Plato's Method of Hypothesis in the Middle Dialogues

Plato's Method of Hypothesis in the Middle Dialogues PDF Author: Samuel Scolnicov
Publisher: Academia Verlag
ISBN: 9783896657336
Category : Hypothesis
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The present volume is the PhD thesis of Samuel Scolnicov, co-founder of the International Plato Society, published posthumously to illustrate the foundation of his interest in the 'core Plato'. The issues raised in this thesis are now of wider interest than they were then and many of his theses have found wider acceptance. The book is edited by Harold Tarrant, long-time colleague and friend of Samuel Scolnicov and preceded by a foreword not only by the editor, but also the authoris niece, Hanna Scolnicov, giving a more personal and detailed introduction to the author behind the thesis and putting his achievements into a broader perspective.

Plato's Method of Hypothesis in the Middle Dialogues

Plato's Method of Hypothesis in the Middle Dialogues PDF Author: Samuel Scolnicov
Publisher: Academia Verlag
ISBN: 9783896657336
Category : Hypothesis
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The present volume is the PhD thesis of Samuel Scolnicov, co-founder of the International Plato Society, published posthumously to illustrate the foundation of his interest in the 'core Plato'. The issues raised in this thesis are now of wider interest than they were then and many of his theses have found wider acceptance. The book is edited by Harold Tarrant, long-time colleague and friend of Samuel Scolnicov and preceded by a foreword not only by the editor, but also the authoris niece, Hanna Scolnicov, giving a more personal and detailed introduction to the author behind the thesis and putting his achievements into a broader perspective.

Clitophon's Challenge

Clitophon's Challenge PDF Author: Hugh H. Benson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199324840
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Hugh H. Benson explores Plato's answer to Clitophon's challenge, the question of how one can acquire the knowledge Socrates argues is essential to human flourishing-knowledge we all seem to lack. Plato suggests two methods by which this knowledge may be gained: the first is learning from those who already have the knowledge one seeks, and the second is discovering the knowledge one seeks on one's own. The book begins with a brief look at some of the Socratic dialogues where Plato appears to recommend the former approach while simultaneously indicating various difficulties in pursuing it. The remainder of the book focuses on Plato's recommendation in some of his most important and central dialogues-the Meno, Phaedo, and Republic-for carrying out the second approach: de novo inquiry. The book turns first to the famous paradox concerning the possibility of such an inquiry and explores Plato's apparent solution. Having defended the possibility of de novo inquiry as a response to Clitophon's challenge, Plato explains the method or procedure by which such inquiry is to be carried out. The book defends the controversial thesis that the method of hypothesis, as described and practiced in the Meno, Phaedo, and Republic, is, when practiced correctly, Plato's recommended method of acquiring on one's own the essential knowledge we lack. The method of hypothesis when practiced correctly is, then, Platonic dialectic, and this is Plato's response to Clitophon's challenge. "This is a new book on a critically important topic, methodology, as it is explored in three of the most important works by one of the most important philosophers in the very long history of philosophy, written by a scholar of international stature who is working from many years of experience and currently at the top of his game. It promises to be one of the most important books ever written on this subject."-Nicholas Smith, James F. Miller Professor of Humanities, Lewis and Clark College "The thesis is bold and the results are important for our understanding of some of the most studied and controversial dialogues by and philosophical theses in Plato. In my view, Hugh Benson's examination of the method of hypothesis in the Meno and the Phaedo is a tour de force of subtle and careful scholarship: I think that this part of the book will be adopted as the standard interpretation of this basic notion in Plato. An excellent and important book."-Charles Brittain, Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy and Humane Letters, Cornell University

Plato's Introduction of Forms

Plato's Introduction of Forms PDF Author: R. M. Dancy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139456237
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Scholars of Plato are divided between those who emphasize the literature of the dialogues and those who emphasize the argument of the dialogues, and between those who see a development in the thought of the dialogues and those who do not. In this important book Russell Dancy focuses on the arguments and defends a developmental picture. He explains the Theory of Forms of the Phaedo and Symposium as an outgrowth of the quest for definitions canvassed in the Socratic dialogues, by constructing a Theory of Definition for the Socratic dialogues based on the refutations of definitions in those dialogues, and showing how that theory is mirrored in the Theory of Forms. His discussion, notable for both its clarity and its meticulous scholarship, ranges in detail over a number of Plato's early and middle dialogues, and will be of interest to readers in Plato studies and in ancient philosophy more generally.

Plato's Parmenides

Plato's Parmenides PDF Author: Samuel Scolnicov
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520925114
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Of all Plato’s dialogues, the Parmenides is notoriously the most difficult to interpret. Scholars of all periods have disagreed about its aims and subject matter. The interpretations have ranged from reading the dialogue as an introduction to the whole of Platonic metaphysics to seeing it as a collection of sophisticated tricks, or even as an elaborate joke. This work presents an illuminating new translation of the dialogue together with an extensive introduction and running commentary, giving a unified explanation of the Parmenides and integrating it firmly within the context of Plato's metaphysics and methodology. Scolnicov shows that in the Parmenides Plato addresses the most serious challenge to his own philosophy: the monism of Parmenides and the Eleatics. In addition to providing a serious rebuttal to Parmenides, Plato here re-formulates his own theory of forms and participation, arguments that are central to the whole of Platonic thought, and provides these concepts with a rigorous logical and philosophical foundation. In Scolnicov's analysis, the Parmenides emerges as an extension of ideas from Plato's middle dialogues and as an opening to the later dialogues. Scolnicov’s analysis is crisp and lucid, offering a persuasive approach to a complicated dialogue. This translation follows the Greek closely, and the commentary affords the Greekless reader a clear understanding of how Scolnicov’s interpretation emerges from the text. This volume will provide a valuable introduction and framework for understanding a dialogue that continues to generate lively discussion today.

