Platonists beginning in the Old Academy itself and up to and including Plotinus struggled to understand and articulate the relation between Plato's Demiurge and the Living Animal which served as the model for creation. The central question is whether "contents" of the Living Animal, the Forms, are internal to the mind of the Demiurge or external and independent. For Plotinus, the solution depends heavily on how the Intellect that is the Demiurge and the Forms or intelligibles are to be understood in relation to the first principle of all, the One or the Good. The treatise V.5 [32] sets out the case for the internality of Forms and argues for the necessary existence of an absolutely simple and transcendent first principle of all, the One or the Good. Not only Intellect and the Forms, but everything else depends on this principle for their being.

About the Author
Lloyd P. Gerson is professor of philosophy in the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author or editor of some 20 books and approximately 200 articles and reviews, mainly in ancient philosophy. He works especially on Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus. He has also translated works of Aristotle (with H. G. Apostle), Hellenistic philosophy (with Brad Inwood), and Neoplatonic philosophy (with John Dillon).

Reviews
Gerson's translation is painstakingly accurate, achieving fluency and clarity without simplifying Plotinus' often hyper-concentrated style. If one compares it with the distinguished English translation by A. H. Armstrong,3 there are gains in precision as well as in contemporary idiom"". - Bryn Mawr Classical Review



Book Information
ISBN 9781930972858
Author Lloyd Gerson
Format Paperback
Page Count 220
Imprint Parmenides Publishing
Publisher Parmenides Publishing
Weight(grams) 261g