In his treatises, Plotinus quotes several δόξαι to explain his theories or to refute others’ ideas. Even if they are often quoted anonymously, these δόξαι can be attributed to Presocratic philosophers because they match fragments and testimonia collected in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker by H. Diels and W. Kranz. It is however unclear how Plotinus (as other authors of this period) got acquainted with such δόξαι and, for this reason, three hypothesis have been advanced: Plotinus might have taken his quotations (i) from the works of the Presocratics, or (ii) from doxographies (also known as Placita), a literary genre where δόξαι of many ancient thinkers about a given topic are collected together, or again (iii) from other authors reporting them. This hypothesis is very interesting: as it is known, the starting point of Plotinus’ lectures was the reading of excertps from philosophical works like those by Severus, Cronius, Numenius, Gaius, Atticus, Aspasius, Alexander, Adrastus, and others. The possibility exists that Plotinus made use of these texts not only as an opportunity to discuss philosophical questions, but also as a source of information about ancient thinkers. This paper deals with the quotations reported in II 4 [12], 7.20-28, III 6 [26], 12.22-25, and IV 4 [28], 29.32-39 and advances the hypothesis that other sources unknown to us for the moment provided Plotinus with information about the Presocratics.
Le citazioni dei presocratici nelle Enneadi: una nuova via di ricerca nello studio delle fonti di Plotino.
Giulia Guidara
2016-01-01
Abstract
In his treatises, Plotinus quotes several δόξαι to explain his theories or to refute others’ ideas. Even if they are often quoted anonymously, these δόξαι can be attributed to Presocratic philosophers because they match fragments and testimonia collected in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker by H. Diels and W. Kranz. It is however unclear how Plotinus (as other authors of this period) got acquainted with such δόξαι and, for this reason, three hypothesis have been advanced: Plotinus might have taken his quotations (i) from the works of the Presocratics, or (ii) from doxographies (also known as Placita), a literary genre where δόξαι of many ancient thinkers about a given topic are collected together, or again (iii) from other authors reporting them. This hypothesis is very interesting: as it is known, the starting point of Plotinus’ lectures was the reading of excertps from philosophical works like those by Severus, Cronius, Numenius, Gaius, Atticus, Aspasius, Alexander, Adrastus, and others. The possibility exists that Plotinus made use of these texts not only as an opportunity to discuss philosophical questions, but also as a source of information about ancient thinkers. This paper deals with the quotations reported in II 4 [12], 7.20-28, III 6 [26], 12.22-25, and IV 4 [28], 29.32-39 and advances the hypothesis that other sources unknown to us for the moment provided Plotinus with information about the Presocratics.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
