Questions tagged [plato]
Plato (424/423 BC – 348/347 BC) was a Classical Greek philosopher, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Plato is considered to be the founder of Western philosophy.
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Did Plato confuse FORM/essence/knowledge with genetically passed (built-in) instincts and reflexes?
The child makes the identification and the mind of the child is led
away from the knowledge of the pure essence of what a chair is. The
child knows the essence of mother and father and table and tree ...
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Is Plato's Political Philosophy of the Best Regime in The Laws or The Republic?
Plato's Laws is in many ways superior to The Republic. Yet it is often told that The Laws represents the "second" best or practical (non-idealist) version of Plato's political philosophy. ...
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How does Plato's theory of forms account for change and abstraction?
I have two questions regarding Plato's theory of forms. Take apples for example.
Is there a form Apple of which all the particular apples in the world participate in? An apple is not a being, rather ...
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Foundation of true knowledge according to Plato
I'm reading Kuyk's book about the foundation of mathematics and its history. Talking about Plato, he says that
...But let us follow the track of the Greeks and their philosophy of
mathematics. The ...
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I dont understand the differences between Plato's Forms and Husserl's essence
So Plato's essence is universal essence existing independently of us. And Husserl's essence, despite being invariant they are not universal and does not exist beyond the conscious relation to the ...
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What does Socrates mean by not reusing his initial objection to Cephalus’s definition of Justice to object to Polemarchus’s definition?
Plato’s Republic Book 1
331 C: Socrates says that if we return a weapon given to us by a sane friend who has since then turned insane, we are not being just.
Polemarchus then defines Justice as the ...
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Axiomatic and formal establishment of Plato's dialectics
After years of studying Plato I have seen some attempts to formalize somehow Plato's dialectics. To be more precise, I have found writers who present Plato's dialectics (especially as it is presented ...
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How should I pronounce words from Ancient Greek philosophy?
A somewhat unusual question here. Naturally, while reading through Ancient Greek philosophy, I've encountered many Ancient Greek words like παιδεία, οὐσία, as well as sentences like 'πάντες ἄνθρωποι ...
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Did classical philosophers see a happy ending to the story of humanity?
Philosophical and religious views about the end of the world are predominantly in the room of doom and gloom.
But did we have an exception, with more positive views on the future of humanity?
Plato ...
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What was the reason why they (in Plato's Republic) chose to focus on justice?
I am trying to read Plato's The Republic. It is not easy to understand.
There are two things I just can't understand.
When Socrates and Glaukon come to Kephalos' house the discussion very quickly ...
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How can immaterial soul exist without matter but immaterial redness can't?
So as the title says Aristotle and Aquinas held that soul which is substantial form of living things can exist even after separation from body. This is because soul is taken as immaterial substantial ...
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Synthesis of Aristotle and Plato
I would like to know if there are any systematic and comprehensive texts on synthesising Aristotle and Plato (mainly that come from a Neoplatonism stand point since I know this joining of the two ...
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If Plato openly wrote his books about politics, did he not believe in the proposed Noble Lie policy?
If Plato openly spoke of the Noble Lie proposal, in what he took to be quite an imperfect society whose change he hoped and perhaps even worked towards, would he have himself really thought that the ...
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How to use Stephanus numbers?
A technical question here. I'm new to Plato and want to learn how to cite using Stephanus numbers. I'm a little confused because I'm not sure if the numbers are accurate to the line from translation ...
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Philosophy king and sage rule
The concept of philosophy king seems to be somewhat similar to the Taoist doctrine of sage rule. Taoism has very high requirements for the virtues and realm for the ruler and the people, requiring the ...
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What did Plato and Plotinus mean by "beyond being?"
The question is exactly what the title says. Plato, in the Republic, famously referred to the Good as "beyond being in power and dignity," and Plotinus later expounded this assertion in his ...
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Was Plato personally a mystic?
We know Plato is highly regarded among Neoplatonic mystics. His doctrine of knowledge as recollection, Ideal forms, human soul, love, transmigration or afterlife are congruent with mysticism. Now we ...
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For Plato, what is a perfect circle?
Of course we can't see a perfect circle through our eyes, but can I imagine a perfect circle in my mind?
But Plato said that the ideal forms can't be seen.
I don't know whether he meant that even ...
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In a Platonic utilitarianism, would the only commandment be, "Contemplate the Form of Happiness"?
Suppose that the Form of Happiness were the most happiness-bringing entity possible, i.e. that Platonic contemplation of this Form would cause the greatest happiness possible for any entity (including ...
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What's the difference between elenchus and dialectic?
I know that "elenchus" is often associated with Socrates and the Socratic method whereas "dialectic" is more associated with Plato. But what is their relationship? Is elenchus a ...
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Aristotle and the Platonic Footnotes Alluded to by Whitehead
In Process and Reality, Alfred North Whitehead famously states:
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do ...
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On Plato's Transmigration of Souls
In Plato's theory of transmigration of souls, do some souls ever make it to a place of eternal bliss or get remanded to a place of eternal punishment?
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Objects and Platonic Forms
According to Plato, can an object have multiple forms depending on its uses? For example, can a table have the form of tableness but also the form of chairness if people decide to use it as furniture ...
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Is the Form of the Good equivalent to the Form of the Intelligible Animal?
I'm reading the IEP entry on Plato's "organicism", which is the portrayal of the world as a universal animal. The article says that this entity participates in a Form of the Intelligible ...
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Doubt about the third man argument
The third man argument says that for every form that resides over some group of things, there will have to be another form that can account for that group and the form. Necessitating an infinitude of ...
