Plotinus

Paper draft on the concept of participation in the Late Antique thought of Plotinus and Dionysius the Areopagite.

In Plotinus' Philosophical system of the world we can see three hypostases which result from each other vertically. They include: the One, the intellect, and the soul.There are various views concerning the genesis of the world, such as the theory of creation, which is suggested by holy books, the theory of theophany and manifestation, which belongs to gnostics, and the theory of emanation, in which most philosophers believe.Concerning the genesis of the world, Plotinus believed in emanation. This word is derived (...) from the Latin word "emanatio", meaning eruption from somewhere. According to Plotinus, the One is not the creator of the world so that He could create voluntarily. The world is the overflow of Divine springing. The One cannot create the world according to His free will because creation is a kind of activity, and attributing an act to God disrupts His Stability and is, therefore, a mistake. Thus Plotinus resorted to the metaphor of "emanation". He believed that God does not decrease by being emanated. He tried to follow a middle way between monotheistic creation, on the one hand, and pantheism, on the other. (shrink)

The oneness of being is still one of the most exciting and, at the same time, critical and controversial issues in the field of religious sciences. However, a correct study of it can decrease the number of the involved controversies to some extent. The writer has chosen Plotinus for this study because the Neo-Platonic philosophy, which has Plotinus as its founder, has influenced the thoughts of Muslim thinkers in the fields of gnosis and philosophy. This influence has been exercised through (...) the books Uthulugiya and The Book of Causes. When dealing with the degree that Neo-Platonic philosophy has influenced Islamic philosophy and, particularly, gnosis, some historians in the areas of philosophy and gnosis have gone into such extremes that they have introduced this school as the origin of all the ideas of Islamic thinkers. In this paper, it has been tried to inquire into one of the most important gnostic issues, namely, the oneness of being, from the viewpoints of Plotinus and some Neo-Platonists. It is also intended to clarify whether prominent gnostics, such as Ibn Arabi, and believers in the oneness of being had been influenced by Plotinus, or whether this issue was among the innovations of Muslim gnostics. (shrink)

The paper follows the development of the concept of transcendence ‹e)pe/keina› from the time when it first entered philosophy in Plato’s The Republic up to Plotinus, who thought it through in all its essential dimensions. In common with some thinkers before him, Plotinus thought of the concept of transcendence in the light of the absolute one Plato analyzed in the first hypothesis of Parmenides. The paper also shows how Plotinus understood transcendence with regard to Being and to thinking. The paper (...) aims to show how Plotinus, by his criticism of the onto-theo-logical structure of philosophical thought, already announced the criticism of traditional philosophy for which Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein became known in the 20th century. (shrink)

After concluding in the introduction that different things are beautiful in different ways, the first section of the treatise focuses on sensory beauty or beauty of bodies. Rejecting symmetry as a sufficient criterion for beauty, Plotinus explains that things in this world are beautiful to the extent that they participate in form and to the extent that shapeless matter is dominated by shape and the formative principle. Sensory beauty stirs the soul and helps it to recognise and remember transcendental beauty.

According to the history of aesthetics, Plotinus restored the dignity of which Plato’s verdict on artists in The Republic, especially his notorious mirror analogy in the tenth book, had deprived them. The paper analyses the key topics in the first chapter of Plotinus’ treatise On Noetic Beauty : the meaning of arts and their function, the way Plotinus’ aesthetics is firmly embedded in his metaphysics, the defence of imitation/representation of nature and Phidias’ creation of his statue of Zeus at Olympia. (...) It also discusses other authors as possible models for Plotinus. An exploration of inspiration in Phidias opens up questions concerning the role of imagination and the possibilities for symbolism and idealism in art. A comparison of selected passages from Plotinus’ and Plato’s writings shows that there are unexpectedly many points of contact between the two authors and that both explore a range of possibilities from imitation/representation of objects belonging to the visible world, to creation independent of visible models. (shrink)

