Skip to content
The ConsciousLibrary

Library Plotinus

Ennead I.1 [53]: What is the living being, and what is man? — Plotinus

Written work

Ennead I.1 [53]: What is the living being, and what is man?

Τί τὸ ζῷον καὶ τίς ὁ ἄνθρωπος

Cabeza de mármol identificada con Plotino (Ostia, inv. 436)
byPlotinus

One of the last treatises, written when already ill. It distinguishes between the compound of soul and body, which perceives, desires and suffers, and the soul in itself, which remains impassible. It asks who the "we" is that thinks and is responsible, and places it in the rational soul, able to turn its attention upward or downward.

Not available

No edition of this work is currently on sale in a store we have been able to verify.

Read the full textEditions and translations · 3

EnglishEspañol

Authorship note

An authentic treatise by Plotinus, no. 53 in Porphyry's chronological order (Life of Plotinus 4–6), last period (treatises 46–54, sent to Porphyry in Sicily, 268–270). The title and the placement in Ennead I are Porphyry's.

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

  • Plotinus I: Porphyry on Plotinus; Ennead I (Loeb Classical Library 440) — Plotinus

    Plotinus I: Porphyry on Plotinus; Ennead I (Loeb Classical Library 440)

    Harvard University Press, 1966

    Translation: A. H. Armstrong

    ISBN 9780674994843

    Bilingüe griego-inglés; Open Library registra la reimpresión de 1969.

  • Ennead I.1 (MacKenna)

    Medici Society; Wikisource, 1917

    Translation: Stephen MacKenna

    Dominio público (MacKenna murió en 1934).

Español

  • Porfirio, Vida de Plotino; Plotino, Enéadas I–II — Plotinus

    Porfirio, Vida de Plotino; Plotino, Enéadas I–II

    Gredos (Biblioteca Clásica Gredos, 57), 1982

    Translation: Jesús Igal

    ISBN 9788424908607

    Introducciones, traducción y notas.

Other works by Plotinus

Sources

  • Porfirio. Vida de Plotino y orden de sus libros (Περὶ τοῦ Πλωτίνου βίου καὶ τῆς τάξεως τῶν βιβλίων αὐτοῦ). Texto griego en la ed. de R. Volkmann (Teubner, 1883), en Wikisource en griego; trad. inglesa de Stephen MacKenna (1917), en Wikisource en inglés.

Affiliate link: if you buy through it, the library may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. When an edition's real cover is not available, we show an illustrative library cover.