Inquiry, Forms, and Substances: A Study in Plato’s Metaphysics and Epistemology: 62 (Philosophical Studies Series, 62) - Hardcover

Blackson, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 079233275X ISBN 13: 9780792332756

Publisher: Springer, 1995

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Synopsis

This text offers a sympathetic explanation of the origin of the theory of forms that is true both to the dialogues and to Plato's place in history. The author's explanation makes the development of Plato's thought part of an intellectual and philosophical history that begins in the pre-Socratic period, extends through Socrates and the Sophists and continues into the 20th century. The explanation provides a unified reading of three passages that scholars have long recognized as keys to Plato's thought about the forms, but which have proved stubbornly resistant to interpretation, both individually and as a group: the intellectual autobiography in the Phaedo; the discussion of the philosopher and the lover of spectacles in the Republic; and the discussion of starting points, the Receptacle and the four kinds of stuff in the Timaeus. This book should be of interest to scholars of ancient philosophy and to philosophers in general, graduate and advanced undergraduate students.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 079233275X
• ISBN 13: 9780792332756
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 237