Augustine′s conversion to Christianity in A.D. 386 is a pivotal moment not only in his own life, but in Christian and world history, for the theology of Augustine set the course of theological and cultural development in the western Christian church. But to what exactly was Augustine converted? Scholars have long debated whether he really converted to Christianity in 386, whether he was a Platonist, and, if he adhered to both Platonism and Christianity, which dominated his thought. The debate of (...) the last thirteen decades spans an immense body of literature in multiple languages. In this literature, four major views on Augustine′s conversion may be discerned. The first view is associated with Gaston Boissier and Adolph von Harnack, and was famously championed by Prosper Alfaric: that Augustine in 386 converted to neo-Platonism but not to Christianity. Second, there is the view recently promoted by Catherine Conybeare: that Augustine in 386 converted to Christianity and rejected neo-Platonism. Third, there is the view that he converted to Christianity and was also a neo-Platonist; the most famous adherents of this view are Robert J. O′Connell and Pierre Courcelle. Finally, there is the view recently promoted by Carol Harrison: that Augustine committed to Christianity in 386, yet did not utterly reject neo-Platonism; rather, he aimed to develop a Christian faith that was informed by neo-Platonic insight. In this article, I first explain and distinguish these four general views, and then I explain why I prefer the fourth view. -/- More Info: This is the pre-peer reviewed version of Boone, Mark, "The Role of Platonism in Augustine's 386 Conversion to Christianity," Religion Compass 9.5 (May 2015), 151-61. This article has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec3.12149/abstract. (shrink)

An exploration of the philosophical and mystical ideas of Plotinus. So as to show that underneath all traditional Western philosophy of being their lies a non-philosophy of 'the one'. The One with whom mystics seek unification or to be united with (also know as realization of the one real self, unity with the Sufi Beloved, buddha-mind, the absolute truth, the foundation or ground of all etc).

In one of the most famous but equally obscure passages in the Timaeus, Plato describes the generation of time and the heavens. The “moving image of eternity” (37d5) is commonly read as Plato’s most general characterisation of time. Rémi Brague famously challenged the traditional interpretation on linguistic grounds by claiming that Plato actually did not conceive of time as an image (εἰκών) but rather as a number (ἀριθμός). In this paper, I shall claim that this controversy is by no means (...) a modern one. The traditional interpretation is mostly owed to Plato’s most prominent reader, Plotinus, who famously conceives of time in relation to eternity (Enn. III.7.13.24-25). Brague’s alternative reading, however, is anticipated by Simplicius’ attempt to refute the Plotinian interpretation, as I shall show. According to my reconstruction, Simplicius’ reading of the Timaeus not only shows why the traditional interpretation falls short, but it also offers a systematic argument that bolsters Brague’s alternative reading. Finally, I shall show that this is consistent with Plato’s text. It shall become clear that current interpretative problems are essentially prefigured in the late ancient debate. (shrink)

The central place of Plato’s Timaeus in Plotinus’ Enneads has long been acknowledged. However, the importance of Timaeus 90 a for Plotinus’ psychology and theory of Intellect has not until now been properly recognized. This paper argues that, in Plato’s Timaeus 90 a, Plotinus sees his own distinction between the Hypostasis Intellect and human intellect, that is, our higher soul, which Plato in the Timaeus calls a daimon and which Plotinus takes to remain in the intelligible realm, interpreting it along (...) the same lines as “our allotted guardian spirit” (Ennead III.4). The way Timaeus 90 a is combined with passages drawn from other Platonic dialogues as well as with Peripatetic doctrine provides the framework for a case study on how Plotinus handles and interprets Platonic material. (shrink)

Plotinus argues that materialism cannot explain reflexive cognition. He argues that mere bodies cannot engage in the self-reflexive activity of both cognizing some content and being cognitively aware of cognizing this content. Short of outright denying the cognitive unity underlying this phenomenon of self-awareness, materialism is in trouble. However, Plotinus bases his argument on the condition that material bodies are capable of a spatial unity at most, and while this condition has purchase on ancient materialists, it would be rejected today. (...) After considering objections based on our contemporary understanding of a material body, I amend Plotinus' argument to focus instead on the core materialist commitment to external efficient-causal relations. This amended argument regains its urgency for materialism, while retaining the spirit of Plotinus' view. (shrink)

