Ideas of Individuals

Abstract

We have now moved through the range of faculties that make up the sensible man. While a part of his soul always transcends this sensible man, it is at the summit of his being, the reason, that Plotinus generally says that we exist. Here the “we”, the ήμείς is normally to be found. But it can also, as we have seen, have a place in the intelligible world. Since it is thus mobile,¹ it cannot be the ultimate basis of the individual’s existence or personality. To find this basis we must look at the transcendent area of the soul, and see how far up the scale of intelligible being man’s individuality can be traced. Does the individual exist as such only at the level of Soul, or can he be found in the world of Nous as well ?