Select Works of Plotinus · 546 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 522
Section 15 15. The "category of Action": The quantum has been regarded as a single genus on the ground that Quantity and Number are attributes of Substance and posterior to it; the quale has been regarded as another genus because Quality is an attribute of Substance: on the same principle it is maintained that since activity is an attribute of Substance, Action constitutes yet another genus. Does then the action constitute the genus, or the activity from which the action springs, in the same way as Quality is the genus from which the quale is derived? Perhaps activity, action and agent should all be embraced under a single head? But, on the one hand, the action- unlike activity- tends to comport the agent; and on the other, it signifies being in some activity and therefore Being-in-Act [actual as distinct from potential Being]. Consequently the category will be one of Act rather than of Action. Act moreover incontestably manifests itself in Substance, as was found to be the case with Quality: it is connected with Substance as being a form of motion. But Motion is a distinct genus: for, seeing that Quality is a distinct attribute of Substance, and Quality a distinct attribute, and Relative takes its being from the relation of one substance to another, there can be no reason why Motion, also an attribute of Substance, should not also constitute a distinct genus.
Themes
◆Logoscosmology
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The text identifies qualities as 'Reason-Principles' (logoi) that indicate the essence of substances and function as ordering principles within existence.
All passages →◇Evil As Privationtheology
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
[auto] The passage explicitly debates whether defects like disease and ignorance are powers or privations, concluding that ignorance is a 'privation and powerlessness' while knowledge is a Form and power.
All passages →Related passages · 1 parallel
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 5, Section 1j
“Hence the title “Existent” is not quite so general as the title “Good.” “Living” is a less general title still (since a stone, for instance, has no life), and “Wise” is yet less general (since a plant is not wise).
Thus we get the followin…”
Both passages explore the nature of existence, activity, and the attributes of substances. Passage A discusses the categories of action and act in relation to substance, while Passage B explores the hierarchy of existence, life, and wisdom in relation to the divine. Both texts engage in metaphysical abstraction and the nature of reality, showing a genuine conceptual parallel.