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merican Philological ssociation
Katharsis in the Enneades of PlotinusAuthor(s): Hazel E. BarnesSource: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 73 (1942),pp. 358-382Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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358
Hazel E.
Barnes
[1942
XXIV.-Katharsis
in the Enneades
of Plotinus'
HAZEL
E. BARNES
THE
WOMAN'S COLLEGE
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF NORTH
CAROLINA
According
to
the
teaching
of Plotinus the Soul
attains
the Ekstasis by a
process
of purification
involving
two distinct steps.
The Soul
is united to the
Intellectual-Principle
by first pursuing, later
abandoning
Virtue and
Self-knowl-
edge,
and
by
studying
dialectic. The study
of philosophy
brings it to
the One
but
involves
ultimately the rejection
of the intellectual
act.
The Soul
itself is
affected,
and
the
process
has a positive as
well as a
negative aspect.
Katharsis nGreekreligionnd philosophys from hebeginning
a means
of
separating
Man's
soul
from he body. At
first, s
in
particular
with
he
Orphics,
he
separation
s
viewedalmost iterally.
The
soul is
believed
by
means of ritualisticpurification
o be re-
leased
from he
wheel
of
being,
that
s,
from
he necessity
f ever
again
inhabiting
he mortal
body,
conceived
always
as
the
soul's
prison.
Plato
in
borrowing
he
conception
nevitably
ubstitutes
a
spiritual purification
or the ritualistic.
Personal
immortality
afterdeath,when the soul is finally reedfrombodilyties, is the
ultimategoal.
But there
xists
lso the desire
for
present
psycho-
logical
and
spiritual eparation
of soul
and
body,
which
s
at once
a
preparation
nd
immediate
nd. This
is
basically
the
theory
of
Plotinus.
There are two
changes
which
the
particular
develop-
ments
of
his
own
system
make
necessary.
First,
his
acceptance
and
formulation
f
the
belief
hinted at in Plato and
developed
by
the
Middle
Platonists,
that Matter itself
s
Evil,
gives
him
meta-
physical as well as psychological ustification ordemandingthat
the
body
be abandoned
entirely.
In the second
place,
the
tran-
scendent
nature
of
the
One
or the
Good,
to
which he
gives
more
emphasis
than
Plato,
necessitates
an
abandoning
of
intellection
itself
n
the approach
to
the
Highest,
thus
extending
he
scope
of
katharsis.
With
these
two
important
exceptions,
the ideas
of the
two
men
are
not
dissimilar.
It
is not
my purpose
to
present
com-
parison
of
the two
or to discuss
the historical
easons behind
those
1
Translations
and terminology
(and
capitalization)
are
based
on,
though
not
always
identical
with,
the work
of Mackenna
and Page,
Enneads
(London,
1917-1930).
In
particular
I have
used
Mackenna's
designation
for the three
Plotinian
realms:
vro ,
the
One; vois,
Intellectual-Principle;
4Ivvxi',
oul.
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Vol. lxxiii]
Katharsis
n
Enneades of
Plotinus 359
clhangeswhich Plotinus
made.
T
he
significant oint
is
the
fact
that already
with
Plato
(slhown
articularlyn Socrates' discussion
in the
Phaedo)
katharsis
s
more
than a
separation.
The Soul
is
not mlerelyreedfrompollutionbut is itself nternally tlectedby
the
purification,
s made to
concentrate ts powers. The process s
more than evena psychological
eparation;
t is a spiritual
renewal.
Failure to realize that such
is the case in
the thought f Plotinus
has been, I
believe, a major erroron the
part of many
Plotinian
scholars.
It is
well known that Plotinus himselfwas disturbed
by the
problem
of
the Soul's relation
to evil.
Mletaphysically
peaking,
he could not admit that an act of creationwhich mitatedthat of
the
Primal Cause could be
in
any sense at all an evil or
a
failure.
Thus he was forcedto say
that the voluntary
mbodiment
f the
Soull Was
goo(d.
Yet
fr-oill
le
lplilosol)llical
point
of
view,
there
mustof necessity
e a certain
lement f evil or defilement
nvolved
in the union of Soul and Body in orderfor
him to advance
his plea
that
the human being hould
reach ever
upward
to
the
Intellectual-
Principle
and so
free his
Soul from material ties.
If
the
bonds
linking oul to Body
are
desirable, here an
be no reasonfor esiring
to free heSoul from hem. The reconciliation f the two ideas is
accomplished by
the use of an
argument
based on time.
The
initial
entry
of
the
Soul is
allowed to
be
a
metaphysicalnecessity.
The Soul
is
a
god,
a later
phase
of the
divine;
but
under
tress
of
its power and
of its tendencyto bring orderto its next
lower, t
penetrates
to
this
sphere
in a
voluntary plunge;
if it
turns
back
quickly, all
is
well;
it will
have taken no hurt by acquiring
the
knowledge
f
Evil
and
coming
to understandwhat sin is
(4.8.5).
Nevertheless, f the Soul remains in the lower world too long,
fleeing
he
All
which
s its
homeand
exercising
ts own
ndividuality,
then
it
is
overcome
by
the
gradual encroachment
f MVatter
nd
lenicC
s
n1o oniger
itlhout vil.
Whether he Soul's union
with
the
bodily
s evil only n process
of time
or at
the
moment
of
the
first
escent,
n either
case
it
is
entanglement
with Matter that
produces
the evil. For
with Plo-
tinus
MIatter, eing
viewed
as absolute
privation,
s Evil absolute.
Furthermore,t is at least sometimes onceived s being n actively
evil force
s well
as
a
passive
one. The
result
s
that
there re
two
ways
in which
its
association with the Soul is harmful. First,
Matter
is
accretion.
The
Soul
takes on that which
s
alien
to
itself
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360
Ihazel E. Barnes
[1942
and is
laden
with a
heavy burden,
as
it
were,
which
imnpedests
flight pward.
In more
psychological
erms,
the Soul
by
its
con-
cern
for
earthly hings
s
prevented
rom
uninterrupted
ontempla-
tion of the divine. Second, Matter brings bout dispersionn the
Soul.
The
Soul's power is
enfeebled
by
its
entanglement
with
Matter so
that
its (livine
faculties
no
longer
have free
play.
It
lacks the
strength nd
power to raise itself
up
to
contemplatioll
f
the
divine.
Soul's
entanglement
with
Matter
is
but the last in a
series of
downward
steps.
The
Soul's
ultimate
goal
is the
One,
and this
cannot
be
reached
simply by
the
taking
away
of
Matter.
Accre-
tionand dispersionbothwerepresent s soon as theOne had over-
flowed
o
produce the
Intellectual-Principle,
nd
again when
this
gave
birth
to the Soul. Matter
is
the
only positive,
bsolute
Evil'.
It is only
through
Matter that the Soul
can
lose even
partially ny
of
ts own
natural powers. But in so
far
as
the
departure
from
he
divine
One
is
concerned, ach
step
down
is
apostasy.
Each new
quality, however
good
in
itself,
s
accretion, ntroduces
dispersion,
and so
is
relativelyevil. The
Soul's
union with
the
One
is
pre-
vented
by
those
very qualities which
distinguish
t as
Soul
and
likewiseby those qualities in the Intellectual-Principle,
hlich
it
must first ttain
if
it
is
to
reach the One.
By
the
possessionof
anythingwhich
s not
in
the
One,
it
is rendered
mpure and'must
be
purified
efore
hegoal
is
achieved.
If
the
descent
and
subsequent
defilement f
the
Soul was
accom-
plished
by the
accruement f
alien qualities
which
brought he en-
feebling f its
powers,
he reascent s to be
achievedby the
directly
opposite process.
Addition is to be
replaced
by
subtraction,dis-
persion by concentration. Since it is the presence of the alien
which
renders the
Soul unable
to
concentrate, o
collect
its full
powers
within
tself,
t is the
process
of gettingrid
of the
foreign
elements
which
receives most of Plotinus'
attention.
But
the fact
that
there s always a
positive'side as well
must not
be overlooked.
The
Soul, then,must be
purified
f
that which
t
has
taken
on. In
the
Plotinian
hierarchy
he
qualities
of
each lower realm
are not
to
be
imputedto the
higher
ne.
The
higher
ealm
auses
and
includes
but does notpartakeofthe lower ones (6.7.42). Thus the advance
to
each
new stage
is
achieved
by
the
abandoning
of
the lower one,
with
the
discarding
of
all the qualities
inherent n it. To a
large
extent it is
entirely
negative; but
once the
negative
process is
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Vol.
lxxiii] Katharsis
n Enneades
of
Plotinus
361
complete,
the
step
into
the
higher
state
has been
accomplished.
