Life and Happiness in the “Platonic Underworld”

Abstract

In the fresh exploration and corrective hypothesizing in research on Platonic thought in late antiquity and intellectual, most of the focus has been on technical arenas of philosophical conceptions, formulations, and argumentation. In this chapter, the author focuses on a dimension that invites significant correction. He examines what can be said of the implications of this famous historical confrontation between Plotinus and his opponents for how the disputants actually conducted themselves in daily life. The author explores how was daily life in the material world likely experienced and negotiated by these people whose views Plotinus attacks. Some recent scholarship on the relation of Plotinus' transcendental mysticism to his sense of responsibility in daily life, social interaction, even politics, has made plausible case that ethics of giving, held an important place in this thought. Keywords: daily life; happiness; late antiquity; Platonic underworld; Plotinus attacks; transcendental mysticism