Plato, Metaphysics and the Forms

Plato, Metaphysics and the Forms

Author: Francis A. Grabowski

Publisher: Continuum

Published: 2008-06-24

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13:

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An important new monograph on Plato's metaphysics, focusing on the theory of the forms, which is the central philosophical concept in Plato's theory.


Plato's Forms

Plato's Forms

Author: William A. Welton

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 9780739105146

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The "theory of forms" usually attributed to Plato is one of the most famous of philosophical theories, yet it has engendered such controversy in the literature on Plato that scholars even debate whether or not such a theory exists in his texts. Plato's Forms: Varieties of Interpretation is an ambitious work that brings together, in a single volume, widely divergent approaches to the topic of the forms in Plato's dialogues. With contributions rooted in both Anglo-American and Continental philosophy, the book illustrates the contentious role the forms have played in Platonic scholarship and suggests new approaches to a central problem of Plato studies.


The Dialectic of Essence

The Dialectic of Essence

Author: Allan Silverman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2009-02-09

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 1400825342

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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 Introduction of Forms

Plato's Introduction of Forms

Author: R. M. Dancy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-09-16

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1139456237

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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.


Inquiry, Forms, and Substances

Inquiry, Forms, and Substances

Author: Thomas Blackson

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9401102813

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i. Introductory remarks 1 Plato, but not Socrates, concluded that the Forms are substances. Whether the Forms are substances is not an issue that Socrates had in mind. He did not deny it, but neither did he affirm it. If Socrates were asked a series of questions designed to determine whether he believed that the Forms are substances, he would admit that he had no opinion about this philosophical issue. Unlike Plato, Socrates was not a metaphysician. The same, of course, would not have always been true of Plato. Unlike Socrates, he was a metaphysician. At some point in his career, and at least by the time of the Phaedo and the Republic, Plato did what Socrates never thought to do. Plato considered the question and concluded that the Forms are substances. Although this development occurred more than two thousand years ago, time has not eclipsed its importance. It is one of the most seminal events in the history of the philosophy. With his defense of Socrates's method of intellectual inquiry, and the development of his Theory of Forms, Plato caused a now familiar cluster of metaphysical and epistemological issues to become central to philosophy.


Plato on Knowledge and Forms

Plato on Knowledge and Forms

Author: Gail Fine

Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 9780199245581

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Plato on Knowledge and Forms brings together a set of connected essays by Gail Fine, in her main area of research since the late 1970s: Plato's metaphysics and epistemology. She discusses central issues in Plato's metaphysics and epistemology, issues concerning the nature and extent of knowledge, and its relation to perception, sensibles, and forms; and issues concerning the nature of forms, such as whether they are universals or particulars, separate or immanent, and whether they are causes. A specially written introduction draws together the themes of the volume, which will reward the attention of anyone interested in Plato or in ancient metaphysics and epistemology.


One over Many

One over Many

Author: Necip Fikri Alican

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2021-10-01

Total Pages: 527

ISBN-13: 1438485654

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Finalist for the 2022 PROSE Award in the Philosophy category presented by the Association of American Publishers One over Many is a groundbreaking interpretation of Plato's philosophical outlook, solving longstanding problems in the scholarly literature. Its originality and its strength consist in replacing the metaphysical dualism of the traditional interpretation with the paradigm of unitary pluralism: one world with a gradation of reality, including three different types of Forms, as well as the entire spectrum of sensible phenomena, with intermediate ontological constructs in between. The model thus combines a monism of worlds with a pluralism of things, positing a unitary reality of infinite possibilities through ontological stratification. This tightly integrated collection of essays, conceived and developed by the author in pursuit of corrective intervention in Plato’s metaphysics, combines his previously published work with newly drafted material for the present volume. The book replaces the standard view of Plato as a metaphysical dualist with a novel interpretation providing greater explanatory power through the paradigm of unitary pluralism in a single reality built on ontological diversity.


Forms and Structure in Plato's Metaphysics

Forms and Structure in Plato's Metaphysics

Author: Anna Marmodoro

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0197577156

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This book investigates the thought of two of the most influential philosophers from antiquity, Plato and his predecessor Anaxagoras, with respect to their metaphysical account of objects and their properties. The book's subject matter is of wide interest to philosophers and historians of philosophy alike. The methodology applied in the study of the subject matter in this book also facilitates reaching out to both domains of readership. The innovative (and possiblycontroversial) claims made in the book will spark debate and bring the book at the forefront of current discussions in philosophy.


Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics

Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics

Author: Hans Joachim Kramer

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1990-10-09

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1438409648

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This is a book about the relationship of the two traditions of Platonic interpretation -- the indirect and the direct traditions, the written dialogues and the unwritten doctrines. Kramer, who is the foremost proponent of the Tubingen School of interpretation, presents the unwritten doctrines as the crown of Plato's system and the key revealing it. Kramer unfolds the philosophical significance of the unwritten doctrines in their fullness. He demonstrates the hermeneutic fruitfulness of the unwritten doctrines when applied to the dialogues. He shows that the doctrines are a revival of the presocratic theory renovated and brought to a new plane through Socrates. In this way, Plato emerges as the creator of classical metaphysics. In the Third Part, Kramer compares the structure of Platonism, as construed by the Tubingen School, with current philosophical structures such as analytic philosophy, Hegel, phenomenology, and Heidegger. Of the five appendices, the most important presents English translations of the ancient testimonies on the unwritten doctrines. These include the "self-testimonies of Plato." There is also a bibliography on the problem of the unwritten doctrines.