Single Idea 21812

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / f. Primary being]

Full Idea

Intellectual-Principle [Nous] by its intellective act establishes Being.

Gist of Idea

Being is the product of pure intellect

Source

Plotinus (The Enneads [c.245], 5.1.04)

Book Reference

Plotinus: 'The Enneads', ed/tr. Mackenna,Stephen [Penguin 1991], p.351


A Reaction

This is a surprising view - that there is something which is prior to Being - but I take it to be Plotinus giving primacy to Plato's Form of the Good (a pure ideal), ahead of the One of Parmenides (which is Being).