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Does the arc of history bend toward justice.?
"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long
one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and
complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can ...
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Plato on 'lyric' opposed to his theory of forms
I have read some Plato, but not the parts relevant to my question (alas). I do know that artistic making is meant to be a copy of a copy (the world) of platonic forms. But how does that fit in with ...
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Where does Plato discuss "having" and "possessing"?
I'm looking for textual references in Plato's dialogues where he discusses the difference between having and possessing with respect to actuality and potentiality. I would be grateful if anybody could ...
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When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body, or does it make the body as perfect as possible?
I would be grateful if you could answer the question above. When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body or does it make the body perfect [or should I say that as perfect as the body ...
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What is Virtue?
I have been reading Plato and re-reading Nietzsche and both of them discuss Virtue without saying what it is. In Thus Spake Zarathustra Virtue seems to come in flavours where you have to pick one or ...
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Preferred Translation of Plato's *Laws*?
I have been delving deeper into Greek philosophy lately, and I must say, I am quite fond of C.D.C Reeve's translations. His interpretations of various philosophical texts have always resonated with me....
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What is a woman? or Are all social constructions contingent? [closed]
It is difficult these days to avoid becoming familiar with popular disputes surrounding gender. Particularly contentious are questions regarding the ontology of the concepts of woman and man.
On one ...
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Platonic love and "sapiosexuality"
I'll admit I have an incredibly limited understanding of the works of Plato, but upon a glossing over of the Symposium, it seems he is saying that love of intelligence is of a higher importance/...
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What does it mean to be a principle?
I would be grateful if you could direct me to relevant passages in Aristotle where I can read more about the nature of "principle." Not exacty about the principle of non-contradiction but ...
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Is it ok, that translation of “Apology of Socrates” has a lot of grammatical mistakes?
This is a technical and pretty specifically question: I bought a book, that contains Apology of Socrates, and some dialogues (Kriton, Meneksen, Ion, etc) in Russian language ISBN 978-197-4015-03-0, ...
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Why is knowledge knowledge of explanations?
I am reading Aristotle. He seems to me to believe that knowledge is knowledge of explanations (causes - aitiai). But what ground is there for this belief? I cannot formulate a reason for this. I would ...
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The disdain for sophism in Plato's dialogues vs. the real sophists
As we all know, sophism is regarded as the immoral, malformed twin of philosophy in Plato's dialogues. Socrates sees a fundamental distinction here:
However, as I put it, cookery is flattery ...
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Did Socrates' actual apology resemble Plato's Apology?
I have seen that Plato's writings have traditionally been classified as Early, Middle or Late and that the earlier the work, the closer it resembles what Socrates might have actually said. In view of ...
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Speaking what is not = speaking about non-being?
In Plato's The Sophist, a stranger from Elea argues with Theaetetus, a young friend of Socrates, about the definition of "sophist". They come to the conclusion that the sophist imitates the ...
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What dialogues should a newcomer to Plato read first?
I have gotten my hands on Plato's Complete Works and I would like to know what would be interesting to read on a first read-through of his and what should maybe be reserved for later.
I am not ...
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Does Plato think we can have synthetic a posteriori knowledge?
I understand that Plato thinks our knowledge of universals is innate, and therefore synthetic a priori knowledge. However, does he think we can have any knowledge that is synthetic and a posteriori? ...
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Friendships towards humans vs. things and animals in Plato's Lysis
In Plato's Lysis, Socrates and Menexenus argue if friendship must be reciprocal:
S: Then this notion is not in accordance with our previous one. We were saying that both were friends, if one only ...
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How can universal truths lead to particular truths?
Disclaimer: I have not read philosophy outside of limited Greek works
So, Plato theorized that there was a world of "universals" and "particulars", the world of general principles (...
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Euthyphro's Dilemma
I'm current reading one of the first of plato's dialogues, Euthyphro, concerning piety. At one point in their conversation, Euthyphro proposes to Socrates the following definition,
I) What all of the ...
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Did Nietzsche cite anywhere in his writings Plato's Gorgias regarding Callicles?
Nietzsche's theory has many similarities with Callicles thought in Plato's Gorgias (Nietzsche and Callicles on Happiness, Pleasure, and Power). However, he did not explicitely mention Callicles in his ...
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What does Plato mean by kingly arts?
In Euthydemus, Plato says that "the politician’s art and the kingly art
were the same" (ἔδοξε γὰρ δὴ ἡμῖν ἡ πολιτική καὶ ἡ βασιλική τέχνη ἡ
αὐτὴ εἶναι, 291 c 4–5).
I have difficulty ...
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In Plato's Symposium, why is Diotima a woman?
Excuse the odd title - what I mean is: Diotima is the sole woman that has her say in Plato's dialogues. There are a multitude of opportunities in which he could've let a woman speak, but it never ...
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Was Socrates hypocritical about Eros?
Taken at face value, in the Symposium and Phaedrus gay love that remains unconsummated is regarded as the highest form of love between humans men.
It makes the soul rise upward to the form of beauty, ...
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The Third Man argument in the history of Platonism
Plato lived from 428-7 BCE to 348-7 BCE, but Platonism surpassed him for hundreds or thousands of years. Neoplatonism was the dominant philosophical school of late antiquity and exerted strong ...
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Why does Hestia stay at home in Plato's Phaedrus?
In Plato's Phaedrus we find a description of the divine procession to the realm beyond heaven.
Zeus, the mighty lord, holding the reins of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and ...
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