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).
Wallace Matson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812691
- eISBN:
- 9780199919420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812691.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The intensely human culture of newly literate Ionia spread into every field of intellectual endeavor. Though it was obviously anti-religious, serious opposition to it took nearly a century to ...
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The intensely human culture of newly literate Ionia spread into every field of intellectual endeavor. Though it was obviously anti-religious, serious opposition to it took nearly a century to develop. Ionian thought came to Athens later than to Italy. It was introduced by Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and by members of a new “profession,” the Sophists –itinerant lecturers and tutors. The most famous of these was Protagoras, the first Relativist and explicit agnostic. Socrates, a native Athenian, started out as a friend of the scientific side of Pythagoreanism. As such he was caricatured by the comic poet Aristophanes; and as such he was condemned and put to death for “impiety.” But by that time he had undergone a conversion from science to the moral and religious interests also associated with the Brotherhood.Less
The intensely human culture of newly literate Ionia spread into every field of intellectual endeavor. Though it was obviously anti-religious, serious opposition to it took nearly a century to develop. Ionian thought came to Athens later than to Italy. It was introduced by Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and by members of a new “profession,” the Sophists –itinerant lecturers and tutors. The most famous of these was Protagoras, the first Relativist and explicit agnostic. Socrates, a native Athenian, started out as a friend of the scientific side of Pythagoreanism. As such he was caricatured by the comic poet Aristophanes; and as such he was condemned and put to death for “impiety.” But by that time he had undergone a conversion from science to the moral and religious interests also associated with the Brotherhood.
Emily Baragwanath
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231294
- eISBN:
- 9780191710797
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231294.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This ...
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Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This book examines the representation of human motivation in Herodotus' Histories, building on recent work that views the historian against the background of the sophists and exploring the implications of this for the Histories' narrative books. Working from the theoretical basis of reader response criticism, it uses Plutarch's insights to plot Herodotus' narrative strategies for guiding his readers' response to questions of motives. Its focus is the sophisticated narrative techniques with which Herodotus represents this elusive variety of historical knowledge; but through illustrating and analyzing a range of such techniques across a wide selection of narratives, it supplies a method for reading the Histories more generally. Herodotus is revealed as a master of both narrative and historiography, able tell a lucid story of the past while nonetheless exposing the methodological and epistemological challenges it presented. Subjects discussed include the influence of Homer as a narrative model; the account of Leonidas and Thermopylae—where the subtle interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations contribute to the historian's self-characterization; the Samian and Persian stories, with their depiction of irrational motivation; the Athenian stories, which reveal Herodotus' polarizing technique of presentation; the complications of rhetoric, with its slogans of ‘freedom’ and ‘Greek unity’, in the Ionian Revolt narrative—which proves a touchstone for assessing the later campaign; motives and necessity in the Greek states' response to the Persian threat; and the characterization of the Histories' most prominent individuals, Xerxes and Themistocles.Less
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This book examines the representation of human motivation in Herodotus' Histories, building on recent work that views the historian against the background of the sophists and exploring the implications of this for the Histories' narrative books. Working from the theoretical basis of reader response criticism, it uses Plutarch's insights to plot Herodotus' narrative strategies for guiding his readers' response to questions of motives. Its focus is the sophisticated narrative techniques with which Herodotus represents this elusive variety of historical knowledge; but through illustrating and analyzing a range of such techniques across a wide selection of narratives, it supplies a method for reading the Histories more generally. Herodotus is revealed as a master of both narrative and historiography, able tell a lucid story of the past while nonetheless exposing the methodological and epistemological challenges it presented. Subjects discussed include the influence of Homer as a narrative model; the account of Leonidas and Thermopylae—where the subtle interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations contribute to the historian's self-characterization; the Samian and Persian stories, with their depiction of irrational motivation; the Athenian stories, which reveal Herodotus' polarizing technique of presentation; the complications of rhetoric, with its slogans of ‘freedom’ and ‘Greek unity’, in the Ionian Revolt narrative—which proves a touchstone for assessing the later campaign; motives and necessity in the Greek states' response to the Persian threat; and the characterization of the Histories' most prominent individuals, Xerxes and Themistocles.
Ismene Lada‐Richards
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232536
- eISBN:
- 9780191716003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232536.003.0014
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores the cultural place held by the ‘idea’ of pantomime and looks at the respects in which pantomime proved itself ‘good to think with’ in the ancient world. The chapter is concerned ...
