Hendrik Lorenz
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199290635
- eISBN:
- 9780191604027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199290636.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
In a much-discussed passage in Republic 10 (602c-603b), Plato appears to divide the rational soul-part into two distinct sub-parts. By considering the passage in its context, the chapter shows that ...
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In a much-discussed passage in Republic 10 (602c-603b), Plato appears to divide the rational soul-part into two distinct sub-parts. By considering the passage in its context, the chapter shows that appearance to be false. It closes by spelling out what can be learned about Plato’s psychological theory by reflecting on the passage, once it is properly interpreted.Less
In a much-discussed passage in Republic 10 (602c-603b), Plato appears to divide the rational soul-part into two distinct sub-parts. By considering the passage in its context, the chapter shows that appearance to be false. It closes by spelling out what can be learned about Plato’s psychological theory by reflecting on the passage, once it is properly interpreted.
Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199281701
- eISBN:
- 9780191713088
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281701.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This book focuses on Plotinus' notion of Intellect. Intellect comes second in Plotinus' hierarchical model of reality, after the One, which is an unknowable first cause of everything. Intellect is ...
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This book focuses on Plotinus' notion of Intellect. Intellect comes second in Plotinus' hierarchical model of reality, after the One, which is an unknowable first cause of everything. Intellect is also the sphere of being, the Platonic Ideas, which exist as its thoughts. Plotinus' doctrine of Intellect raises a host of questions that the book seeks to answer: Intellect's thought is described as an attempt to grasp the One and at the same time as self-thought. How are these two claims related? How are they compatible? What lies in Plotinus' insistence that Intellect's thought is a thought of itself? The minimal requirements thought must satisfy according to Plotinus is that it must involve a distinction between thinker and object of thought, and the object itself must be varied. How are these two claims which amount to holding that Intellect is plural in two different ways related? What is the relation between Intellect as a thinker and Intellect as an object of thought? Plotinus' position here seems to amount to a form of idealism, a claim that is explored in the book. As opposed to ordinary human discursive thinking, Intellect's thought is all-at-once, timeless, truthful, and a direct intuition into ‘the things themselves’; it is presumably not even propositional. This strong notion of non-discursive thought is discussed and explained as well as Plotinus' claim that this must be the primary form of thought. The main conclusion of the book is that though clearly dependent on the Platonic-Aristotelian tradition, Plotinus' theory of Intellect contains very significant innovations.Less
This book focuses on Plotinus' notion of Intellect. Intellect comes second in Plotinus' hierarchical model of reality, after the One, which is an unknowable first cause of everything. Intellect is also the sphere of being, the Platonic Ideas, which exist as its thoughts. Plotinus' doctrine of Intellect raises a host of questions that the book seeks to answer: Intellect's thought is described as an attempt to grasp the One and at the same time as self-thought. How are these two claims related? How are they compatible? What lies in Plotinus' insistence that Intellect's thought is a thought of itself? The minimal requirements thought must satisfy according to Plotinus is that it must involve a distinction between thinker and object of thought, and the object itself must be varied. How are these two claims which amount to holding that Intellect is plural in two different ways related? What is the relation between Intellect as a thinker and Intellect as an object of thought? Plotinus' position here seems to amount to a form of idealism, a claim that is explored in the book. As opposed to ordinary human discursive thinking, Intellect's thought is all-at-once, timeless, truthful, and a direct intuition into ‘the things themselves’; it is presumably not even propositional. This strong notion of non-discursive thought is discussed and explained as well as Plotinus' claim that this must be the primary form of thought. The main conclusion of the book is that though clearly dependent on the Platonic-Aristotelian tradition, Plotinus' theory of Intellect contains very significant innovations.
David Wolfsdorf
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195327328
- eISBN:
- 9780199870646
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327328.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Scholarship on Plato's dialogues persistently divides its focus between the dramatic or literary and the philosophical or argumentative dimensions of the texts. But this hermeneutic division of labor ...
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Scholarship on Plato's dialogues persistently divides its focus between the dramatic or literary and the philosophical or argumentative dimensions of the texts. But this hermeneutic division of labor is naïve, for Plato's arguments are embedded in dramatic dialogues and developed through complex, largely informal exchanges between literary characters. Consequently, it is questionable how readers can even attribute arguments and theses to the author himself. The answer to this question lies in transcending the scholarly divide and integrating the literary and philosophical dimensions of the texts. This is the task of Trials of Reason.The study focuses on a set of fourteen so-called early dialogues, beginning with a methodological framework that explains how to integrate the argumentation and the drama in these texts. Unlike most canonical philosophical works, the early dialogues do not merely express the results of the practice of philosophy. Rather, they dramatize philosophy as a kind of motivation, the desire for knowledge of goodness, and as a discursive practice, motivated by this desire and ideally governed by reason. And they dramatize the trials to which desire and reason are subject, that is, the difficulties of realizing philosophy as a form of motivation, a practice, and an epistemic achievement. In short, Trials of Reason argues that Plato's early dialogues are as much works of metaphilosophy as philosophy itself.Less
Scholarship on Plato's dialogues persistently divides its focus between the dramatic or literary and the philosophical or argumentative dimensions of the texts. But this hermeneutic division of labor is naïve, for Plato's arguments are embedded in dramatic dialogues and developed through complex, largely informal exchanges between literary characters. Consequently, it is questionable how readers can even attribute arguments and theses to the author himself. The answer to this question lies in transcending the scholarly divide and integrating the literary and philosophical dimensions of the texts. This is the task of Trials of Reason.
