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In Plotinus' Explanation of Reality Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1987 Life (Zōḗ) in Plotinus' Explanation of Reality Roman T. Ciapalo Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Ciapalo, Roman T., "Life (Zōḗ) in Plotinus' Explanation of Reality" (1987). Dissertations. 3130. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3130 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1987 Roman T. Ciapalo "LIFE" (ZOE) IN PLOTINUS' EXPLANATION OF REALITY by Roman T. Ciapalo A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 1987 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to Fr. Leo Sweeney, S. J., for his constant, thorough, and patient supervision of the writing of this dissertation. His numerous suggestions and comments were most helpful. I am also grateful to Dr. Francis Catania and Fr. Gary Giirtler, S. J., who examined the text and made many profitable recommendations. ii VITA The author, Roman Theodore Ciapalo, is the son of Peter Ciapalo and Oksana (Sawyn) Ciapalo. He was born on May 12, 1950 in Quilmes, Argentina. His elementary education was obtained in the public schools of Quilmes, Argentina and in St. Nicholas School, Chicago, Illinois. His secondary education was obtained in St. Ignatius High School, Chicago, Illinois, where he graduated in 1968. In September, 1968 he entered Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, and in June, 1972 received the degree of Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Philosophy. In February, 1978 he was awarded the Master of Arts in Philosophy by Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ii VITA................................................. iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION............................... 1 II. TEXT A: ENNEAD IV, 7 ( 2) , 95-11 ......... 22 III. TEXT B: ENNEAD VI, 9 ( 9) , 9 • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • 68 v. TECT C: ENNEAD III, 8 ( 30), 8; 11 ......... 111 TEXT D: ENNEAD VI, 7 ( 38), 13; 15; 18 ...•• 161 • TEXT E: ENNEAD I, 4 (46), 3-4 . ............ 219 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS •••••..••.•••••••••• 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................... 294 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In Enneads III, 7 (45), Plotinus speaks of eternity as life.I Nous insofar as It involves self-motion (i.e., contemplation)_ is also called "life." In Its contemplation Nous is never other and is not a thinking or life that goes from one thing to another but is always the self same without extension; if one sees all this, he sees eternity in seeing a life that abides in the same and always has the All present to it, not now this and then again that, but all things at once, and not now some things and then again others, but a partless completion ••• It is something which abides in the same in itself but does not change at all but is always in the present.2 Hence, Nous remains in its being just what it is. That, then, which was not and will not be but is only, which has being which is static by not changing to the 'will be,' nor ever having changed, this is eternity. The life, then, which belongs to that which is and is in being, all together and full, completely without extension or interval, is that which we are looking for, eternity.3 lHere and elsewhere in this study we shall ref er to portions of the Enneads as follows: III, 7 (45), 3, 13-23, where III refers to the Ennead, 7 to the treatise, (45) to the chronological position of the treatise according to Porphyry's ordering, 3 to the chapter, and 13-23 to the lines within that chapter. 2III, 7 (45), 3, 13-23. The translations are my own. See note 50. 3Ibid., 23-38. 1 2 But in Enneads III, 7 Plotinus also describes time as life. In Nous, which Itself is at rest and eternal, there was a restlessly active nature which wanted to control itself and be on its own, and chose to seek for more than its present state. This nature moved and time moved with it; and so, always moving on to the 'next' and the 'after' and what is not the same but one thing after another, the soul made a long stretch of journey and constructed time as an image of eternity.4 Thus, Soul making the world of sense in imitation of that other world (of Nous and eternity) and moving with a motion which is not that which exists There but like it, "first of all put itself into time and then handed over that which came into being the material universe as a slave to time, by making the whole of it exist in time and encompassing all its ways with time. 11 5 The result is that Soul presents one activity after another in ordered succession and thus produces the succession along with the activity so that Soul's present life is not like that which came before it. So the life ( in Soul) is different and this "difference" involves a different duration. So the spreading out of life involves time; life's continual progress involves continuity of time, and life which is past involves past time. Hence, "time is the life of soul in a movement of passage from one way of life to another"6 and 4Ibid., 11, 15-19. 5Ibid., 29-32. 6Ibid., 43-45. 3 eternity is life at rest, unchanging and identical and already unbounded and time must exist as an image of eternity ••• Thus we must say instead of the life There in Nous, there is another life having the same name as this power of Soul.7 The preceding remarks clearly indicate two main points. First, in Plotinus' thought "life" (zoe} is crucial to a proper understanding of both eternity (and, hence, the entire realm of Nous, and even Its source, the One-Good} and time (and, hence, the entire realm of Soul and thereby the physical universe}. Accordingly, his doctrine of zoe is an integral part of his theory of reality. Second, any presentation of Plotinus' thought, if it is to be adequate and complete, must take into account his theory of z6e. The purpose of this study, then, is to examine those texts in which Plotinus speaks of "life" in order to make explicit what this concept means. Furthermore, because "life" is so intimately bound up with all levels of reality in Plotinus' system, an examination of this concept will help to provide a better understanding of what "to be real" means for Plotinus and thus will provide an additional helpful insight into his entire Weltanschauung. Although there is abundant secondary literature on Plotinus' thought, little work seems to have been done on zoe specifically as it appears in his Enneads. This conclusion was reached after first consulting Bert Marien, 7rbid., 45-49. 4 "Bibliografia Critica degli Studi Plotiniani" (Bari: G. Laterza and Figli, 1949; in V. Cilento, Plotino Enneadi, Vol. 3, Part 2, pp. 391-622). There we found that no work had been done ex prof esso on zoe in the Enneads prior to 1949. Furthermore, little work has been done since 1949, as a careful examination of the appropriate volumes of J. Marouzeau, Juliette Ernst, et al. (eds.), L'Annee Philologique (Paris: "Les Belles Lettres," 1949 sqq.) made obvious. In fact, only one such work has been found. Grigorios Kostaras in Der Begriff des Lebens bei Plotin takes up explicitly the problem of life in Plotinus.8 His work is divided into five key chapters. In Chapter One ("The Concept of Life") he explains that the foundation and source of life lie in the Soul. Soul and life, he argues, are to some extent identical.9 Similarly, life and movement are closely related, with movement having its source in the soul as well. Kostaras further identifies three different movements of the Soul (creating, perceiving and moving spiritually) and to these he connects three corresponding types of life: physical (biological), logical and spiritual. The human being may 8Grigorios Ph. Kos tar as, Der Begrif f des Lebens bei Plotin (Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1969). Hereafter, Kostaras, Begriff. 9Ibid., p. 2s. 5 choose between these different types of life, of course, but should pursue the highest of these: the spiritual life.IO In Chapter Two {"The Life of the Body") Kostaras examines the first of these types of life: physical or biological life. First, he notes that through its relationship to the physical world {which is the soul's "empirical factor") and through its turn from unity to multiplicity, the soul introduces to matter the forms of transcendent reality and thereby gives life to the physical world.11 Next, he takes up the soul's relationship to the body and explains it as the formation of the other {the physical) through the One {the Soul), which takes place in the so-called biological movement of the soul .12 Third, he discusses the foundation of the life of the cosmos, which, he explains, is a complete and living organism whose parts are associated with one another in harmony and through logos. 13 In Chapter Three {"The Life of the Soul") he turns to the second type of life: logical or mental life. He distinguishes between the finite and the infinite soul in order to describe the soul's turning from spiritual to sensual concerns and its subsequent return to unity.
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