Each
higher ealm
s
reached
automatically
fter he
attainment
f
the
peak
of the lowerone.
To attain
the
higher,
ne must
develop
the full capacities of the lower. This perfections achieved by
discarding
all
alien matter-that
is,
the
qualities
of a
still lower
realm-and so
enabling
the
state or
power
n
question
to be
most
truly
and
purely
tself.
Repose
from he alien
leaves
the
char-
acteristic
ctivity
ntact
(5.3.7).
In
the
reascentthe katharsis
s
thus continuous. In
the
lower
stages the
objects
of
purification
re
to
a
certain
extent
evil in
themselves
n that
they
involve
dependence
on
Matter. In
the
later the purifications only of that which is merelyno longer
needed
because
of
being
superseded
by
something
higher.
The
activities
of
which
the Soul
is
purified
n
the
later
stages
are in
themselves
ood
and
have
brought
he Soul
up
to its
present
height.
They
may,
however, ecause
of
their
very
goodness,
ct
as
a
snare,
deceiving the Soul
into
thinking
hat it has
already
reached
the
divine
and so
prevent
ts
striving
o
go
higher.
Plotinus refers o the
ascent
as a
sort of
mystic
ourney to
be
taken
by
initiates
1.3.1).
The
path
is
upward
from
he
lowest of
three realms to the highest. The first tage is thusfrom heSoul
to
the
Intellectual-Principle,
he
second from
the
Intellectual-
Principal
to
the One. The
first
scent,
however,
ctually
consists
of two
steps:
the
firstwithin he
sphere
f
the Soul
itself,
ts
awaken-
ing to a
realization
of its
own
nature and
origin; and
the
second,
the
actual
advance into the
higher
realm.
In
other
words,
Soul
must attain its
highest
capacity
as
Soul
before
it can
become
Intellectual-Principle. Each
man
must
come
to a
realization of
the essential life-that is, the divine Soul-within him and its
position
as
an
integral
part,
an
identitywith the
All-Soul. So
far
the
problem
s
an
individual
one,
varying
n
its
solution
with
the
character
nd
circumstances
f
each
human
being.
Once
the
union
with the
All-Soul s
realized, then
the
path
to
be trod s
always the
same,
the
step
from
pure
Soul
to
pure
Intellectual-Principle
nd
eventually
from
ure
Intellectual-Principle
o
the
One.
While it
is
true
that
katharsis
with
Plotinus is
for
the
purpose
of enabling the Soul to be unitedwith the One during ife, t is
important
o remember
hat
the goal is
by no
means
an
harmonious,
complementary ynthesis
f
Soul
and
Body.
Repeatedly he
urges
the
fact that
the
separation
of
the
two
must
be
absolute-
in a
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362
Hazel E.
Barnes
[1942
spiritual
sense, of
course,-that
in
any
compromise
between
the
two,Body
will
inevitably
be
dominant,
that
any
good in
this
life
exists
never through
uch
a
partnership
ut only through
Soul's
repudiation fit,that the iberation f theSoul is not a withdrawing
from ertain
vil aspects
of Body but
a
flight ntirely
way
from
t.2
The condition
f
the
embodied
Soul
is like gold
in the natural
state.
The gold
is
hidden in inferior,
xtraneous
matter
almost
beyond
detection,
but
all
the
qualities
which
make the
metal
precious
remain
ntact.
The task
of bringing
t to
itsfinest
tate
is achieved
by
removing
hat
which
has collected
around it. Similarly,
the
Soul
must
be liberated
from
ll
that
pertains
to
Matter,so
that
it
maybe free o exercise ll thepowers nherentn it. So long as it
attaches
any
importance
to
Body,
there
s
a thinning
ut or
di-
minishing
f its
own
powers,
both as
Soul and as
a potential
part
of each
of the
more
divine realms. While
its
divinity
s
not essen-
tially
changed,
ts active
power
s
not
unaffected.
The purification
f the
Soul, then,
s a
steady
withdrawal
from
all that
is inferior
until it contains
nothing
extraneous to
the
divine
One.
How
is
this to
be
accomplished?
The answer s the
same
as that
given
by
Plato-by
the
pursuit
of
philosophy.
We
are specifically old so in several places. In the treatiseOn the
Animate
nd
Man when Plotinus
s
speaking
of
the
various
possible
modes
of coalescence
of Soul
and
Body,
he
says
that
in
case
Soul
is
partly
attached
and
partly
free,
t
will be
the two-fold ask
of
philosophy
o
direct
the
lower
phase
of
the Soul
toward
the
higher
and
in
so
far as
is
possible
to
separate
it from
ts
instrument,
he
Body
(1.1.3).
Again
n
the
ast
Ennead he
speaks
of the two
phases
of the
Soul
and
says
that
the
higher
will
be held down
by
the
lower
so longas the owerremains. If,however, hilosophy as freed he
higher
oul (EL
b
ravreXws
bcaete
xXoaootoa),
then
the
lower
departs
alone to
an inferior
ealm and the
higher,
he true Soul, may
enter
into the
ntellectual
world
purified
f
any
contamination
rom
ower
existence
(abmrq
E
KaOapcosev
rc4
Potp743
v6epos
-ppflj.vou
abrrTs6.4.16).
Again
we are told
that
the
man who
is
capable
of
entering
nto
the
Intellectual
Realm
is
the one
with
the nature
of the lover
and a
disposition
nherently hilosophical
5.9.2).
Finally,
in
taking
up
theproblem fwhether r not theSoul is to be consideredmpervious
to
earthly
nfluence,
lotinus
asks,
Why
then
f the Soul has
been
unaffected
rom
the
beginning,
s it
necessary
to make
the
Soul
2See
3.6.6;
2.3.9;
5.1.10;
1.7.3;
1.8.8;
5.4.15.
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Vol. lxxiii]
Katharsis n Enneades
of
Plotinus
363
immune y means
of
philosophy AbraOr
TrIv
qlvXtlv
K
tbtOLToctas
roteZv
.6.5)?
In suchstatementswe are told
specifically
ut without
labora-
tion that katharsis s accomplishedthroughphilosophy. A close
examination
of
the
Enneades will
show,
I
believe,
that the
philo-
sophical approach
is
maintained
hroughout
n connectionwith
the
Soul's purification
nd
that the
conception
of
katharsis
as
accom-
plished by
philosophy
orms he
foundation f the whole
Plotinian
system.3
Yet the term
philosophy
varies
according
o the
par-
ticular
tages
n
the ascent.
Thus at one time
s meantthat
part
of
philosophy
which
is
equivalent to mere
ratiocination,
t another
dialectic; at still other times philosophy s thoughtof as pure
religion.
For
purposes
of discussion we
may
divide
the
study
of
the
approach
to the One
and its
achievement
hroughphilosophy
in
the same
way as does Plotinus. Thus we
have
first he approach
to
the
Intellectual-Principle,
econd the
approach
to the
One,
or
the Ekstasis.
I.
THE
APPROACH
TO THE
INTELLECTUAL-PRINCIPLE
(1)
The
Virtues.
Without true
Virtue, says
Plotinus, God is
but a name. By it the Soul is cleansed; through t, along with
wisdom, God
is
made manifest
2.9.15). With
Plotinus as with
most of
the Greek
philosophers, irtue
ncludesbut
is never imited
to moral
goodness.
With
him
more
than with
any of the others
Virtue s
intellectualized.
To a certain
extent,particularly n
the
passages dealing with
metempsychosis, irtue is loosely
equated
with
morality
nd
justice, and Vice
with their
opposites. But in
general
his
belief
hat the earthly ife
of the Soul is
never an end
in
itself eads Plotinus to make of thevirtues imply means ofsepa-
rating the Soul
from all
bodily concerns and
training t to
look
upward to the
Intellectual-Principle.
With Plato
he declares that
all
the virtues
re purifications.
Virtue n its true
sense is not the
regulation f earthly ife
but an
internal iberationfrom t.
In a
more
positive ense t is the Soul's
retirementnto
tself s theresult
3
Marcel De
Corte
has
discussed
this
subject
in an
article,
Technique
et
fonde-
ment
de la
purification
Plotinienne,
Revue
d'Histoire
de
la
Philosophie 5
(1931) 42-74.
