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Single Idea 21817

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

Full Idea

The First is no member of existence, but can be the source of all.

Gist of Idea

The One does not exist, but is the source of all existence

Source

Plotinus (The Enneads [c.245], 5.1.07)

Book Ref

Plotinus: 'The Enneads', ed/tr. Mackenna,Stephen [Penguin 1991], p.355

A Reaction

The First is the One, and this explicitly denies that it has Being. This answers the self-predication problem of Forms. Plato thought the Form of the Beautiful was beautiful, but it can't be (because of the regress). The source of existence can't exist.

The 16 ideas from Plotinus

6922 Ecstasy is for the neo-Platonist the highest psychological state of man [Plotinus, by Feuerbach]
5506 If soul was like body, its parts would be separate, without communication [Plotinus]
21809 Our soul has the same ideal nature as the oldest god, and is honourable above the body [Plotinus]
21808 Soul is author of all of life, and of the stars, and it gives them law and movement [Plotinus]
21811 Even the soul is secondary to the Intellectual-Principle [Nous], of which soul is an utterance [Plotinus]
21812 Being is the product of pure intellect [Plotinus]
21813 Number determines individual being [Plotinus]
21814 How can multiple existence arise from the unified One? [Plotinus]
21816 Soul is the logos of Nous, just as Nous is the logos of the One [Plotinus]
21815 Because the One is immobile, it must create by radiation, light the sun producing light [Plotinus]
21817 The One does not exist, but is the source of all existence [Plotinus]
21824 The One is a principle which transcends Being [Plotinus]
21825 The soul is outside of all of space, and has no connection to the bodily order [Plotinus]
21826 The Soul reasons about the Right, so there must be some permanent Right about which it reasons [Plotinus]
21827 The movement of Soul is continuous, but we are only aware of the parts of it that are sensed [Plotinus]
21828 A person is the whole of their soul [Plotinus]