The study focuses on a set of fourteen so-called early dialogues, beginning with a methodological framework that explains how to integrate the argumentation and the drama in these texts. Unlike most canonical philosophical works, the early dialogues do not merely express the results of the practice of philosophy. Rather, they dramatize philosophy as a kind of motivation, the desire for knowledge of goodness, and as a discursive practice, motivated by this desire and ideally governed by reason. And they dramatize the trials to which desire and reason are subject, that is, the difficulties of realizing philosophy as a form of motivation, a practice, and an epistemic achievement. In short, Trials of Reason argues that Plato's early dialogues are as much works of metaphilosophy as philosophy itself.
J. Warren Smith
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195369939
- eISBN:
- 9780199893362
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369939.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Though understandably overshadowed by Augustine’s preeminence in the West, Ambrose is a doctor of the Catholic Church and an important patristic authority for the Middle Ages and Reformation, ...
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Though understandably overshadowed by Augustine’s preeminence in the West, Ambrose is a doctor of the Catholic Church and an important patristic authority for the Middle Ages and Reformation, especially in moral theology. Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue argues that Ambrose of Milan’s theological commitments, particularly his understanding of the Christian’s participation in God’s saving economy through baptism, are foundational for his virtue theory laid out in his catechetical and other pastoral writings. While he holds a high regard for classical and Hellenistic views of virtue, Ambrose insists that the Christian is able to attain the highest ideal of virtue taught by Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. This is possible because the Christian has received the transformative grace of baptism that allows the Christian to participate in the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. This book explores Ambrose’s understanding of this grace and how it frees the Christian to live the virtuous life. The argument is laid out in two parts. In Part I, the book examines Ambrose’s understanding of human nature and the effects of sin upon that nature. Central to this Part is the question of Ambrose’s understanding of the right relationship of soul and body as presented in Ambrose’s repeated appeal to Paul’s words, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). Part II lays out Ambrose’s account of baptism as the sacrament of justification and regeneration (sacramental and proleptic participation in the renewal of human nature in the resurrection). Ultimately, Ambrose’s account of the efficacy of baptism rests upon his Christology and pneumatology. The final chapters explain how Ambrose’s accounts of Christ and the Holy Spirit are foundational to his view of the grace that liberates the soul from the corruption of concupiscence.Less
Though understandably overshadowed by Augustine’s preeminence in the West, Ambrose is a doctor of the Catholic Church and an important patristic authority for the Middle Ages and Reformation, especially in moral theology. Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue argues that Ambrose of Milan’s theological commitments, particularly his understanding of the Christian’s participation in God’s saving economy through baptism, are foundational for his virtue theory laid out in his catechetical and other pastoral writings. While he holds a high regard for classical and Hellenistic views of virtue, Ambrose insists that the Christian is able to attain the highest ideal of virtue taught by Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. This is possible because the Christian has received the transformative grace of baptism that allows the Christian to participate in the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. This book explores Ambrose’s understanding of this grace and how it frees the Christian to live the virtuous life. The argument is laid out in two parts. In Part I, the book examines Ambrose’s understanding of human nature and the effects of sin upon that nature. Central to this Part is the question of Ambrose’s understanding of the right relationship of soul and body as presented in Ambrose’s repeated appeal to Paul’s words, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). Part II lays out Ambrose’s account of baptism as the sacrament of justification and regeneration (sacramental and proleptic participation in the renewal of human nature in the resurrection). Ultimately, Ambrose’s account of the efficacy of baptism rests upon his Christology and pneumatology. The final chapters explain how Ambrose’s accounts of Christ and the Holy Spirit are foundational to his view of the grace that liberates the soul from the corruption of concupiscence.
A. P. David
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199292400
- eISBN:
- 9780191711855
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199292400.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book develops an authentic and revolutionary musical analysis of ancient Greek poetry. It brings the interpretation of ancient verse into step with the sorts of analyses customarily enjoyed by ...