The present article examines Contra Academicos 2.5 in which Augustine seems to detail the influence of the libri Platonicorum on his conversion. In the first part of the paper, I argue that Michael P. Foley is correct to interpret Augustine’s phrase “libri quidam pleni” as a reference to the libri Platonicorum. I advance the further claim that Augustine primarily has in mind Ennead I.6. This is in contrast to the argument alluded to by Pierre Courcelle and formally given by John (...) J. O’Meara where such a reading of Contra Academicos misconstrues the relationship between Augustine and Plotinus. In response to O’Meara, I advance a threefold argument, a corollary of which is a novel reading of a Latin phrase (bonas res Arabicas) that has perplexed scholars. In the second part of the paper, I use my reading of Contra Academicos along with two considerations from Ennead I.6 to motivate a deeper understanding of Augustine’s conversion. The present study develops recent lines of thought in Augustine scholarship and seeks to open new avenues for understanding the libri Platonicorum and their influence on Augustine’s conversion. (shrink)

Augustine’s sermons on the Psalms of Ascent, part of the Enarrationes in Psalmos, are a unique entry in the venerable tradition of those writings that aim to help us ascend to a higher reality. These sermons transform the ascent genre by giving, in the place of the Platonic account of ascent, a Christian ascent narrative with a Trinitarian structure. Not just the individual ascends, but the community that is the church, the body of Christ, also ascends. The ascent is up (...) to God, the Idipsum or the Selfsame, the ultimate reality, confessed by the church as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Through the grace of the Incarnation, God the Son enables us to ascend, making himself the way of ascent from the humility we must imitate at the beginning of the ascent all the way up to Heaven, where he retains his identity as Idipsum. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit works in the ascending church to convert our hearts to the love of God and neighbor. I review the Platonic ascent tradition in Plato’s Republic and Plotinus’ Enneads; overview ascent in some of Augustine’s earlier writings; introduce the narrative setting of the sermons on the Psalms of Ascent; and analyze the Trinitarian structure of their ascent narrative. I close with some reflections on the difference between a preached Trinitarianism that encourages ascent and a more academic effort to understand God such as we find in Augustine’s de Trinitate. (shrink)

This article focuses on the reception of Aristotle’s Categories by the first three representatives of Greek Neoplatonism: Plotinus (204/205–270 CE), Porphyry (ca. 234–ca. 305 CE), Iamblichus (ca. 242–ca. 325 CE). The first section argues that Plotinus’ acquaintance with Aristotle’s treatises marked a fresh start vis-à-vis the previous Platonist tradition. Aristotle’s views, arguments and vocabulary are ubiquitous in Plotinus writings (the Enneads) and they must be considered an essential part of his philosophical project. Plotinus, however, does not share some of Aristotle’s (...) key theories and is critical of them. The second section focuses on Plotinus’ discussion of Aristotle’s Categories in the tripartite treatise On the Genera of Being (6.1–3). There he rejects the Peripatetic division into ten categories as providing an incomplete account of the genera of being that unduly omits “those which are most authentically beings”, i.e. Plato’s separate Forms. While drawing on earlier Platonist objections to Aristotle, Plotinus’ approach is original insofar as he criticizes Aristotle and his followers not only for omitting intelligible beings in the division of categories, but also for being unable, for this very reason, to work out an adequate division of sensible beings themselves. The third section is devoted to Porphyry, a student of Plotinus’ and the editor of his works. Porphyry worked intensively on Aristotle’s Categories, which he regarded as an introduction not only to logic, but to philosophy as a whole. Unlike Plotinus, Porphyry aimed to integrate Aristotle into Platonism and his engagement with the Categories was a key part of his project after Plotinus’ in-depth criticism. Porphyry’s approach is connected to his view of the subject-matter of the Categories, which he sees as focusing on words insofar as they signify beings, and not on beings as such. The fourth section focuses on some parallels between Plotinus’ Genera of Beings and Porphyry’s works, which may reflect the debate within Plotinus’ school. The fifth section focuses on Iamblichus of Chalcis. Both in theology and in the interpretation of Aristotle’s Categories, Iamblichus aimed to both continue and supplant Porphyry’s work. While Plotinus criticizes Aristotle’s categories for omitting intelligible beings, and while Porphyry accepts Aristotle’s categories insofar as they focus on words signifying sensible things, Iamblichus incorporates his Neoplatonist and Pythagorizing metaphysics into the interpretation of the Categories. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to challenge the prevailing polemic between ‘necessary’ emanation and ‘free’ creation. I begin by arguing for the presence of freedom and volition in the emanationism of Plotinus. I then move on to explore the role of necessity in the creationism of Maximus. In both cases, I rely upon a twofold schematisation of freedom and necessity to dissolve the dichotomy between them effectively. Having levelled the playing field, so to speak, I conclude that, all things (...) being equal, one does find in Maximus (and Christian thinkers generally) a heightened sense of divine volition and relationality beyond that of the pagan Neoplatonists. This greater emphasis upon the freedom of the divine will, however, has little bearing on whether Maximus's doctrine of creation is ‘emanationist’ or ‘creationist’. Instead, it stems from a biblically inspired sense of the One God as intimately involved in His creation which, though derived from God, is crucially other than God. (shrink)

