SOURCE: “Love,” in Form and Transformation: A Study in the Philosophy of Plotinus, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992, pp. 91-113.

In the following excerpt, Schroeder investigates what Porphyry meant in describing Plotinus as being “present at once to himself and to others.”

Porphyry describes Plotinus' relationship to his circle with these words: “He was present at once to himself and to others …”¹ Hadot remarks,² “On the subject of the philosopher's rapport with others, about his ‘presence to others’ of which Porphyry speaks, we find no theoretical information in the treatises of Plotinus.” In the present chapter, we shall see, on the contrary, that there is abundant evidence of a theoretical background, both metaphysical and ethical, for Porphyry's statement.

The presence portrayed in Porphyry's sentence is twofold: Plotinus is present both to himself and to others. What is presence to oneself? What is presence to others? What, if any, is the...