Todd Ohara

Radical Apophasis


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Plotinus’s point is that any component of a composite is derivative of something prior to itself and upon which it depends. This idea takes us back to the first construal (1) of dependence above in terms of participation: specifically, the relationship between a given Form (Fx) and an entity (Afx) that resembles that Form (Fx) on account of participating in that Form (Fx). That the entity Afx possesses the feature fx in question is due to the fact that A participates in Fx. The further point is that the constituents (e.g., fx) of a compound entity (e.g., Afx) are likewise derivative of and dependent upon something prior to them (e.g., Fx). The crucial implication, therefore, is that whatever is ultimately simple—such that it is not a compound or complex of any sort, nor is it a constituent of something else—is also absolutely unconditioned and independent. As we will soon see, it will turn out that the One, for Plotinus, is such as to be absolutely simple, unconditioned, and independent, and thus, what ultimately explains and grounds everything else.

      1.2 Plotinian Cosmologico-theology:

      The Tripartite Structure of Higher Reality

      If Plotinus postulates Nous as a source that accounts for the existence and kind(s) of entities in the world, why is it necessary to locate a source of reality explanatorily prior to Nous? After all, Nous, its contemplation, and its intelligible objects are a self-directed, self-enclosed unity. Has Plotinus not arrived at the conclusion that Nous is self-sufficient? In various ways, everything derivative of Nous is dependent upon Nous. Psyche, for example, is produced as the outflow of Nous, and thus possesses a derivative mode of intellection because it participates in Nous. Particular entities exist because they flow from Nous—via Psyche—and are what they are because they participate in the Forms “internal” to Nous (as well as, in some cases, participating in Psyche and Nous themselves—e.g., human beings). Here, however, a few concerns need to be raised. Most important is Plotinus’s conviction that the self-sufficiency attributed to Nous be qualified.