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Single Idea 21826
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / b. Rational ethics
]
Full Idea
Since there is a Soul which reasons upon the right and good - for reasoning is an enquiry into the rightness and goodness of this rather than that - there must exist some pemanent Right, the source and foundation of this reasoning in our soul.
Gist of Idea
The Soul reasons about the Right, so there must be some permanent Right about which it reasons
Source
Plotinus (The Enneads [c.245], 5.1.11)
Book Ref
Plotinus: 'The Enneads', ed/tr. Mackenna,Stephen [Penguin 1991], p.359
A Reaction
This is pretty close the Kant's concept of 'the moral order within me', and Plotinus even sees it as rational. Presumably this right is 'permanent' because the revelatlons of reason about it are necessary truths.
The
16 ideas
from Plotinus
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6922
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Ecstasy is for the neo-Platonist the highest psychological state of man
[Plotinus, by Feuerbach]
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5506
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If soul was like body, its parts would be separate, without communication
[Plotinus]
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21809
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Our soul has the same ideal nature as the oldest god, and is honourable above the body
[Plotinus]
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21808
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Soul is author of all of life, and of the stars, and it gives them law and movement
[Plotinus]
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21811
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Even the soul is secondary to the Intellectual-Principle [Nous], of which soul is an utterance
[Plotinus]
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21812
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Being is the product of pure intellect
[Plotinus]
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21813
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Number determines individual being
[Plotinus]
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21814
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How can multiple existence arise from the unified One?
[Plotinus]
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21815
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Because the One is immobile, it must create by radiation, light the sun producing light
[Plotinus]
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21816
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Soul is the logos of Nous, just as Nous is the logos of the One
[Plotinus]
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21817
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The One does not exist, but is the source of all existence
[Plotinus]
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21824
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The One is a principle which transcends Being
[Plotinus]
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21825
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The soul is outside of all of space, and has no connection to the bodily order
[Plotinus]
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21826
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The Soul reasons about the Right, so there must be some permanent Right about which it reasons
[Plotinus]
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21827
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The movement of Soul is continuous, but we are only aware of the parts of it that are sensed
[Plotinus]
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21828
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A person is the whole of their soul
[Plotinus]
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