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Philosophize This!

Episode #015 ... A Period of Transition - Plotinus

Philosophize This!

Stephen West

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 17.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2014

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of the podcast, we learn about Plotinus, a Neo-Platonist philosopher who lived in Rome during "the crisis of the third century.” We discuss the difference between religion and philosophy and question whether or not JK Rowling stole parts of Harry Potter’s backstory from Plotinus’ life. We also learn about Plotinus’ Hierarchy of Being and use the phrase “Polaroid picture” more times than Outkast does in their hit song “Hey Ya!”. All this and more on the latest episode of Philosophize This! Thank you so much for listening! Could never do this without your help.  Website: https://www.philosophizethis.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philosophizethis  Social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philosophizethispodcast X: https://twitter.com/iamstephenwest Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philosophizethisshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

For more information about this or any episode of the podcast, check out the website at

0:04.8

philosophizethis.org.

0:06.4

We have additional content, further reading, transcripts of every show, all three, of course.

0:12.2

But if you value the shows and educational resource and you want to help keep it going,

0:15.8

you can find out more about how to do that at patreon.com slash philosophize this.

0:20.4

Or alternatively, if you're buying something from Amazon this week anyway, consider clicking

0:24.2

through our banner.

0:25.2

It's at the bottom center of the landing page of philosophizethis.org.

0:29.7

One percentage goes back to the show.

0:31.3

It may just be a click for you, but every little bit adds up.

0:34.3

Thank you for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday.

0:37.2

And I hope you love the show.

0:40.7

Remembering the important elements of Plotinus' philosophy and neoplatonism as a whole is easy

0:45.6

to remember when thinking about it and remembering it in relation to one common question about

0:50.4

God.

0:51.4

It's a question that people understandably ask whenever there's any sort of major tragedy

0:55.8

in the news or around the world.

0:57.7

And really, of all the arguments people make against the existence of a God, it's one

1:01.8

of the most common, and I think one of the weakest arguments around.

1:06.1

It goes like this, how can an all-powerful, loving God exist and still allow evil to

1:12.1

exist in the world?

1:13.6

You could think of that question differently with a less narrow conception of what God is

...

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