. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1964-1984) there is an academic convention of quoting the Enneads by first mentioning the number of Ennead (usually in Romans from I to VI), the number of treatise within each Ennead (in arabics from 1 to 9), the number of chapter (in arabics also), and the line(s) in one of the mentioned editions. These numbers are divided by dots, by commas or blank spaces (there is no absolute consensus about this).E.g. For Fourth Ennead (IV), treatise number seven (7), chapter two (2), lines one to five (1-5), we write:
- IV.7.2.1-5
E.g. The following three mean Third Ennead (III), treatise number five (5), chapter nine (9), line eight (8):
- III, 5, 9,8
- 3,5,9,8
- III 5 9 8
It is important to remark that some translations or editions do not include the line numbers according to P. Henry and H.-R. Schwyzer’s edition. In addition to this, the chronological order of the treatises is numbered between brackets or parentheses.
E.g. For the previously given:
- IV.7 (2).2.1-5 since treatise IV.7 was the second written by Plotinus.
- III, 5 [50], 9,8 since III.5 was the fiftieth written by Plotinus.
The First Ennead
- I.1 [53] - "What is the Living Being and What is Man?"
- I.2 [19] - "On Virtue"
- I.3 [20] - "On Dialectic [The Upward Way]."
- I.4 [46] - "On True Happiness (Well Being)"
- I.5 [36] - "On Whether Happiness (Well Being) Increases with Time."
- I.6 [1] - "On Beauty"
- I.7 [54] - "On the Primal Good and Secondary Forms of Good [Otherwise, 'On Happiness']"
- I.8 [51] - "On the Nature and Source of Evil"
- I.9 [16] - "On Dismissal"
The Second Ennead
- II.1 [40] - "On Heaven"
- II.2 [14] - "On the Movement of Heaven"
- II.3 [52] - "Whether the Stars are Causes"
- II.4 [12] - "On Matter"
- II.5 [25] - "On Potentiality and Actuality."
- II.6 [17] - "On Quality or on Substance"
- II.7 [37] - "On Complete Transfusion"
- II.8 [35] - "On Sight or on how Distant Objects Appear Small."
- II.9 [33] - "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of the Kosmos and The Kosmos Itself to be Evil: [Generally Quoted as "Against the Gnostics"].
The Third Ennead
- III.1 [3] - "On Fate"
- III.2 [47] - "On Providence (1)."
- III.3 [48] - "On Providence (2)."
- III.4 [15] - "On our Allotted Guardian Spirit"
- III.5 [50] - "On Love"
- III.6 [26] - "On the Impassivity of the Unembodied"
- III.7 [45] - "On Eternity and Time"
- III.8 [30] - "On Nature, Contemplation and the One"
- III.9 [13] - "Detached Considerations"
The Fourth Ennead
- IV.1 [21] - "On the Essence of the Soul (2)"
- IV.2 [4] - "On the Essence of the Soul (1)"
- IV.3 [27] - "On Problems of the Soul (1)"
- IV.4 [28] - "On Problems of the Soul (2)"
- IV.5 [29] - "On Problems of the Soul (3)” [Also known as, "On Sight"].
- IV.6 [41] - "On Sense-Perception and Memory"
- IV.7 [2] - "On the Immortality of the Soul"
- IV.8 [6] - "On the Soul's Descent into Body"
- IV.9 [8] - "Are All Souls One"
The Fifth Ennead
- V.1 [10] - "On the Three Primary Hypostases"
- V.2 [11] - "On the Origin and Order of the Beings following after the First"
- V.3 [49] - "On the Knowing Hypostases and That Which is Beyond"
- V.4 [7] - "How That Which is After the First comes from the First, and on the One."
- V.5 [32] - "That the Intellectual Beings are not Outside the Intellect, and on the Good"
- V.6 [24] - "On the Fact that That Which is Beyond Being Does not Think, and on What is the Primary and the Secondary Thinking Principle"
- V.7 [18] - "On whether There are Ideas of Particular Beings"
- V.8 [31] - "On the Intelligible Beauty."
- V.9 [5] - "On Intellect, the Forms, and Being"
The Sixth Ennead
- VI.1 [42] - "On the Kinds of Being (1)"
- VI.2 [43] - "On the Kinds of Being (2)"
- VI.3 [44] - "On the Kinds of Being (3)"
- VI.4 [22] - "On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole (1)"
- VI.5 [23] - "On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole (2)"
- VI.6 [34] - "On Numbers"
- VI.7 [38] - "How the Multiplicity of Forms Came Into Being: and on the Good"
- VI.8 [39] - "On Free Will and the Will of the One"
- VI.9 [9] - "On the Good, or the One"
Note on the Plotiniana Arabica or Arabic Plotinus
After the fall of Western Roman EmpireWestern Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
and during the period of the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
Empire, the authorship of some Plotinus' texts became clouded.
