Maxwell Wade, Boston University
There has yet to be a comprehensive study of Plotinus’ elemental theory. Due in large part to the elements playing an important role in only a few treatises dealing with the sensible world, this component of Plotinus’ thought is generally treated as being entirely downstream of the model of the elements given by Aristotle and other Peripatetic philosophers. Despite this, there have been some challenges to this assumption; in particular, the recognition that Plotinus rejects the existence of the fifth element in treatise II.1. Plotinus’ picture of the elemental bodies, therefore, deserves closer investigation, as his view possesses a number of idiosyncratic features. Given that he rejects both the account of the elements given by Plato in the Timaeus as well as particular features of the Aristotelian theory, this project aims to reconstruct a full account of Plotinus’ model as it presents itself across the entirety of the Enneads, inasmuch as this is possible. I argue that while certain features—the transformation of elements into each other and the particular qualities associated with each element—are relatively orthodox when viewed from an Aristotelian frame of reference, many other aspects of his view seem to be genuine innovations that are necessary in order to preserve a four-element model within Plotinus’ broader metaphysical and cosmological framework. In particular, I intend to focus on the following features: 1) the counterintuitive claim that the elements exist within the intelligible realm, 2) the distinction between celestial and terrestrial fire, and 3) the way in which the elements are said to possess their respective essential properties (e.g., heat and cold, wetness and dryness, but also solidity, lightness, etc.). These three points, I argue, are distinctive features of Plotinus’ elemental theory which mark him as a significant innovator in the history of Ancient Greek natural philosophy—a label not often associated with Plotinus or Neoplatonism more broadly.
Keywords: Plotinus – Neoplatonism – natural philosophy – cosmology