Bewusstsein

The writings of Plotinus provide ample evidence that the problem of consciousness, which is of major concern to contemporary philosophy, was already addressed in ancient philosophy. The present chapter explores Plotinus’ terminology of consciousness and discusses the various phenomena covered by the different terms he employs. It goes on to describe Plotinus’ analysis and evaluation of consciousness in the human soul, the world soul and on the level of Intellect and, in conclusion, addresses the question whether consciousness, or quasi-consciousness, can be attributed to the transcendent One.