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This chapter explores the cultural place held by the ‘idea’ of pantomime and looks at the respects in which pantomime proved itself ‘good to think with’ in the ancient world. The chapter is concerned with the paradoxical attitudes of the elite towards this art form and examines the possible reasons for the elite polemic narratives about pantomime. This is explored with particular reference to the cultural discourses surrounding sophists, rhetoric and pantomime. The discussion reviews the place of pantomime in the entertainment hierarchies and reveals the genre's formidable relational value. The chapter ends with the suggestion that pantomime may in fact have been perceived as a serious rival by the intellectual elite and was therefore appropriated, and controlled through, the discourse written upon it.Less
This chapter explores the cultural place held by the ‘idea’ of pantomime and looks at the respects in which pantomime proved itself ‘good to think with’ in the ancient world. The chapter is concerned with the paradoxical attitudes of the elite towards this art form and examines the possible reasons for the elite polemic narratives about pantomime. This is explored with particular reference to the cultural discourses surrounding sophists, rhetoric and pantomime. The discussion reviews the place of pantomime in the entertainment hierarchies and reveals the genre's formidable relational value. The chapter ends with the suggestion that pantomime may in fact have been perceived as a serious rival by the intellectual elite and was therefore appropriated, and controlled through, the discourse written upon it.
Emily Baragwanath
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231294
- eISBN:
- 9780191710797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231294.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Taking Plutarch's criticisms in de Malignitate Herodoti as a point of entry into Herodotus' strategies for guiding his readers' response, this chapter argues that Herodotus' reader is motivated to ...
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Taking Plutarch's criticisms in de Malignitate Herodoti as a point of entry into Herodotus' strategies for guiding his readers' response, this chapter argues that Herodotus' reader is motivated to take a particular, active stance towards his text. Herodotus is set in the context of the sophists. The theoretical background of Iser's reader response criticism is introduced, with Herodotus' presentation of the question of the Alcmaeonids' possible medizing after Marathon serving as a test case for a reader-response approach.Less
Taking Plutarch's criticisms in de Malignitate Herodoti as a point of entry into Herodotus' strategies for guiding his readers' response, this chapter argues that Herodotus' reader is motivated to take a particular, active stance towards his text. Herodotus is set in the context of the sophists. The theoretical background of Iser's reader response criticism is introduced, with Herodotus' presentation of the question of the Alcmaeonids' possible medizing after Marathon serving as a test case for a reader-response approach.
Emily Baragwanath
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231294
- eISBN:
- 9780191710797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231294.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter addresses Herodotus' portrayal of characters in the Histories whose inquiries into questions of motivation parallel his own. In discussing the dual persona of the Herodotean narrator, it ...
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This chapter addresses Herodotus' portrayal of characters in the Histories whose inquiries into questions of motivation parallel his own. In discussing the dual persona of the Herodotean narrator, it reformulates Plutarch's charge that Herodotus slid too easily between the categories of ‘historian’ and ‘sophist’. It contends that Leonidas in the Thermopylae narrative (with its interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations) is constructed in the Herodotean narrator's likeness, imitating the methods and purposes of the narrator in his approach to questions of motives, and displaying a polarized personality. The metatextual perspective furthers one's characterization of Herodotus at the same time as it reinforces the importance of questions of motivation.Less
This chapter addresses Herodotus' portrayal of characters in the Histories whose inquiries into questions of motivation parallel his own. In discussing the dual persona of the Herodotean narrator, it reformulates Plutarch's charge that Herodotus slid too easily between the categories of ‘historian’ and ‘sophist’. It contends that Leonidas in the Thermopylae narrative (with its interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations) is constructed in the Herodotean narrator's likeness, imitating the methods and purposes of the narrator in his approach to questions of motives, and displaying a polarized personality. The metatextual perspective furthers one's characterization of Herodotus at the same time as it reinforces the importance of questions of motivation.
Matthew Wright
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199274512
- eISBN:
- 9780191706554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274512.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter begins with the observation that Euripides is often called ‘the philosopher of the stage’, and explores what is meant by this description. It examines the relationship between tragedy ...