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This book develops an authentic and revolutionary musical analysis of ancient Greek poetry. It brings the interpretation of ancient verse into step with the sorts of analyses customarily enjoyed by works in all the more recent poetical and musical traditions. It departs from the abstract metrical analyses of the past in that it conceives the rhythmic and harmonic elements of poetry as integral to the whole expression, and decisive in the interpretation of its meaning. Such an analysis is now possible because of a new theory of the Greek tonic accent, set out in the third chapter, and its application to Greek poetry understood as choreia — the proper name for the art and work of ancient poets in both epic and lyric, described by Plato as a synthesis of dance rhythm and vocal harmony, in disagreement moving toward agreement. The book offers a thorough-going treatment of Homeric poetics: here some remarkable discoveries in the harmonic movement of epic verse, when combined with some neglected facts about the origin of the hexameter in a ‘dance of the Muses’, lead to essential new thinking about the genesis and the form of Homeric poetry. The book also gives a foretaste of the fruits to be harvested in lyric by a musical analysis, applying the new theory of the accent and considering concretely the role of dance in performance.Less
This book develops an authentic and revolutionary musical analysis of ancient Greek poetry. It brings the interpretation of ancient verse into step with the sorts of analyses customarily enjoyed by works in all the more recent poetical and musical traditions. It departs from the abstract metrical analyses of the past in that it conceives the rhythmic and harmonic elements of poetry as integral to the whole expression, and decisive in the interpretation of its meaning. Such an analysis is now possible because of a new theory of the Greek tonic accent, set out in the third chapter, and its application to Greek poetry understood as choreia — the proper name for the art and work of ancient poets in both epic and lyric, described by Plato as a synthesis of dance rhythm and vocal harmony, in disagreement moving toward agreement. The book offers a thorough-going treatment of Homeric poetics: here some remarkable discoveries in the harmonic movement of epic verse, when combined with some neglected facts about the origin of the hexameter in a ‘dance of the Muses’, lead to essential new thinking about the genesis and the form of Homeric poetry. The book also gives a foretaste of the fruits to be harvested in lyric by a musical analysis, applying the new theory of the accent and considering concretely the role of dance in performance.
Lloyd P. Gerson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199288670
- eISBN:
- 9780191717789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288670.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
For Plato, persons are not identical with individuals falling under the putative natural kind ‘human being’. Alternatively, it can also be said that for Plato, souls are not identical with individual ...
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For Plato, persons are not identical with individuals falling under the putative natural kind ‘human being’. Alternatively, it can also be said that for Plato, souls are not identical with individual composites of soul and body. But an embodied person (or an embodied soul) is not exactly the same thing as a disembodied person (or soul), so it is a mistake to suppose that the human being is just the simple sum of person or soul and body. A person with a body is not a person plus a body. An embodied person is different from a disembodied person, as images of the intelligible differ from their paradigms. It would be more accurate to characterize Plato's dualism as based upon the distinction between disembodied person and embodied person than upon the distinction between soul and body. Therefore, Plato's position avoids or at least changes the meaning of the question ‘How is the soul related to the body?’ The embodied person or soul is neither a res cogitans related to a res extensa nor even a ‘captain’ related to a bodily ‘ship’, to use Aristotle's metaphor. The embodied person has a body and is the subject of bodily states.Less
For Plato, persons are not identical with individuals falling under the putative natural kind ‘human being’. Alternatively, it can also be said that for Plato, souls are not identical with individual composites of soul and body. But an embodied person (or an embodied soul) is not exactly the same thing as a disembodied person (or soul), so it is a mistake to suppose that the human being is just the simple sum of person or soul and body. A person with a body is not a person plus a body. An embodied person is different from a disembodied person, as images of the intelligible differ from their paradigms. It would be more accurate to characterize Plato's dualism as based upon the distinction between disembodied person and embodied person than upon the distinction between soul and body. Therefore, Plato's position avoids or at least changes the meaning of the question ‘How is the soul related to the body?’ The embodied person or soul is neither a res cogitans related to a res extensa nor even a ‘captain’ related to a bodily ‘ship’, to use Aristotle's metaphor. The embodied person has a body and is the subject of bodily states.
Ralph Rosen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309966
- eISBN:
- 9780199789443
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309966.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their ...
