PHIL 789.002, Fall 2006
TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY: PLOTINUS
[revised 11/27/06]

Steve Strange
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~philsks/

Description: The seminar will focus on the philosophy of Plotinus and the antecedents of his principal views: that there is a single, absolutely simple source of everything that exists (the One), that true being is intelligence (Nous), and that sensible existence is a mere appearance generated from the activity of Soul, which is also identified with the human self. We will examine the background of these doctrines in interpretation of Plato and Aristotle, and the influence on Plotinus of his Middle Platonist, Peripatetic, and Stoic predecessors, but will do so through reading the Enneads. There will also be some discussion of the importance of Plotinus' thought for later Platonism, both pagan and Christian, and for medieval philosophy.

Requirements: two 15pp. papers, one due at the end of October and one at the end of the term (Dec. 16), assigned responsibility for discussion of weekly readings, seminar participation, including online discussion: after the first meeting, everyone will be expected to post a query or discussion point on the next week's reading in our Blackboard forum before the following Wednesday evening.

Required Texts

Plotinus, Enneads, transl. A. H. Armstrong (Loeb Classical Library)
Dillon and Gerson, transl., Neoplatonic Philosophy: Introductory Readings (Hackett)

Schedule for the Seminar: we will read through the Enneads in chronological order, starting with Porphyry’s biography of Plotinus. We will discuss the most important of the treatises in class (others are in parentheses).

1. Early period (pre-Porphyry):

Week 1 (1 Sept.) Porphyry, Life of Plotinus; I.6, IV.7

Week 2 (8 Sept.) (III.1), IV.1[2] (Lobo), V.9 (Morelli, chs. 1-8), IV.8 (Humphries)

Week 3 (15 Sept.) V.4 (Lee), (IV.9), VI.9 (Hughes), V.1 & V.2 (Howland)

Week 4 (22 Sept.) II.4 (McAndrew), (III.9, II.2), III.4 (Aldea), (I.9, II.6), V.7 , I.2 (Morelli), (I.3), IV.2[2]

2. Middle Period (Porphyry in Rome):

Week 5 (29 Sept.) VI.4-5 (Lobo), V.6 (Humphries), II.5, III.6 (Howland)

Week 6 (6 Oct.) IV.3-5 (Problems Concerning Soul): IV.3.1-23, presence of soul in body (Aldea); IV.3.24-4.17, memory and imagination (Lee); IV.3.18-45, the soul of the Earth and astral influences (Hughes); IV.3.5, appendix on perception (McAndrew)

Week 7 (13 Oct.) ‘Die Grossschrift’: III.8 (Morelli), V.8 (Humphries), V.5 (Lobo), II.9 (Howland); first paper topic to cover through this point)

Week 8 (20 Oct.) (VI.6, II.8), I.5 (Lee), (II.7), VI.7 (chs. 1-15: Aldea; chs. 16-42: McAndrew)

Week 9 (27 Oct.) VI.8 (chs.1-6: Lobo, chs. 7-21: Humphries), (II.1), IV.6 (Hughes)

Week 10 (Nov. 3) VI.1-3 (On the Genera of Being: Morelli on VI.2), III.7 (McAndrew)

3. Late Period (Plotinus in Campania):

Week 11 (Nov. 10) I.4 (Lee), III.2-3 (On Providence, Hughes )

Week 12 (Nov. 17) V.3 (Morelli), III.5 (Aldea)

Week 13 (Dec.1) I.8 (Humphries), II.3 (Lobo)

Week 14 (Dec. 8): I.1, I.7 (McAndrew)