Giannis Stamatellos

Filling the void in the current scholarship, Giannis Stamatellos provides the first book-length study of the Presocratic influences in Plotinus’ Enneads. Widely regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism, Plotinus (204–270 AD) assimilated eight centuries of Greek thought into his work. In this book Stamatellos focuses on eminent Presocratic thinkers who are significant in Plotinus’ thought, including Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the early Pythagoreans, and the early Atomists. The Presocratic references found in the Enneads are studied in connection with Plotinus’ fundamental theories of the One and the unity of being, intellect and the structure of the intelligible world, the nature of eternity and time, the formation of the material world, and the nature of the ensouled body. Stamatellos concludes that, contrary to modern scholarship’s dismissal of Presocratic influence in the Enneads, Presocratic philosophy is in fact an important source for Plotinus, which he recognized as valuable in its own right and adapted for key topics in his thought.

The rapid advancement of information technology in modern societies affects the way we live, communicate, work, and entertain. Computers and computer networks formulate an information age in which traditional ethical questions are reexamined and new questions arise concerning moral standards for human behavior.  Computer Ethics: A Global Perspective presents a clear and concise introduction to the ethical and social issues sparked by our ever-growing information society at the local and global level. Designed for use as a main text in undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on computer, business, and applied ethics, the text is also ideal for the Information Technology in a Global Society course for the International Baccalaureate diploma. The text considers the impact of digitized information on individuals and societies and includes discussions on privacy, reliability, security, intellectual property, control, equality of access, and authenticity, with insights from the scientists and philosophers who have attempted to evaluate, explain, and resolve these issues. The text also discusses the social impact of information technology in different areas of human life such as business, health, education, entertainment and politics.

Introduction to Presocratics presents a succinct introduction to Greek thinkers of the 6th and 5th century BCE and a thematic exploration of the topics and enquiries opened by these first philosophers and scientists of the Western tradition.

Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998), written by Andrew Niccol, has been approached from various philosophical perspectives particularly in relation to Cartesian skepticism and the question of the external world, Sartrean existentialism and the affirmation of individual freedom, and some accounts of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. However, despite the aforementioned philosophical approaches, no Neoplatonic interpretation of the film has been offered. In this paper I aim to offer a Plotinian reading of The Truman Show with special reference to Plotinus’ dual-aspect theory of the soul and human freedom. I shall argue that The Truman Show can be interpreted as a discourse on selfhood, self-determination, and individual freedom in self-transcendence.

This article focuses on the virtue ethics of Plotinus (204—270 C.E.) and its implications for later accounts of virtue ethics, particularly in Porphyry and Iamblichus. Plotinus' ethical theory is discussed in relation to the aim of the virtuous person to become godlike, the role of disposition in the soul's intellectualization, the four cardinal virtues, well-being, human freedom, and self-determination. Plotinus' virtue ethics is also presented in regards to his theory of transmigration and his criticism of the Gnostics. Plotinus draws a line between virtue, beauty, and truth, emphasizing Plato's teaching of ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics. Plotinus' criticism of Gnosticism is an abridgment of his virtue ethics where the meaning of arete is justified for its importance for the soul's purification, unity, and self-improvement.

The utilization of digital tools aiming at the cognitive enhancement of students and adults, so that they can achieve better performance and professional or academic success, has increased in recent years. This paper focuses on ICT tools such as computer games, programming languages and educational software as means for cognitive enhancement and attempts to highlight their contributions. Issues of design and the limitations of digital tools are discussed. In the final section, the ethical implications of using educational ICT tools for cognitive enhancement from a virtue ethics perspective are presented.

The aim of this paper is to focus on the reception of Plotinus’ concept of matter in the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno and his early Italian dialogue De la causa, principio et uno (1584). I argue that Bruno’s concept of materia in De la causa, principio et uno reflects Plotinus’ theory of intelligible matter in Ennead ii 4 [12] 2–5 as well as Plotinus’ positive view of the perceptible world in Enneads ii 9 [33] and iv 8 [6]. It is suggested that Bruno interprets Plotinus as an ancient philosopher who supported the unity and homogeneity of matter. Giordano Bruno’s reception of Plotinus in De la Causa, principio et uno could enlighten contemporary discussions in Neoplatonic studies concerning the question of matter in the Enneads.

