Plotinus' Conception "On the Intellectual

Beauty"
Plotinus, the neo-Platonic philosopher challenges Plato's theory that art imitates nature/world of
appearances and is thus twice removed from reality. He gives art a higher position in his system.
Plotinus develops the Platonic distinction between the world of appearance and true reality and
takes art as an emanation from the ultimately unknowable "One".

Plotinus (204-270)

The "One" is the primal ground of all being and the source of value that is expressed in a triad of
the Good, the Intellect and its knowledge, and the All-Soul. Everything emanates from the One;
the nature of reality is an expanding series of concentric circles, each dependent on the one
within it, and all produced by the spilling over of the eternal One; and everything strives to return
to it. Oneness disintegrates into multiplicity, unity into individuation. Beauty, as Plotinus
laboriously defines it, is central to his system, since the more beautiful a thing is, the closer it is
to the "One". Sheer symmetry is not necessarily a sign of beauty.
Plotinus concentrates on the idea that the artist is the creator. Nature is incomplete and it is the
artist who takes raw materials from nature and imposes form, which is beautiful and finally
reshapes it by offering newness. This ability comes from within the artist who is capable of
adding what nature is lacking. For, Plotinus artist does not possess any rational mind rather he
possesses intuitive force, through which creation of art is possible.
The beauty of the artist's creation lies not in any physical object that it copies or that it shapes,
but in what the artist imposes on his materials. In the imposition, the artist turns his materials
into something other than what they were, makes them into a new form: this attainment comes
from within the artist, who is capable of adding where nature is lacking. To say it more clearly,
Plotinus argues that the artist enjoys an especially close participation in the divine Reason, for
not only is he sensitive to the Beauty which the natural world reflects by imitation, he is also one

who fashions beauty, improving upon nature itself. Plotinus implies that there is a struggle
between the artist and his materials, and that in the successful work of art materials are partly
subdued. When this occurs, the form, in the artist's mind, which is derived from intellect and
ultimately from the one, is given some visible expression.
Plotinus' emphasis on unity and its centrality in reference to natural or artistic beauty gives a
microcosmic significance to every experience of the beautiful. The beauty of any whole seems to
depend collectively on the beauty of its parts, yet the beauty of those assembled parts consists,
not in their respective qualities, but in the way they work together to produce a total comedy.
And an artist strives to come near to this totality and his involvement in artistic activity is an
example of that struggle. Plotinus considers the artist a creator of vehicles of valuable, though
imperfect, spiritual insight. His artist does not work by rational principles; he does not lead us to
the ideas through the use of reason. He tries to express in an artistic medium some insight into
the "One". In this expression there lies the intellectual beauty. A celebrated example further sheds
light on Plotinus' concept of what artistry can do. He compares an untreated block of stone and a
finished work of sculpture. One is untouched by art; the other has been wrought by the craftsman
into a beautiful statue. The stone thus brought under the artist's hand to the beauty of form is
beautiful not as stone, but in virtue of the form or idea introduced by art. Therefore, the art itself
is capable of introducing an idea in the raw materials that it handles and the idea that is generated
by the intellect of the designer adds beauty to materials.
When artist convert the stone into an image, 'One' is constantly thrown down to the matter.
During this an artist comes with soul, intellect and skill to lift 'One' up to the level of perfection.
Artist start struggling with the matter, while struggling, he uses three things 'intellectual
principle' brought from the intellect, 'emotion' from soul and skill too. When he starts shaping the
matter (stone) cutting with skill and putting intellect and knowledge, along with emotion and
soul make the stone shift upward to 'One'. The artist generates this art as 'One' with sparkle and
this beautiful sparkle which Plotinus called is intellectual beauty.
Here Plotinus varies on Plato's idea in the sense that Plato claims artist as a slavish imitator but
Plotinus opines artist to be the creator. Plotinus has announced the art whereas Plato denounced
the art.
- See more at: http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/criticaltheories/on-the-intellectualbeauty.html#.V4bW4zUauFQ

On the Intellectual Beauty

Plotinus: A Neo-Platonist and a mystical thinker who believes in an ideal world which he calls
There, and a physical world which he calls Here.
On the Intellectual Beauty: a mimetic theory that proves that art is superior; this shows that
Plotinus values beauty and art. He says that art is the intellectual beauty
I. Art:
A. Plato believes that art is just an imitation of the perfect or ideal world, while Plotinus says
that art is superior, because it unites there and here. Art is also good because it represents a
God that you can touch and feel since God invades the world of art, therefore, art is like touching
something which is divine.
1. In the first stage of mystical union, the Divine invades the subject as a glorified selfimage. In its final stages, the self fades out completely as the subject becomes completely
identified with divine power and will. (109)
B. Plato believes that artists imitate ideas and not copy things of this world.
C. Wisdom of the artist is the guide of his work.

II. Beauty:
A. Plotinus shows that we are all the creation of a beautiful god, so we are all beautiful. If the
creator is beautiful then what he creates is beautiful too and vice versa. (A holistic vision just like
Plato).
1. The Nature, then, which creates things so lovely must be itself of a far earlier beauty
(111)
B. Plotinus wants us to realize that beauty exists in every person, if a person didnt realize the
power of beauty within him then he should either use separation (bringing whats inside of you
to the out side) or identity (the self inside of him).
C. This shows that knowing ourselves is beauty, we are all beautiful, and if a person
thinks that hes ugly it means that hes ignorant and not smart enough to see that you're
beautiful.
2. -We ourselves possess beauty when we are true to our own being; our ugliness is in
going over to another order; our self-knowledge, that is to say, is our beauty; in selfignorance we are ugly (118)

III. Wisdom:
A. Wisdom here is God, so each thing that exists has been made into some kind of wisdom. An
artist brings this wisdom of god close to our senses.
1. For each manifestation of knowledge and wisdom is a distinct image, an object in
itself, an immediate unity later, from this wisdom in unity there appears (113)
IV. "There":

A. -Plotinus is in some way similar to Plato, since both of them believe in an ideal world, yet he
criticized Plato in many issues. Plotinus called it the world of There.
Ideal
Plato
_______________

Plotinus

There
______________

Physical

Here

B. There: where we want to be, aims, goals, dreams and desires. It is the unreachable and it
doesnt exist physically.
C. Here: where we are now, our current status
-In our realm all is part rising from part and nothing can be more than partial (112)
This quote shows the main difference between Plato and Plotinus, since Plato believes that
everything is a copy of the ideal world and not a part of it, while Plotinus
believes that we all live in the world of here which is a part of the world of there.

Ideal
_____________
Physical

Plato

Plotinus