The philosophy of Plotinus: a metaphysics of the image

• Main Author: María Jesús Hermoso
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Universidad Complutense de Madrid 2014-06-01
• Series: Anales del Seminario de Historia de la Filosofía
• Subjects: Imagen; expresión; Neoplatonismo; ontología; epistemología; percepción.
• Online Access: http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ASHF/article/view/45609

This paper will perform an analysis of the nature and function of the image in the Philosophy of Plotinus, under an ontological and an epistemological perspective. Both perspectives constitute inseparable sides of this approach to the character of the image in the work of this Neoplatonist thinker. The image, rather than as representation, as twice a reality “more real”, is understood as an expression, as hermeneutics of creative power that is at its heart. In En. II 18.03.15 Plotinus says that the cosmos is εἰκὼν ἀεὶ εἰκονιζόμενος. We will investigate the significance of this statement considering fundamental passages Plotinus work. This study will lead us to treat epistemological view of the image. on this matter, the philosophy of Plotinus is shown as a fine and complex study of perception.