SOURCE: “Plotinus' Metaphysics,” in Plotinus on Sense-Perception: A Philosophical Study, Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 10-22.

In the following excerpt, Emilsson explores the concept of hierarchy in Plotinus's picture of reality.

The most striking feature of Plotinus' philosophy, and of Neoplatonism generally, is its hierarchical picture of reality. This is also the feature that is most baffling for modern readers. In Plotinus' philosophy we come across a hierarchy of three so-called hypostases” that are called “the One”, “Intellect” and “Soul”, followed by matter at the bottom. Similar ideas characterize the writings of the other Neoplatonists. We are told that reality is somehow constituted by this hierarchy, an idea which we presumably find quite puzzling. If we look for arguments for it as such, we do not find any: it seems to be taken for granted. And if we encounter something that looks like an argument for some part of...