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This chapter begins with the observation that Euripides is often called ‘the philosopher of the stage’, and explores what is meant by this description. It examines the relationship between tragedy and philosophy. It argues that Euripides, far from being a merely ‘clever’ and superficial playwright, was in fact deeply and seriously engaged with philosophical ideas. It is shown that the escape-tragedies can be read as a complex exploration of epistemological and ontological ideas, in common with and parallel to the Sophists and Presocratics. Philosophical problems of knowledge, language, appearance, reality, and personal existence are seen as central to the meaning of the trilogy.Less
This chapter begins with the observation that Euripides is often called ‘the philosopher of the stage’, and explores what is meant by this description. It examines the relationship between tragedy and philosophy. It argues that Euripides, far from being a merely ‘clever’ and superficial playwright, was in fact deeply and seriously engaged with philosophical ideas. It is shown that the escape-tragedies can be read as a complex exploration of epistemological and ontological ideas, in common with and parallel to the Sophists and Presocratics. Philosophical problems of knowledge, language, appearance, reality, and personal existence are seen as central to the meaning of the trilogy.
C. C. W. Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199226399
- eISBN:
- 9780191710209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226399.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter reconsiders the question of whether Socrates is represented in the Protagoras as maintaining some version of hedonism in his own person, or merely arguing ad hominem that the sophists ...
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This chapter reconsiders the question of whether Socrates is represented in the Protagoras as maintaining some version of hedonism in his own person, or merely arguing ad hominem that the sophists and/or ordinary people are committed to hedonism. While the author had previously maintained the former, the present chapter argues — by close attention to the details of the text — that Plato deliberately leaves the question open. It is suggested that he does so because the cognitive theory of the early dialogues needs to be supplemented by an account of the good, and that he wished to explore the theory that pleasure is the good without explicitly endorsing it.Less
This chapter reconsiders the question of whether Socrates is represented in the Protagoras as maintaining some version of hedonism in his own person, or merely arguing ad hominem that the sophists and/or ordinary people are committed to hedonism. While the author had previously maintained the former, the present chapter argues — by close attention to the details of the text — that Plato deliberately leaves the question open. It is suggested that he does so because the cognitive theory of the early dialogues needs to be supplemented by an account of the good, and that he wished to explore the theory that pleasure is the good without explicitly endorsing it.
Noburu Notomi
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199289974
- eISBN:
- 9780191711008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199289974.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Modern philosophers often assume that Plato treats what is not merely as the privation of being and that he dismisses the idea of absolute nothingness from the inquiry altogether. Citing the way in ...
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Modern philosophers often assume that Plato treats what is not merely as the privation of being and that he dismisses the idea of absolute nothingness from the inquiry altogether. Citing the way in which Plato in the Sophist describes what is not as ‘different from what is’, these philosophers fault him for reducing the problem of absolute nothingness to that of something lacking particular properties. This chapter argues against this interpretation and suggests that Plato tackles a more profound problem — what is not is no more trivial or easy to deal with than its counterpart, what is. It is perhaps a more perplexing concept, since it seems to prevent any discussion. This feature takes us to the heart of the problem that Plato faces in the Sophist, where he works out a new strategy to overcome the difficulty: what is not can only be clarified together with what is. The implications of this strategy are discussed.Less
Modern philosophers often assume that Plato treats what is not merely as the privation of being and that he dismisses the idea of absolute nothingness from the inquiry altogether. Citing the way in which Plato in the Sophist describes what is not as ‘different from what is’, these philosophers fault him for reducing the problem of absolute nothingness to that of something lacking particular properties. This chapter argues against this interpretation and suggests that Plato tackles a more profound problem — what is not is no more trivial or easy to deal with than its counterpart, what is. It is perhaps a more perplexing concept, since it seems to prevent any discussion. This feature takes us to the heart of the problem that Plato faces in the Sophist, where he works out a new strategy to overcome the difficulty: what is not can only be clarified together with what is. The implications of this strategy are discussed.
Malcolm Heath
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199259205
- eISBN:
- 9780191717932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259205.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter introduces the late 3rd-century Greek rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor), and explains the questions about Menander and the nature of rhetoric in late antiquity. The ...
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This chapter introduces the late 3rd-century Greek rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor), and explains the questions about Menander and the nature of rhetoric in late antiquity. The contents of the succeeding chapters are briefly explained. A key theme of the book — the continuing practical relevance of rhetoric in this period — is highlighted. It is suggested that Philostratus’ influential but one-sided account of the teachers of rhetoric known as ‘sophists’ has produced a distorted image of the so-called ‘Second Sophistic’. An accurate picture must be based on a much wider range of evidence.Less
This chapter introduces the late 3rd-century Greek rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor), and explains the questions about Menander and the nature of rhetoric in late antiquity. The contents of the succeeding chapters are briefly explained. A key theme of the book — the continuing practical relevance of rhetoric in this period — is highlighted. It is suggested that Philostratus’ influential but one-sided account of the teachers of rhetoric known as ‘sophists’ has produced a distorted image of the so-called ‘Second Sophistic’. An accurate picture must be based on a much wider range of evidence.
