Plotinus Ennead IVI.3-4.29: Problems Concerning the Soul Translation, with an Introduction and Commentary

The soul is the key doctrine in Plotinus, both as a topic and as justification for his methodology. For humans to turn to address the soul is for them to obey the Socratic injunction to 'know thyself'. It is the point of entry into a study that will open to all of reality, insofar as it can be known. As bequeathed from his predecessors Plato and Aristotle, the soul has two functions, to be the principle of life and unity for a body, but also to be a pivot of vision or realization that may turn either up or down"". - Heythrop Journal