Download or read book Plato on Parts and Wholes written by Verity Harte and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2002-09-19 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the relation between a whole and its parts? Is a whole identical to its parts, or is there some other relation of composition? These questions are much discussed in modern philosophy; but Plato's rich discussion of composition has been neglected. Verity Harte provides the first sustained examination of this Platonic discussion and explains its relations to modern debates. She reveals how, in several late works, Plato criticizes the view that a whole is identical to itsparts. She then goes on to discuss the intriguing alternative conception of wholes he offers in its place.This book is an invaluable resource both for scholars of Plato and for modern metaphysicians. For scholars of Plato, Harte's careful textual analysis provides fresh insights into some of his most difficult works. For modern metaphysicians, she illuminates the contemporary debate by placing it within an historical context.

Download or read book Plato on Parts and Wholes written by Verity Harte and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 2002-09-19 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the relation between a whole and its parts? Is a whole identical to its parts, or is there some other relation of composition? These questions are much discussed in modern philosophy; but Plato's rich discussion of composition has been neglected. Verity Harte provides the first sustained examination of this Platonic discussion and explains its relations to modern debates. She reveals how, in several late works, Plato criticizes the view that a whole is identical to its parts. She then goes on to discuss the intriguing alternative conception of wholes he offers in its place. This book is an invaluable resource both for scholars of Plato and for modern metaphysicians. For scholars of Plato, Harte's careful textual analysis provides fresh insights into some of his most difficult works. For modern metaphysicians, she illuminates the contemporary debate by placing it within an historical context.

Download or read book Plato and the Divided Self written by Rachel Barney and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-16 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigates Plato's account of the tripartite soul, looking at how the theory evolved over the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus.

Download or read book Plato s Parmenides written by Samuel Scolnicov and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2003-07-08 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of all Plato’s dialogues, the Parmenides is notoriously the most difficult to interpret. Scholars of all periods have disagreed about its aims and subject matter. The interpretations have ranged from reading the dialogue as an introduction to the whole of Platonic metaphysics to seeing it as a collection of sophisticated tricks, or even as an elaborate joke. This work presents an illuminating new translation of the dialogue together with an extensive introduction and running commentary, giving a unified explanation of the Parmenides and integrating it firmly within the context of Plato's metaphysics and methodology. Scolnicov shows that in the Parmenides Plato addresses the most serious challenge to his own philosophy: the monism of Parmenides and the Eleatics. In addition to providing a serious rebuttal to Parmenides, Plato here re-formulates his own theory of forms and participation, arguments that are central to the whole of Platonic thought, and provides these concepts with a rigorous logical and philosophical foundation. In Scolnicov's analysis, the Parmenides emerges as an extension of ideas from Plato's middle dialogues and as an opening to the later dialogues. Scolnicov’s analysis is crisp and lucid, offering a persuasive approach to a complicated dialogue. This translation follows the Greek closely, and the commentary affords the Greekless reader a clear understanding of how Scolnicov’s interpretation emerges from the text. This volume will provide a valuable introduction and framework for understanding a dialogue that continues to generate lively discussion today.

Download or read book The Emergent Metaphysics in Plato s Theory of Disorder written by Sarai Robin Charles and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Emergent Metaphysics in Plato's Theory of Disorder presents for the first time Plato's theory of disorder as it pertains to his understanding of powerful causal forces at work within and outwith the cosmos and the soul of man. Divided into two Parts and presenting passages in both Greek and English, Plato's cosmology, the Timaeus, and his chief theological work, Laws X, are discussed in detail. In the Timaeus 'Ananke' is introduced as one of two powerful primal causes, a disordering force second only to the 'Demiurgos, ' an ordering power and 'father' of the universe. Ananke is presented as being responsible for the physical chaos that existed prior to the generation of the universe, as well as for any residual disorder left within the cosmos after its formation. However, later, in Laws X Plato hypothesizes a different sort of disordering power, a destructive force active long after the cosmos has been generated, a primal 'Soul' capable of endangering not just the physical universe, but also the soul of man. What ultimately arises from the juxtaposition of these two dialogues is a dynamic theory of disorder in which an epistemology is outlined, an ontology is given and from which, it is argued, a metaphysics of disorder emerges. Charles's work is a rich addition to the study of Plato and philosophy