Malcolm Heath
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199259205
- eISBN:
- 9780191717932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259205.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines the evidence for the history of rhetoric after the completion of Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists. It shows that the movement generally known as the ‘Second Sophistic’ ...
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This chapter examines the evidence for the history of rhetoric after the completion of Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists. It shows that the movement generally known as the ‘Second Sophistic’ continued to flourish in this period, and that rhetoric was taught by many sophists and philosophers, including (for example) Apsines, Longinus, Porphyry, and Metrophanes, as well as Menander himself. This period also saw the beginning of commentaries on technical works of rhetorical theory; the subsequent history of this genre is briefly summarized. Along with evidence for continuing creativity in literary scholarship, philosophy, law and theology, this shows that the political and military crisis of the 3rd century did not lead to an eclipse of intellectual culture.Less
This chapter examines the evidence for the history of rhetoric after the completion of Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists. It shows that the movement generally known as the ‘Second Sophistic’ continued to flourish in this period, and that rhetoric was taught by many sophists and philosophers, including (for example) Apsines, Longinus, Porphyry, and Metrophanes, as well as Menander himself. This period also saw the beginning of commentaries on technical works of rhetorical theory; the subsequent history of this genre is briefly summarized. Along with evidence for continuing creativity in literary scholarship, philosophy, law and theology, this shows that the political and military crisis of the 3rd century did not lead to an eclipse of intellectual culture.
Himerius
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520250932
- eISBN:
- 9780520933712
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520250932.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This annotated book offers an English translation of the orations of Himerius of Athens, a prominent teacher of rhetoric in the fourth century A.D. It contains 79 surviving orations and fragments of ...
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This annotated book offers an English translation of the orations of Himerius of Athens, a prominent teacher of rhetoric in the fourth century A.D. It contains 79 surviving orations and fragments of orations in the grand tradition of imperial Greek rhetoric. The speeches, a rich source on the intellectual life of late antiquity, capture the flavor of student life in Athens, illuminate relations in the educated community, and illustrate the ongoing civic role of the sophist. The book includes speeches given by Himerius in various cities as he traveled east to join the emperor Julian, customary declamations on imaginary topics, and a monody on the death of his son. Extensive introductory notes and annotations place these translations in their literary and historical contexts.Less
This annotated book offers an English translation of the orations of Himerius of Athens, a prominent teacher of rhetoric in the fourth century A.D. It contains 79 surviving orations and fragments of orations in the grand tradition of imperial Greek rhetoric. The speeches, a rich source on the intellectual life of late antiquity, capture the flavor of student life in Athens, illuminate relations in the educated community, and illustrate the ongoing civic role of the sophist. The book includes speeches given by Himerius in various cities as he traveled east to join the emperor Julian, customary declamations on imaginary topics, and a monody on the death of his son. Extensive introductory notes and annotations place these translations in their literary and historical contexts.
Paul L. Gavrilyuk
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199269822
- eISBN:
- 9780191601569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199269823.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Five major interpretations of Arianism are considered. According to the Hanson-Wiles interpretation, the Arians used psilanthropic argument to emphasize that God suffered in Christ. The author shows ...
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Five major interpretations of Arianism are considered. According to the Hanson-Wiles interpretation, the Arians used psilanthropic argument to emphasize that God suffered in Christ. The author shows that this interpretation is one sided, partly because other parties involved in the christological debates of the fourth and fifth centuries also used the psilanthropic argument. The Arians emphasized the impassibility of the High God in order to exclude him from any participation in human suffering. The pro-Nicene theologians succeeded in sustaining the vital tension between the transcendence of God and his involvement in suffering in the incarnation.Less
Five major interpretations of Arianism are considered. According to the Hanson-Wiles interpretation, the Arians used psilanthropic argument to emphasize that God suffered in Christ. The author shows that this interpretation is one sided, partly because other parties involved in the christological debates of the fourth and fifth centuries also used the psilanthropic argument. The Arians emphasized the impassibility of the High God in order to exclude him from any participation in human suffering. The pro-Nicene theologians succeeded in sustaining the vital tension between the transcendence of God and his involvement in suffering in the incarnation.
