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Chapter 14 - At the Intersection of Cosmology and Biology

Plotinus on Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2021

By
Lloyd P. Gerson
Edited by
Ricardo Salles
Ricardo Salles
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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Summary

Nature for Plotinus is near the limit of intelligibility in the hierarchical universe. It is the lowest part of the soul of the cosmos. Hence, all problems in cosmology and biology, prior to their solution, need to be situated within the framework of the ultimate metaphysical explanatory principles of the One, Intellect and Soul. This chapter explores the sense in which Plotinus is and is not receptive of panpsychism, the contemporary philosophical view according to which mentality or consciousness is ubiquitous in the world. Plotinus argues for the idea that nature contemplates which seems, perhaps surprisingly, compatible with the radically anti-Platonic naturalism of panpsychists.

Keywords

panpsychismcontemplationintelligibilitymaterialismnaturalism
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Chapter
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Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
From Thales to Avicenna
 , pp. 245 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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