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This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their relationships with audiences, in accordance with a set of common poetic principles, protocols, and tropes. It encourages a synoptic, synchronic view of such poetry, from archaic iambus through Roman satire, and argues that only when we appreciate how an abstracted “poetics of mockery” governs individual poets can we fully understand how such poetry functioned diachronically in its own historical moment. The book examines in particular the strategies deployed by satirical poets to enlist the sympathies of a putative audience and convince them of the legitimacy of their personal attacks. It discusses the tension deliberately created by such poets between self-righteous didactic claims and a persistent desire to undermine them, and concludes that such poetry was felt by ancient audiences to achieve its greatest success as comedy precisely when they were left unable to ascribe to the satirist any consistent moral position. Several early chapters look to Greek myth for paradigms of comic mockery, and argue that these myths can illuminate the ways in which ancient audiences conceptualized specifically poeticized forms of satire. Poets addressed in this part of the book include Archilochus, Hipponax, Horace, Homer, Aristophanes, and Theocritus. Two chapters follow which address the satirical poetics of Callimachus and Juvenal, and a final chapter on the question of how ancient audiences responded the inherently controversial elements of such poetry.Less
This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their relationships with audiences, in accordance with a set of common poetic principles, protocols, and tropes. It encourages a synoptic, synchronic view of such poetry, from archaic iambus through Roman satire, and argues that only when we appreciate how an abstracted “poetics of mockery” governs individual poets can we fully understand how such poetry functioned diachronically in its own historical moment. The book examines in particular the strategies deployed by satirical poets to enlist the sympathies of a putative audience and convince them of the legitimacy of their personal attacks. It discusses the tension deliberately created by such poets between self-righteous didactic claims and a persistent desire to undermine them, and concludes that such poetry was felt by ancient audiences to achieve its greatest success as comedy precisely when they were left unable to ascribe to the satirist any consistent moral position. Several early chapters look to Greek myth for paradigms of comic mockery, and argue that these myths can illuminate the ways in which ancient audiences conceptualized specifically poeticized forms of satire. Poets addressed in this part of the book include Archilochus, Hipponax, Horace, Homer, Aristophanes, and Theocritus. Two chapters follow which address the satirical poetics of Callimachus and Juvenal, and a final chapter on the question of how ancient audiences responded the inherently controversial elements of such poetry.
Cathy Guiterrez
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195388350
- eISBN:
- 9780199866472
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388350.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book examines the legacy of European esoteric speculation, particularly Platonic ideals, as they are transformed on a new continent. Promoting knowledge rather than salvation as the path to ...
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This book examines the legacy of European esoteric speculation, particularly Platonic ideals, as they are transformed on a new continent. Promoting knowledge rather than salvation as the path to spiritual improvement, Neoplatonism met with a democratizing impulse in America, one that eschewed the binary destinies of heaven or hell and offered instead an afterlife for all peoples, races, and religions. Spiritualism represents the ultimate marriage of universal salvation and the pursuit of esoteric knowledge, as a new generation of Americans embraced a completely inclusive heaven. While scientific and frequently political progressivists, Spiritualists looked to the past for answers about the present, undercutting a march of time and betraying conflicting cultural ideals. While technological and medical innovations were hallmarks of a great future, Platonic and Renaissance articulations of the cosmos persisted and increased: humanity did not inhabit a degraded material world, but rather the universe was shot through with the divine. This work examines implicit and explicit expressions of time and progress as they intersect with Spiritualist cultural concerns—memory, technology, love, medicine, and finally nascent psychology. In each the author finds echoes of Plato, pulling time backward even as it marched toward a brighter future.Less
This book examines the legacy of European esoteric speculation, particularly Platonic ideals, as they are transformed on a new continent. Promoting knowledge rather than salvation as the path to spiritual improvement, Neoplatonism met with a democratizing impulse in America, one that eschewed the binary destinies of heaven or hell and offered instead an afterlife for all peoples, races, and religions. Spiritualism represents the ultimate marriage of universal salvation and the pursuit of esoteric knowledge, as a new generation of Americans embraced a completely inclusive heaven. While scientific and frequently political progressivists, Spiritualists looked to the past for answers about the present, undercutting a march of time and betraying conflicting cultural ideals. While technological and medical innovations were hallmarks of a great future, Platonic and Renaissance articulations of the cosmos persisted and increased: humanity did not inhabit a degraded material world, but rather the universe was shot through with the divine. This work examines implicit and explicit expressions of time and progress as they intersect with Spiritualist cultural concerns—memory, technology, love, medicine, and finally nascent psychology. In each the author finds echoes of Plato, pulling time backward even as it marched toward a brighter future.
W. J. Mander
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230303
- eISBN:
- 9780191710643
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230303.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
Best known today as one of the earliest critics of John Locke, John Norris (1657-1711) incorporated ideas of Augustine, Malebranche, Plato, the Cambridge Platonists, and the scholastics into an ...
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Best known today as one of the earliest critics of John Locke, John Norris (1657-1711) incorporated ideas of Augustine, Malebranche, Plato, the Cambridge Platonists, and the scholastics into an original synthesis that was highly influential on the philosophy and theology of his day. This book presents a study of this unjustly neglected thinker, and the different perspectives he offers on this seminal period in philosophical history.Less
Best known today as one of the earliest critics of John Locke, John Norris (1657-1711) incorporated ideas of Augustine, Malebranche, Plato, the Cambridge Platonists, and the scholastics into an original synthesis that was highly influential on the philosophy and theology of his day. This book presents a study of this unjustly neglected thinker, and the different perspectives he offers on this seminal period in philosophical history.
