Plótínovo filosofické dílo je mimořádně systematické, nicméně jeho značný rozsah a složitost znesnadňuje celkové pochopení a výklad. V předkládané studii se pokoušíme prozkoumat základní strukturu celé Plótínovy metafyzické stavby, v souladu s nejnovějšími interpretačními poznatky. Východiskem je hierarchické uspořádání celého systému, přičemž ve výkladu postupujeme po metafyzických úrovních a snažíme se charakterizovat jak jejich vlastní povahu, tak vztah k ostatním součástem Plótínova systému.

Neoplatonism is alive and well today. It expresses itself in New Thought and the mind-cure movements derived from it. However, to avoid many ancient errors, Neoplatonism needs to be modernized. The One is just the simple origin from which all complex things evolve. The Good, which is not the One, is the best of all possible propositions. A cosmological argument is given for the One and an ontological argument for the Good. The presence of the Good in every thing is (...) Spirit. Spirit sits in the logical center of every body; it is surrounded by the regulatory forms of that body. Striving for the Good, Spirit seeks to correct the errors in its surrounding forms. To correct the errors in biological texts, modern Neoplatonists turn to the experimental method. This Neoplatonism is pantheistic not because of some theoretical definition of God but rather because of its practical focus on the shaping of Spirit. (shrink)

Each particular possesses its own form by virtue of its rational principle by which it expresses its universal in its unified and intelligible individuality. Logos is able to express its form uniquely because of the infinite possibilities inherent within and among the perfect, immutable Forms ; all of the possibilities of formal expression exist within the intelligible cosmos. Insofar as this is the case, particular forms can be identified qua individual, by virtue of their intrinsic unity; the oneness of each (...) individual thing, by which it is distinguished from all others, is owing to the One, in which and by which all things have their being and intelligibility. (shrink)