Timaeus 48e-52d and the Third Man Argument

1983 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 123-147
Author(s):  
William J. Prior
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenal World ◽  
The Third ◽  
Metaphysical Theory ◽  
Vexed Question ◽  
Theory Of Forms ◽  
Being And Becoming

In this paper I examine a much discussed passage of the Timaeus. This passage contains one of the most important descriptions of Plato's ontology to be found in all the dialogues. The ontological scheme there described differs from that presented in the middle Platonic dialogues in that a third sort of entity, the Receptacle or space, is added to the two classes of things familiar to readers of the Phaedo and Republic: Being (i.e. the Forms) and Becoming (the phenomenal world). The introduction of the Receptacle into Plato's ontology enables Plato to clarify the relation between the orders of Being and Becoming in a way not otherwise possible. When the relation between the Forms and their phenomenal counterparts has been clarified, I shall argue, it becomes clear that the Theory of Forms as presented in the Timaeus is in fact a coherent metaphysical theory, one which is not susceptible to the Third Man Argument. This fact in turn bears (although somewhat indirectly) on the vexed question of the place of the Timaeus in the chronology of Plato's works.

Plato’s Epistemology

2019 ◽  
pp. 428-454
Author(s):  
C. C. W. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
A Priori ◽  
The Third ◽  
Metaphysical Theory ◽  
Secondary Role ◽  
Systematic Understanding ◽  
Theory Of Forms

This chapter examines Plato’s views on knowledge. The constant themes in his dialogues are as follows. The first is that knowledge is systematic. Over specific areas, such as mathematics and morality, and even conceivably for reality as a whole, items of knowledge are systematically interconnected, and it is the task of inquiry in those areas to reveal those connections. The second is that for any department of knowledge (and, conceivably, for reality as a whole), the primary knowledge is knowledge of what things are. Given the metaphysical theory of Forms as the basic things that there are, Forms are the primary objects of inquiry. Changes in (or uncertainties about) that theory are reflected in corresponding changes in Plato’s views (or uncertainties) about knowledge. The third is that knowledge of what things are is achieved a priori, by critical reflection. Empirical investigation has at best a secondary role in the achievement of knowledge. These themes may be summed up as the doctrine that the aim of inquiry is to achieve systematic understanding of the intelligible principles of reality.

Plato’s Philosophy of Language

2019 ◽  
pp. 480-505
Author(s):  
Paolo Crivelli
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
The Third ◽  
Linguistic Dimension ◽  
Theory Of Forms

Ideas in and problems of philosophy of language surface frequently in Plato’s dialogues. Some passages briefly formulate, or presuppose, views about names, signification, truth, or falsehood; others are extended discussions of important themes of philosophy of language. This chapter focuses on three topics. The first is the linguistic dimension of the theory of Forms; the second is the discussion of names in the Cratylus, Plato’s only dialogue almost completely dedicated to linguistic themes; the third is the examination of semantic and ontological issues in the Sophist, whose linguistic section (259d9‒264b10) presents Plato’s most mature reflections on statements, truth, and falsehood.

scholarly journals IV. Lunar influence on temperature

1865 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 223-228 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Vexed Question

The tabulation of an unbroken series of thermometric observations for the several days of the lunation during fifty years having been completed up to November 1864, and an amount of lunar action detected which appears sufficient to set at rest the long vexed question of the moon’s influence over our atmosphere, I venture to think that the time has arrived when it becomes a duty to lay the results of the investigation before the Royal Society. In 1856 the frequent recurrence of higher temperatures about the eighth or ninth day of the moon’s age, led to an examination and comparison of the mean temperatures of the third day before, and the second day after first quarter of the moon, for a series of seven years at Chiswick, and sixteen years at Dublin. The results showed conclusively that the temperature of the second day after first quarter was higher than the temperature of the third day before that phase during the years in question.

Time and Modality

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Modal Logic ◽  
Tense Logic ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Metaphysical Theory ◽  
Verb Tense ◽  
The Way

This chapter discusses modal logic: the logic of possibility and necessity. After a brief review of modal logic in the second section, the third section presents basic results of propositional tense logic. The fourth section develops a system of quantified tense logic. With these technical preliminaries out of the way, the fifth section explains why tense logic ultimately fails as a linguistic theory of verb tense. The sixth section presents the main objection to tense primitivism: that tense logic has insufficient expressive resources to serve as a metaphysical theory of time. The seventh section argues that the tense primitivist can overcome these problems by treating times as maximally consistent sets of sentences. The eighth section discusses a key difference between time and modality: the lack of a temporal analogue of actualism.

Two Kinds of Naming in the Sophist

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-381
Author(s):  
Charlotte Stough
Keyword(s):  
The Third ◽  
Single Form ◽  
Vicious Regress ◽  
Theory Of Forms

A familiar tradition in Plato scholarship has it that self-predication is one of the most important issues to be settled in an attempt to understand Plato‘s metaphysical views. Perhaps only latent in the initial formulations of the theory of Forms, the problem becomes manifest in the Parmenides, especially in the Third Man Argument where the assumption that a Form can have the property that it is helps to generate a vicious regress destructive of the notion of a single Form over many particulars.