His discussion, which is excellent so far as it goes, falls short, it seems to me, in two
important
points:
first,he
fails to
realize
that
the
Soul itself
s
affected
by the
purifica-
tion;
second,
he
does not
distinguish
between
dialectic
and
philosophy, as does
Plotinus,
and so
does
not
give
proper
emphasis to
the
fact
that there
are
two
distinct
stages in
the
process
of
katharsis.
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364
Hazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
of
purification
f all
that
belongs
to the
external
world.
This
view
must never
be misconstrued
s meaning
that earthly
morality
nd
goodness
are
unimportant
n
Plotinus'
eyes.
But their
mportance
is takenforgranted s ofnecessityncluded n a higher onception.
Plotinus'
views
on
Virtue
and
man's
philosophical
purpose
are
summed
up
in his
famous
entence
oming
t the end of
his
treatise
On
Virtue:
Our
concern
s not
to be sinless
but
to be
divine
(1.2.6).
This
is,
of course,
losely
inked
with
the Platonic
doctrine
of
attaining
ikeness
o
God,
which
Plotinus quotes
directly,
aying
like
Plato
that
in
attaining
this
likeness
ies
our
escape
from
vil
and
this
world.
To Plato's
explanation
that this likeness
means
becoming ust andholy, ivingbywisdom
(pueTa
bpovkews
-yeveioa),
Plotinus
adds
the words
oXws
Ev
AperT
(1.2.1).
Thus
it is
Plotinus
who
emphasizes
the
necessity
f
Virtue;
but
he does
so only for
he
sake
of giving
it
a
specific
and strict
nterpretation,
hich
later
leads
to
a
partial
discarding
of
it.
Plato
goes
on
in the
passage
mentioned
o
what
he
believes
to
be the
true
reason
for
practising
Virtue
and
shunning
Vice.
God is
in
no wise
and
in no
manner
unrighteous,
but
utterly
and
perfectly
righteous,
and
there
is
nothing
o
like
him as
that one
of
us
who
in turn
becomes
most
nearlyperfect n righteousness. It is hereinthat the trueclever-
ness
of
a man
is found
and also
his worthlessness
nd
cowardice;
for the
knowledge
of
this
is true
Virtue,
and
ignorance
of
it
is
folly
r
manifest
wickedness
(Theaetetus
76
B-C).
With
Plato,
then,
man must
pursue
Virtue merely
because
God
is
perfect
righteousness.
This
is not untrue
for
Plotinus,
but
he
does
not see things
uite
so
simply.
To begin
with,
he
divides
the
virtues
nto two-or perhaps
three
different
lasses.
The
first
s
thatofthecivic virtues, nd these Plotinusdecidesare notcapable
of bringing
bout
likeness.
For
how,
he asks,
can there
be
a
quality
such
as
courage
where
there
s no danger,
or
self-restraint
where
here
re
no
false
allurements
romwhich
one should
restrain
oneself?
The conclusion
s that the
civic virtues
n
so far
as
they
are
associated
with mortal
reasoning
faculties
do not
exist
in
the
divine
realm.
These are
all
closely
bound
up
with
those
con-
comitants
of
bodily
existence
whichare
not
found
n
the
divine.
Phronesis s pure ratiocination; ndreiais concernedwiththe pas-
sionatenature;
sophrosyne
roduces
the
harmony
between
passion
and
reason;
dikaiosyne
s the employment
f each
of
the
virtues
s
it
should
command
or
obey.
It is
obvious
that
we
cannot
gain
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Vol.
lxxiii]
Katharsis
n
Enneades
of
Plotinus
365
likeness
to God
by
virtues so
firmly
ound
to the
bodily. The
civic
virtues are not those
by
which
men win
the ultimate
mystic
vision.
Yet therehave been men possessedof the civic virtueswhom
tradition
has recognized
s
divine.
We
must
recognize
hat
there
are both
two planes
of
excellence
nd
two classes of
virtues o
which
we may attain. The virtues
of this lower
plane
are
by
no
means
to be
despised
so
long
as
they
are viewed in
the
proper
perspective.
Moral
excellence s formfor the
Soul
(6.7.27).
The lower
virtues
regulate and
ennoble
our
lives
here.
They
set limitsand
measure
to
our
desires
and emotions.
They
save us from
false
opinion.
For a manbecomesbetterbybeing ubjecttomeasure ndremoving
himself rom
he sphere
of
the unbounded and
unmeasured. The
Soul is as
Matter to
the
acts of
the
virtues,
and
they are
like an
image of
the best which
s
above.
By
replacing he utter
measure-
lessness of
Matter with some
slight
participation
n
ideal
form, he
virtues
bring
the Soul a
little nearer to the divine
that
is
beyond
form.
Then the Soul
being
closer to the divine
than the
body
and
thus more akin
participates
more
fully,
nd
deceivingus,
it almost
seems like the divine itself. It is in this way that those who
possess the civic
virtues
cquire
likeness
1.2.2).
It will be
noted
that even
in
this
praise of
earthly
virtuesthey
are
given
no true
ultimate
value.
Divinity
s
not
reached
by
such
virtues,only
an
illusion
because
of an
approximation
to it.
If
man
is
deceived
by this
appearance,
Virtue
becomes itself
snare
and a
hindrance o the Soul. All
practical
virtues
n
themselves
are
simply ensible
qualities, and
qualities are
associated with the
Soul in its apostasy. The practicalvirtuesare important s con-
tributing o the
external
ocial
well-being
f
humanity. They
make
for
beauty and
order
n
the worldand
so are
desirable,but
theyare
not
necessary
6.3.16).
An
extension
of this idea is
the belief
that good
is not
derived
from
the act itself
but from
the inner
disposition
prompting t.
Heracles is the
type of a
hero of
virtuous actions.
Through his
noble
service
he was deemed
worthy
f being a god.
But
he did
not have the contemplativenatureand so was notwhollyworthy
of
being n the
higher
ealms.
Something f
him remained
below,
and
that is
why the
poet put Heracles
himself
mong the
gods and
his
shade in
the lower
world 1.1.12).
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366
Hazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
Since
it
is clear
that
likeness
to God cannot
be
attained
merely
by
the
practice
of
civic
or practical
virtues,
Plotinus assumes
the
existence
of
a
higher
lass
of
virtuesof the same
name as
the
lower
but moreintellectual n nature. Even these ideal virtuesdo not
of
necessity
xist
in the
divine
state,
but through
cquiring
them
we attain
likeness
to
a Being
in which
theyhave
no place.
It
is
the
Plotinian
principle
of
advancing
by
means
of
that
which
must
be
discarded
ust
before
he
ultimate
goal
is achieved.
In
the
final nalysis
the
higher irtues
re little
more
than katharsis
tself,
in
this
instance
the
freeing
f the
intellect
from
ll that
is bodily.
Plotinus
discusses
Plato's
saying
that all the virtues
are
puri-
fications.4 In what sense, he asks, are we to think
Plato
meant
this?
The
Soul's evil comes
about through
ts
fusion
withthe
body,
by
sharing
ts states
and,
so to speak,
thinking
with t.
Thus each
of the
four
cardinal virtues
is interpreted
s one aspect
of
the
purifying
rocess.
Phronesis
refers
to
the Soul's separating
its
intellect
from
he
body and
acting alone.
Sophrosyne
s refusing
to be
affected
y
the
passions
of the
body.
Andreia
is
ceasing
to
fear eparation
from
he body
by
death.
Finally dikaiosyne
s
the
dominance
of reason
and intellect
without
opposition
1.2.3).5
After he acts of the highervirtuesthe Soul is left mmuneto
passion,
and
one
would
not be
wrong
n
saying
that
such a Soul
had
attained
likeness
to God.
For the divine
is
pure,
and its
activity
is
such that
likeness to
it is wisdom
(1.2.3).
Now
the Soul
will
hold
itself
aloof
from ll passions
and affections,
nd
all that
it
gives
to
the body
will
be bestowed
as
upon something
eparate.
For the
Soul's
true
good
lies
n
devotionto
the ntellectual-Principle,
which
is
its
kin
(1.2.4).
Freedom
to exercise
this contemplation
is won by the purification hichthe highervirtueshave achieved.
At
times
Plotinus
makes
the connection
between
the
virtues
and
intellect
little
loser.
In
one
passage
virtues
re said
to be
species
and
not primary
genera
because
they
are all
subordinate
acts
of
intellect 6.2.18).
In another
we read that
the virtues
of the
Soul
are
those
by
which he vision
s
directed
o the
ntellectual-Principle,
wisdom
and thought
(1.2.7).
