A amizade do sábio em Plotino

Abstract

The wise man does not look for anything else once he has reached the true Good,because he carries an autarchic and self-sufficient life and thereof distant from matterlives a happy life "alone with himself" (En. VI, 9[9] 11, 51). But, how is it that his selfsufficiencyleads him towards an encounter with the other? The plotinian wise man doesnot stay isolated, rather, he is concerned about the state of other men and their ethicalpreoccupations. The spoudaîos/σπουδαῖος, lives with no fear, for he trusts himself fully,and tries to show the others the pre-eminence of life lived within intelligence. Havingthis as a purpose, he becomes the "best of all friends" (En. I, 4 [46] 15, 21-25). Hisfriendship consists in valuing the superior part of man. This work reconstructs Plotinusnotion of friendship throughout the Eneads. Friendship is compatible with wisdom,reason for which it becomes a central topic in his ethical theory. We, firstly, analyze the"other soul" of the wise man in contrast with the ordinary man, which lets him liveindependently from the sensible world and lets him positively value as pre-eminentwhat is inside of him. Then follows an analysis of the relations amongst magic,sympathy and the unity of soul. Thirdly, an analysis of the relations between happy lifeand intelligence, afterwards of the relations that autarchy and friendship have, andfinally, as a conclusion, the study of pure Friendship of intelligible world.