A. Primary Literature

The standard critical edition of Plotinus’ works is: Plotini Opera, 3 volumes, Greek text edited by Paul Henry and Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer, Oxford 1964–82 (editio minor). The editio maior (Bruxelles & Paris: L’Édition Universelle & Desclée de Brouwer 1951–73) provides a full account of the primary manuscript readings.

English translation with Greek facing text: Plotinus, 7 volumes, by A. H. Armstrong, Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, 1968–88.

The most recent English translation with no Greek facing text: Plotinus. The Enneads, translated by George Boys-Stones, John M. Dillon, Lloyd P. Gerson, R. A. King, Andrew Smith and James Wilberding, general editor Lloyd P. Gerson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

A recent French translation with useful notes: Plotin. Traités, 9 volumes, by Luc Brisson and J.-F. Pradéau et al., Paris: Flammarion, 2002–2020.

On Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus see the two-volume collection of essays edited by L. Brisson, M.-O. Goulet-Cazé, R. Goulet, D. O’Brien et al., Porphyre: La Vie de Plotin, Paris: J. Vrin, 1982–1992.

There is an increasing number of Translations including Introductions and Commentaries on separate treatises of the Enneads:

• A French collection of such volumes, following the chronological order of the treatises, was started in 1988 under the direction of Pierre Hadot: Les écrits de Plotin, Paris: Les editions du Cerf; it was continued after 2016 by the Librairie philosophique J. Vrin under the direction of Dominic O’Meara, Gwenaëlle Aubry, Anne-Lise Darras-Worms and François Balaudé. 18 volumes have appeared until now. (Scholar)
• An English collection named “The Enneads of Plotinus with Philosophical Commentaries”, comprising separate treatment of individual treatises, has been undertaken since 2012 by Parmenides Publishing, Las Vegas and Zurich, under the direction of John M. Dillon and Andrew Smith. 15 volumes are available so far. (Scholar)
• A new Budé edition of Plotinus’ works has begun to appear in 2017 under the direction of L. Ferroni and J.-M. Narbonne, with two volumes available so far: Plotin, Œuvres complètes, Paris: Les Belles Lettres. (Scholar)

See further:

• Atkinson, Michael, 1983, Plotinus, Ennead V. 1: On the Three Principal Hypostases: A Commentary with Translation (Oxford Classical and Philosophical Monographs), New York: Oxford University Press. (Scholar)
• Fleet, Barrie (trans.), 1995, Plotinus Ennead III.6: On the Impassivity of the Bodiless, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Scholar)
• Helleman-Elgersma, Wypkje, 1980, Soul-Sisters: A Commentary on Enneads IV 3 (27), 1–8 of Plotinus (Elementa 15), Amsterdam: Rodopi. (Scholar)
• McGroarty, Kieran, 2006, Plotinus on Eudaimonia: A Commentary on Ennead I.4, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199287123.001.0001 (Scholar)
• Meijer, P. A., 1992, Plotinus on the Good or the One (Enneads VI, 9): An Analytical Commentary (Amsterdam Classical Monographs 1), Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben. (Scholar)
• Tornau, Christian, 1998, Plotin, Enneaden VI 4-5 (22-23): Ein Kommentar, Stuttgart: Teubner. (Scholar)
• Wilberding, James, 2006, Plotinus’ Cosmology: A Study of Ennead II.1 (40): Text, Translation, and Commentary, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199277261.001.0001 (Scholar)

