Plato's ParmenidesThe Parmenides is notorious for the criticisms it directs against Plato's own Theory of Forms, as presented in the middle period. But the second and major portion of the dialogue has generally been avoided, despite its being offered as Plato's response to the problems; the text seems intractably obscure, appearing to consist of a series of bad arguments leading to contradictory conclusions. Carefully analyzing these arguments and the methodological remarks which precede them, Meinwald shows that to understand Plato's response we need to recognize his important distinction between two kinds of predication. Read in the light of this distinction, the arguments can be seen to be sound, and the contradictions merely apparent. Meinwald then proceeds to demonstrate the direct application of Plato's crucial innovation in solving the problems of the first part of the dialogue, including the infamous Third Man. On Meinwald's interpretation, the new distinction is associated with developments in metaphysics which take Plato well beyond the problems commonly thought to tell against Platonism. |
Contents
| 3 | |
2 The Dialectical Scheme | 28 |
3 The InRelationTo Qualifications | 46 |
The First Section | 76 |
5 The Second Section of Arguments | 95 |
6 On 155e4157b5 | 117 |
7 The Third and Fourth Sections of Argument | 131 |
8 The Results from the Negative Hypothesis | 145 |
9 The Resolutions of the Difficulties | 153 |
10 Epilogue | 164 |
Notes | 173 |
| 185 | |
| 189 | |
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abstraction accept antecedent apeiron appear Aristotle assertions basic beautiful chapter claim clearly conclusions connection consider context contradiction contradictory Cornford crucial derive results determine develop dialectical exercise difficulty discussion distinction Eleatic example fact follows forms fourth section give Gregory Vlastos gymnastic dialectic holds in-relation-to qualifications indicates individual inquiry interlocutor involved issue know The Numbers koſi Large methodological remarks middle dialogues Motion nature negative hypothesis Neoplatonist obtain one’s Ontology original hypothesis ousia pair participation passage pattern Phaedo Philebus phrase Plato's Parmenides Platonist predications pros heauto present preters problematic problems pros heauto predication pros ta alla prosta question reading reject rejectionism role s-change sections of argument seems sense sensible particulars sentence Socrates starting point structure subject in relation suppose Theaetetus theory of forms things Third Man Argument third section tion Tpos truths turn understanding Unity unlike
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Page 5 - This person enters into conversation with Socrates about the subject matter of his supposed expertise, answering a series of questions. By dialogue's end, the interlocutor has revealed that he is not in a position to uphold his views: his confusion is such that he has not managed to avoid contradicting himself. The twist in our dialogue is that Socrates (here a youth) is the interlocutor, while the venerable Parmenides is the questioner. Socrates holds himself out as an expert on forms by his aggressive...