ABSTRACT
Intellect is the second hypostasis, the level of reality closest to the One but different from it in that it is plural. Being closest to the One, it is nevertheless as unified as anything plural can be. Intellect is in Plotinus’ system the locus of real beings (identified with the Platonic Ideas) and at the same time the locus of perfect knowledge. In fact—this may be claimed to be the most essential aspect of his theory of Intellect—knowledge and being coincide, in a way coalesce, in Intellect. We shall consider this and other aspects of the theory in this chapter but let us proceed from where we left off and delve into the intricacies of this second-best hypostasis.