In the Enneads, various references are made to philia, but scant attention has been paid in modern scholarship to the philosophical importance of friendship and its sources in Plotinus. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to focus on the reception of the Empedoclean philia in the Enneads and, secondly, to offer a discussion of the implications of the Empedoclean philia in Plotinus' theory of friendship. I shall argue that Plotinus' concept of philia is related to the power of unity found at different ontological levels: the supreme power of unity at the level of the One, the unity of the intelligibles and the cosmos and the unity of interpersonal relationships in virtue friendship. It is concluded that, following on Empedocles' interpretation of philia, Plotinus conceives philia as the power of unity originating from the One, weaving together virtuous friends and souls with the higher intelligible life of the divine Nous and the cosmos.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of ἕξις in Plotinus’ virtue ethics. It is argued that since ἕξις signifies a quality of being in a permanent state of possession and virtue is defined as an ἕξις that intellectualizes the soul, therefore, it is suggested that virtue is an active ἕξις of the soul directed higher to the intelligible world in permanent contemplation of the Forms.

The ethical problem of privacy lies at the core of computer ethics and cyber ethics discussions. The extensive use of personal data in digital networks poses a serious threat to the user’s right of privacy not only at the level of a user’s data integrity and security but also at the level of a user’s identity and freedom. In normative
ethical theory the need for an informational self-deterministic approach of privacy is stressed with greater
emphasis on the control over personal data. However, scant attention has been paid on a virtue ethics approach
of information privacy. Plotinus’ discussion of self-determination is related to ethical virtue, human
freedom and intellectual autonomy. The Plotinian virtue ethics approach of self-determination is not primarily
related to the sphere of moral action, but to the quality of the self prior to moral practice. In this paper, it is
argued that the problem of information privacy should be reconsidered in the light of Plotinus’ virtue ethics
and his notion of self-determination.

In normative ethical theory, computer ethics belongs to the area of applied ethics dealing with practical and everyday moral problems arising from the use of computers and computer networks in the information society. Modern scholarship usually approves deontological and utilitarian ethics as appropriate to computer ethics, while classical theories of ethics, such as virtue ethics, are usually neglected as anachronistic and unsuitable to the information era and ICT industry. During past decades, an Aristotelian form of virtue ethics has been revived in modern philosophical enquiries with serious attempts for application to computer ethics and cyberethics. In this paper, the author argues that current trends and behaviours in online communication require an ethics of self-care found in Plotinus’ self-centred virtue ethics theory. The paper supports the position that Plotinus’ virtue ethics of intellectual autonomy and self-determination is relevant to cyberethics discussions
involved in computer education and online communication.

Source: International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education, 1 (1): 1-11, 2011.

In Ennead III.7 Plotinus defines eternity (aiōn) as the life of the Intellect, contrasted with time (chronos) as the life of the Soul. The aim of this paper is to highlight the philosophical importance of the notion of eternity in Plotinus and explore its philosophical background. It is argued that the association of aiōn with the notion of life in Ennead III.7 is significant for the history of ancient Greek philosophy.

Source: Czech and Slovak Journal of Humanities: Philosophica II: 84-95, 2013.

Source: Messages and Messengers: Angeletics as an Approach to the Phenomenology of Communication, Capurro, R. & Holgate, J. (eds.). Band 5. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag,  2011, 125-134.

This paper examines an ancient philosophical discourse on angelos (messenger) found in the thought of Plotinus (AD 204-270) – a prominent philosopher of late antiquity, widely regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism. Understanding Plotinus’ message theory involves inquiring into his epistemology, psychology and metaphysics. In the Enneads, Plotinus refers twice to angelos: firstly in his middle-period treatise “On Difficulties About the Soul” and secondly in his late treatise “On the Knowing ‘Hypostases’ and What is Beyond.” A third enlightening passage is found in the seventh chapter of his early treatise “On the Good or the One.” In these passages, Plotinus uses angelos in relation to: (1) sense-perception and the outer activity of the soul towards the perceptible world and (2) contemplation and the inner activity of the soul towards the One. The first case is discussed in Enneads IV.4.19 and V.3.3, the second in Ennead VI.9.9: Within this framework, the aim of the chapter is twofold: firstly, to present Plotinus’ concept of angelos in the Enneads and, secondly, to support the position that Plotinus’ message theory should be conceived as an early forerunner of angeletics – in which angelos plays a central role. [see pages 17-18]

Thales’ and Anaximenes’ argument by analogy should be considered as one of the first incidents of inductive reasoning. The relationship between microcosm (small scale) and macrocosm (cosmic scale) reflects Thales’ hylozoism and mathematical
expertise (ex. measurement of the pyramids and predictions of the eclipses) and Anaximenes’ natural philosophy and cosmological discoveries.

