Plotinusâ Legacy in Later Neoplatonism: His Parmenides-Interpretation or His Inspiration?

Harold Tarrant

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ChapterÂ 22 Plotinusâ Legacy in Later Neoplatonism

His Parmenides-Interpretation or His Inspiration?

äºNew Essays on the Platonic Tradition

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Harold Tarrant

Harold Tarrant
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Page Range:: 421â441

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004751149_023

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Abstract

Hermias (on Phdr. 277a2â3) thought that Plotinus had contributed to the immortalisation of Plato. I here explore why Athenian Neoplatonists thought this was so. It was not a matter of any special fidelity to Plato, but nevertheless had something to do with the tradition of Platonism. I argue that it does not relate to our picture of Plotinus as âfounderâ of a âNeoplatonicâ interpretation of the Parmenides. Amelius and Porphyry both did a more thorough job of relating the hypotheses of the Parmenides to metaphysical levels than Plotinus ever did. His exegesis tended to be an exegesis of special passages of Plato, rather than of a selected dialogue. His interpretation of the hypotheses stops at the third, while all the theories that interested Proclus gave detailed interpretation of five or more. I then look in detail at the Peripatetic tradition, and in particular at the continuation of Alexanderâs Metaphysicsâcommentary attributed to Michael of Ephesus. A key passage at in Metaph. 602.2â20 makes specific reference to the Parmenides, using some distinctive language surprisingly reminiscent of Origenâs Contra Celsum rather than Plotinus, including the term âOne-Itselfâ (autoen), which appears to make it a Form of the One rather than anything wholly transcending Forms and Being. I argue that this material is likely to depend on the notes of somebody who had access to Alexander, and that it agrees with the Parmenides-interpretation attributes to Origenes by Proclus. I also compare the position of anon. in Parmenidem. On this basis I argue that there was already a lively debate on the meanings of the first two hypotheses in Plotinusâ youth, possibly going back as far as Moderatus. Plotinus was not alone in finding something metaphysical in them, and, in Proclusâ eyes, is not a major figure in the discovery of the meaning of the sequence as a whole. Rather, Proclus is clearly impressed by Plotinusâ defence of a sharp differentiation between the referents of hypotheses 1 and 2, a differentiation that Proclus thought went back to Ammonius. But it is not Ammonius who was immortalised through Plotinus, but Plato, whose writings were infused with genuine new life by Plotinian illumination and inspiration.

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New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

In Honour of Paul Kalligas

ä¸ç¼ï¼ Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, å·ï¼ 35

Cover New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

ISBN:: 9789004751149

åºçç¤¾:: Brill

å°å·åºçæ¥æ:: 26 Feb 2026

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ChapterÂ 22 Plotinusâ Legacy in Later Neoplatonism

His Parmenides-Interpretation or His Inspiration?

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New Essays on the Platonic Tradition

In Honour of Paul Kalligas

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ChapterÂ 22 Plotinusâ Legacy in Later Neoplatonism

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