Plotinus: Road to Reality

by John M. Rist

This 1967 study of Plotinus' philosophy was the first comprehensive work in English since Inge's The Philosophy of Plotinus was published early in the twentieth century. After a brief biography of Plotinus, Professor Rist discusses, among other topics, Plotinus' concept of the one, the logos and free will and ends with a discussion of faith in Plotinus and later in Neoplatonism. Perhaps because he is strictly neither a classical nor a medieval philosopher Plotinus' work has been rather neglected in the English-speaking world. Professor Rist has rescued him from this relative obscurity and has indicated some of the ways in which he has influenced both Christian and non-Christian philosophers.

Genres: Philosophy

290 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 1977

About the author

John Michael Rist is a British scholar of ancient philosophy, classics, and early Christian philosophy and theology, known mainly for his contributions to the history of metaphysics and ethics. He is the author of monographs on Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Epicurus, Plotinus, the dating of the Gospels, and Augustine of Hippo. Rist is Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Toronto and part-time Visiting Professor at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum in Rome, held the Father Kurt Pritzl, O.P., Chair in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. (from 2011 to 2017), and is a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. During his lengthy academic career he has been Regius Professor of Classics at the University of Aberdeen (1980-1983), Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Toronto (1983–1996), and the Lady Davis Visiting Professor in Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1995).
His work focuses in the fields of ancient philosophy and historical theology.

Reviews

[C. Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

one can only read about so many mildly different non- and post-Plotinian uses of πίστις before getting a little bit bored