Many passages of Enneads IV-VI, now known as Plotiniana Arabica, circulated among Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic scholars (as Al-Kindi
Al-Kindi
' , known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", was a Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the "father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion...
, Al-Farabi
Al-Farabi
' known in the West as Alpharabius , was a scientist and philosopher of the Islamic world...
and Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
) under the name The Theology of Aristotle
The Theology of Aristotle
The Theology of Aristotle was a paraphrase of parts of Plotinus' Six Enneads along with Porphyry's commentary into Arabic. It had a significant effect on early Islamic philosophy, due to Islamic interest in Aristotle. Al-Kindi and Avicenna, for example, were influenced by Plotinus' works...
or quoted as "Sayings of an old [wise] man".
The writings had a significant effect on Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies. It is the continuous search for Hekma in the light of Islamic view of life, universe, ethics, society, and so on...
, due to Islamic interest in Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. A Latin version of the so called Theology appeared in Europe in 1519. (Cf. O'MEARA, An Introduction the Enneads. Oxford: 1995, 111ff.)
Some editions, translations and tools
Contemporary scholars refer to the Plotinus' critical editions made by- HENRY, P. and SCHWYZER, H.-R. Plotini Opera. (Editio maior in 3 vols. including English translation of Plotiniana Arabica or The Theology of Aristotle) Bruxelles and Paris: Museum Lessianum, 1951-1973.
- HENRY, P. and SCHWYZER, H.-R. Plotini Opera. (Editio minor in 3 vols.) Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964-1982.
Useful tools for the study of the Enneads are
- SLEEMAN, J.-H and POLLET, G. Lexikon Plotinianum. Leyden: Brill, 1980.
- DUFOUR, R. Plotinus. A Bibliography: 1950-2000. Leyden: Brill, 2002.
- RADICE. R. and BOMBACIGNO, R. Lexicon II: Plotinus. (Includes a CD containing the entire Greek text) Milan: Biblia, 2004.
English
- ARMSTRONG, A.H. Plotinus. (7 vols. including Greek text of HENRY, P. and SCHWYZER a fronte) Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966-1988.
- ATKINSON, M. Plotinus' Ennead V.1: On the Three Principal Hypostases Oxford: OUP, 1983.
- BUSSANICH. J. The One and its Relation to Intellect (Translation and commentary of selected treatises). Leiden: Brill, 1988.
- FLEET, B. III.6 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
French
- Émile BréhierÉmile BréhierÉmile Bréhier was a French philosopher. His interest was in classical philosophy, and the history of philosophy. He wrote a Histoire de la Philosophie, translated into English in seven volumes....
. Ennéades (7 vols. including edition of Greek text on facing pages) Paris: Collection BudéCollection BudéThe Collection Budé, or the Collection des Universités de France, is a series of books comprising the Greek and Latin classics up to the middle of the 6th century...
, 1960-63 (3rd ed.) - HADOT, P. Plotin, Traité 38 (VI.7). Paris: Cerf, 1988.
- HADOT, P. Plotin, Traité 50 (II.5). Paris: Cerf, 1990.
- LEROUX, G. Traité sur la liberté et la volonté de l'Un. [VI.8(39)] Paris: Vrin, 1990.
- NARBONNE, J.-M. II.5(25) Paris: Cerf, 1998.
- O'MEARA, D. I.8(51) Paris: Cerf, 1999.
- HAM, B. V.3 (49) Paris: Cerf, 2000.
- BRISSON.L, PRADEAU, J.-F.(Dir.) Plotin. Traités. Paris: GF-FlamMarion, 2002-2003 (Nine volumes of this translation of the treatises following the chronological order had appeared: I: treatises 1-6 (2002), II: 7-21 (2003); III: 22-26 (2004); IV: 27-29 (205); V: 30-37 (2006); VI: 38-41 (2007); VII: 42-44 (2008); VIII: 45-50 (2009); IX: 51-54 (2010), cf. supra. Table of Contents and infra. Chronological Listing).
Spanish
- GARCÍA BACCA, J. Plotino Enéadas (6 vols.) Buenos Aires: Losada, 2005.
- IGAL, J. Plotino Enéadas (3 vols.) Madrid: Gredos, 1982-1998.
Italian
- CILENTO, V. Plotino, Enneadi (3 vols.) Bari: Laterza 1947-1949.
- FAGGIN, G. Plotino, Enneadi Milan: Bompiani, 2000.
