Abstract
This paper seeks to examine, by a comparison of certain texts of Plotinus, notably key sections of Enn. VI {7}, with a number of testimonies of near-death experiences (in particular, that of Dr. Eben Alexander), as well as the evidence of other ‘natural mystics’ (as I argue that Plotinus was), just what personal experiences Plotinus is trying to fit into the Platonist system to which he is committed. The One as a source of light, as a conferrer of beauty on the intelligible world, and instiller of love in the individual beholder, is a key concept to which Plotinus is committed as a result of his experiences.
Speaker BIO
John Dillon Born 15 Sept. 1939, in Madison Wisc., U.S.A. Educated at Oxford (B.A., M.A.), and University of California at Berkeley PhD., (The Fragments of Iamblichus’ Commentary on the Timaeus of Plato). Dept. of Classics, UC Berkeley, 1969–80 (Chair of Dept. 1977–80); Regius Professor of Greek, Trinity College, Dublin, 1980–2006. Research: Plato and the Platonic Tradition. Chief works: The Middle Platonists, 1977 (1996); Alcinous: The Handbook of Platonism (1993); Iamblichus, De Anima (with John Finamore, 2000); The Heirs of Plato (2003); The Roots of Platonism (2018); Philo of Alexandria: On the Life of Abraham (with Ellen Birnbaum, 2021).
For more information, please contact: viltanioti@uoc.gr