Kosmos

Plotinus’ cosmology is a neglected but important part of his philosophy. Broadly speaking, it can be read as an exegesis of Plato’s Timaeus, the philosophical difficulties and ambiguities of which it attempts to clarify. Against a literal reading of Plato, Plotinus defends the everlastingness of the world for metaphysical reasons and addresses the problem how a corporeal being, which is in constant flux, can be eternal. He discusses the role of the World Soul in the transmission of the transcendent Forms to the visible cosmos (an issue left open by Plato) and explains how the spiritual motion of Intellect and Soul can be the cause of heavenly motion, which is corporeal.