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Mirroring of the Soul in Plotinus, Ficino and Creuzer
Abstract
This paper compares three similar yet distinct philosophical interpretations of the mythological motif of Narcissus admiring his reflection in water. Since these interpretations span a period of fifteen centuries, they are bound to appear in different types of philosophical discourse: In PlotinusВ’ Enneads, where the motif of a beautiful image in the water appears without NarcissusВ’ being actually named, the myth is used as metaphor of the soul seduced by sensible beauty; in FicinoВ’s commentary to PlatoВ’s Symposium, it appears as a mythological reference in support of his exposition of the (Neo)Platonic hierarchy of Being and Beauty; while in CreuzerВ’s introduction (Praeparatio) to PlotinusВ’ tractate, On Beauty, the pull of oneВ’s own reflection is treated in the broader context of the Neoplatonic doctrine of the fall of the soul, and is enhanced with the Romantic symbolism of mirroring as an act of (artistic) creation. With his interpretation, Creuzer departs not only from Ficino, whose theory of intelligible beauty is strongly influenced by PlotinusВ’ metaphysics of light, but also from Plotinus himself, who uses this mythological motif in a different context and does not identify the creative descent of the individual soul with its fall and death in the sensible world. The analysis of relevant texts and crucial passages will show that these thinkers, while interweaving the themes of beauty, love and death, rely upon different elements of the famous myth.
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