Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution
Description
Despite the importance of hexis (disposition) in ancient virtue ethics (Aristotle NE 1106b36), the use of hexis in Plotinus’ ethical theory has not been discussed in modern scholarship. In the Enneads, Plotinus describes hexis as a state or condition of the soul, a permanent state of possession, which denotes, on some occasions, a trained habit, faculty or skill. Plotinus contrasts hexis and diathesis: whereas hexis is a state of the soul related to our intelligible self, diathesis is a disposition of the soul related to our bodily or perceptible self. It is suggested that hexis is an important element in Plotinus’ self-centered virtue ethics. Virtue is a hexis that intellectualizes the soul; it is a conscious state of being prior to moral activity.