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This paper provides an interpretation of the Stoic notion of bodily beauty as the symmetry of parts with respect to one another and to the whole. Symmetry is caused by the structuring activity of the rational spirit in multiplicity, making the beautiful thing an ordered whole. This is true for particular bodies in the world and, even more so, for the cosmos as a particular world order. I follow some traces in Stoic texts suggesting that this is also (and a fortiori) true for the cosmos, in the sense of God in conflagration, which somehow represents symmetry in its purest state.
The essay first succinctly points out shortcomings in previous interpretations of Plotinus' notion of beauty. Beauty is to be connected primarily with Intellect, which is to be understood as a special unity in diversity. The section of the essay devoted to aesthetics is therefore preceded by a short analysis of Intellect's unity and diversity. The hypothesis about the primary relation of beauty to the Intellect is then corroborated by a reading of Ennead V.8 and further developed. The emphasis is on three basic aspects of beauty: its being a unity of a mixture whose character is shared by all ontological levels; its function of referring to what is above it; and its fundamental accessibility. Though Plotinus opposes the Stoic notion of beauty as symmetry and stresses beauty's simplicity, it follows for him that beauty has the character of unitas multiplex, albeit a special one. Unitas multiplex als Grundlage von Plotins Auffassung von Schönheit. Eine Interpretation von Enneade V.8 Der Beitrag thematisiert zunächst kurz die Schwächen, die die Interpretationen von Plotins Auffassung von Schönheit in der Fachliteratur aufweisen. Schönheit ist vor allem mit dem Intellekt zu verbinden, und dieser ist als spezifische Einheit in der Mannigfaltigkeit aufzufassen. Dem Hauptteil des Beitrags wird deshalb eine kurze Analyse der Einheit und Mannigfaltigkeit des Intellekts voran gestellt. Aufgrund einer Interpretation von Enneade V.8 wird die oben erwähnte Hypothese über die primäre Bindung der Schönheit an den Intellekt im Text nachgewiesen und ihre Interpretation vertieft. Drei Grundcharakteristika der Schönheit werden hervorgehoben: 1. die Tatsache, dass die Schönheit die Einheit einer Mischung ist, die alle ontologischen Ebenen umfasst, 2. ihre Funktion als Verweis auf etwas Höheres und 3. die ihr inhärente fundamentale Zugänglichkeit. Obwohl Plotin sich also gegenüber der stoischen Auffassung von Symmetrie abgrenzt und die Einfachheit der Schönheit betont, hat die Schönheit bei ihm den Charakter einer-gleichwohl spezifischen-unitas multiplex. General histories of aesthetics usually present Plotinus' conception of beauty as a theory intentionally competing with the concept of beauty based on symmetry and harmony. For example, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, the author of the still largest history of aesthetics 1 and an important work on the history of key aesthetics 172
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