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"This volume contains the good translation and helpful commentary characteristic of the series, while the text tackled is one of the most accessible for those who have not previously studied Plotinus. The commentary takes special pains to treat the essay as a genuine work of philosophy and to set it against the earlier history of Greek (and especially Stoic) psychology. It would make an excellent final text for a course on post-Aristotelian philosophy."
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Harold Tarrant, Professor Emeritus, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle, Australia
"This early treatise of Plotinus on the immortality of the soul, one of the twin pillars of Platonism, is rich with arguments against the variety of materialist and reductionist theories of soul in antiquity. Fleet's fluent and accessible translation is accompanied by extensive notes, which offer sound guidance to the complex doctrinal contexts within which Plotinus lived and thought."
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John Bussanich, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico
"The translation is fluid and accessible to readers without knowledge of Greek, while the commentary elucidates thoroughly the argumentative structure of the text and its philosophical significance, both in the confines of Plotinus' philosophy itself, as well as in the broader context of ancient philosophy. Anyone interested in the (Neo-)Platonic theory of the soul and its engagement with rival anthropological conceptions will benefit from this volume."
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Matthias Vorwerk, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America
"With experience and erudition, Fleet translates and comments on Plotinus' seminar discussion of the signature Platonic subject of soul's immortality in the context of its diverse philosophical tradition in antiquity. Here the newcomer to late ancient philosophy will find a clear sketch of the big picture of Plotinus' view on the soul, while the seasoned reader will be treated to many new details and insights."
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Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Associate Professor of Classics, Florida State University
"Fleet's offers a new, clear, and readable translation and an extensive and detailed commentary of Plotinus'
On the Immortality of the Soul. His commentary shows us a Plotinus in active dialog with earlier philosophical doctrines including those of Plato and Aristotle and especially the Stoics. Useful for scholars and students alike."
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Dr. Wiebke-Marie Stock, University of Bonn, Germany
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Barrie Fleet is affiliated Lecturer and former Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, UK. He is the author of
Plotinus: Ennead III.6 On the Impassivity of the Bodiless (Oxford, 1995),
Plotinus: Ennead IV.8 On the Descent of the Soul Into Bodies (Parmenides, 2012), and three volumes in the
Ancient Commentators on Aristotle Series edited by Richard Sorabji (Cornell/Duckworth):
Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 2 (1997),
Simplicius: On Aristotle Categories 5 & 6, with Frans de Haas (2001), and
Simplicius: On Aristotle Categories 7 & 8 (2002).
Zusammenfassung
This is a very early treatise (second according to Porphyry’s chronological table), and unlike the many treatises devoted to attempts at untangling various issues Plotinus found problematic in Plato’s thinking, this one presents the teachings of the other main schools current in Plotinus’ day: the Stoics, Epicureans, Pythagoreans, and Peripatetics.
