Plotinus on thе Ideas of individuals

Appendix: Plotinus. On Whether or not There are Ideas of Individuals (V. 7)

Abstract

The article is devoted to Plotinus’ explanation of individual qualities in V. 7 “On Whether or not There are Ideas of Individuals”. In this regard, the following questions are considered: 1) the ideas of individuals in Platonism, 2) the problem of the infinity of the intelligible world, 3) the periodical character of the world’s process, 4) individual qualities in Stoicism and Plotinus, 5) the coexistence of indistinguishable individuals. As a result, the author comes to the following conclusions. The goal of Plotinus this treatise was to examine the famous school question in the context of his own metaphysical system (1). Plotinus does not accept the existence of ideas of individuals (2), explaining all features of individu­als by the difference in the dominance of certain logoi over matter (3). According to Ploti­nus, the number of souls is limited, but even if it were infinite, this would not affect the completeness and perfection of the Intelligible world (5). Two indistinguishable indi­viduals can coexist in one world period (6).