Einheit und Vielheit

Plotinus’ philosophical standpoint as a whole can be characterized as a metaphysics of unity (henology). One or unity is the key term for understanding the Plotinian conception of a hierarchically ordered reality: from the first principle to the lowest entity, matter, Plotinus describes reality as a derivative sequence of decreasing unity. In doing so, he not only uses the term ‚the One‘ (to hen) to designate its absolute or highest principle, but also describes the two other intelligible entities, the intellect (nous) and the soul (psychê), as unities. According to the Plotinian view, Plato gives us the key to a full understanding of reality in the Parmenides by distinguishing a strictly understood first One (to prôton hen, to kuriôteron hen), the second One, which is said to be a ‚one-many‘ (hen polla), and the third One, the ‚one and many‘ (hen kai polla: V 1 [10],8). While Plotinus declares the first One transcendent to Being (‚beyond Being‘, quoting Plato, Republic 6,509b9: epekeina tês ousias), all further unities that emerge from the first show for him inferior forms of unity.