I reply to Bernard Wills (2023) review essay on my book Believing in Dawkins: The New Spiritual Atheism (2020). I discuss idolatry, Neoplatonism, the New Atheism, and atheistic Platonism.

I reply to Bernard Wills review essay on my book Believing in Dawkins: The New Spiritual Atheism (2020). I discuss theism, idolatry, the New Atheism, Platonism, and atheistic Platonism.

This study offers an experiential and practical way of understanding Plotinus' thought and philosophy through a focus on the act of contemplation. Mateusz Stróżyński argues that contemplation, or direct seeing of the principles of reality, is not merely a part of Plotinus' thought, but rather a significant dimension of it.

Provides philosophical definitions which help scholars and students to understand Plotinus’ notions of eternity and time; presents a way in which to understand the relationship between eternity, time, and the hypostases; conveys the practical and experiential aspect of Ennead III.7.

Chez Plotin, le paradoxe est l’énonciation d’une ou plusieurs vérités démontrables mais difficiles à croire. Il permet une mise à distance par rapport au langage, qui ouvre la voie à son examen approfondi et à son dépassement. Proclus reprend et développe ce rôle du paradoxe, en insistant sur sa fonction d’étonnement, censé susciter la motivation de l’interlocuteur ou du lecteur, même quand il ignore son ignorance. Celui-ci est alors poussé à approfondir le raisonnement, voire à susciter lui-même des apories afin (...) de résoudre le problème. Damascius reprend ce dernier point, sans mention du paradoxe, au service d’une enquête philosophique avancée qui le mène au renoncement à la connaissance plutôt qu’à l’enseignement. (shrink)

The paper offers a critical perspective on some modern studies of Plotinus’ doctrine of Love, which interpret his Eros as more than a guide, leading the soul to the intelligible world and above, to the first Principle, or directing its gaze to the sensible world. They consider Love to be the driving force behind generation from the One and even identify it with the One itself, basing most of their arguments on rare instances of Eros’ appearance at levels above the (...) soul and using an emphatically erotic terminology that is alien to Plotinus. (shrink)

The present piece focuses on the influence of Plotinus' understanding of time and eternity as articulated in Plotinus' third and fifth Enneads upon Mīr Dāmād's (d. 1631–2) conception of eternity, perpetuity, and time found in his Book of Blazing Brands (Kitab al‐Qabasāt). Although Mīr Dāmād's conception of eternity, perpetuity, and time resembles that of Plotinus' cosmology and ontology, he departs from Plotinus' hypostases in establishing strict parameters for each domain. Unlike Plotinus, Mīr Dāmād argues that the realm of eternity is (...) reserved for God alone, while the realm of Perpetuity contains the Platonic Forms. For Mīr Dāmād, the realm of time is an effect of the realm of Perpetuity and a tool for human beings to understand how to measure events in the temporal world. Unlike many other Shī'ite philosophers, Mīr Dāmād's articulation of these three cosmological realms incorporates thought found in the works of both prominent Sunni and Shī'ite scholars such as Ibn Sīnā, Abū Ḥāmid al‐Ghāzālī, Suhrawardī, and Naṣīr al‐Dīn Ṭūsī. Although his most successful student, Mullā Ṣadrā Shirazī, had ultimately disagreed with his teacher's cosmological doctrine, he remained influenced by the multitude of sources that his teacher had used. (shrink)

With both the Roman Empire and contemporary scholarship as backdrop, this book contrasts the Imperial Platonism of Plotinus with Plato's own by distinguishing one as a master enlightening disciples, and the other as an Athenian teacher who taught students to discover the truth for themselves in the Academy.

