Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3 / In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods

by Plotinus

DIFFERENCES OF BEING SHOULD BE DISTINGUISHED ACCORDING TO QUALITY.

It is by quality that we distinguish the differences which inhere in being, as well as the actualizations, the beautiful or ugly actions, and in general, all that is particular. Only very rarely do we discover in quantity differences which constitute species; so much is this the case, that it is generally divided by its characteristic qualities. We must therefore leave quantity aside, and that leads us to wonder how we may divide quality itself (since it is made use of to distinguish other things).[407]