Katja Maria Vogt
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199916818
- eISBN:
- 9780199980291
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916818.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This book explores a Socratic intuition about the difference between belief and knowledge. Beliefs—doxai—are deficient cognitive attitudes. In believing something, one accepts some content as true ...
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This book explores a Socratic intuition about the difference between belief and knowledge. Beliefs—doxai—are deficient cognitive attitudes. In believing something, one accepts some content as true without knowing that it is true; one holds something to be true that could turn out to be false. Since our actions reflect what we hold to be true, holding beliefs is potentially harmful for oneself and others. Accordingly, beliefs are ethically worrisome and even, in the words of Plato's Socrates, “shameful.” As the book argues, this is a serious philosophical proposal and it speaks to intuitions that we are likely to share. But it involves a notion of belief that is rather different from contemporary notions. Today, it is a widespread assumption that true beliefs are better than false beliefs, and that some true beliefs (perhaps those that come with justifications) qualify as knowledge. Socratic epistemology offers a genuinely different picture. In aiming for knowledge, one must aim to get rid of beliefs. Knowledge does not entail belief—belief and knowledge differ in such important ways that they cannot both count as kinds of belief. As long as one does not have knowledge, one should reserve judgment and investigate. It is argued that the ancient skeptics and Stoics draw many of these ideas from Plato's dialogues, revising Socratic-Platonic arguments as they see fit. The book retraces their steps through interpretations of the Apology, Ion, Republic, Theaetetus, and Philebus, reconstructs Pyrrhonian investigation and thought, and illuminates the connections between ancient skepticism and relativism, as well as the Stoic view that beliefs do not even merit the evaluations “true” and “false.”Less
This book explores a Socratic intuition about the difference between belief and knowledge. Beliefs—doxai—are deficient cognitive attitudes. In believing something, one accepts some content as true without knowing that it is true; one holds something to be true that could turn out to be false. Since our actions reflect what we hold to be true, holding beliefs is potentially harmful for oneself and others. Accordingly, beliefs are ethically worrisome and even, in the words of Plato's Socrates, “shameful.” As the book argues, this is a serious philosophical proposal and it speaks to intuitions that we are likely to share. But it involves a notion of belief that is rather different from contemporary notions. Today, it is a widespread assumption that true beliefs are better than false beliefs, and that some true beliefs (perhaps those that come with justifications) qualify as knowledge. Socratic epistemology offers a genuinely different picture. In aiming for knowledge, one must aim to get rid of beliefs. Knowledge does not entail belief—belief and knowledge differ in such important ways that they cannot both count as kinds of belief. As long as one does not have knowledge, one should reserve judgment and investigate. It is argued that the ancient skeptics and Stoics draw many of these ideas from Plato's dialogues, revising Socratic-Platonic arguments as they see fit. The book retraces their steps through interpretations of the Apology, Ion, Republic, Theaetetus, and Philebus, reconstructs Pyrrhonian investigation and thought, and illuminates the connections between ancient skepticism and relativism, as well as the Stoic view that beliefs do not even merit the evaluations “true” and “false.”
Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195377194
- eISBN:
- 9780199869572
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377194.001.1
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This book examines Plotinus’ concept of number, one of the most difficult and obscure topics in Neoplatonism. The book argues that Plotinus is the first philosopher who explains the Platonic “true ...
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This book examines Plotinus’ concept of number, one of the most difficult and obscure topics in Neoplatonism. The book argues that Plotinus is the first philosopher who explains the Platonic “true number” and the quantitative mathematical numbers in a conceptually informed relationship as between an intelligible paradigm and its sense-perceptible image. Throughout the Enneads and especially in Ennead VI.6, the treatise On Numbers, Plotinus systematically peels off the layers of mathematical and quantitative perception from the concept of number to reveal that real number is the primary activity of substance (ousia), which orders the unfolding of the universe from its absolute source into a finite multiplicity. The book traces the development of Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s view of number, and Neopythagoreanism. This analysis establishes number to be the building block of the intelligible realm and the architecture of the universe in Plotinus. For him, as for his Platonic and Neopythagorean predecessors, the universe has a meaning, enciphered by number. In this light, Plotinus’ concept of number is the fundamental link between the number theories of the Neopythagoreans and the later Neoplatonists.Less
This book examines Plotinus’ concept of number, one of the most difficult and obscure topics in Neoplatonism. The book argues that Plotinus is the first philosopher who explains the Platonic “true number” and the quantitative mathematical numbers in a conceptually informed relationship as between an intelligible paradigm and its sense-perceptible image. Throughout the Enneads and especially in Ennead VI.6, the treatise On Numbers, Plotinus systematically peels off the layers of mathematical and quantitative perception from the concept of number to reveal that real number is the primary activity of substance (ousia), which orders the unfolding of the universe from its absolute source into a finite multiplicity. The book traces the development of Plotinus’ concepts of number and multiplicity in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s view of number, and Neopythagoreanism. This analysis establishes number to be the building block of the intelligible realm and the architecture of the universe in Plotinus. For him, as for his Platonic and Neopythagorean predecessors, the universe has a meaning, enciphered by number. In this light, Plotinus’ concept of number is the fundamental link between the number theories of the Neopythagoreans and the later Neoplatonists.
