Plotinus: The Enneads

Where has this book been all my life? For many years I've been told that the Enneads are too difficult to understand so just stick to the commentaries. Well, not true. This edition is very well translated and generously footnoted as well. It also includes the life of Plotinus by Porphyry. Not only is the text well written and easy to understand, the footnotes are priceless. I so love going back to the source in Plato for it breathes new life into his writings. The Enneads are a sort of commentary on Plato's works which can indeed be difficult to understand. But, of course, it is so much more. For example, to truly understand the full meaning and worth of contemplation is a difficult matter. I am speaking of contemplation as a spiritual exercise, not simply a dictionary definition. And frankly, I've never read a more thorough description of contemplation than what is here in the Enneads. I searched for it in "The Ascent to Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross but this is so much better, at least for me. The value of this book is just that......as a method of spiritual exercise, as defined by Pierre Hadot. By the way, an excellent book to read along with this is Hadot's book on Plotinus called "Plotinus or The Simplicity of Vision." They go together quite well if your purpose is spiritual exercise. I highly recommend this book.

The media could not be loaded. Love the translation! I also have the translation of MacKenna but Gerson’s (along with the other translators that contributed) is clearer and more consistent throughout the Enneads. The chapters within the treatises are clearly labeled making it easier to navigate the text. Again a must HAVE!

as it is described on p. 3, in a new translation. There has since the 1960s been a tremendous amount of work on Plotinus as well as on the Greek text of the Enneads, and it is one goal of this work to reflect those efforts. It is not as poetic as the early 20th c. translation of Terrence MacKenna, which was read by W. B. Yeats (or even the selection done by Thomas Taylor, early 19th c., that inspired William Blake) but there are many advantages to using this new one. It is organized in a manner similar to Armstrong's 7 vol. Loeb ed. with Greek text, with an introduction to each passage explaining the subject at hand, along with a summary outline of the sections, necessary I believe for the student to get into the text starting with some degree of facility. The footnotes are for the most part comprised of passages from Plato, Aristotle, and others to which Plotinus is referring, very helpful and often the result of much research since Armstrong. As well there are many notes that cross reference various passages in the Enneads themselves. Another helpful aspect are the two indexes of the terminology used by Plotinus, one of Greek terms translated for the reader and the other of the English words used in the translation. It is important in reading Greek philosophy to understand and develop a sense of the vocabulary on its own since it is often quite different and more nuanced than what is used in modern philosophy. Overall, an impressive addition to Plotinian studies as well a great way to begin work on this very difficult thinker.

Patches of the translation are a little rough and seem hard to square with the Greek; but, given that this is Plotinus, that is understandable. A massive effort to translate all the Enneads in one volume, and a great contribution to scholarship. Better than Armstrong translations.

I splurged and bought this one, and I'm glad I did. A sense of clean and clear, reliable and readable on every page in every aspect in this beautiful one volume including intro summaries, annotations and key terms. A labor of love for scholars/translators full engaged with Plotinus and Platonism, I dare say, Platonists themselves, believers.

The package arrived promptly and without any damage to the book. In fact, the package arrived earlier than I expected. The packaging used ensured that there was no tears or folds in the book cover, something that is very important to me.

My favorite translation of one of my favorite philosophical works of Late Antiquity. Very highly recommended.

Absolutely ecstatic to have a new scholarly edition of this most important work of philosophy. The new standard has been set.