But it
must be remembered
hat
while
the
higher
virtues
re
closely
bound
up
with
the
intellectual,
theydo not constitute he intellectual ct itself. Virtueis
of
the
4For
the
development
of this
idea
in Plato
and Plotinus
see
E.
Brehier,
APETAI
KAOAP2:EI2:,
REA
42
(1940)
53-58.
6
See
also
1.6.5-6.
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Vol.
lxxiii] Katharsis
n
Enneades
of
Plotinus
367
Soul, not of the
Intellectual-Principle
r
the One. The
higher
virtues are
not
even the actual
contemplation
f the
Intellectual-
Principle.
They are the
purification
f
all that would
prevent hat
contemplation. They form the intellectualattitude that allows
the vision.
That the
higher
virtues
completely
supersede
the lower
is
brought
ut in
a
passage
in
which Plotinus divides men into
three
groups:
thosewho
live by
sense and
pretended
easoning,
hosewho
live by a virtue
which
enables
them
to
select well
among
lower
things, nd those who live
by
divine
contemplation.
Of
these
only
the
third
lass
ever
attains ultimate
truth
5.9.1).
It
may
be
said
that thosewho pursue thepracticalvirtuesbut notdivine contem-
plation
hold a
middle
position
analogous
to
that of
Christians
who
would live by
works
alone.
The
Christian
who
lives a moral life
and
keeps
God's
laws
is more to be
commended
han he
who
ives
a
life of
wickedness;
yet
without divine love
he
is
nothing. The
Plotinian
philosopher, oo,
is
to be
praised for
freeing imself rom
the owest
phases
of
bodily
affections,
ut
without
he divine
vision
he
still ives in
unreality. The
object
of our
imitation
s
not good
men
but the divine
(1.2.7).
It is clear that all the virtuesare means of purification.The
civic
virtues
purify
man
of
objective evil;
that s,
theyrestrain
him
from
vice. The
intellectual
virtues
completely ree he
Soul of
all
dependence
upon
the
bodily.
Both ofthese
are
negative. Is
there
a
positive
Virtue?
Virtue
in
the
positivesense
is that
whichre-
mains
after
the Soul's
achieved
purification. It
is
the essential
act,
the
Soul's
true
good-in
other
words,
the
Soul's vision,
the
contemplation of
the
Intellectual-Principle.
Purification
brings
about the Soul's turningfrom the bodily to the Intellectual-
Principle. The
Soul's
virtue s the
actual
vision which
results n
its
identification ith the
Intellectual-Principle
1.2.4).
To
sum
up,
there are three
teps
in the
approach to
the Intel-
lectual-Principle y Virtue:
(1)
the turning
f the
Soul
frommoral
evil
and lack
of
order; (2) the
turning
f the Soul
from
Body
into
itself
and its
own reason;
(3)
the turning
f the
Soul from
tself
to
the
ntellectual-Principle,
n
this ast
case
alone not
accomplished
by any truediscarding flowerelements. It is seen thatVirtue-
or
the
virtues-becomes
more
and
more
intellectualized s the
process
of
purificationnd
the
consequent
reascentof the
Soul
con-
tinue.
By the
timethat
the
third tep has
been
reached,
Virtue s
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368
Hazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
only a
means of
identification
ith pure intellect,
nd no
ethical
coloringwhatsoever
remains.
Virtue
as commonly onceived
has
been sought,
practiced,
nd
of
necessity
ranscended.
(2) Self-Knowledge.rvcoot
-avrov
as Plotinususes it has some-
what ess
of
an ethical
and
psychological
ndmore
of a
metaphysical
character
than
with
Socrates.
The
Platonist
by self-knowledge
comes to
know
the Soul
in its
relation
to the
divine.
The
Neo-
Platonist
by looking
nward
arrives
t the
realization
hat he him-
self
s onewith
the divine.
Plotinus
n
his teaching
oncerning
he
higher
and
lower parts
of the Soul
includes
the
idea
that self-
knowledge
s the
proper
method
of
earning
properly
o understand
them (6.4.17).
rvcot
YauToJv
s said to those who, because they are
manifold,
ave the task
of appraising
hemselves
ince
theydo
not
know
all or some
of their
onstituents
ust as
they
do notknow
their
own origin
r
principle
f Being
(6.7.41).
But the
attainment of self-knowledge
ith
Plotinus
includes
more than
the realization
of one's
psychological
nature
and ca-
pacities.
It takes
on a metaphysical
haracter
by
which the
con-
templation
of oneself eads
one to the
understanding
f the
divine
Soul within. Following this the Soul's contemplationof itself
results
n
the perception
f the
Intellectual-Principle
ithin
tself
and consequently
he achievement
f self-identity
ith the higher
realm.
Man contains
within
him
potentially
both
the
Soul
and
the
Intellectual-Principle.
By
looking
nward
he
may
contemplate
them
and
eventually
be identifiedwith
them.
Self-knowledge
s a
means
of innergrowth
s presented
perhaps
most
clearly
n
the
treatise
On
Beauty.
If
man
would
know the
beauty
which
the
Soul
possesses,
ays
Plotinus,
he must
withdraw
withinhimself. If he does not yetfindhimself eautiful,he must
labor
like the
creator
of a statue,
cutting
way
what
is
excessive,
straightening
hat
is
crooked,
and so forth.
When the statue
of
the
inner
man
is made
perfect,
hen
one is
gathered
nto the
purity
of
his own
being
where
nothing
of externals
can
cling
to
him.
Then he
becomes that
veritable
ight,
ery
vision,
nd
so
mounting,
his
Soul
can
approach
the
divine
Intellectual-Principle.
The
view
that
our
perception
of
beauty,
form,
ntellect,
nd
the good mustbeginwith the studyof thosequalitieswithinour-
selves
is
not
wholly
dissimilar
o the Platonic doctrinewhich
would
have
our appreciation
of
beauty
dependent
on our
knowledge
of
the
idea
of
beauty,
which
we
learned n
a
former
nd
higher
tate.
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Vol.
lxxiii] Katharsis
n
Enneades
of
Plotinus
369
Nevertheless,
ifferences
ncrease as
one looks
for them.
For
one
thing,
Plotinus states that
the
god
in each
of us
is the same
(6.5.1).
By
looking
nward
we
pierce
more and more
beyond
all the
acci-
dental properties f ourselvesas individualhumanbeingsuntilat
last we see the true
self
within
us,
which
is divine
and above
all
that which
accentuates
our
distinction
rom ther
real
beings.
The
precept
yvwOt
avrov,
then,
s
applied
o
the
process
f
the
Soul's
contemplation
of
its
own
nature
while
purifying
tself
of
external-that
is, bodily-interests.
In
other
words,
self-contem-
plation
s
again
a
form f
katharsis.
The
turning
nward
s
for
he
purpose
of
enabling
the
Soul to
be alone.
Even the
circular
move-
ment oftheheavens Plotinusexplainsas comingabout because the
Soul always
discovers
more
than
Soul,
while
Soul
alone
is
what
it
would
find
2.2.2).
For
the
Soul
to
regain
ts union
with
the
higher
power,
two
things
must
be
done.
First,
the Soul
must
learn
to
know the
worthlessness
f
those
objects
which
it
now
honors.
Second, it
must
recall ts
own
origin
nd
worth. For
its
separation
from the
Intellectual-Principle as come
about as
the
result of
forgetting
hence
it came and
consequently
holding tself
n
dis-
honor and
glorifying
n
inferior
xternals.
The second
method
supersedesthe first nd if clearlybrought out explains the first.
The Soul
must
now look
inward
and
by
seeing
only itself earn
to
know ts own
origin
nd
ultimate
goal. To
know
ourselves
s
to
know our
source
(6.9.7).
Self-knowledge
s an
intellectual,
on
the
whole,
positive form
of
katharsis,
for
t
raises the
soul to
the
Intellectual-Principle
y
teaching
t to
know
more
of
its own
nature.
Yet as was
the
case
with
the virtues,
self-knowledge
s
eventually
discarded. In
the
treatise On IntellectualBeauty Plotinus describes the man who
through
elf-knowledge
nd
the
appreciation
of
inner
beauty has
arrived
t the desired
goal.
At
that
moment
he
may see
an
image
of
himself
ifted
to
greater
beauty; but
this he
ignores,
ovely
though t
is, and sinks
into
perfect
unity with
the
divine.
The
turning
to
the divine is in
two
phases.
First
comes
separation
when man
is
aware of
himself.
