Kristina Razoumova-Plotinus On Beauty

Plotinus On Beauty: Enneads

Outside Reading

Written on 9/29/15

Plotinus was a leader in the Neo-Platonic movement and drew heavily from the works of Plato. The idea I found to be interesting in his writing was the hierarchy of beauty. In this hierarchy Plotinus the lowest form of beauty was the physical beauty which in his view was the furthest from perfection. The logic is as follows, if someone finds beauty in something physical then it is nothing more than a detached copy of the perfect Form. He finds physical beauty to be simpleminded view of beauty. Instead he believes true beauty lies beyond the physical. He believed one can achieve these higher Forms of Beauty through Intellect. Unlike the physical the source of beauty for these forms is the Good. I am extremely drawn to this thought because I personally believe there is something more to beauty that in its purest form is beyond comprehension of the human mind. I also admire the idea of tying the pursuit of knowledge into the search for beauty. It to me defines the greatness of beauty which goes beyond the shallow thought patterns of modern society.

Introductory Readings in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy, 2^nd Edition., Reeve & Miller, Hackett Publishing, 2015.