In the Enneads, Plotinus envisions the soul as an “amphibian” (IV.8.4.32), a purely intelligible being that participates in both the perceptible reality and the world of Forms. The soul holds a “middle rank” (IV.8.7.5) position, living a “double life” (IV.8.4.19) oscillating between higher and lower realms. In his monograph Plotinus and Augustine on the Mid-Rank of Soul: Navigating Two Worlds, Joseph Torchia focuses on the soul’s dual existence in the perceptible and intelligible worlds, employing an anthropological and psychological lens to explore this concept. His approach distinguishes itself from earlier works in the field by not merely reiterating well-known themes, but by placing a greater emphasis on the comparative aspects of Plotinus’ and Augustine’s thought and their unique contributions to the understanding of the soul’s journey.
After a preface and a short but informative introduction, the book is divided into two parts. The first part (“Plotinus: Wayfaring Stranger), from chapters 1 to 5, focuses on Plotinus, while the second part (“Augustine: Peregrinatio Animae”), from chapters 6 to 10, deals with Augustine.
Chapter 1 exposes Plotinus’ metaphysics of the three hypostases: the One, the Intellect and the Soul, and presents how these hypostases are produced in the dual metaphysical phases of Procession and Return. The chapter enlightens new readers of the Enneads and illustrates how the author perceives Plotinus’ theory of the soul and the place that “we” possess as humans in his metaphysical scheme. Chapter 2 further elaborates on the position of the soul within Plotinus’ intelligible universe, underlining the order of the whole and its emanative relationship with beings in unity and concord within the totality of all possible realms. The soul is positioned on the middle path between the life “here” in the perceptible realm and the life “There” in the intelligible world. In chapter 3, the role of the soul’s mediation within Plotinus’ ontology and psychology is elaborated. Torchia delves into the relationship between the individual soul and its body, as well as the questions that arise from this relationship. Additionally, the importance of the soul’s descent and ascent is discussed, stressing its downward and upward, outward and inward psychological directions as the soul balances between the temporal animation of bodies and the eternal contemplation of the divine Intellect. In Chapter 4, the dual-aspect orientation of the soul is further highlighted in the formation of its identity as an inhabitant of both the perceptible and intelligible worlds, and the two senses of the “we” that emerge. In particular, the chapter discusses how the soul inhabits the two worlds that define the soul-body composite of humans and the higher intelligible part of the soul that remains undescended, defining what we are as “true humans”. Section I on Plotinus concludes with Chapter 5, which describes the soul’s journey as a voyage of self-discovery for its return to the intelligible world. The author places great emphasis on the Homeric image of the wandering Odysseus to stress the homeward epistrophe of the Plotinian psyche. In these terms, the author perceives human life as a “journey” similar to that of the Homeric Odysseus and draws a notable existential and historical line from the pre-Platonic Homeric epic of the wandering hero to Neoplatonic anthropology, with the soul spotlighted in the circuit of a metaphysical exploration of reality.
The Plotinian journey of the soul along with its psychology and metaphysics in the Enneads is discussed in relation to Augustine’s spiritual journey of the soul and Christian anthropology in Section II. Chapter 6 explores Augustine’s kosmos and taxis within the intelligible universe, delineating between higher and lower realms, and the ordering of creation involving God and corporeal realities. Torchia notes the importance of the Neoplatonic metaphysics of reality and the libri platonicorum in Augustine’s anthropology, which provided the “means to resolving his perennial struggle with the problem of evil on two levels: first, they offered a theodicy based upon the theory of evil as a privation or deficiency of the good; secondly, they articulated a metaphysics that admitted the existence of immaterial reality” (p. 111). Chapter 7 provides a significant account of Augustine’s allegorical method in his exegetical interpretation of the Scripture, considering the mid-ranking of the soul and its background in the Plotinian Neoplatonism. The state of the soul “before” and “after” sin in Augustine is addressed by examining the dual functions of the one mind, its higher and lower aspects, and the exegesis of the soul’s sin, which is viewed not merely as embodiment, but as its alienation from God and what lies external to the soul’s inner life and the true divine higher love. This leads us to chapter 8 and Augustine’s account of the soul’s love and its different moral and metaphysical inclinations of the soul’s love either towards God or towards lesser objects of desire. The middle-ranking intermediate status of the soul defines the struggle and the “weight” of the soul’s free will and love to be directed towards a genuinely and rightly ordered love for God, rather than the “downward” pondus of cupidity and moral evil. Chapter 9 complements this discussion with an analysis of the nature of free will as an intermediate good in Augustine’s De libero arbitrio II and the different moral tensions that arise from the soul’s ability, due to its mid-rank position, to decide rightly or wrongly. Chapter 10 completes Section II, extending the concept of the double life of the individual soul in Plotinus into the social and ecclesiological vision of Augustine. Augustine’s vision of the Church as a double mixed body, or a third City of sinners and saints, exists between the City of God and the Earthly City, navigating a voyage of struggle and salvation through time and history. Perceiving earthly life as a “stormy sea”, Torchia interestingly suggests that while Plotinus drew inspiration from the heroic epic of Odysseus in Homer, Augustine found a fitting parallel in the Virgilian character of Aeneas. Aeneas represents fidelity to destiny and the obligations it imposes on those committed to its achievement (p. 204).
In the Epilogue, Torchia concludes that the mid-rank of the soul in Plotinus and Augustine defines both thinkers’ anthropology of humans as embodied spirits, existing as “hybrid” beings between perceptible and intelligible dimensions: “the soul that lies mid-way between the spiritual and the material, and between the eternal and temporal modes of existence encompasses an interpretation of these dimensions in what constitutes a composite life” (p. 213). The soul is likened to a universe, and human beings navigate through the tensions of their rationality and free will as moral and rational agents responsible for their own lives. The author further explores insights on the mid-rank of the soul and its place in the intelligible universe through Marsilio Ficino and the concept of the mind “voyaging” in Wordsworth.
While Torchia engages with familiar ideas in both Plotinus and Augustine, his analysis offers fresh insights by comparing their treatments of the soul’s mid-rank position and the existential journey that emerges from this duality in an anthropological and psychological context. In this regard, Torchia’s work departs from previous scholarship by offering a direct philosophical comparison of these two thinkers, each of whom elaborates on the soul’s intermediary status in ways that speak to the broader intellectual currents of late antiquity.
Overall, Torchia’s book makes a notable contribution to both Plotinian and Augustinian studies by highlighting the soul’s mid-ranking as a key concept in both traditions. Despite encountering interpretative challenges surrounding controversial aspects, especially concerning Plotinus’ theory of the soul, such as the forms of individuals, and some minor typos, particularly in the Greek text, the book is a informative work that successfully intertwines both scholarly rigor and philosophical insight. Torchia’s ambitious scope and fruitful comparisons deserve recognition as an important addition to the literature on late antique philosophy and its ongoing relevance to contemporary thought.