Then as he
advances
inward
he
fears
he
separated
ife nd
forgets
imselfn
the
veryact of
turning
inward. If he does not lose this self-awareness,he vision is not
complete;
and
he
keeps
himself
apart from
the
divine.
Active
self-knowledge as led
to
the
desired
goal by
being
first
ought,
then
achieved,
and
then
abandoned.
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370
IHazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
(3)
Dialectic.
In
the treatise
On Dialectic
Plotinus
tells
us that
there re
three
ypes
of men
who
are capable
ofreaching
he ultimate
goal.
They
are the
musician,
he
lover,
nd the
philosopher.
The
musicianand the lover must be guided by outside influence; he
philosopher
may
advance
by
the
impulse
of his
own nature.
The
musician
proceeds
from he
perception
f tones,
rhythms,
nd
forms
in
natural sounds
to the
realization
of the
correspondences
nd
relationships
ehind them.
Then
he
mustbe
taught
that
what
so
thrilled
him was the intellectual
harmony
and that the
beauty
within
t
was
not a particular
beauty
but
universal
beauty.
From
there
he must
go
on to study
the
truths
of philosophy
until
he
understands hosethingswhichhithertohe possessed n ignorance.
The
lover,
who
belongs
to the
class
above that
of the
musician,
through
which
the musician
must pass
on
the journey
upward,
advances
from he
perception
f
physical
and
particular
to
intel-
lectual
and universal
beauty after
he manner
prescribed
y
Plato.
The philosopher,
nlike the
other
two,
does
not need
to
begin
with
the separation
from
bodily
interests,
or
by
his very
nature
he
is
already prepared
or he
upward
step.
He
begins
t once
the study
of mathematics,
y
which he may
win a
comprehension
f
abstract
thought nd a faith n the ncorporeal,rainingn the higher irtues,
and finally
he
pursuit
of
dialectic.
It
is the pursuit
of dialectic
which
completes
the necessary
training
of
all
three
classes.
This
is the science
of
reality,
and
Plotinus
explains
very
carefully
what
he means
by
it.
It
is
that
which
eaches
the
true
nature
of
things,
howing
he
position
f each
object
with
regard
o
reality.
It deals
withBeing
and
its
distinction
from
Non-Being
and
with the
Good
and the Not-Good
and
the
eternal and the perishable. These things it studies with true
science,
not opinion.
It
comprehends
he
Ideas,
traverses
the
entire
Intellectual
realm,
then
knowing
the
Being
in
Intellect,
arrived
at
Unity,
it
contemplates
and
is
at
peace
(1.3.4).
In
other
words
it
brings
the
Soul to
perfect
dentity
with the
Intel-
lectual-Principle;
nd
in
this
union the
Soul
joins
in the
essential
activity
of
the
Intellectual-Principle,
hich
s the
contemplation
f
the
One. It
must
be noted
that this
passage
does
not indicate
a
unionwiththeOne. The Intellectual-Principle,hilecontemplat-
ing
the
One,
is at
no
time dentified
with
t.
In this description
ialectic
seems
to be
pure
metaphysics.
Is
it
to
be
understood
as identical
with
philosophy?
Fortunately
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Vol.
lxxiii] Katharsis
n
Enneades
of
Plotinus
371
Plotinus
anticipates
this
question
and
tells us that
it is not.
Dia-
lectic is
the precious
part
of
philosophy,
which
s itself
he
most
precious.
Philosophyuses dialectic
in
a
relationship
ven
closer
than thatin whichother killsuse arithmetic,n forming concep-
tion
of the laws
ofthe universe
nd
in its
contemplation
f
ethics;
for
dialectic
sets
forth he practices
fromwhich
ethics result.
The
difference
s
even more
markedbetweendialectic and
ratiocination.
Dialectic
deals not with
rules and
theories but with
reality.
It
knows
untruths nd
sophisms
only
as
falsities
utside ts
own
canon
of
truth.
Verbal
propositions
re
beneath
t,
though
t knows
the
truth
behind them.
Petty precisions
of
process
it
leaves to
any
-other cience whichmay care forthe work. Above all it compre-
hends the
movements f
the
Soul. It is
a
sort
of
super-reasoning.
With wisdom
it
strips
all
things
of
Matter
and
presents
them
in
theiruniversal
spect.
By
dialectic we can
overcome he
weakness of
ourusual
mental
acts,
which are
not
pure
intellectbut human
reason
swayedby
all
that
is
external
(3.4.17).
The
hierarchy
of
reason in
the Plo-
tinian
ystem
s
roughly
parallel
to
that
of
the
virtues.
The know-
ing of
sensible
things
comes
first. All
knowledge
nvolving any
sort of sense perception s the specific act of the embodied Soul
and
has
no
true
significance.
Next comes such
reasoning as is
carriedon
by the
mind
alone; that s
mere
ratiocination.
It
is
this
mentalact
which s
provided
for n
the
training
iven by the
study
of
mathematics,which
eads to
the
understanding f
the
abstract.
After his
there
comes that
use
and act
ofreason
(XoyLo-IOs)
which
is
characteristic f
the
Soul. This,
it is
probable, s not
dissociated
from
dialectic, for
the
object of
reasoningwith
both is
true
Being.
Witheach level ofreason as witheach plane ofvirtue, he lower s
always
superseded
by
the higher,
nd
even the
essential act of
the
Soul
will
eventually
give
place to
that
of the
Intellectual-Principle.
Closely
connected
with
dialectic is
Plotinus'
doctrine of
form.
In
the pursuit
of
beauty we learn
to
know the
beautiful first
n
sensible
objects.
Then this
very
appreciation of
them
teaches
us
to
find
eauty n
the
non-sensible
ntil
we love that
which s
totally
unrelated to
earthly
beauty
and
look on
earthly
beauty
as a
snare
tokeepus from hedivine. In thesameway we advancebyleaving
the
formless nd
learning to
perceive form,
but
our goal
is
that
which s
without
form.
The best
of
Matter is that
which has
some
form.
Soul is
form o
all of
Matter.
The
Intellectual-Principle
s
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372
Hazel E.
Barnes
[1942
form
o Soul.
But the primal
ource
fromwhich
all
form
has
come
is formless
6.7.28
and 33).
To a certain
extent
form
s
reason,
particularly
n
the
realm
of the Platonic
Ideas,
which
Plotinus
adopts as havingtheirdwelling n the Intellectual-Principle. Cer-
tainly
our perception
f
form omesthrough
eason;
and the
Ideas,
which
are divine,
purely
intellectualform,
must
be seen
through
dialectic.
As the
result
of the training
by dialectic
the Soul achieves
the
Intellectual-Principle.
The
first rinciples
f the science
are
given
by
the
Intellectual-Principle
tself.
The rest dialectic
devises
for
itself,
niting
nd dividing
until
t comes
to perfect ntellect.
For,
he says,we read that dialectic is the purest
Ka6WapWnraroV)
chieve-
ment
of
intellect
and wisdom.
Dialectic,
then,
is -the final
step
after
the
Soul has
been
purified
romBody.
Yet it is itself
sort
of
katharsis.
It
is dialectic
which determines
he
nature of
the
virtues
which
act
as
purifications.
It
is dialectic
which
purifies
thought
of earthly
elements
and presents
t
in universal
terms.
Dialectic
is
the
means
by
which
the
Soul
exerts ts
own
absolute
act
of Virtue
and obtains
the
vision
of
the
Intellectual-Principle.
(4) The First Katharsis Achieved. In describingthe actual
vision
of the
Intellectual-Principle,
lotinus'
language
is at
first
purely
metaphysical,
inally
lmost
mystical.
The Soul's
approach
is
by
no
means
an
accretion
of
knowledge,
perceiving
f
divine
object
by
active
subject.
The
Soul
does not
learn
to
comprehend
the
Intellectual-Principle
s
one studies
to master
the
contents
of
a
new
book.
This
cannot
be
true
for two reasons.
First,
the
distinction
etween
subject
and object
does not
exist
in the
Intel-
lectual-Principle. Knowing is an absolute, achieved state, not a
process
of
becoming.
Second,
the
Soul
does
not strive
to
compre-
hend
the
Intellectual-Principle
ut to
become
one
with
it.
One
must
be careful
to observe
Plotinus'
oft-repeated
warning
nd
not
view
his realms
too concretely,
either
spatially
or temporally.
There
is no
difficulty
n the concept
of the
Soul's
identification
with
the
Intellectual-Principle.
The student
who becomes
an
artist
is not
changed
from
one
person
into
another.
