The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics) [Abridged] [Mass Market Paperback]

Plotinus (Author), John Dillon (Editor, Introduction), Stephen MacKenna (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: October 25, 2005

Regarded as the founder of Neo-Platonism, Plotinus (AD 204 70) was the last great philosopher of antiquity, producing 0works that proved in many ways a precursor to Renaissance thought. Plotinus was convinced of the existence of a state of supreme perfection and argued powerfully that it was necessary to guide the human soul towards this state. Here he outlines his compelling belief in three increasingly perfect levels of existence the Soul, the Intellect, and the One and explains his conviction that humanity must strive to draw the soul towards spiritual transcendence. A fusion of Platonism, mystic passion and Aristotelian thought, The Enneads offers a highly original synthesis of early philosophical and religious beliefs, which powerfully influenced later Christian and Islamic theology.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Abridged edition (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014044520X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140445206
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Enneads for Dummies, November 27, 2002

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calmly - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Enneads is a staggering vision of unity. The concept of the soul plays a central part. Here's my take at a very brief summation:

1. The source of the soul ... and of everything else lies in a oneness (the One) that can be inferred but never contacted. So the One isn't a personal God. It isn't aware of us, so it doesn't intervene in our affairs.

2. What the soul receives ... are the goodness and intelligence that emanated from the source and are the principal characteristics of our cosmos. We exist in a cosmos that is fundamentally good and intelligent and we can sense and see that.

3. The mixed blessing for the soul ... is embodiment in matter, which, on the positive side, provides a context for helping and for personal growth. In a world of many, the one soul appears as many souls.

4. The downside of that blessing ... are pain, isolation, and the suffering and distraction caused by attachment to material things. Evil is real but we're created in a fundamentally good and intelligent place and with powers to deal with it.

5. The way to live ... includes recognizing that the many souls are in fact one. Individuality is the reward and the price the soul paid to become embodied. Just as the One gives richly via its emanations, so we should give to the cosmos. Enjoy and feel awed by the beauty around and within you.

6. We're no small things ... but a product of the One, of its Intelligence and Soul... each of our souls linked to each other via that one soul.

7. Soul and body go well together. The individual body being material isn't permanent. But the soul and the cosmos are, so the soul re-enters material life via a new body.

Unlike some religious positions that may seem similar, all of this and more can be demonstrated in a rational presentation that begins with just a few stated assumptions. That's what you'll find in The Enneads, a culmination of centuries of ancient Greek philosophy. As much a treasure as a book can be.

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, December 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the cheapest edition of Plotinus that you can buy and is a decent edition for those who wish just to dip into Plotinus or read him for pleasure. The main stumbling block is the translation by MacKenna which reads majestically, but which is not as faithful to the text as it should be. If you are studying Plotinus as a philosopher then the best translation is the Armstrong in the Loeb series. However, that edition runs to seven volumes in hardback and thus is quite expensive. I must admit that I really do enjoy the MacKenna translation as art but not as philosophy.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Skip this Penguin travesty of a book, June 28, 2007

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tepi "tepi" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics) translated by Stephen MacKenna (ISBN 014044520X).

The Penguin edition of Stephen MacKenna's translation Of Plotinus' 'Enneads' is printed on newsprint in a miniscule font, is sadly and inexplicably incomplete, and has a lengthy and condescending 40-page introduction by the Jesuit Paul Henry followed by a more interesting though much shorter one of 18 pages by editor John Dillon.

If it's the MacKenna translation you want - and there are some who feel it is one of the truly great translations of the age - skip this Penguin travesty of a book and treat yourself instead to a copy of the freshly edited Larson Publications 'Plotinus: The Enneads':

Plotinus: The Enneads (LP Classic Reprint Series)

An important feature of the Larson edition is that it has been annotated, not as the Penguin with mere references to Plato's dialogues (as if we didn't know that Plotinus had read Plato), but with useful and interesting alternate translations of many passages.

Also, unlike the Penguin which with its glued spine that cracks when opened and seems to have been designed to self-destruct after minimal use, the LP Classic Reprint is a PERMANENT BOOK, well-printed in a readable font on excellent paper, sewn in the traditional manner so that it opens flat, and is both clothbound and COMPLETE.