Enneads Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The
Six Enneads is a book whose title is sometimes abbreviated to
The Enneads or
Enneads, and was written by the
Neo-Platonist Plotinus; it was edited and compiled by his last student
Porphyry, in a short period c. 253 AD, after the death of Plotinus. Plotinus was a
Platonic philosopher, being possibly a 12th to 14th generation student of the Greek philosopher
Plato. Plotinus claimed his Platonist education was passed to him by the Platonist
Ammonius Saccas of the Egyptian city of
Alexandria and one of the founders of
Neo-Platonism. This article refers to the version translated into modern english, by Stephen Mackenna and B. S. Page.
It is divided into six chapters (called enneadss) and each chapter is subdivided into nine subchapters (called tractates). The Ennead were the nine most important gods and goddesses in Egyptian mythology, .
Table of contents
- The First Ennead:
- First Tractate - "THE ANIMATE AND THE MAN."
- Second Tractate - "ON VIRTUE."
- Third Tractate - "ON DIALECTIC [THE UPWARD WAY]."
- Fourth Tractate - "ON TRUE HAPPINESS."
- Fifth Tractate - "HAPPINESS AND EXTENSION OF TIME."
- Sixth Tractate - "BEAUTY."
- Seventh Tractate - "ON THE PRIMAL GOOD AND SECONDARY FORMS OF GOOD [OTHERWISE, 'ON HAPPINESS']"
- Eighth Tractate - "ON THE NATURE AND SOURCE OF EVIL."
- Ninth Tractate - "THE REASONED DISMISSAL."
- The Second Ennead:
- First Tractate - "ON THE KOSMOS OR ON THE HEAVENLY SYSTEM."
- Second Tractate - "THE HEAVENLY CIRCUIT."
- Third Tractate - "ARE THE STARS CAUSES?"
- Fourth Tractate - "MATTER IN ITS TWO KINDS."
- Fifth Tractate - "ON POTENTIALITY AND ACTUALITY."
- Sixth Tractate - "QUALITY AND FORM-IDEA."
- Seventh Tractate - "ON COMPLETE TRANSFUSION."
- Eighth Tractate - "WHY DISTANT OBJECTS APPEAR SMALL."
- Ninth Tractate - "AGAINST THOSE THAT AFFIRM THE CREATOR OF THE KOSMOS AND THE KOSMOS ITSELF TO BE EVIL: [GENERALLY QUOTED AS "AGAINST THE GNOSTICS"].
- The Third Ennead:
- First Tractate - "FATE."
- Second Tractate - "ON PROVIDENCE (1)."
- Third Tractate - "ON PROVIDENCE (2)."
- Fourth Tractate - "OUR TUTELARY SPIRIT."
- Fifth Tractate - "ON LOVE."
- Sixth Tractate - "THE IMPASSIVITY OF THE UNEMBODIED."
- Seventh Tractate - "TIME AND ETERNITY."
- Eighth Tractate - "NATURE CONTEMPLATION AND THE ONE."
- Ninth Tractate - "DETACHED CONSIDERATIONS."
- The Fourth Ennead:
- First Tractate - "ON THE ESSENCE OF THE SOUL (1)."
- Second Tractate - "ON THE ESSENCE OF THE SOUL (2)."
- Third Tractate - "PROBLEMS OF THE SOUL (1)."
- Fourth Tractate - "PROBLEMS OF THE SOUL (2)."
- Fifth Tractate - "PROBLEMS OF THE SOUL (3). [ALSO KNOWN AS, "ON SIGHT"].
- Sixth Tractate - "PERCEPTION AND MEMORY."
- Seventh Tractate - "THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL."
- Eighth Tractate - "THE SOUL'S DESCENT INTO BODY."
- Ninth Tractate - "ARE ALL SOULS ONE?."
- The Fifth Ennead:
- First Tractate - "THE THREE INITIAL HYPOSTASES."
- Second Tractate - "THE ORIGIN AND ORDER OF THE BEINGS. FOLLOWING ON THE FIRST."
- Third Tractate - "THE KNOWING HYPOSTASES AND THE TRANSCENDENT."
- Fourth Tractate - "HOW THE SECONDARIES RISE FROM THE FIRST: AND ON THE ONE."
- Fifth Tractate - "THAT THE INTELLECTUAL BEINGS ARE NOT OUTSIDE THE INTELLECTUAL-PRINCIPLE: AND ON THE NATURE OF THE GOOD."
- Sixth Tractate - "THAT THE PRINCIPLE TRANSCENDING BEING HAS NO INTELLECTUAL ACT. WHAT BEING HAS INTELLECTION PRIMALLY AND WHAT BEING HAS IT SECONDARILY."
- Seventh Tractate - "IS THERE AN IDEAL ARCHETYPE OF PARTICULAR BEINGS?"
- Eighth Tractate - "ON THE INTELLECTUAL BEAUTY."
- Ninth Tractate - "THE INTELLECTUAL-PRINCIPLE, THE IDEAS, AND THE AUTHENTIC EXISTENCE."
- The Sixth Ennead:
- First Tractate - "ON THE KINDS OF BEING- (1)."
- Second Tractate - "ON THE KINDS OF BEING (2)."
- Third Tractate - "ON THE KINDS OF BEING (3)."
- Fourth Tractate - "ON THE INTEGRAL OMNIPRESENCE OF THE AUTHENTIC EXISTENT (1)."
- Fifth Tractate - "ON THE INTEGRAL OMNIPRESENCE OF THE AUTHENTIC EXISTENT (2)."
- Sixth Tractate - "ON NUMBERS."
- Seventh Tractate - "HOW THE MULTIPLICITY OF THE IDEAL-FORMS CAME INTO BEING: AND UPON THE GOOD."
- Eighth Tractate - "ON FREE-WILL AND THE WILL OF THE ONE."
- Ninth Tractate - "ON THE GOOD, OR THE ONE."
External links
A full transcript of the English translation of The Six Enneads can be found at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/plotinus. This edition is the Mackenna and Page translation. The TOC above is taken from there.
NB The copy at http://classics.mit.edu/Plotinus/enneads.html is a badly abridged version of the Mackenna and Page translation.
This is an Article on Enneads. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Enneads