Brad Inwood (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199666164
- eISBN:
- 9780191751936
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199666164.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy provides, twice each year, a collection of the best current work in the field of ancient philosophy. Each volume features original essays that ...
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Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy provides, twice each year, a collection of the best current work in the field of ancient philosophy. Each volume features original essays that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and problems in all periods of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, from the beginnings to the threshold of the middle ages. From its first volume in 1983, OSAP has been a highly influential venue for work in the field, and has often featured essays of substantial length as well as critical essays on books of distinctive importance. Volume 43 includes two articles on Plato, five on Aristotle, two on important aspects of Stoicism and one on Plutarch and scepticism.Less
Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy provides, twice each year, a collection of the best current work in the field of ancient philosophy. Each volume features original essays that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and problems in all periods of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, from the beginnings to the threshold of the middle ages. From its first volume in 1983, OSAP has been a highly influential venue for work in the field, and has often featured essays of substantial length as well as critical essays on books of distinctive importance. Volume 43 includes two articles on Plato, five on Aristotle, two on important aspects of Stoicism and one on Plutarch and scepticism.
Bernard J. Baars
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195102659
- eISBN:
- 9780199864126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195102659.003.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter presents a brief discussion of the aim of the book. It compares Plato's thoughts on consciousness with that of Frank Crick, arguing that both appear to reflect the same underlying ...
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This chapter presents a brief discussion of the aim of the book. It compares Plato's thoughts on consciousness with that of Frank Crick, arguing that both appear to reflect the same underlying metaphor of our personal experience, the theater metaphor. The importance of theater metaphors to scientists is considered.Less
This chapter presents a brief discussion of the aim of the book. It compares Plato's thoughts on consciousness with that of Frank Crick, arguing that both appear to reflect the same underlying metaphor of our personal experience, the theater metaphor. The importance of theater metaphors to scientists is considered.
Gregory A. Staley
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387438
- eISBN:
- 9780199866809
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387438.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato wanted to ban tragedians from his ideal community because he ...
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As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato wanted to ban tragedians from his ideal community because he believed that they dabbled in the philosopher’s business but had no “idea” what they were doing. Aristotle set out to answer Plato’s objections by arguing that fiction offers a faithful image of the truth and promotes emotional health through the mechanism of catharsis. This book argues that Aristotle’s definition of tragedy actually had its greatest impact not on Greek tragedy itself but on the later history of the idea of tragedy, beginning with the tragedies of the Roman poet and Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 bc–ad 65), whose Latin plays were known and read in the Renaissance for centuries before the now more famous Greek tragedies were rediscovered. When Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) composed An Apology for Poetry, he borrowed from Seneca the word idea to designate what we would now label as a “theory” of tragedy. Through Sidney, Seneca’s plays came to exemplify an idea of tragedy that was at its core Aristotelian. Senecan tragedy enacts Aristotle’s conception of the genre as a vivid image of the truth and treats tragedy as a natural venue in which to explore the human soul.Less
As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato wanted to ban tragedians from his ideal community because he believed that they dabbled in the philosopher’s business but had no “idea” what they were doing. Aristotle set out to answer Plato’s objections by arguing that fiction offers a faithful image of the truth and promotes emotional health through the mechanism of catharsis. This book argues that Aristotle’s definition of tragedy actually had its greatest impact not on Greek tragedy itself but on the later history of the idea of tragedy, beginning with the tragedies of the Roman poet and Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 bc–ad 65), whose Latin plays were known and read in the Renaissance for centuries before the now more famous Greek tragedies were rediscovered. When Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) composed An Apology for Poetry, he borrowed from Seneca the word idea to designate what we would now label as a “theory” of tragedy. Through Sidney, Seneca’s plays came to exemplify an idea of tragedy that was at its core Aristotelian. Senecan tragedy enacts Aristotle’s conception of the genre as a vivid image of the truth and treats tragedy as a natural venue in which to explore the human soul.
Sergio Tenenbaum
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195382440
- eISBN:
- 9780199870158
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195382440.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
In the introduction, Tenenbaum provides a general overview about the main debates that arise from investigation of the relation between desire (and practical reason) and the good, and briefly ...
