The paper focuses on the meaning and the role of Logos in Plotinus’ ontology and attempts to understand in what way and to what extent the "Enneads" could have been inspired by Heraclitus on this point. Revealing itself as more than an easy function of the superior hypostasis, Plotinus’ Logos (above all in the treatise "On Providence") seems to gain a (meta-)ontological autonomy that situates it somehow on a parallel level alongside the One. Nevertheless, while Plotinus often identifies the One, although indefinable, with the Good, the Logos concentrates in itself all the contradictions of Being, guaranteeing it the same ‘rationality’ that Heraclitus’ Logos gave the conflict among opposites in the world.
The Legacy of Heraclitean Logos in Plotinus’ Ontology
Christian Vassallo
2017-01-01
Abstract
The paper focuses on the meaning and the role of Logos in Plotinus’ ontology and attempts to understand in what way and to what extent the "Enneads" could have been inspired by Heraclitus on this point. Revealing itself as more than an easy function of the superior hypostasis, Plotinus’ Logos (above all in the treatise "On Providence") seems to gain a (meta-)ontological autonomy that situates it somehow on a parallel level alongside the One. Nevertheless, while Plotinus often identifies the One, although indefinable, with the Good, the Logos concentrates in itself all the contradictions of Being, guaranteeing it the same ‘rationality’ that Heraclitus’ Logos gave the conflict among opposites in the world.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
