Il bello e l’armonia invisibile: per un’analisi dei rapporti tra Eraclito e l’estetica di Plotino

In Enn. I 6, 3 Plotinus says that the invisible harmonies make the visible ones. This passage reminds us of Heraclitus' fr. 54 DK. A careful analysis of Enn. III 2, 16 shows that the concept of Plotinian harmony derives from the “coincidentia oppositorum” of Heraclitus' Logos. This vision unite all fragments of harmony from the Ephesian: frs. 8, 10, and 51 DK, besides fr. 54 DK. Particularly, in fr. 8 DK Heraclitus talks about the “kalliste harmonie” that derives from different elements. The influence of Heraclitus on the Enneads makes Plotinian aesthetics an anti-Pythagorean and, within certain limits, an anti-Platonic theory. Moreover, the new concept of symmetry in Plotinus is also connected with this kind of harmony.