プロティノスEnn. VI-6(34)に於ける「有-知性-生きもの」の順序について

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In the thought of Plotinus one of the main concerns is construction of the intelligible world, and there are many relevent descriptions throughout his works From these we can discover two types of order of the so called triad in that world according to the interpretation of Plato's Timaeus One of them sets being first, living thing second, and intellect last(Enn III-9(13)), and while another orders being, intellect, living thing (Enn VI-6(34)) In this paper I try to explain not only the reason for the latter order, but also the concept he uses in this treatise (Enn VI-6(34)) Plotinus deals mainly with the problem of the status of number in the intelligible world That problem immediately leads to another problem of the generation that of numbers, containing further difficulties, how to get the principle of plural number from one as being in spite of there being no plural things prior to that number, and how to produce multiplicity of beings from a being alone with no guidance In order to solve the problems and the difficulties Plotinus finds out the concept of a power of number with two phases One of these represents number in potential which lies in one being, and another represents number in act which comes to exist as numbers and causes one being to divide into as many beings as exist in the intelligible world That number in activity which acts like an agent to produce beings is called intellect in act According to number's changing its phases from potentiality to activity, Plotinus thinks that being in potential changes to intellect in act This is the cause for the order where intellect follows being When Plotinus refers to productive numbers as the first numbers, we notice that he clearly uses the concept of Aristotle's number theory which appears in Physics This is a very important point in appreciation of this treatise For in order to interpret Plato's Timaeus he adopts the Aristotelian theory of number without using so called Ideal Number theory which appears in Metaphysics reported by Aristotle who ascribes that theory to Plato himself and his successors On the other hand, when the order between being and intellect is fixed in such a way, the term 'complete living thing' represents all the beings which are led by the power of number in act as Intellect Because of its totality living being takes the last position in the order That fact that Plotinus sees that order to be the representation of the various phases of the intelligible world from potentiality to activity adopting Arisototelian concept of number means that this treatise should be understood only as an interpretation of the realm of existence, never as an interpretation of the transcendental absolute, the One
日本西洋古典学会の論文
2002-03-05

プロティノスEnn. VI-6(34)に於ける「有-知性-生きもの」の順序について

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