B. Secondary Literature

B.1 General

• Armstrong, A. H., 1967, “Plotinus”, in The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, A. H. Armstrong (ed.), London: Cambridge University Press, 195–268. (Scholar)
• Bertozzi, Alberto, 2021, Plotinus on Love: An Introduction to His Metaphysics through the Concept of Eros (Philosophia Antiqua : A Series of Studies on Ancient Philosophy 155), Leiden/Boston: Brill. (Scholar)
• Blumenthal, H. J., 1971, Plotinus’ Psychology: His Doctrines of the Embodied Soul, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. (Scholar)
• Bussanich, John, 1988, The One and Its Relation to Intellect in Plotinus: A Commentary on Selected Texts (Philosophia Antiqua, 49), Leiden/New York: E.J. Brill. (Scholar)
• Caluori, Damian, 2015, Plotinus on the Soul, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9781316226681 (Scholar)
• Chiaradonna, Riccardo, 2002, Sostanza, movimento, analogia: Plotino critico di Aristotele (Elenchos 37), Napoli: Bibliopolis. (Scholar)
• ––– (ed.), 2005, Studi sull’anima in Plotino (Elenchos 42), Napoli: Bibliopolis. (Scholar)
• Collette-Dučić, Bernard, 2007, Plotin et l’ordonnancement de l’être: étude sur les fondements et les limites de la “détermination” (Histoire des doctrines de l’Antiquité classique 36), Paris: Vrin. (Scholar)
• Coope, Ursula, 2020, Freedom and Responsibility in Neoplatonist Thought, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198824831.001.0001 (Scholar)
• Emilsson, Eyjólfur Kjalar, 1988, Plotinus on Sense-Perception: A Philosophical Study, Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511720017 (Scholar)
• –––, 2007, Plotinus on Intellect, Oxford: Clarendon Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281701.001.0001 (Scholar)
• –––, 2017, Plotinus, New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203413159 (Scholar)
• Gerson, Lloyd P., 1994, Plotinus (Arguments of the Philosophers), London/New York: Routledge. (Scholar)
• ––– (ed.), 1996, The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus, Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521470935
• Gerson, Lloyd P. and James Wilberding (eds), 2022, The New Cambridge Companion to Plotinus (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy), Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108770255
• Graeser, Andreas, 1972, Plotinus and the Stoics: A Preliminary Study (Philosophia Antiqua 22), Leiden: Brill. (Scholar)
• Hutchinson, D. M., 2018, Plotinus on Consciousness, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108344104 (Scholar)
• Kalligas, Paul, The “Enneads” of Plotinus: A Commentary, Princeton, NJ/Oxford: Princeton University Press
  • 2014, Volume 1, Elizabeth Key Fowden and Nicolas Pilavachi (trans), Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press. First published in Greek under the titles Porphyriou: Peri tou Plōtinou biou (1991), Plōtinou: Enneas Prōtē (1994), Plōtinou: Enneas Deutera (1997), and Plōtinou: Enneas Tritē (2004) by The Academy of Athens, Athens. doi:10.1515/9781400852512 (Scholar)
  • 2023, Volume 2, Nickolaos Koutras (trans.), First published in Greek under the titles Plōtinou: Enneas Tetartē (2009) and Plōtinou: Enneas Pemptē (2013) by The Academy of Athens, Athens. doi:10.1515/9780691241821 (Scholar)
• O’Brien, Denis, 1991, Plotinus on the Origin of Matter: An Exercise in the Interpretation of the Enneads (Elenchos 22), Napoli: Bibliopolis. (Scholar)
• O’Meara, Dominic J., 1993, Plotinus: An Introduction to the Enneads, Oxford: Clarendon Press. doi:10.1093/0198751478.001.0001 (Scholar)
• Remes, Pauliina, 2007, Plotinus on Self: The Philosophy of the “We”, Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511597411 (Scholar)
• Rist, John M., 1967, Plotinus: The Road to Reality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Scholar)
• Schniewind, Alexandrine, 2003, L’éthique du sage chez Plotin: le paradigme du spoudaios, Paris: J. Vrin.