Download or read book Plato s Republic written by Richard Kraut and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed for courses in the history of philosophy, social and political theory, government, and Plato specifically, Plato's Republic: Critical Essays will enrich students' understanding of this profoundly influential work. The comprehensive collection covers Plato's social and political thought, his metaphysics and epistemology, his ethical theory, and his attitude towards women. The essays, chosen for their clarity and ability to stimulate student discussion, are related to one another in ways that will help students see the connections among the various strands of Plato's thought. The book includes an index of passages to guide students through parts of the Republic that they find challenging.

Download or read book Plato s Ethics written by Terence Irwin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-12 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exceptional book examines and explains Plato's answer to the normative question, "How ought we to live?" It discusses Plato's conception of the virtues; his views about the connection between the virtues and happiness; and the account of reason, desire, and motivation that underlies his arguments about the virtues. Plato's answer to the epistemological question, "How can we know how we ought to live?" is also discussed. His views on knowledge, belief, and inquiry, and his theory of Forms, are examined, insofar as they are relevant to his ethical view. Terence Irwin traces the development of Plato's moral philosophy, from the Socratic dialogues to its fullest exposition in the Republic. Plato's Ethics discusses Plato's reasons for abandoning or modifying some aspects of Socratic ethics, and for believing that he preserves Socrates' essential insights. A brief and selective discussion of the Statesmen, Philebus, and Laws is included. Replacing Irwin's earlier Plato's Moral Theory (Oxford, 1977), this book gives a clearer and fuller account of the main questions and discusses some recent controversies in the interpretation of Plato's ethics. It does not presuppose any knowledge of Greek or any extensive knowledge of Plato.

Download or read book Plato As Critical Theorist written by Jonny Thakkar and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Epigraph -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. What Is Philosophy For? -- 2. Why Philosophers Should Rule -- 3. The Beautiful City -- 4. Plato and Athens -- 5. Historical Possibility -- 6. Philosopher-Citizens -- 7. Moneymaking and Malfunction -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index

Download or read book Plato and the Stoics written by Alex Long and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seven essays provide new and detailed explorations of the complex relationship between Plato and the Greek and Roman Stoic traditions.

Download or read book Plato A Guide for the Perplexed written by Gerald A. Press and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2007-10-24 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is widely agreed that Plato laid the foundations for the whole history of western thought and, well over 2000 years later, his work is still studied by every student of philosophy. Yet his thought and writings continue to evoke perplexity in readers; and perplexity (aporia) is itself a characteristic of many of his writings, a recurrent motif of his thought, and apparently an important stage one must pass through along the path to wisdom that Plato presents. Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Plato's philosophy, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex thought of this key philosopher. The book offers a detailed review of all the major dialogues and explores the particular perplexities of the dialogue form. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Plato's thought, the book also provides a cogent and reliable survey of the whole history of Platonic interpretation and his far-reaching influence. This is the ideal companion to the study of this most influential and challenging of philosophers.

Download or read book Timaeus and Critias written by Plato and published by 1st World Publishing. This book was released on 1929 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Proclus Commentary on Plato s Parmenides written by Proclus and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 662 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first English translation of Proclus' commentary on Plato's Parmenides. Glenn Morrow's death occurred while he was less than halfway through the translation, which was completed by John Dillon. A major work of the great Neoplatonist philosopher, the commentary is an intellectual tour de force that greatly influenced later medieval and Renaissance thought. As the notes and introductory summaries explain, it comprises a full account of Proclus' own metaphysical system, disguised, as is so much Neoplatonic philosophy, in the form of a commentary.

