Freedom and the Good: A Study of Plotinus' Ennead VI.8 [39]

Abstract

This thesis investigates Plotinus’ Ennead VI.8 [39] with a view to reevaluating what scholars have frequently considered to be the problematic implications of his metaphysical thought, and, in particular, Plotinus’ supposed irrationalism. Our investigation shows that Plotinus is careful to develop an account of freedom that is distinct from acting arbitrarily, without thereby being necessitated or compelled – a development that is already clear in his reflections on human action. Plotinus’ account culminates in his novel reinterpretation of the first principle, the Good, as the will of itself. Because this is simultaneously the cause of all things and the end to which they seek to return, Plotinus here locates the ground of our own freedom as well as the goal of our ethical striving.