B.2 Detailed Studies

• Alt, Karin, 1990, Philosophie gegen Gnosis: Plotins Polemik in seiner Schrift II 9 (Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Jahrg. 1990, Nr. 7), Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. (Scholar)
• Armstrong, A. H., 1975, “Beauty and the Discovery of Divinity in the Thought of Plotinus”, in Kephalaion: Studies in Greek Philosophy and Its Continuation Offered to Professor C.J. de Vogel (Philosophical Texts and Studies, 23), Jaap Mansfeld, and L. M. de Rijk (eds.), Assen: Van Gorcum, 155–163. (Scholar)
• Caluori, Damian, 2022, “The Embodied Soul”, in Gerson and Wilberding 2022: 219–240 (ch. 9). doi:10.1017/9781108770255.010 (Scholar)
• Chiaradonna, Riccardo, 2012, “Plotinus’ Account of the Cognitive Powers of the Soul: Sense Perception and Discursive Thought”, Topoi, 31(2): 191–207. doi:10.1007/s11245-011-9114-7 (Scholar)
• –––, 2014, “Plotinus on Sensible Particulars and Individual Essences”, in Individuality in Late Antiquity (Ashgate Studies in Philosophy & Theology in Late Antiquity), Alexis Torrance and Johannes Zachhuber (eds), Farnham: Ashgate, 47–61 (ch. 3). (Scholar)
• –––, 2016, “Are There Qualities in Intelligible Being? On Plotinus VI.2 [43] 14”, Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale, 27: 43–63. (Scholar)
• D’Ancona Costa, Cristina, 1992, “Αμορϕον Και Ανειδεον. Causalité des Formes et Causalité de l’un chez Plotin”, Revue de Philosophie Ancienne, 10(1): 69–113. (Scholar)
• –––, 1997, “Separation and the Forms: A Plotinian Approach”, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 71(3): 367–403. doi:10.5840/acpq199771334 (Scholar)
• Emilsson, Eyjólfur Kjalar, 1991, “Plotinus and Soul-Body Dualism”, in Psychology (Companions to Ancient Thought 2), Stephen Everson (ed.), Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 148–165. (Scholar)
• –––, 2019, “Plotinus’ Doctrine of Badness as Matter in Ennead I.8 [51]”, in Platonism and Christian Thought in Late Antiquity, Panagiotis G. Pavlos, Lars Fredrik Janby, Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson, and Torstein Theodor Tollefsen (eds), Abingdon/New York: Routledge, 78–99. (Scholar)
• Gertz, Sebastian, 2022, “Plotinus, Gnosticism, and Christianity”, in Gerson and Wilberding 2022: 41–64 (ch. 4). doi:10.1017/9781108770255.003 (Scholar)
• Hadot, Pierre, 1960, “Être, Vie, Pensée chez Plotin et avant Plotin”, in Les sources de Plotin (Entretiens sur l’antiquité classique 5), Genève: Fondation Hardt, 105–141. (Scholar)
• –––, 1980, “Les niveaux de conscience dans les états mystiques selon Plotin. [Levels of consciousness in Plotin’s mystical states.]”, Journal de Psychologie Normale et Pathologique, 77(2–3): 243–266. (Scholar)
• –––, 1982, “L’ « amour Magicien ». aux Origenes de la Notion de « magia Naturalis »: Platon, Plotin, Marsile Ficin”, Revue Philosophique de La France et de l’Étranger, 172(2): 283–292.
• –––, 1987, “L’union de l’âme avec l’intellect divin dans l’expérience mystique plotinienne”, in Proclus et son influence: actes du colloque de Neuchâtel, juin 1985, Gilbert Boss and Gerhard Seel (eds), Zürich: Éditions du Grand Midi, 3–27.
• Hutchinson, D. M., 2022, “Composition of Sensible Bodies”, in Gerson and Wilberding 2022: 289–311 (ch. 12). doi:10.1017/9781108770255.013 (Scholar)
• Igal, Jesús, 1979, “Aristóteles y la evolución de la antropología de Plotino”, Pensamiento: Revista de investigación e Información filosófica, 35(138): 315–346. (Scholar)
• Kalligas, Paul, 1997, “Forms of Individuals in Plotinus: A Re-Examination”, Phronesis, 42(2): 206–227. doi:10.1163/156852897762700106 (Scholar)
• –––, 2011, “The Structure of Appearances: Plotinus on the Constitution of Sensible Objects”, The Philosophical Quarterly, 61(245): 762–782. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9213.2011.702.x (Scholar)
• –––, 2012, “From ‘Energeia’ to Energy: Plotinus and the Formation of the Concept of Energy”, Hermathena, 192: 45–64. (Scholar)
• Lloyd, A. C., 1990, The Anatomy of Neoplatonism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0198238061.001.0001 (Scholar)
• Menn, Stephen, 2001, “Plotinus on the Identity of Knowledge with Its Object”, Apeiron, 34(3): 233–246. doi:10.1515/apeiron.2001.34.3.233 (Scholar)
• O’Brien, Denis, 1977, “Le volontaire et la nécessité : réflexions sur la descente de l’âme dans la philosophie de Plotin”, Revue Philosophique de la France et de l’Étranger, 167(4): 401–422. (Scholar)
