The question of what “we” are started to intrigue me when I first began to work on Plotinus. A “Habilitationsschrift” on this topic at the University of Bonn, Germany, entitled “Was wir sind. Plotin über die Seele und ihr Schattenbild” (“What we are. Plotinus on the Soul and its Shadow”) is the background for the current volume, which has taken a significant new tack: I realized that the question I was interested in was less what we are according to Plotinus, but what we think we are, throughout the vivid and dynamic process of philosophizing which challenges every reader to take part in the investigation of how we conceive of ourselves and of our various aspects and tasks, in the sensible world and in the return to the intelligible realm. “We” is no settled condition but an ongoing philosophical process.
I would like to thank the organizations which supported my research during this time: the Thyssen Foundation for their support of short term research stays in Paris, Dublin and Geneva; the Martin Buber Society of Fellows for a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel); the Alexander von Humboldt for a fellowship to work at the University of Notre Dame (USA) and for a return fellowship at the University of Bonn (Germany); the Gerda Henkel-Foundation for research stays at the University of Bonn and the University of Notre Dame. Furthermore, I would like to thank a number of colleagues at many institutions who discussed my work with me, during research stays and at conferences, especially John Dillon, Andrew Smith, Philippe Hoffmann, Luciana Gabriela Soares Santoprete, Christoph Horn, Theo Kobusch, Gretchen Reydams-Schils, David O’Connor, Stephen Gersh and Sean Kelsey.
Finally, I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions, and, of course, the editors of the series John Finamore and Robert Berchman.
South Bend, January 2024
Wiebke-Marie Stock