Criticism > Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism > Plotinus - Frederic M. Schroeder (essay date 1996)

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Frederic M. Schroeder (essay date 1996)

SOURCE: “Plotinus and Language,” in The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus, edited by Lloyd P. Gerson, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 336-55.

[In the following essay, Schroeder explores how Plotinus dealt with the limitations of language in describing the principle of the One.]

I REPRESENTATION

Plotinus's highest metaphysical principle, the One or Good, is ineffable (V.3.13.1; cf. V.3.14.1-8; V.5.6.11-13; VI.9.5.31-2).¹ Indeed, Plotinus is hesitant to attribute “good,” “is” (VI.7.38.1-2), or even “one” (VI.9.5.30-3) to it. If the heart of his philosophical enterprise is to make meaningful statements about this principle, and furthermore our understanding of all else is informed by it, we may well ask why, in the light of this apparent despair of language, he would continue in his quest (his work extends to nine hundred and seventy-four pages of Oxford...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. E. R. Dodds (essay date 1928)
   2. A. Hilary Armstrong (lecture date 1956)
   3. E. R. Dodds (lecture date 1959)
   4. John M. Rist (essay date 1961)
   5. A. H. Armstrong (essay date 1966)
   6. John M. Rist (essay date 1967)
   7. A. H. Armstrong (lecture date 1979)
   8. A. P. Bos (lecture date 1984)
   9. R. Ferwada (lecture date 1984)
   10. Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson (essay date 1988)
   11. Frederic M. Schroeder (essay date 1992)
   12. Steven K. Strange (essay date 1994)
   13. Georges Leroux (essay date 1996)
   14. Frederic M. Schroeder (essay date 1996)
   15. Th. G. Sinnige (essay date 1999)
   16. Sara Rappe (essay date 2000)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. Ancient Greece