He is merely
the
same man developingpowers
which
were
always
within
him
but
hitherto
ntirely
r
partially
unrecognized
nd
dormant.
The
same
divine
essence
s
present
lways;
according
to
the
concentration
f
its
powers,
it
is called Soul,
Intellectual-Principle,
r the
One.
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374
Hazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
is
separated
from
ll sensualor perishable
hings.
For
this
reason
the virtues
must
be pursued
as
a means of
separating
the Soul
from bodily
interests.
Second,
the Intellectual-Principle
s
self-
knowing. Thus the initiate must begin with self-introspection,
learning
o
know
his own nature
as
man and
as a part
of the divine.
Third, it
is pure
intelligence.
Hence the higher
formsof
Virtue
are intellectualized,
nd
the contemplative
ife
s the
only
one of
true value.
Finally, the
Intellectual-Principle
s not only
intelli-
gence
but
reality;
it
is the intellection
of Being.
For
this the
only true approach
must be
dialectic.
This
science
is, of course,
intellectual,
both
in itself and
in
its being
the
culmination,
the
ideal formof the lowermental sciences,whichmust be mastered
by all philosophers.7
In
addition,
t is the
science
of Being;
and
its achieved
goal is the
knowledge fBeing,
which
s the ntellectual-
Principle.
Dialectic is
not itself
the
Intellectual-Principle,
ut it
is the
final and
only
step
which leads
to
the very
heart
of the
Intellectual-Principle.
By
dialectic,
the
precious
part
of
philosophy,
man
frees
himself
even from
he
sciences
and
mental
acts
which
have
brought
him so
far
upward.
The
change
mplied
n
Soul
itself
s
discarded.
He
is
still Soul, but he is the unchanging ntellectual-Principles well.
Finally
even
dialectic
is left
behind. It
is the last
rung
of the
ladder
by which
man
has
climbed
out
of the
cave and stepped
nto
the outer
world.
THE
APPROACH
TO
THE
ONE
The
Intellectual-Principle
s
the
natural
dwellingplace
of
the
Soul.
The One
is to be
apprehended
only
in those
rare
moments
ofmystic nion,theEkstasis,whichPorphyry ells us thatPlotinus
experienced
only
four
times
in the course
of their
years
together
(Vita
23).8
Yet
the
memory
f the vision remains
even after
the
actual
Ekstasis
is a
thing
of
the
past,
and it is
only
when
the
Soul
possesses
this
memory
nd the
knowledge
hat the vision
may
come
7
It
is
noteworthy
that Plotinus
gives
less emphasis
to
the
training
of the
human
mind
than
does
Plato.
Human
knowledge
is everywhere
neglected
by
Plotinus
for
the
sake
of dwelling
on
spiritual
values.
Though
Plotinus'
system
is
more definite
than
Plato's in emphasizing the presence of
an
Intellectual-Principle,
it is
the
spiritualized
Soul
and
not the
glorified
human
intellect
that
attains
the
divine
vision.
8
A.
H.
Armstrong
presents
a careful
comparison
of
the
nature of
the
One
and
of
the
Intellectual-Principle
and
their
relation
to the
human
soul
in
The
Architecture
f
the
ntelligible
Universe
in the Philosophy
of
Plotinus
(Cambridge,
1940).
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Vol.
lxxiii]
Katharsis
n
Enneades
of
Plotinus
375
again, that
life in the
Intellectual-Principle
an
be lived to
the
fullest
degree. Thus the
Ekstasis,
however
rare,
s
necessaryfor
the
normal,perfect
ifeof the
Soul,
which
s led in the
Intellectual-
Principle.
As has been
said,
the
vision of the One cannot be
attained until
the union
of
the Soul with the
Intellectual-Principle
as
been
achieved.
We must behold
the One not
by
bringing
n
anything
of
sense or
by
taking
nto the
Intellectual-Principle
nything
rom
Soul;
butbeholding he most
pureby
pure
Intellectual-Principle
nd
from he
peak
of
the
Intellectual-Principle
6.9.3).
Yet while
the
Soul is thus
led to see
that
which
the
divine
ntellect
ontemplates,
nevertheless efore heactual identification ith theOne can come
about,
the
Soul
must be
purified
f
those
qualities
which charac-
terize
the
Intellectual-Principle
s
distinct from
the One.
These
are
multiplicity nd
intellection.
Multiplicity
n
the
second realm
comes
about
through he fact
that
it is
the home of
the Ideas and
that
its
contemplation
f the One is in
itself denial
of
unity;
for
where
there are
one to
contemplate nd one to be
contemplated,
there is
multiplicity.
For
the human Soul
intellection
n
this
realm
is
contemplation nd
meditation upon
reality
and
divine
cause. It is a sinking of oneself n a universalMind. But this
Mind is
ever
in
quest of
something
higher, nd
by this
questing
intellection,
he Soul
arrives at
the utter
repose
where
there s no
more
desiring.
Like the
higher
virtues,
ntellection ids
at
first n
producing
katharsis and
in
preparing he
Soul
for the final
step.
Yet
ultimately t too is
abandoned.
It
may be
well
here to remark
hat
the
discarding f
all specific
quality
as not
belonging
o the One
does
not
necessarily
mply a
completelynegativeview of the nature of the One. The One is
notabsolute
negationbut
absolute
perfection.
The
constantnega-
tions
which
Plotinus
applies to it
are simply
o
emphasizeby
means
of
refusing o admit
inadequate
restrictive
erms,
he
transcending
positive
aspect of
the One.
The Soul
must
empty tself f
earthly
qualities
in
order to take
on the
divine; it
does
not
becomeempty
in
order
to
make itself
part
of nothing.
But
the nature
of the
divine of
which t
becomes a part
cannot
be predicated
n
human
terms. This view of the One as both the negation of all known
qualities
and
yetperfect
ullness
s reflected
n the
purification
hich
the
human
Soul
must
undergo.
That is to
say,
the Soul
mustboth
purify tself
of its
weaknesses,
of
accretion, and
concentrate ts
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376
Hazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
powers,
building
up its strength
o that
it
maybe capable
of
con-
taining
the
divine.
The
process
of ridding
he Soul
of its
limiting
qualities
must
be accomplished
before
an approach
can be
made
beyondthem.
The One
is also
called
by
Plotinus
The
Good,
though
he
term
has, of course,
no ethical
connotation
but
designates
rather
the
universalreIXetov
hich
s beyond
all specific
reXeta.
It
will be
re-
called
that Plotinus'
finaldesignation
f a
positive
virtue found
n
the
first
tage
of the
ascent
was the essential
act of
the
Soul, the
actual process
of the
Soul's contemplation
of
the
Intellectual-
Principle. With
this
conception
of Virtue
as a
movement
oward
a higher ealmofreality,we beginto approachPlotinus' theory f
specific
nd
absolute Good.
Since already
in the
first tep
Virtue
had thus
become
non-ethical,
t is
not surprising
hatnow
goodness
becomes
a matter
of native activity
exerted
by one existent
in
reaching oward
nother.
This
is the central
hought
f the
treatise
On
the Primal Good
and
Its
Secondary
orms 1.7).
In
this essay,
in which there
s frequent
onfusion
etween
theGood
as
absolute,
motionless
chievement
nd the
Good
as a
method
of
leading the
Soul
upward,three
significant
oints
stand out.
First, it
is said
that the Good for each entity-that is, its highestvirtue-is its
natural
activity,
which
n
the case
of the
rightly
unctioning
oul
is everupward
to the
Primal
Good.
On
the
higher
lane
the
Soul's
goodness
is
its
perception
of
the Primal Good
as
being
the
true
cause
of
the
Soul's attraction
to
the Intellectual-Principle.
This
active
desire
forthe
Good,
the reaching
ut
for t
is the
method
by
which
the
Soul attains
it.
Second,
the Soul is said
to be able
to
achieve
the
Good,
not
only by
reaching
out
for t but becoming
likeit. Here certainly s implieda positiveconceptionof boththe
One and the
method
of
attaining
union with
t.
Finally,
the
Good
is
said
to
be possessed
in
Unity,
Being,
and
Form.
Of these
only
the
first
elongs
n
the
Good itself.
Again
we have
an
example
of
the higherplane
reached
by
means
of those
things
which are
to
be
abandoned
once
the
goal
is achieved.
The
Good, then,
is
the
ultimate
and
may
be
attained
by
the Soul's
exercising
ts
natural
inclination
oward
t.