To trust or not to trust? Interpretations in qualitative research

Human Affairs ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleš Neusar
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Retrospective Data ◽  
Phenomenal World ◽  
Factual Information ◽  
The Third

AbstractInterpretations of data in qualitative research may be biased for many reasons. This paper explores three commonly overlooked problems from a rather positivist point of view and deals with them mainly through the lens of cognitive psychology and survey methodology. The first problem is that researchers and readers of the research tend to trust retrospective data too much even though it is known that our memory is highly reconstructive. The second problem is that we often create interpretations too quickly and do not ground them in data well. The third problem is inappropriately generalising our findings because we underrate the variability of the phenomena studied. The aim is not to employ quantitative criteria in qualitative research but to show that especially in cases where we seek more objectivity (e.g., factual information about events) and less about the subjective phenomenal world (e.g., how people perceive these events from today’s perspective), cognitive psychology or survey methodology can offer valuable insights. Recommendations about what researchers should be careful of and how to increase the objectivity of the interpretations are offered.

A TRIPTYCH IN PLATO'S TIMAEUS: A NOTE ON THE RECEPTACLE PASSAGE (TIMAEUS 48E–52D)

2015 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 885-886
Author(s):  
T.K. Johansen
Keyword(s):  
The Third ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Way ◽  
Being And Becoming

At Timaeus 48e2–52d4 Timaeus sets out to establish that there are three principles or kinds (γένη) underlying the creation of the cosmos, not just the two he acknowledged earlier (27d–28a). The way he does so is not simply by adding an account of the third kind to the accounts of being and becoming that he has already given. Rather he does so by showing how each of the three differs from the others. It has not been noticed how this procedure structures the receptacle passage. The passage divides up into three parts, each punctuated by a list of the three kinds in a significant order. If we take X, Y and Z to stand for ‘becoming’, ‘being’ and ‘receptacle’ (or ‘space’, χώρα)’ respectively, the structure is (1) X≠Z, (2) X≠Y, (3) Y≠Z. By showing the distinctness of each pair, Timaeus demonstrates that all the kinds are distinct and that they are indeed three in number.

scholarly journals Plato’s notion of hypothesis in dialogues Meno, Phaedo and The Republic

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-144
Author(s):  
Visnja Knezevic
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Metaphysical Theory ◽  
Methods Of Analysis ◽  
Greek Mathematics ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Deductive Science ◽  
Theory Of Forms

The author analyses Plato?s use of the hypothesis notion in connection with his hypotheses method, as it was articulated in Meno and Phaedo, and later criticized in The Republic. It is shown that, at first, Plato?s use of this notion was identical to its use in ancient Greek mathematics, and that the same stands in regards with his method of inquiry - this, too, was at first modeled after ancient Greek mathematical methods of analysis and diorismos. Later, as he developed the metaphysical theory of forms, Plato distanced himself from ideal of building philosophy on the model of ancient Greek deductive science and established it as auto reflexive, critical thinking instead, with dialectics as method in its own right.

On the Madder-Staining of Dentine

1895 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 14-20
Author(s):  
W. G. Aitchison Robertson
Keyword(s):  
The Third ◽  
Rubia Tinctorum ◽  
Vexed Question ◽  
Ordinary Diet

While working at the histology of the tooth, it occurred to me that some light might be thrown on the vexed question as to the manner in which dentine grows, by observing what parts of a tooth are stained when an animal is fed on madder mixed with its food. In order to investigate this I examined the persistently growing teeth in three young rabbits, all of the same litter, which had been fed on madder (Rubia tinctorum) for two weeks. The first rabbit was killed immediately after being thus fed; the second was killed after feeding for two weeks on ordinary diet subsequent to the madder food; while the third was killed three weeks after feeding with, madder had been discontinued.

The Theory of Forms, Relations and Infinite Regress

Dialogue ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-123
Author(s):  
T. G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Infinite Regress ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Theory Of Forms ◽  
Past Half

Several difficulties that accompany Plato's theory of Forms have received considerable attention in the philosophical literature in the past half century. A great deal of discussion and controversy surrounds the dialogue Parmenides and the group of considerations commonly called the “Third Man Argument”. Our purpose here is to strike out in one direction suggested by this passage (Parmenides 132 a-b, 132 d), but it can in no way be thought of as an exegesis nor a logical elucidation of the “Third Man Argument” itself. While what we shall say here has an obvious affinity and connection with the Parmenides passage, the two principal questions that concern us here are of a more general nature than the specific points in the Parmenides. The first is whether Plato's theory of Forms involves a regress which is ruinous to the theory. The second is, if a self-destructive regress is a necessary consequence of the theory, what elements of Plato's theory make the regress inescapable.

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