THE PRESOCRATICS. . (G.) Stamatellos Introduction to Presocratics. A Thematic Approach to Early Greek Philosophy with Key Readings. Pp.
xiv + 162, map. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell, 2012.
Nuria Scapin
The Classical Review / Volume 64 / Issue 01 / April 2014, pp 48 - 50

Book Review Svetla Slaveva-Grifffijin, The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2013) 121-143. G. Stamatellos, Introduction to Presocratics. A Thematic Approach to Early Greek Philosophy With Key Readings. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Neoplatonic virtue ethics is a philosophical development of the Platonic and the Aristotelian ethical theory. Plotinus discusses his virtue ethics mainly in Enneads I.2 On Virtues, I.3 On Dialectic, and I.4 On Well-Being. In Sententiae ad intelligibilia ducentes 32, Porphyry systematized Plotinus' treatment of the four cardinal virtues exposed in Ennead I.2, while Iamblichus, in his work On Virtues (not preserved today), further developed Porphyry's scale of virtues. The aim of this lecture is to highlight the self-directed aspect of Neoplatonic virtue ethics as well as to discuss its philosophical implications for human selfhood and character-based education.

Project: BEAGLE - Bioethical Education and Attitude Guidance for Living
Environment (Erasmus Plus KA2, 2018-1-HR01-KA201-047484)

Heraclitus' philosophy is an inquiry on the world of becoming. Despite the fact that none of his extant fragments refer directly to the notion of 'time' (chronos), Heraclitus' conception of time could be reconstructed in the light of his fragments (DK) regarding the everlastingness of aiōn (B52), the seasons of time (B100) and the flux of the river waters (B91, B49a , B12). Whereas fragment B52 refers to an ontology of time represented in the personification of the divine aiōn, fragment B100 signifies a manifestation of being expressed in the image of the time seasons (hōras) which bring all things into appearance. Moreover, fragment B91 describes the dialectic of time and the unrepeatability of temporal reality, fragment B49a defines temporal existence as a suspended step between what-is (=being) and what-is-not (=non-being) and fragment B12 expresses the divergent plurality of temporal becoming. In this paper I shall argue that Heraclitus' conception of time must be differentiated from Mc Taggart's forms of A-series flowing time (past, present, future) and B-series static time (earlier, simultaneously, later). It is suggested that Heraclitus' fragments reflect an ontology of time where the tenses of time are divergent ontic manifestations of the eternal rhythm of logos.

The significance of the Presocratics in Plotinus’ Enneads is marked by various references and allusions to early Greek philosophers, including Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. The importance of the evidence counters the general opinion in modern scholarship that there is only a superficial use of the Presocratic fragments in the Enneads. On the contrary Presocratic theories and terminology can be found embedded in Plotinus’ key theories of the One and the nature of being, eternity and time, matter and the ensouled bodies. The aim of this paper is to focus in particular on Empedocles and the concept of philia in the Enneads, with special reference to the treatises: III.2 [47] On Providence; IV.4 [28] On the Difficulties of the Soul II; IV.8 [6] On the Descent of the Soul into the Bodies; V.1 [10] On the three Primary Hypostases of Being and VI.7 [38] On the Forms and the Good.  I shall argue that the identification of the One with Empedocles’ philia, particularly in Ennead V.1.9, offers an interpretation of the One as dunamis panton in Plotinus’ metaphysics, and suggests that Plotinus considers Empedocles’ philia as a power to be identified with the active unity of the One manifested at different ontological levels throughout the hypostases of being.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the notion of privacy in Plotinus’ Enneads. The Plotinian inward turn of the soul influenced Augustine’s thought and in particular the development of his notion of the inner self as a private space. Yet it has been maintained that the Augustinian inward turn requires a double movement of the soul (first in then up) which is not found explicitly in the Enneads. I shall argue that Plotinus’ theory of the soul does involve a ‘double movement’. His ‘dual-aspect theory of the self’ is central to his psychology, and the location of the soul’s middle region (to meson) between the higher intelligible world and the lower perceptible reality is crucial to his ontology. I suggest that Plotinus’ conception of privacy is to be found in the combination of soul’s self-constitution and its conscious apprehension of being.