Abstract

The treatise of Plotinus On the Genera of Being is fundamentally important both for Neoplatonic metaphysics and for the history of the interpretation of Aristotle. The purpose of this study is to examine Plotinus' treatment of Aristotle and his use of certain central Aristotelian themes in this work. ;The metaphysical theory Plotinus presents in this treatise is predicated on a detailed critique of Aristotle's theory of categories, carried out in the treatise's first book, VI.1. Chapter I of this study examines Plotinus' view of the nature of Aristotle's theory, as set out in the introduction to the treatise. It is shown that Plotinus regards Aristotle's theory of categories as an ontological theory. Plotinus' characterization of the fundamental difference between Aristotelian and Platonic metaphysics is also discussed. ;Chapter II turns to the main criticisms of Aristotle's category-theory that Plotinus presents in VI.1. It is shown that these are ad hominem objections that depend on a metaphysical principle that Aristotle himself accepts. This principle is discussed in detail. It is argued that the principle is fundamental to Plotinus' version of Platonism, and that it allows him to answer some of the main objections of Aristotle to Plato's theory of Forms. ;Plotinus restricts the scope of Aristotle's theory of categories to describing the metaphysical structure of the sensible as opposed to the intelligible world. Chapter III of the study examines Plotinus' interpretation of certain key distinctions made in Aristotle's Categories. Particular attention is given to his criticism of the Categories' doctrine that the individual is prior to the universal. Plotinus' view of the modified theory of substance of Aristotle's Metaphysics and certain problems about its relation to the theory of Categories is also discussed. ;Chapter IV examines Plotinus' own theory of the metaphysical structure of the sensible object. It is shown that this is based both on Aristotle's Metaphysics and on Plato's Timaeus. Plotinus' view of the nature of universals and their relation to particulars is also discussed. It is shown how Plotinus' conception of the structure of the sensible object is related to his theory of predication. ;Chapter V discusses three interrelated problems which arise from Plotinus through his use of Aristotelian themes in the treatise. The first is the well-known problem of how differentiae are to be accounted for on Aristotle's category-theory. Plotinus' discussion of this difficulty in the earlier treatise On Quality is examined; the views of this treatise are significantly modified in VI.1-3. It is shown that the solution Plotinus ultimately accepts to this difficulty helps motivate his view that a sensible object is mere bundle of phenomenal qualities. Finally,, it is shown how this latter conception relates to Plotinus' view of the nature of definition and the intelligible world of Forms as the ground of being and truth