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In the introduction, Tenenbaum provides a general overview about the main debates that arise from investigation of the relation between desire (and practical reason) and the good, and briefly explains the contribution that the individual chapters make to these debates, as well as how these chapters hang together.Less
In the introduction, Tenenbaum provides a general overview about the main debates that arise from investigation of the relation between desire (and practical reason) and the good, and briefly explains the contribution that the individual chapters make to these debates, as well as how these chapters hang together.
Patrick Greenough and Michael P. Lynch (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199288878
- eISBN:
- 9780191594304
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288878.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
Is truth objective or relative? What exists independently of our minds? This book is about these two questions. The essays in its pages variously defend and critique answers to each, grapple over the ...
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Is truth objective or relative? What exists independently of our minds? This book is about these two questions. The essays in its pages variously defend and critique answers to each, grapple over the proper methodology for addressing them, and wonder whether either question is worth pursuing. In so doing, they carry on a long and esteemed tradition – for our two questions are among the oldest of philosophical issues, and have vexed almost every major philosopher, from Plato, to Kant to Wittgenstein. Fifteen contributors bring fresh perspectives, renewed energy and original answers to debates that have been the focus of a tremendous amount of interest in the last three decades, both within philosophy and the culture at large.Less
Is truth objective or relative? What exists independently of our minds? This book is about these two questions. The essays in its pages variously defend and critique answers to each, grapple over the proper methodology for addressing them, and wonder whether either question is worth pursuing. In so doing, they carry on a long and esteemed tradition – for our two questions are among the oldest of philosophical issues, and have vexed almost every major philosopher, from Plato, to Kant to Wittgenstein. Fifteen contributors bring fresh perspectives, renewed energy and original answers to debates that have been the focus of a tremendous amount of interest in the last three decades, both within philosophy and the culture at large.
Jonathan Beere
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199206704
- eISBN:
- 9780191709784
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206704.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Ancient Philosophy
Doing and Being confronts the problem of how to understand two central concepts of Aristotle's philosophy: energeia and dunamis. While these terms seem ambiguous between actuality/potentiality and ...
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Doing and Being confronts the problem of how to understand two central concepts of Aristotle's philosophy: energeia and dunamis. While these terms seem ambiguous between actuality/potentiality and activity/capacity, Aristotle did not intend them to be so. Through a careful and detailed reading of Metaphysics Theta, the author argues that we can solve the problem by rejecting both ‘actuality’ and ‘activity’ as translations of energeia, and by working out an analogical conception of energeia. This approach enables the author to discern a hitherto unnoticed connection between Plato's Sophist and Aristotle's Metaphysics Theta, and to give satisfying interpretations of the major claims that Aristotle makes in Metaphysics Theta, the claim that energeia is prior in being to capacity (Theta 8), and the claim that any eternal principle must be perfectly good (Theta 9).Less
Doing and Being confronts the problem of how to understand two central concepts of Aristotle's philosophy: energeia and dunamis. While these terms seem ambiguous between actuality/potentiality and activity/capacity, Aristotle did not intend them to be so. Through a careful and detailed reading of Metaphysics Theta, the author argues that we can solve the problem by rejecting both ‘actuality’ and ‘activity’ as translations of energeia, and by working out an analogical conception of energeia. This approach enables the author to discern a hitherto unnoticed connection between Plato's Sophist and Aristotle's Metaphysics Theta, and to give satisfying interpretations of the major claims that Aristotle makes in Metaphysics Theta, the claim that energeia is prior in being to capacity (Theta 8), and the claim that any eternal principle must be perfectly good (Theta 9).
John Malcolm
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198239062
- eISBN:
- 9780191679827
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198239062.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Much of the recent literature published on Plato's metaphysics has involved the Third Man Argument found in his dialogue Parmenides. This argument depends upon construing Forms both as universals and ...