• O’Meara, Dominic J., 1980, “The Problem of Omnipresence in Plotinus Ennead VI, 4-5: A Reply”, Dionysius, 4: 61–73. (Scholar)
• –––, 1990, “Le problème du discours sur l’indicible chez Plotin”, Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, 122(2): 145–156. (Scholar)
• O’Meara, Dominic J., 1996, “The Hierarchical Ordering of Reality in Plotinus”, in Gerson 1996: 66–81 (ch. 3). doi:10.1017/ccol0521470935.004 (Scholar)
• –––, 2000, “Scepticism and Ineffability in Plotinus”, Phronesis, 45(3): 240–251. doi:10.1163/156852800510207 (Scholar)
• –––, 2022, “Love in Plotinus’ Thought”, in Platonic Love from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Carl Séan O’Brien and John Dillon (eds), Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 111–124. doi:10.1017/9781108525596.009 (Scholar)
• Remes, Pauliina, 2005, “Plotinus On The Unity And Identity Of Changing Particulars”, in Oxford Studies In Ancient Philosophy XXVIII, David Sedley (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 273–302. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199281930.003.0010 (Scholar)
• Rist, John M., 1983, “Metaphysics and Psychology in Plotinus’ Treatment of the Soul”, in Graceful Reason: Essays in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy Presented to Joseph Owens, CSSR, on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday and the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Ordination (Papers in Mediaeval Studies 4), Lloyd P. Gerson (ed.), Toronto, Ont: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 135–151 (ch. 7). (Scholar)
• Schroeder, Frederic M., 1987, “Synousia, Synaisthaesis and Synesis: Presence and Dependence in the Plotinian Philosophy of Consciousness”, in Philosophie, Wissenschaften, Technik. Philosophie (Historische Einleitung; Platonismus) (Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, II 36.1), Wolfgang Haase (ed.), Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 677–699. doi:10.1515/9783110861570-016 (Scholar)
• Strange, Steven K., 1994, “Plotinus on the Nature of Eternity and Time”, in Aristotle in Late Antiquity (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy 27), Lawrence P. Schrenk (ed.), Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 22–53. (Scholar)
• Tornau, Christian, 1998, “Wissenschaft, Seele, Geist. Zur Bedeutung einer Analogie bei Plotin (Enn. IV 9,5 und VI 2,20)”, Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft, 1: 87–111. doi:10.14628/gfa.1998.0.77012 (Scholar)
• –––, 2009, “Qu’ est-ce qu’un individu? Unité, individualité et conscience de soi dans la métaphysique plotinienne de l’âme”, Les Études Philophiques, 2009(3): 333–60. (Scholar)
• –––, 2016, “Seelenspur und Aufnahmefähigkeit: ein plotinischer Zirkel?”, in Seele und Materie im Neuplatonismus (Heidelberger Forschungen 39), Jens Halfwassen, Tobias Dangel, and Carl O’Brien (eds), Heidelberg: Winter, 135–160. (Scholar)
• Tuominen, Miira, 2022, “Virtue and Happiness”, in Gerson and Wilberding 2022: 363–385 (ch. 15). doi:10.1017/9781108770255.016 (Scholar)
• Wilberding, James, 2008, “Automatic Action in Plotinus”, in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, David Sedley (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 373–408. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199544875.003.0011 (Scholar)

C. Reference

• Blumenthal, H. J., 1987, “Plotinus in the Light of Twenty Years’ Scholarship, 1951 – 1971”, in Philosophie, Wissenschaften, Technik. Philosophie (Historische Einleitung; Platonismus) (Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II 36.1), Wolfgang Haase (ed.), Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 528–570. doi:10.1515/9783110861570-013 (Scholar)
• Corrigan, Kevin, 1987, “The Course of Plotinian Scholarship from 1971 to 1986”, in Philosophie, Wissenschaften, Technik. Philosophie (Historische Einleitung; Platonismus) (Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II 36.1), Wolfgang Haase (ed.), Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 571–623. doi:10.1515/9783110861570-014 (Scholar)
• Dufour, Richard, 2002, Plotinus: A Bibliography, 1950–2000, Revised edition, Leiden/Boston: Brill. [updated version of Dufour 2002 available online] (Scholar)
• Sleeman, J. H. and Gilbert Pollet, 1980, Lexicon Plotinianum (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy: Series 1, 2), Leiden: E. J. Brill and Leuven: Leuven University Press. (Scholar)