THE COMPLEX NATURE OF METAPHYSICAL COSMOLOGY OF PLOTINUS

A PRAISE OF MATERIAL AND A CRITIQUE OF MATERIALISM

Abstract

This work aims to defend a non-dichotomous approach of the metaphysical cosmoslogy of Plotinus, particularly in the context of his exposition in On Matter (II.4[12]), On what evils are and where they come from (I.8[51]) and mainly in  Against Gnostics (II.9[33]). I intend to hold that in these treatises of The Enneads, between a transcendentalism responsible to overvalue intelligible and a rejection of corporeal things, there is an intermediary comprehension that it is expressed as criticism of Gnostic thought, to the extent that this doctrine proposes to deny the dignity of what is material; as well as it constitutes like a criticism of Epicurean materialism, in so far that it follows an opposed way that it is characterized by overrating matter. Therefore, a defense of a complex approach of cosmos guides to an apology for what is material and simultaneously implies in a criticism of materialist conception.