Lesley Brown
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199564453
- eISBN:
- 9780191721618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564453.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter investigates the so-called method of division, purportedly used in the dialogue Sophist to give the essence of the sophist, i.e., of the sophistic art or expertise. The dialogue's enigma ...
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This chapter investigates the so-called method of division, purportedly used in the dialogue Sophist to give the essence of the sophist, i.e., of the sophistic art or expertise. The dialogue's enigma is that it offers not one but seven different definitions, all of them satirical or whimsical, and each purporting to be the account of what sophistry is. The chapter rejects readings on which each of these ‘definitions’, or just the final one — the sophist as a producer of images — is meant seriously as an account of what sophistry is. It argues that the initial assumption — that there is a definable expertise (technē) of sophistry — is one Plato can hardly have shared, given his criteria for what counts as a technē. The chapter concludes that in the Sophist Plato shows both how close sophistry and true philosophy are, and also how they differ — all this without intending the reader to assume that the method of division has revealed any essence of sophistry, since there can be no such thing.Less
This chapter investigates the so-called method of division, purportedly used in the dialogue Sophist to give the essence of the sophist, i.e., of the sophistic art or expertise. The dialogue's enigma is that it offers not one but seven different definitions, all of them satirical or whimsical, and each purporting to be the account of what sophistry is. The chapter rejects readings on which each of these ‘definitions’, or just the final one — the sophist as a producer of images — is meant seriously as an account of what sophistry is. It argues that the initial assumption — that there is a definable expertise (technē) of sophistry — is one Plato can hardly have shared, given his criteria for what counts as a technē. The chapter concludes that in the Sophist Plato shows both how close sophistry and true philosophy are, and also how they differ — all this without intending the reader to assume that the method of division has revealed any essence of sophistry, since there can be no such thing.
Brian Vickers
- Published in print:
- 1989
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117919
- eISBN:
- 9780191671128
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117919.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter shows that Plato's travesty of rhetoric influenced Kant, Croce, and continues to influence a majority of classicists and philosophers today. The chapter attempts to validate the ...
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This chapter shows that Plato's travesty of rhetoric influenced Kant, Croce, and continues to influence a majority of classicists and philosophers today. The chapter attempts to validate the Sophists, whose reputation has never recovered from the drubbing Plato gave it, drawing on Eric Havelock's sympathetic account of Protagoras, and making an evaluation of Isocrates. It appears that their school, with its conception of rhetoric as public debate in a society guaranteeing free speech — a debate in which both sides of the case are heard and those qualified to vote come to a decision binding on all parties — has much more to offer us than Plato's equation of it with cosmetics, cookery, and other more disreputable arts designed, according to him, to satisfy base pleasures rather than promote knowledge.Less
This chapter shows that Plato's travesty of rhetoric influenced Kant, Croce, and continues to influence a majority of classicists and philosophers today. The chapter attempts to validate the Sophists, whose reputation has never recovered from the drubbing Plato gave it, drawing on Eric Havelock's sympathetic account of Protagoras, and making an evaluation of Isocrates. It appears that their school, with its conception of rhetoric as public debate in a society guaranteeing free speech — a debate in which both sides of the case are heard and those qualified to vote come to a decision binding on all parties — has much more to offer us than Plato's equation of it with cosmetics, cookery, and other more disreputable arts designed, according to him, to satisfy base pleasures rather than promote knowledge.
David Bostock
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198239307
- eISBN:
- 9780191679889
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198239307.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the chronology of Plato' dialogues. It then goes on to compare the Theaetetus and the Sophist, followed by an analysis of the Meno. Finally, the ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the chronology of Plato' dialogues. It then goes on to compare the Theaetetus and the Sophist, followed by an analysis of the Meno. Finally, the chapter ponders on the question ‘What is Knowledge?’ which introduces the theme of Theaetetus.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the chronology of Plato' dialogues. It then goes on to compare the Theaetetus and the Sophist, followed by an analysis of the Meno. Finally, the chapter ponders on the question ‘What is Knowledge?’ which introduces the theme of Theaetetus.
Verity Harte
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198236757
- eISBN:
- 9780191597640
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198236751.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This book is an examination of Plato's treatment of the relation between a whole and its parts in a group of Plato's later works: the Theaetetus, Parmenides, Sophist, Philebus, and Timaeus. Plato's ...
