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Select Works of Plotinus · 605 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 577 (part 2)

But we refrain from assigning Soul to Sensible Substance, on the ground that we have already referred to Quality [which is Sensible] those affections of Soul which are related to body. On the contrary, Soul, conceived apart from affection and Reason-Principle, we have restored to its origin, leaving in the lower realm no substance which is in any sense Intellectual.
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Themes
Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

[auto] Matter is characterized negatively as a shadow and vain attempt, implying its inferiority and deficiency compared to Form and Intellect.

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Emanation Hierarchycosmology

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

[auto] The passage explicitly describes a hierarchy where Intellectual beings are prior to Matter and higher beings give existence to lower ones.

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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.

Matter is described as a 'pale reflection,' 'less complete,' and having 'no Reason-Principle whatever,' aligning with the Plotinian doctrine of deficiency or privation.

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Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

[auto] Reason-Principles are identified as the source of existence for sensible things, contrasting with Matter which lacks such ordering principle.

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Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The text references a 'Primary' principle from which existence derives, implying the concept of a first principle distinct from Matter.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The passage posits a 'single source pouring into the different streams' while acknowledging that Being has different connotations across levels of reality.

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Related passages · 7 parallels
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Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)
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Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)