It is clearthatthere an be in this second stepno directparallel
to
the
part played
by
the
first wo classes
of virtues
in the,
first
katharsis.
Likewise
self-intellection
s
no
longer
considered
an
adequate
method
5.6.5).
This
might
eem
rather
urprising
ince
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Vol.
lxxiii] Katharsis n
Enneades
of
Plotinus
377
the
very
essence
of the
Intellectual-Principle
s
self-intellection.
For
what othername could
be
given
to
a
knowledge
hat
s
absolute
with
no
distinctionbetween
subject
and
object?
It
may
be
that
to have the Intellectual-Principleome to recognizethe presence
of
the
One within it as the
result
of conscious
self-examination
would
imply a distinctionbetween the knower and
the
known,
which is
just what Plotinus
is
vigorously
denying.
At
any rate
the
contemplation
f
the
One
by
the
Intellectual-Principle
s
never
the
same as the Soul's vision of
t;
for
he
former emands a
certain
separation
which
n
the
case
of
the
Ekstasis
is
denied. The
Soul
while
t
lives
in
the
Intellectual-Principle
hares
n
the divine
con-
templation, ut it knows a stillhigherdesire. In the Ekstasis the
Soul is
not
the
Intellectual-Principle
ontemplating.
It
is
the
One
itself.
How
are
we
to explain this
transcending
chievement? Is
it
by
any
known
process
other than
intellection? And
what
name
are
we
to
give
intellection n
this
highest
plane?
Taking
the
last
question
first,we
may recall
that in
the earlier
step,
the
last and
ultimately
ffective
method of
bringing
he
Soul to
the
union
with
the
Intellectual-Principle
was the
pursuit
of
dialectic.
At
that
phase ofhis discussionPlotinusexplicitly tated thatdialecticwas
but
a
part,
lthough
precious
part,
of
philosophy.
Since
dialectic,
the
lower
of
the
two,
brought he
Soul
to the
Intellectual-Principle,
is
it
not
possible,
or
rather
necessary,to
assume
that
philosophy
plays
at
least
a
part in
bringing
he
Soul
to
the
vision
of
the
One?
There
is
one
passage
in
which,
as it
seems to
me,
Plotinus
clearly
and
beyond
question
applies
the
term
philosophy
to the
Soul's
attempt
to
know
the One.
He is
speaking
in
the
last
Ennead
of
thepain thatcomes to theSoul when t tries ograsptheconception
of
absolute
unity.
He
continues,
Soul
must
see
in its
own
way;
this
s by
coalescence,
unification;
ut in
seeking
thus
to
know
the
Unity,
it is
prevented
by
that
very
unification
rom
recognizing
what it
has
found;
it
cannot
distinguish
tself
from
the
object of
this
ntuition.
Nonetheless,
t is
necessaryfor
one
to do
thus f
he
is
going
to
strive
to
comprehend he
Unity
by
philosophy
(6.9.3).
Certainly
there s no
term
other
than
philosophy
to
be
applied
to
intellectual ctivityexerted n the efforto comprehenddivinity,
no
other,
hat
s, once
the
lower
forms f
reasonhave
been
ruled
out.
If
it
is
the
task of
dialectic
to
bring
the
Soul
into
the
Intellectual-
Principle,
where
lse
can be
the
field
f
philosophy
ave
at
the
height
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378
Hazel
E. Barnes
[1942
of the
Intellectual-Principle,
tanding
with the
Soul
as it
prepares
to experience
heEkstasis?
Granted
that it is
intellection
s
philosophy
which
plays
an
importantpart in this finalstep, what specificallys its function,
and is
it in
itself ll
sufficient?
That
intellection
lone
is not
enough
is made
very clear.
This may
be
partly
because
intellection
s not
present
n the
One
itself.
For
true ntellection
s
a reaching
oward
the highest
Good,
and the
One
cannot
have
a reaching
out
when
there
s nothing eyond
t
to which
t can aspire.
Partly
responsible
in all
probability
s
simply
the
fact that
in
the
ultimate
vision
Plotinus
like
most
mystics
demands
that
there
come
forth
power
from hePrimalSource and thatwithout t man is powerless.
To analyze
in
cut
and dried
fashion
he
almost
poetic description
which Plotinus
gives
of the
Ekstasis
is as
unfair
s for
the present
purpose
it is necessary.
The poetic
language,
however,
s the
in-
evitable
result
of
his
attempt
to
describe something
surpassing
human
knowledge
nd
never a screen
for nadequate
formulation
f
ideas;
and
there
are
several
definite
onceptions
which
stand
out
clearly.
In
most of
these
passages
there
s an accompanying
tate-
ment to
the
effect hat
intellection
s
finally
bandoned.
In
the
treatiseOntheMultiplicityfthe deal Formswe are toldthatwhen
by the
love
of Beauty,
conceived
here as the
love
of form,
we
ap-
proach
the
first
rinciple
of Beauty,
which
is formless,
we
are to
think
of it not
as attained
by
the Soul
but
as coming
to
the
Soul,
which s
present
o
receive t
after urning
rom ts
old environment
and
preparing
tself s beautifully
s
possible
and coming
nto
like-
ness with
the
divine.
The
Soul now
perceives
the
presence
mani-
fested
within
her. The
Evacvdn
s
possible
because
there
are
no
longer wobut one. Whilethevisionremains, istinctions lost-
and
Plotinus
brings
n here the
parallel
of the
earthly
union
of
lovers. With
true
udgment
the
Soul
perceives
hat
it has
reached
the ultimate goal
of its desire
and
that
there
is
nothing
higher.
The
truth
which
t perceives
now
it
can
affirm
eyond
doubt,
but
it
will
make the
affirmation
ater
and
silently.
By
this
Plotinus
probably
means
that
the
state
is not
one of conscious
knowing
but
that
while
t cannot
ater
be
put
into
words
for
others,
ts
truth
and powerwillnotbe lost to himwho has experienced
t. Now
the
Soul
realizes
the
nferiority
f all which
t formerlyccepted.
Even
intellection
t
will
discard;
for
ntellection
s
movement,
nd this
t
does not
desire. It
is
through
ecoming
tself
ntellectual-Principle
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Vol.
lxxiii]
Katharsis n Enneades
of
Plotinus
379
that the Soul
now
experiences
the
vision;
by
becoming
ntellec-
tualized it
has
been
able
to take
its stand in that intellectual
ealm
which
it first
ontemplated.
But once
catching
a
glimpse
of
a
higherrealm, the Soul leaves the lower ust as a personwill con-
template
a
beautiful house
only
until its
greater
master has
ap-
peared. The
Soul
now
knows
no
movement ince
the
Supreme
knows
none;
it
is
now
not even Soul
since the
Supreme
s
not
in
life
but
above
life;
t
is no
longer
ntellectual-Principle,
or
he
Supreme
has
not
intellection,
nd the
likeness
must be
perfect;
his
grasping
is
not
even
by
intellection,
or
the
Supreme
is
not knownintel-
lectively
6.7.34-35).
Following this passage Plotinus reviewsagain the intellectual
steps
by
which
the Soul has
reached
ts
present
position.
He
con-
cludes
with
a
significant
entence.
At the moment
preceding
he
Ekstasis the
seeker
is
still
striving
upward with his
intellectual
capacities,
but
suddenly
wept
beyond
t all
by
the
very
rest f
the
waveof
ntellect
urging
eneath,
e is
lifted
nd
sees,
never
knowing
how;
the
vision
floods
he
eyes
with
ight,
but
it is
not
a light
how-
ing some
other
object, the
light tself
s
the
vision.
I
Clearly the
vision
comes
about
as
the
result
ofboth
intellection
nd the
power
of the One. The latteris predominant, ut it acts almost simul-
taneously
with
the
wave
of
intellection.
Neither
alone
would
be
sufficient.
In
the
final
ection
ofthe
last
Ennead
Plotinus
presents
sort
of
summary
f
his
deas
on
the
natureof
the
Ekstasis
and its
attain-
ment.
He
repeats that
in
the
Ekstasis
there
are not
two
but
one.
It is
not a
vision
perceivedbut
a
unity
pprehended,
nd
the
mage
of
t,
f
the
seeker
will
but
remember,
ill
remain
with
him.
While
it lasts,there s no passion,no outgoingdesire,no reason,no intel-
lection,
no
individual
self.
In
perfect
tillness,
he
has
attained
utter
rest.
He is
like one
who
has
progressed
o
the
innermost
sanctuary
beyondthe
temple
mages
which
he
formerly
orshipped.