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Much of the recent literature published on Plato's metaphysics has involved the Third Man Argument found in his dialogue Parmenides. This argument depends upon construing Forms both as universals and as paradigm examples, and thus as being subject to self-predication. This book first presents a new and radical interpretation of Plato's earlier dialogues. It argues that the few cases of self-predication contained therein are acceptable simply as statements concerning universals (for example, ‘beauty is beautiful’), and that therefore Plato is not vulnerable in these cases to the Third Man Argument. In considering the middle dialogues, the book takes a conservative stance, rejecting influential current doctrines which portray the Forms as being not self-predicative. It shows that the middle dialogues do indeed take Forms to be both universals and paradigms, and thus to exemplify themselves. The book goes on to consider why Plato should have been unsuccessful in avoiding self-predication. It shows that Plato's concern to explain how the truths of mathematics can indeed be true played an important role in his postulation of the Form as an Ideal Individual. The book concludes with the claim that reflection on the ambiguity of such notions as the ‘Standard Yard’ may help us to appreciate why Plato failed to distinguish Forms as universals from Forms as paradigm cases.Less
Much of the recent literature published on Plato's metaphysics has involved the Third Man Argument found in his dialogue Parmenides. This argument depends upon construing Forms both as universals and as paradigm examples, and thus as being subject to self-predication. This book first presents a new and radical interpretation of Plato's earlier dialogues. It argues that the few cases of self-predication contained therein are acceptable simply as statements concerning universals (for example, ‘beauty is beautiful’), and that therefore Plato is not vulnerable in these cases to the Third Man Argument. In considering the middle dialogues, the book takes a conservative stance, rejecting influential current doctrines which portray the Forms as being not self-predicative. It shows that the middle dialogues do indeed take Forms to be both universals and paradigms, and thus to exemplify themselves. The book goes on to consider why Plato should have been unsuccessful in avoiding self-predication. It shows that Plato's concern to explain how the truths of mathematics can indeed be true played an important role in his postulation of the Form as an Ideal Individual. The book concludes with the claim that reflection on the ambiguity of such notions as the ‘Standard Yard’ may help us to appreciate why Plato failed to distinguish Forms as universals from Forms as paradigm cases.
Max H. Boisot, Ian C. MacMillan, and Kyeong Seok Han
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199250875
- eISBN:
- 9780191719509
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199250875.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management
Humankind has always lived in a knowledge society. Yet, although we have been discussing the problem of valid knowledge since Plato and probably before, it was only in the second half of the 20th ...
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Humankind has always lived in a knowledge society. Yet, although we have been discussing the problem of valid knowledge since Plato and probably before, it was only in the second half of the 20th century that such knowledge came to be seen as an economic resource in its own right rather than as a support for the exploitation of other, more physical economic resources such as land, labour power, energy, etc. In recent years, a new specialization, knowledge management, has evolved to address some of the issues associated with the production and distribution of knowledge. It builds on the idea that organizations do not make good use of their knowledge resources and waste much of these. Knowledge management, however, still lacks a founding theory focused on the nature of knowledge and knowledge flows. The problem is that we cannot have a credible theory of how to manage knowledge in the firm without first developing a knowledge-based theory of the firm. The purpose of this book is to provide some theoretical perspective on the nature of organizationally relevant knowledge and to indicate the kind of research that might generate empirically testable hypotheses and further the development of a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Our theorizing builds on a conceptual framework — the Information-Space or I-Space — by means of which we explore how knowledge first emerges, and then gets articulated, diffused, and absorbed by a population of agents.Less
Humankind has always lived in a knowledge society. Yet, although we have been discussing the problem of valid knowledge since Plato and probably before, it was only in the second half of the 20th century that such knowledge came to be seen as an economic resource in its own right rather than as a support for the exploitation of other, more physical economic resources such as land, labour power, energy, etc. In recent years, a new specialization, knowledge management, has evolved to address some of the issues associated with the production and distribution of knowledge. It builds on the idea that organizations do not make good use of their knowledge resources and waste much of these. Knowledge management, however, still lacks a founding theory focused on the nature of knowledge and knowledge flows. The problem is that we cannot have a credible theory of how to manage knowledge in the firm without first developing a knowledge-based theory of the firm. The purpose of this book is to provide some theoretical perspective on the nature of organizationally relevant knowledge and to indicate the kind of research that might generate empirically testable hypotheses and further the development of a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Our theorizing builds on a conceptual framework — the Information-Space or I-Space — by means of which we explore how knowledge first emerges, and then gets articulated, diffused, and absorbed by a population of agents.
David Bostock
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198239307
- eISBN:
- 9780191679889
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198239307.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
In the Theaetetus, Plato looks afresh at a problem to which, he now realizes, he had earlier given an inadequate answer: the problem of the nature of knowledge. What Plato has to say on this question ...
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In the Theaetetus, Plato looks afresh at a problem to which, he now realizes, he had earlier given an inadequate answer: the problem of the nature of knowledge. What Plato has to say on this question is of great interest and importance, not only to scholars of Plato, but also to philosophers with wholly contemporary interests. This book is a sustained philosophical analysis and critique of the Theaetetus. The book provides a detailed examination of Plato's arguments and the issues that they raise. It adjudicates on rival interpretations of the text, and looks at the relations between this and other works of Plato.Less
In the Theaetetus, Plato looks afresh at a problem to which, he now realizes, he had earlier given an inadequate answer: the problem of the nature of knowledge. What Plato has to say on this question is of great interest and importance, not only to scholars of Plato, but also to philosophers with wholly contemporary interests. This book is a sustained philosophical analysis and critique of the Theaetetus. The book provides a detailed examination of Plato's arguments and the issues that they raise. It adjudicates on rival interpretations of the text, and looks at the relations between this and other works of Plato.