Download or read book Plato and the Stoics written by A. G. Long and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato was central both to the genesis of Stoic theory and to subsequent debates within the Stoa. These essays provide new and detailed explorations of the complex relationship between Plato and the Greek and Roman Stoic traditions, and together they show the directness and independence with which Stoics examined Plato's writing. What were the philosophical incentives to consulting and then returning to Plato's dialogues? To what extent did Plato, rather than Xenophon or Antisthenes, control Stoic reconstructions of Socrates' ethics? What explains the particular focus of Stoic polemic against Plato, and how strong is the evidence for a later reconciliation between Plato and Stoicism? This book will be important for all scholars and advanced students interested in the relationship between a major philosopher and one of the most important philosophical movements.

Download or read book The Dialogues of Plato Volume 4 written by Plato and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among Plato's later dialogues, the Parmenides is one of the most significant. Not only a document of profound philosophical importance in its own right, it also contributes to the understanding of Platonic dialogues that followed it, and it exhibits the foundations of the physics and ontology that Aristotle offered in his Physics and Metaphysics VII. In this book, R. E. Allen provides a superb translation of the Parmenides along with a structural analysis that procedes on the assumption that formal elements, logical and dramatic, are important to its interpretation and that the argument of the Parmenides is aporetic, a statement of metaphysical perplexities. Allen has revised his original translation of and commentary on the Parmenides, which were published in 1983 to great acclaim.

Download or read book Plato s Republic An Introduction written by Sean McAleer and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is an excellent book – highly intelligent, interesting and original. Expressing high philosophy in a readable form without trivialising it is a very difficult task and McAleer manages the task admirably. Plato is, yet again, intensely topical in the chaotic and confused world in which we are now living. Philip Allott, Professor Emeritus of International Public Law at Cambridge University This book is a lucid and accessible companion to Plato’s Republic, throwing light upon the text’s arguments and main themes, placing them in the wider context of the text’s structure. In its illumination of the philosophical ideas underpinning the work, it provides readers with an understanding and appreciation of the complexity and literary artistry of Plato’s Republic. McAleer not only unpacks the key overarching questions of the text – What is justice? And Is a just life happier than an unjust life? – but also highlights some fascinating, overlooked passages which contribute to our understanding of Plato’s philosophical thought. Plato’s 'Republic': An Introduction offers a rigorous and thought-provoking analysis of the text, helping readers navigate one of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and political theory. With its approachable tone and clear presentation, it constitutes a welcome contribution to the field, and will be an indispensable resource for philosophy students and teachers, as well as general readers new to, or returning to, the text.

Download or read book The Republic written by Plato and published by The Floating Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Republic is Plato's most famous work and one of the seminal texts of Western philosophy and politics. The characters in this Socratic dialogue - including Socrates himself - discuss whether the just or unjust man is happier. They are the philosopher-kings of imagined cities and they also discuss the nature of philosophy and the soul among other things.

Download or read book Plato s Individuals written by Mary M. McCabe and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contradicting the long-held belief that Aristotle was the first to discuss individuation systematically, Mary Margaret McCabe argues that Plato was concerned with what makes something a something and that he solved the problem in a radically different way than did Aristotle. McCabe explores the centrality of individuation to Plato's thinking, from the Parmenides to the Politicus, illuminating Plato's later metaphysics in an exciting new way. Tradition associates Plato with the contrast between the particulars of the sensible world and transcendent forms, and supposes that therein lies the center of Plato's metaphysical universe. McCabe rebuts this view, arguing that Plato's thinking about individuals--which informs all his thought--comes to focus on the tension between "generous" or complex individuals and "austere" or simple individuals. In dialogues such as the Theaetetus and the Timaeus Plato repeatedly poses the question of individuation but cannot provide an answer. Later, in the Sophist, the Philebus, and the Politicus, Plato devises what McCabe calls the "mesh of identity," an account of how individuals may be identified relative to each other. The mesh of identity, however, fails to explain satisfactorily how individuals are unified or made coherent. McCabe asserts that individuation may be absolute--and she questions philosophy's longtime reliance on Aristotle's solution.