- RADICE. R. Plotino, Enneadi Milan: Mondadori, 2002.
German
- HARDER, R., BEUTLER, R., THEILER, W. (Eds.) Plotins Schriften.(12 Vols.) Hamburg: 1956-1971
Dutch
- FERWERDA, R. (transl.) Enneaden. Baarn: 1984. (includes Porhyrius' Vita Plotini)
External links
- The Six Enneads (complete Mackenna and Page translation) in PDF, HTML, Microsoft Word, Plain Text, Theological Markup Language (XML), and 'Palm Doc' versions.
- The Six Enneads Mackenna and Page translation divided into six sections in HTML.
- The Enneads, Greek text page scans of Kirchhoff's edition.
- The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Plotinus
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Plotinus
- Plotinian Bibliography 2001- by Richard Dufour (French and English versions), continues his research presented in Plotinus: a Bibliography 1950-2000, referred above.
- Links to Enneads, treatises, and chapters in English, Greek, and French for quick reference.
- Ἐννεάδες The Henry and Schwyzer 1951 edition at Bibliotheca Augustiana.
Plotinus' writings: Chronological listing
According to the fourth chapter of Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, preserving the titles he assigned them and the corresponding treatise number in the Enneads.- I.6 [1] - "On Beauty"
- IV.7 [2] - "On the Immortality of the Soul"
- III.1 [3] - "On Fate"
- IV.2 [4] - "On the Essence of the Soul (1)"
- V.9 [5] - "On Intellect, the Forms, and Being"
- IV.8 [6] - "On the Soul's Descent into Body"
- V.4 [7] - "How That Which is After the First comes from the First, and on the One."
- IV.9 [8] - "If All Souls One"
- VI.9 [9] - "On the Good, or the One"
- V.1 [10] - "On the Three Primary Hypostases"
- V.2 [11] - "On the Origin and Order of the Beings following after the First"
- II.4 [12] - "On Matter"
- III.9 [13] - "Detached Considerations"
- II.2 [14] - "On the Movement of Heaven"
- III.4 [15] - "On our Allotted Guardian Spirit"
- I.9 [16] - "On Dismissal"
- II.6 [17] - "On Quality or on Substance"
- V.7 [18] - "On whether There are Ideas of Particular Beings"
- I.2 [19] - "On Virtue"
- I.3 [20] - "On Dialectic [The Upward Way]."
- IV.1 [21] - "On the Essence of the Soul (2)"
- VI.4 [22] - "On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole (1)"
- VI.5 [23] - "On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole (2)"
- V.6 [24] - "On the Fact that That Which is Beyond Being Does not Think, and on What is the Primary and the Secondary Thinking Principle"
- II.5 [25] - "On Potentiality and Actuality."
- III.6 [26] - "On the Impassivity of the Unembodied"
- IV.3 [27] - "On Problems of the Soul (1)"
- IV.4 [28] - "On Problems of the Soul (2)"
- IV.5 [29] - "On Problems of the Soul (3)” [Also known as, "On Sight"].
- III.8 [30] - "On Nature, Contemplation and the One"
- V.8 [31] - "On the Intelligible Beauty"
- V.5 [32] - "That the Intellectual Beings are not Outside the Intellect, and on the Good"
- II.9 [33] - "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of the Kosmos and The Kosmos Itself to be Evil: [Generally Quoted as "Against the Gnostics"].
- VI.6 [34] - "On Numbers"
- II.8 [35] - "On Sight or on how Distant Objects Appear Small."
- I.5 [36] - "On Whether Happiness (Well Being) Increases with Time."
- II.7 [37] - "On Complete Transfusion"
- VI.7 [38] - "How the Multiplicity of Forms Came Into Being: and on the Good"
- VI.8 [39] - "On Free Will and the Will of the One"
- II.1 [40] - "On Heaven"
- IV.6 [41] - "On Sense-Perception and Memory"
- VI.1 [42] - "On the Kinds of Being (1)"
- VI.2 [43] - "On the Kinds of Being (2)"
- VI.3 [44] - "On the Kinds of Being (3)"
- III.7 [45] - "On Eternity and Time"
- I.4 [46] - "On True Happiness (Well Being)"
- III.2 [47] - "On Providence (1)"
- III.3 [48] - "On Providence (2)"
- V.3 [49] - "On the Knowing Hypostases and That Which is Beyond"
- III.5 [50] - "On Love"
- I.8 [51] - "On the Nature and Source of Evil"
- II.3 [52] - "Whether the Stars are Causes"
- I.1 [53] - "What is the Living Being and What is Man?"
- I.7 [54] - "On the Primal Good and Secondary Forms of Good [Otherwise, 'On Happiness']"