The
union
is
not a
visionbut
a
going
forth
rom
elf
(Ko-raots),
a
simplification
airXwcos), renunciation
r
6oo-ts
brov),
a
reach
toward
ontact
EEos
7rpo's
loiv),
a
repose
orats),
and a
medita-
tion
toward
adjustment
vrEptw6?kn
rp6s
4ap,oyt5v).
Any
other
meansofseeingfails. Even thosewhohave notseen theSupreme
are
aware of
ts
existence
ince
they
will be
aware
oftheir
wn
source,
9
6.7.36:
fevcx#exls
ti
r4,
ab7-4i
ro3
voi
oD
ZOj'
KbiAarT,
a't
4oD
Ir'
acroD
otov
oLtOGavros.
See
also
6.9.4.
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380
Hazel
E.
Barnes
[1942
will
know
Principle
by
Principle,
nd possess
a craving
hat
s
never
satisfied
until
the
Ekstasis
is
achieved.
The
Soul when
it
has
reached
this
height
s
not
in something
lien but
in itself.
It
is
not Being but beyond Being,self-gatheredn the Supreme. The
self
uplifted
s an
image
of
the
Supreme.
If
we
pass beyond
mage
to
archetype,
we
have
won
the ultimate
goal.
If we
fall back,
we
must
reascend
once
more,
knowing
ourselves
all order
again,
lightened
of
our
burden,
advancing through
Virtue to
the
Intel-
lectual-Principle
nd
through
he
wisdom
of
this
to the
One.
This
is the
life of the
gods and
godlike
and
blessed
men, freedom
rom
all that
is here,
taking
no
pleasure
in what is here,
a flight
f
the
solitary o thesolitary.
In general
outline
the
course
of the
Soul's
experience
on
the
highest
plane
is not
radically
different
rom
what
it underwent
n
the
lower tages.
Formerly
t purified
tself
f
all which
prevented
it
from
being
wholly
Soul,
then
all which
kept
it
from
becoming
Intellectual-Principle;
nd
it
emerged
pure
intellect.
In
this
last
stage
the
all-transcending
ature
of the One
demands
that
katharsis
be complete.
Nothing
which
can
be
given
any
name
of quality
may remain;
nd
so
multiplicity
nd
intellection,
hich
re
the only
two properties emaining,must be discarded. The formernvolves
a
loss of self-awareness.
This
has alreadybeen
met
nthe
approach
to the
Intellectual-Principle,
ut there
Plotinus
was
concerned
with
the
self s a particular
human
being
with
ndividual
nterests.
Here
it
is a
higher
psychological
wareness
of
the
Soul as experiencing
something
lse
rather
han
as
being
t
which
s
being
sacrificed.
If
must
be
remembered,
owever,
that
the change
is not
a
negation.
As the
Soul becomes
somethinggreater,
t
is
itself
nfinitely
x-
panded. It has not lost itself n nothingness.
As has
been
said,
man's
intellectual activity
on this highest
plane
is called
by
Plotinus philosophy.
Unlike dialectic
on
the
lower
evel t
does not take
the
Soul
quite
all the
way
on
its
ourney.
This does
not
mean
that
philosophy
s mere ratiocination
r
that
it
is in
any
way
at all
identical
with
ordinary
human mental
proc-
esses.
The fact
that
it is
infinitely
bove
dialectic,
which
s
itself
divine,
s sufficient
efutation
or
any
such
argument.
Philosophy
is a sortof ideal dialectic. As the latter bridgesthe gap
between
human and
divine
intellection,
o
philosophy
perfects
ivine
intel-
lection
and
leads
the
way
to
that which
s
beyond
all
intellectual
comprehension.
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Vol.
lxxiii]
Katharsis
n Enneades
of
Plotinus
381
I
have
tried
to
emphasize
throughout
his
discussion hat
while
the
Soul
is
required
to
strip
itself
of all that
is alien to
the
One,
there
s
always
a
simultaneous
positive
process
of
building
up
and
concentrating ts powers. This is the preparationon the part of
the Soul
of which Plotinus
speaks
when
he refers
o the
preparation
and
adornment
which
the Soul
has taken
on before
t awaits
the
comingof the Ekstasis
as
the result
of
power
from
bove.
Philos-
ophy
is the means
by
which
the Soul
thus
prepares
tself.
It
is
learning o see that
there
s
more than
intellect,
ealizing
hat one
can
by
the act
of
recognizing
hat fact
prepare
to
experience t.
After the Ekstasis
has been
achieved,
philosophy
translates
the
experience into terms valuable for the more normal course of
the Soul's
life
n
the
Intellectual-Principle.
Saying
that the
final
Ekstasis comes as the resultof
a
power
outside
the
Soul,
that the
Soul
receives t rather
han takes
it,
is
likely
to
involve us
in
more
of
an idea
of
separation
both
temporal
and
spatial
than Plotinus
would
have us hold.
The
completion
f
the
philosophical
repara-
tion,
he
nstant
f
perfect
eadiness,
nd
the
actual
absorbing
f
the
Soul
into
the One
by
Itself
are
simultaneous.
The
crest
of
the
wave of ntellect raises theSoul intothemysticpower. Without
the
intellect he Soul
could
not
achieve the
Ekstasis
any
more
than
it
could be
absorbed into
the
divine
union
without
divine
power.
Philosophy,we
may
conclude, has
been
the
method
by
which
the entire
process
of
katharsis
has
been
accomplished.
Philosophy
is
the
means
of
learning
to
know
the
moral
virtues
and
the
intel-
lectual ones.
Philosophy
possesses
as a
precious
part
of
itself
dialectic,
which
enables
the
Soul
to
completethe
first
tep
in
its
ascent.
Philosophy teaches the Soul by each one of thesemeans
to
cast off
ll in
itself
hat
is
inferior,
nd
to
concentrate, o
perfect
all that s
divine.
Finally t
is
the
ntellectual
erception
hat
there
is
something
eyond
all
intellect,
nd it
is
the
activityof
the
intel-
lect
which
prepares
the
Soul
to
receive
that
power. As
the
sub-
ordinate
parts
of
philosophyhave
accomplished he
early
phases
of
purification,
o
true
philosophy
achieves
the
final
katharsis.
As
the
last
step,
philosophy
s itself
rejected,
but it
is
rejected
only
because
the
nature
of the
One
is so
great
that
anything
which
wecan
comprehend
must
be for
that very
reason
discarded.
Philos-
ophy
is
rejected
because
it
is not
the One,
and
the
One is
all
that
can
remain.
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382
Hazel E.
Barnes
[1942
The theory
fkatharsis
which
Plotinus
presents
eems to
me
a
remarkable
ttempt
at
resolving
he
problem
of rationalism
ersus
mysticism.
He
is,
of course,
not the
only
intellectual
mystic,
but
he is important or having given us one of the most detailed and
logical
expositions
of such
a
way of
life
that can
be found.
He
does not
make
the
mistake
of attempting
o describe
in
specific
terms
n experience
which transcends
he specific.
Yet
in
proving
the necessity
f recognizing
he existence,desirability,
nd
impor-
tance
of such
an
experience,
he reasons
n terms
of almost
mathe-
matical
precision.
If
we grant
his
conclusion
hat
there
s something
beyond
intellect
to
be obtained,
we
must
admit
that the
steps
leadingto it are entirely onsistent.
Since the
primal
cause
cannot
be defined
n
terms
material
or mental,
t is
fitting
o
hold that it
cannot
be
reached by
efforts urely physical
or
intellectual.
On
the other
hand, since
it is only through
he
intellect
hat
one can
grasp
the possibility
f
the
goal to
be reached,
t
is
logical
to
main-
tain that
intellectual
ctivity
s
the
highest
duty and
privilege
of
man and
that
it is
right
o sacrifice
o it
all
otherpursuits.
In the
philosophical
pproach
there
s an ever
greater
ntellectualization,
but Plotinus
never
falls
into
the error
of
worshipping
he
means
insteadofthe end.
Katharsis
s
not
n its
practical
pplication
negative
but positive.
No
lesser
thing
s
given
up
until
a
greater
has been
seen.
Further-
more,
t is
not really
a denial
of the
individual.
By
katharsis
one
develops
within
himself
hose powers
which
would otherwise
never
be recognized.
Earthly
life,
moreover,
s not
only
a
preparation
for
a
life after
death;
for
the
Ekstasis
comes
to the
living
man,
to
him who
lives
most
fully
that
intellectual
ife which
distinguishes
him from thercreatures.