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This book is an examination of Plato's treatment of the relation between a whole and its parts in a group of Plato's later works: the Theaetetus, Parmenides, Sophist, Philebus, and Timaeus. Plato's discussions of part and whole in these texts fall into two distinct groups: a problematic one in which he explores, without endorsing, a model of composition as identity; and another in which he develops an alternative to this rejected model. Each model is concerned with the nature of composition of a whole from its parts, such that a whole is an individual, rather than a mere collection or heap. According to the problematic model of composition, a whole is identical to its many parts, that is, the relation of many parts to one whole is just the relation of identity. This model is shown to have the paradoxical consequence that the same thing(s) is (or are) both one thing and many things, and for this reason, amongst others, it cannot support an adequate account of composition. According to the alternative model of composition, wholes of parts are contentful structures (or, instances of such structures), whose parts get their identity only in the context of the whole they compose. Plato presents the structure of such wholes as the proper objects of Platonic science: essentially irreducible, intelligible, and normative in character.Less
This book is an examination of Plato's treatment of the relation between a whole and its parts in a group of Plato's later works: the Theaetetus, Parmenides, Sophist, Philebus, and Timaeus. Plato's discussions of part and whole in these texts fall into two distinct groups: a problematic one in which he explores, without endorsing, a model of composition as identity; and another in which he develops an alternative to this rejected model. Each model is concerned with the nature of composition of a whole from its parts, such that a whole is an individual, rather than a mere collection or heap. According to the problematic model of composition, a whole is identical to its many parts, that is, the relation of many parts to one whole is just the relation of identity. This model is shown to have the paradoxical consequence that the same thing(s) is (or are) both one thing and many things, and for this reason, amongst others, it cannot support an adequate account of composition. According to the alternative model of composition, wholes of parts are contentful structures (or, instances of such structures), whose parts get their identity only in the context of the whole they compose. Plato presents the structure of such wholes as the proper objects of Platonic science: essentially irreducible, intelligible, and normative in character.
Robin Reames
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226567013
- eISBN:
- 9780226567150
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226567150.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
The common view of language in the West is that it represents the world. Although it is widely recognized that this concept of language originates with Plato, until now, it has not been established ...
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The common view of language in the West is that it represents the world. Although it is widely recognized that this concept of language originates with Plato, until now, it has not been established how Plato invented this now ubiquitous understanding. Seeming and Being in Plato’s Rhetorical Theory illuminates how, over the course of several dialogues (Gorgias, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Theaetetus, Cratylus, Euthydemus, Republic, and Sophist), Plato creates the concept of language-as-statement in order to overpower the political influence of the sophists. This was the original determination that language could be either false or true, where the distinction between false and true rests on a deeper distinction between seeming and being, or appearance and reality—crucial determinations for Plato’s defeat of the sophists’ false speech. This innovation was made possible through common methods of rhetorical theory; namely, the analysis of written texts and the development of theoretical, meta-discursive vocabulary about discourse, or language about language. Through the linguistic analyses offered in the Republic, the Cratylus, and the Sophist, Plato develops his rhetorical taxonomy of mimêsis, onoma, rhêma, and logos—the terminological foundation for his rhetorical theory of the statement, and of statements being either true or false. In demonstrating how Plato invented what Michel Foucault famously called the “sovereignty of the signifier” this book overturns the common assumption that Plato was rhetoric’s most hostile critic. On the contrary, his rhetorical theory makes it possible for him to establish the sovereignty of the signifier over and against the sovereignty of the sophists.Less
The common view of language in the West is that it represents the world. Although it is widely recognized that this concept of language originates with Plato, until now, it has not been established how Plato invented this now ubiquitous understanding. Seeming and Being in Plato’s Rhetorical Theory illuminates how, over the course of several dialogues (Gorgias, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Theaetetus, Cratylus, Euthydemus, Republic, and Sophist), Plato creates the concept of language-as-statement in order to overpower the political influence of the sophists. This was the original determination that language could be either false or true, where the distinction between false and true rests on a deeper distinction between seeming and being, or appearance and reality—crucial determinations for Plato’s defeat of the sophists’ false speech. This innovation was made possible through common methods of rhetorical theory; namely, the analysis of written texts and the development of theoretical, meta-discursive vocabulary about discourse, or language about language. Through the linguistic analyses offered in the Republic, the Cratylus, and the Sophist, Plato develops his rhetorical taxonomy of mimêsis, onoma, rhêma, and logos—the terminological foundation for his rhetorical theory of the statement, and of statements being either true or false. In demonstrating how Plato invented what Michel Foucault famously called the “sovereignty of the signifier” this book overturns the common assumption that Plato was rhetoric’s most hostile critic. On the contrary, his rhetorical theory makes it possible for him to establish the sovereignty of the signifier over and against the sovereignty of the sophists.
