Note 77

The Platonic text with which Plotinus is concerned here is the conclusion drawn in Alcibiades I 129 e – 130 a that man is a soul using a body, which acquired a rather disproportionate weight and importance in later Greek thought. It was an important source of sharp body-soul dualism not only for later Platonists but for Stoics and Gnostics. On its history in Greek philosophy see J. Pépin, Idées Grécques sur l’Homme et sur Dieu (Paris 1971), Part I La Tradition du I^er Alcibiade.