179PLOTINUSContemporary Platonic philosophers
often articulate this view in terms of
properties and exemplification. By their
lights, there are indefinitely (perhaps infi-
nitely) many properties, some of which
are exemplified and some are not. Thus,
the property of being a dictionary is
exemplified and is actually multiply
exemplified, but the property of being a
unicorn is not.
Plato set forth one of the most power-
ful myths or stories in the history of
ideas to represent his thinking: we are all
like persons chained to a wall in a cave.
Straight ahead of us we can see figures on
a wall, shadows that we mistake for real
life. One can (perhaps with the help of
others) be released from one’s chains and
come to see the forms themselves in the
light of day. On this view, our current life
is like a shadowland. Plato constructed an
ideal social order in the Republic, often
taught to be deeply anti-democratic, but
this can be disputed on many fronts. For
example, some see the Republic itself as a
rich blend of serious philosophy as well
as irony.
In Plato’s work one may find a defense
of an individual afterlife, including rein-
carnation. Plato defended the idea that
there is a single good God in the Republic,
and some Christian theists have found
theistic resources in the Timaeus, but
Plato also discusses the gods and his
actual views are difficult to discern. In his
seventh letter Plato entertains what some
see as a very mystical approach to the
good. His early dialogues include Hippias
Minor, Laches, Charmides, Ion, Protagoras,
Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Meno,
Cratylus, Hippias Major, Lysis, Menexenus,
and Euthydemus; his middle dialogues
include Phaedo, Philebus, Symposium,
Republic, and Theaetetus; and his late
dialogues include Critias, Parmenides,
Phaedrus, Sophist, Statesman, Timaeus,
and Laws.PLENITUDE, PRINCIPLE OF. Ever y
genuine possibility is actualized at some
time. Some medievalists argued that
because of the good of plenitude and
God’s omnipotence, all good types of
being will exist at some time.PLOTINUS (c. 204/5–270 CE). Perhaps
the single most influential philosopher of
Late antiquity. Plato and Aristotle were
often read, by both the Muslim and Chris-
tian worlds, through a prism bequeathed
by Plotinus. He fused the philosophical
genius of the Hellenic tradition with the
mystical and contemplative impulse of
late antiquity and bequeathed an inter-
pretation of Plato that was formative for
the Medievals and Renaissance culture.
In his own right, Plotinus’ idiosyncratic
hermeneutics, synthetic vision, specula-
tive daring, and poetic fervor make
Plotinus one of the most remarkable
philosophers of the occidental tradition.
He is a monist but not a pantheist. His
philosophy of the One and the many is
best thought of as the distant source of