Les lectures plotinienne et proclusienne de Métaphysique Λ ne se résolvent pas dans ces résultats doctrinaux que sont la hiérarchisation de l’Intellect et de l’Un-Bien et l’harmonisation des causalités efficiente et finale. Pour les saisir tant dans leur différence que dans celle qui les oppose toutes deux aux lectures concordistes, il faut déplacer l’analyse du plan des doctrines à celui des concepts. Plus précisément, il faut demander comment Plotin et Proclus intègrent le concept qui, en Métaphysique Λ, condense la charge (...) polémique portée par Aristote contre Platon, à savoir le concept d’energeia. Ce dernier engage en effet une conception radicalement antiplatonicienne du principe premier, dont on montre qu’elle s’articule en quatre critiques fondamentales. On analyse dès lors les stratégies de lecture de Λ mises en oeuvre par Plotin et Proclus de façon à évaluer les angles de contreattaque qu’elles déterminent. Plutôt qu’à une harmonisation ou à une simple hiérarchisation, on a affaire, dans les deux cas quoique sous des modalités différentes, à une intégration dialectique qui en passe par la neutralisation de la charge polémique du concept d’energeia ainsi que par sa réélaboration, elle-même solidaire de modèles causaux distincts tant de celui de Platon que de celui d’Aristote. (shrink)

In this paper, particular key aspects of the philosophies of Plotinus and Wang Yangming have been analysed comparatively on the basis of important passages of their works. The method used for this investigation can be defined as that of transversal comparative induction, in which the focus is more on working out the details of affinities and similarities. As this means a first step in an encompassing systematic context, differences will be introduced more briefly. The present investigation aims to provide a (...) foundation for a more differentiating and therefore complementing second part, which will consider other contents and topics in both philosophies. The present analysis is performed in three systematic steps and with regard to three basic philosophical ideas: (1) the idea that human consciousness is a central medium in the universal process and interrelatedness of (biological) life as a whole; (2) the idea that the self-unfoldment of reality represents a meta-cognitive process beyond the limits of subjectivity and finite consciousness; and (3) the idea that it is our major task to perfect and know ourselves by means of a “return” to the highest underlying foundation of this universal process. In their own ways, Plotinus and Wang Yangming both show that by enfolding human reflexivity toward the ineffable source of all reality in thought, feeling, human activity, and natural processes, namely by actively pursuing the path of moral and intellective perfection, we become fulfilled mediators of a universal process and of that which all of it represents. (shrink)

Review of A.A. Long's translation and commentary of Plotinus's "On Matter" (II.4).

Bu çalışma Yeni Platonculuğun kurucu metni olan Enneadlar’ı merkeze alarak Plotinus’un ahlâk, erdemler ve adalet konusundaki düşüncesini ortaya koymayı hedeflemektedir. Bunu gerçekleştirmek için Enneadlar’ın I, 2, 19. bölümü tüm detaylarıyla ele alınacaktır. Elbette modern ve çağdaş dönemde bu konu etrafında gelişen literatür de göz ardı edilmeyecektir. Plotinus’un erdem tasavvurunun Platon ve Aristoteles’ten daha farklı bir yere evirildiği, Plotinus öncesindeki ahlâk anlayışının ve erdemler sistematiğinin daha realist bir yerde konumlandığı, onun görüşünün ise “Tanrı’yla benzeme” ideali etrafında şekillenen yarı mistik bir felsefî (...) ahlâk tasavvuruna dönüştüğü öne sürülecektir. Ayrıca erdemlerin yüce ve bayağı âlemde hikmet, şeceaat, adalet gibi eş adlı isimlerle adlandırılmasına karşın yüce âlemde Ruhun erdemlerle özdeş olduğu, bayağı âlemde bedenle birlikte bulunan nefsin ise erdemleri arınma yoluyla edinerek tanrıya benzemeye çalışması gerektiği sonucuna ulaşılacaktır. Sonuç olarak Plotinus’un, Platon’dan Descartes’e kadarki süreçte neredeyse iki ana metafizik öğretiden birinin sahibi oluşu ve etki gücü bakımından Aristotelesçiliğin karşısına esaslı farklılıklarla birlikte Platonculuk görünümünde konumlanışı sadece metafizik öğretide değil ahlâk felsefenin temel kavramları ve kavrayışında da bir dönüşüm oluşturmuştur. Birey/fert merkezli bu kavrayış, ahlâki dönüşümü başlangıç düzeyinde siyasi erdemlerin de katkısını yadsımadan ama kişinin kendine yönelmesi ve nefsinin bedensel kavrayış biçimleri ve dil başta olmak üzere tüm sınırları geride bırakıp arınma idealine ulaşmayı hedefleyerek kendisinden önceki perspektiflerden farklılaşmış ve kendisinden sonraki pek çok felsefî, dîni ve mistik ekole öncülük etmiş bir insan tasavvuru sunmuştur. Plotinus’un felsefesinin bütünü dikkate alındığında bu içe dönüşün, dış dünyayı yok saymak anlamına gelmediği, dış dünyadaki belirlenmiş ölçülere göre erdem sahibi olmanın yetersiz görüldüğü bu nedenle bu aşamadan sonra içe dönerek arınmak gerektiği fikrinin savunulduğu öne sürülmüştür. (shrink)