Socrates and Philosophy in the Dialogues of Plato

Socrates and Philosophy in the Dialogues of Plato PDF Author: Sandra Peterson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139497979
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
In Plato's Apology, Socrates says he spent his life examining and questioning people on how best to live, while avowing that he himself knows nothing important. Elsewhere, however, for example in Plato's Republic, Plato's Socrates presents radical and grandiose theses. In this book Sandra Peterson offers a hypothesis which explains the puzzle of Socrates' two contrasting manners. She argues that the apparently confident doctrinal Socrates is in fact conducting the first step of an examination: by eliciting his interlocutors' reactions, his apparently doctrinal lectures reveal what his interlocutors believe is the best way to live. She tests her hypothesis by close reading of passages in the Theaetetus, Republic and Phaedo. Her provocative conclusion, that there is a single Socrates whose conception and practice of philosophy remain the same throughout the dialogues, will be of interest to a wide range of readers in ancient philosophy and classics.

Plato's Forms in Transition

Plato's Forms in Transition PDF Author: Samuel C. Rickless
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139462784
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
There is a mystery at the heart of Plato's Parmenides. In the first part, Parmenides criticizes what is widely regarded as Plato's mature theory of Forms, and in the second, he promises to explain how the Forms can be saved from these criticisms. Ever since the dialogue was written, scholars have struggled to determine how the two parts of the work fit together. Did Plato mean us to abandon, keep or modify the theory of Forms, on the strength of Parmenides' criticisms? Samuel Rickless offers something that has never been done before: a careful reconstruction of every argument in the dialogue. He concludes that Plato's main aim was to argue that the theory of Forms should be modified by allowing that forms can have contrary properties. To grasp this is to solve the mystery of the Parmenides and understand its crucial role in Plato's philosophical development.

Plato and the Body

Plato and the Body PDF Author: Coleen P. Zoller
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438470835
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
For centuries, it has been the prevailing view that in prioritizing the soul, Plato ignores or even abhors the body; however, in Plato and the Body Coleen P. Zoller argues that Plato does value the body and the role it plays in philosophical life, focusing on Plato's use of Socrates as an exemplar. Zoller reveals a more refined conception of the ascetic lifestyle epitomized by Socrates in Plato's Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, Gorgias, and Republic. Her interpretation illuminates why those who want to be wise and good have reason to be curious about and love the natural world and the bodies in it, and has implications for how we understand Plato's metaphysical and political commitments. This book shows the relevance of this broader understanding of Plato for work on a variety of relevant contemporary issues, including sexual morality, poverty, wealth inequality, and peace.

The Dialectic of Essence

The Dialectic of Essence PDF Author: Allan Silverman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400825342
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
The Dialectic of Essence offers a systematic new account of Plato's metaphysics. Allan Silverman argues that the best way to make sense of the metaphysics as a whole is to examine carefully what Plato says about ousia (essence) from the Meno through the middle period dialogues, the Phaedo and the Republic, and into several late dialogues including the Parmenides, the Sophist, the Philebus, and the Timaeus. This book focuses on three fundamental facets of the metaphysics: the theory of Forms; the nature of particulars; and Plato's understanding of the nature of metaphysical inquiry. Silverman seeks to show how Plato conceives of "Being" as a unique way in which an essence is related to a Form. Conversely, partaking ("having") is the way in which a material particular is related to its properties: Particulars, thus, in an important sense lack essence. Additionally, the author closely analyzes Plato's idea that the relation between Forms and particulars is mediated by form-copies. Even when some late dialogues provide a richer account of particulars, Silverman maintains that particulars are still denied essence. Indeed, with the Timaeus's introduction of the receptacle, there are no particulars of the traditional variety. This book cogently demonstrates that when we understand that Plato's concern with essence lies at the root of his metaphysics, we are better equipped to find our way through the labyrinth of his dialogues and to better appreciate how they form a coherent theory.

Plato's Meno

Plato's Meno PDF Author: Cristina Ionescu
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739120255
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Plato's Meno: An Interpretation/is a comprehensive study of the transitional dialogue dedicated to the investigation of virtue. Cristina Ionescu analyzes with approximately equal emphasis both the dramatic details and the logic of the arguments. By focusing on the interrelated themes that run through the text, Ionescu provides a comprehensive overview of the dialogue and a refreshing update of its argument. The theme of the Meno is the investigation of virtue with regard to both its essence and our possibility of acquiring it, whether we acquire virtue by nature, teaching, practice, or in some other way. As the nature of the theoretical investigation itself is made into a direct concern of the dialogue, and since the essence of virtue is closely associated with knowledge, the dialogue has both a moral and an epistemological dimension. The interwoven treatment of virtue and knowledge throughout the Meno enlarges the scope of interest to cover also several related themes: the immortality of the soul, the relationship between craft-like expertise and moral wisdom, the relationship between divine inspiration and virtue, the contrast between dialectical conversations and eristic disputes, and the importance of following appropriate methods in philosophical investigations. By examining these related ideas with clarity, Ionescu provides an invaluable guide to the dialogue. Plato's Meno: An Interpretation is an excellent book for readers of Plato at all levels: undergraduates, graduates, and specialists.

Plato's Method of Hypothesis in the Middle Dialogues

Plato's Method of Hypothesis in the Middle Dialogues PDF Author: Samuel Scolnicov
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783896657831
Category : Antike Philosophie
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description