Mary Louise Gill
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199606184
- eISBN:
- 9780191741890
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606184.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Plato famously promised a final dialogue in the series Sophist-Statesman, a series aiming to define three sorts of experts — the sophist, statesman, and philosopher — but the final dialogue on the ...
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Plato famously promised a final dialogue in the series Sophist-Statesman, a series aiming to define three sorts of experts — the sophist, statesman, and philosopher — but the final dialogue on the philosopher is missing. This book argues that Plato promised the Philosopher but did not write it to stimulate his audience to work out the portrait it would have contained. The Sophist and Statesman are themselves members of a larger series starting with the Theaetetus, Plato’s investigation of knowledge, and the whole series relies on the Parmenides, whose second part presents a philosophical exercise, introduced as the first step in a larger philosophical program. This book contends that the dialogues in the series leading up to the missing Philosopher, though they reach some substantive conclusions, are philosophical exercises of various sorts designed to train students in dialectic, the philosopher’s method; and that a second version of the Parmenides exercise, closely patterned on it, spans parts of the Theaetetus and Sophist and brings the philosopher into view. This is the exercise about being, the subject-matter studied by Plato’s philosopher. Plato hides the pieces of the puzzle and its solution in plain sight, forcing his students (and us modern readers) to dig out the pieces and reconstruct the project. In finding the philosopher through the exercise, the student becomes a philosopher by mastering his methods, and thus the target of the exercise is internally related to its pedagogical purpose.Less
Plato famously promised a final dialogue in the series Sophist-Statesman, a series aiming to define three sorts of experts — the sophist, statesman, and philosopher — but the final dialogue on the philosopher is missing. This book argues that Plato promised the Philosopher but did not write it to stimulate his audience to work out the portrait it would have contained. The Sophist and Statesman are themselves members of a larger series starting with the Theaetetus, Plato’s investigation of knowledge, and the whole series relies on the Parmenides, whose second part presents a philosophical exercise, introduced as the first step in a larger philosophical program. This book contends that the dialogues in the series leading up to the missing Philosopher, though they reach some substantive conclusions, are philosophical exercises of various sorts designed to train students in dialectic, the philosopher’s method; and that a second version of the Parmenides exercise, closely patterned on it, spans parts of the Theaetetus and Sophist and brings the philosopher into view. This is the exercise about being, the subject-matter studied by Plato’s philosopher. Plato hides the pieces of the puzzle and its solution in plain sight, forcing his students (and us modern readers) to dig out the pieces and reconstruct the project. In finding the philosopher through the exercise, the student becomes a philosopher by mastering his methods, and thus the target of the exercise is internally related to its pedagogical purpose.
Mi-Kyoung Lee
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199262229
- eISBN:
- 9780191602924
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199262225.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Very little survives of Protagoras’ Alêtheia or ‘Truth’. It was almost certainly not a well-developed philosophical treatise on the nature of truth, but was a display-piece, meant to showcase ...
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Very little survives of Protagoras’ Alêtheia or ‘Truth’. It was almost certainly not a well-developed philosophical treatise on the nature of truth, but was a display-piece, meant to showcase Protagoras’ skill in argumentation—especially in arguing against philosophers like . The book probably did not contain much more than a few arguments for the measure doctrine, the claim that things are for each as they appear to each, and it is unlikely that Protagoras elaborated or developed the philosophical implications of the measure doctrine. The central idea Protagoras proposed was the idea that human beings are measures or ‘criteria’ of what is true.Less
Very little survives of Protagoras’ Alêtheia or ‘Truth’. It was almost certainly not a well-developed philosophical treatise on the nature of truth, but was a display-piece, meant to showcase Protagoras’ skill in argumentation—especially in arguing against philosophers like . The book probably did not contain much more than a few arguments for the measure doctrine, the claim that things are for each as they appear to each, and it is unlikely that Protagoras elaborated or developed the philosophical implications of the measure doctrine. The central idea Protagoras proposed was the idea that human beings are measures or ‘criteria’ of what is true.