Alors que l’éducation apparaît comme un thème principal de la pensée néoplatonicienne, et qu’elle a fait l’objet de nombreux articles scientifiques et chapitres de livres, il n’existe que très peu de monographies sur cette question (on songe par exemple à l’ouvrage d’E. Watts, 2006, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, University of California Press, qui a déjà une quinzaine d’années). La contribution de Jean-Michel Charrue, parce qu’elle place l’éducation, même disséminée d...

This chapter focuses on Plotinus’ engagement with Aristotle’s hylomorphism against the wider background of Plotinus’ account of living beings. Plotinus’ general point throughout his writings is that, whatever one might think of the soul as an enmattered form, its status is not sufficiently distinct from that of the body and of its attributes. So Aristotle cannot ground his own distinction between body and soul, since the soul is an attribute among others and all attempts to make sense of its status (...) and of its causal role are doomed to fail. This chapter outlines Plotinus’ critical approach to Aristotle’s hylomorphism from the early treatise 4.7 through the treatises on the soul (4.3 and 4.4) down to the treatises 6.7 and 6.3, where Plotinus develops his own sophisticated theory of incorporeal forms. Particular attention is paid to the status of living bodies within Plotinus’ account of causation. (shrink)

Neoplatonists from Plotinus onward incorporate Aristotle's logic and ontology into their philosophies: this process is of both intrinsic and historical interest and paves the way for subsequent philosophical debates in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Era. The fifteen essays collected in this book focus on the readings of Aristotle by Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Their discussions cover key issues in the history of logic and metaphysics such as substance, hylomorphism, causation, existence, and (...) predication. Among the topics tackled in this volume are Plotinus' criticism of Aristotle's physical essentialism, which is a major chapter in the history of metaphysics, and the interpretation of Porphyry's Isagoge, one of the most influential and enigmatic works in the history of philosophy. Further essays focus on the readings of Aristotle's categories developed by Porphyry and Iamblichus, which raise interesting questions at the intersection of logic and ontology, and on the integration of Aristotle's ontology into Neoplatonist accounts of being and existence. (shrink)

The idea that the soul has a guardian daemon was a common topic among Platonists, informed by different readings of Plato, especially Symp. 202e and Resp. 620e. In his philosophically dense interpretation, Plotinus describes the daemon as the ‘pole of attraction’ or the erotic disposition that keeps the core of one’s personality directed towards the Good. In this way, the daemon promotes the soul’s ascent to higher levels of reality through a transition from unconsciousness into consciousness that, across different incarnations, (...) will eventually flow into the disembodied self. In order to unpack this view, this article brings together Enn. III.4 and III.5 with Enn. VI.7, where Plotinus discusses the difference between soul (ψυχή) and the expressed principle (λόγος) belonging to soul. This difference if fundamental to fully understand the role of the guardian daemon in the soul’s πρόοδος and ἐπιστροφή. (shrink)

This article traces the limits of the understanding of beauty as unified multiplicity in Plotinus’ Enneads vi 2 and vi 6. These treatises can be read as insisting on the significance of multiplicity for beauty and as implying a distinction between the illuminated and the unilluminated beauty of Intellect. In treatise vi 7, this distinction is made explicit and a deeper understanding of beauty as the manifestation of the Good in Intellect is introduced.