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Ideal And Ordinary Language In Plato's Cratylus, Franco Trivigno
Ideal And Ordinary Language In Plato's Cratylus, Franco Trivigno
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Interpreters of Plato’s Cratylus are faced with a puzzle. If Socrates’ etymologies (397a-421c) are intended to be parodies, as many have thought,[1] what is the status of the imitation theory of letters (421c-427d), which provides the theoretical foundation for etymology and, as some have thought, indicates Plato’s ambition to construct an ideal language?[2] In this paper, I focus on three questions: [1] whether Plato thought that imitation provided a suitable basis for an ideal language; [2] whether Plato thought that the development of an ideal language would be philosophical possible or desirable; [3] whether he thought that ordinary …
We Should Always Call The Receptacle The Same Thing: Timaeus 50b6-51b6, Christopher Buckels
We Should Always Call The Receptacle The Same Thing: Timaeus 50b6-51b6, Christopher Buckels
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Plato’s Timaeus is a challenge to understand and to interpret, but its central ontological innovation, a third kind in addition to the standard Platonic categories of Being and Becoming, is, even according to Timaeus himself, a murky and difficult topic. I endeavor to shed a meager light on this shadowy entity, the Receptacle of all Becoming, by examining an argument Timaeus gives for the claim that “we should always call it the same thing” (50b6-7).[1] This claim comes immediately after the famous gold analogy, about which I will say only a few words, and so it also closely follows …
Politeia As Citizenship In Aristotle, John J. Mulhern
Politeia As Citizenship In Aristotle, John J. Mulhern
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Recent studies of the citizen and citizenship in Aristotle, such as those of Hansen, Morrison, and Collins, have focused attention on a somewhat neglected topic in Aristotle’s work. While a definitive treatment of this topic awaits a comprehensive catalogue of the uses of politeia in the Politica and the Ath. at least, with over 500 occurrences in the Politica alone, in this paper I contribute to the catalogue project by considering some examples of Aristotle’s use of politeia in idioms from earlier Greek literature which express participation in citizenship, giving a share in citizenship, and so on. I consider also …
A Religious Revolution? How Socrates' Theology Undermined The Practice Of Sacrifice, Anna Lannstrom
A Religious Revolution? How Socrates' Theology Undermined The Practice Of Sacrifice, Anna Lannstrom
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Mark McPherran and Gregory Vlastos argue that Socrates’ theology threatened Athenian sacrificial practices because it rejected the do ut des principle (aka the principle of reciprocity). I argue that their arguments are flawed because they assume that the Athenians understood sacrifice as something like a commercial transaction. Drawing upon scholarship in anthropology and religious studies, I argue that we need to revise that understanding of sacrifice and that, once we do, McPherran’s and Vlastos’ arguments no longer show that Socrates would have been a significant threat to the practice of sacrifice. Finally, I argue that McPherran’s Socrates does undermine sacrifice, …
A Problem For The Political Reading Of Plato's Republic, Mason Marshall
A Problem For The Political Reading Of Plato's Republic, Mason Marshall
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
On one of the most common readings of the Republic, Plato means for us to agree with Socrates and his interlocutors that their aristocratic city is the just polis. For convenience, I call this the political reading. It is no wonder, of course, that this interpretation is as common as it is, since it might be one of the most natural interpretations of the Republic. I argue, though, that it faces a serious problem: Socrates and his interlocutors’ argument for the justice of the aristocratic city has certain deficits, and—more important—there is considerable evidence that Plato was aware of at …
Democracy In Plato's Republic: How Bad Is It Supposed To Be?, Mason Marshall
Democracy In Plato's Republic: How Bad Is It Supposed To Be?, Mason Marshall
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Scholars have typically thought that in the Republic democracy is supposed to be worse than timarchy and oligarchy. But lately, certain commentators have denied that it is. Is it, then? I argue that pursuing this question leads us to a dead end, because it is not clear how bad democracy is supposed to be in the Republic. Perhaps a debate on this topic would help us answer other questions, whatever they might be; but otherwise it would be fruitless. To make my case, I marshal the strongest available evidence that democracy is supposedly better than timarchy and oligarchy. Next I …
Resembling Nothing: Image And Being In Plato, Yancy Hughes Dominick
Resembling Nothing: Image And Being In Plato, Yancy Hughes Dominick
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
A crucial application of Plato’s views on the use of images in philosophy occurs through the use of the image relationship as an image for the relation of forms and particulars. The relation of a picture to the object it depicts, or that between a reflection and what it reflects, can be seen as analogous to the relation of a particular to the form in which it participates. Although the attack on the image model as analogous to the relation of forms and particulars in the Parmenides threatens to undermine any reliance on that model, this essay will present a …
Eudaimonism And The Demands Of Justice, Andrew Payne
Eudaimonism And The Demands Of Justice, Andrew Payne
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The ancient eudaimonists were not misguided when they gave a prominent place to the human function in their ethical theory. Most modern reconstructions of eudaimonism do not employ the human function in this way. Though this gives them the appearance of being more streamlined and plausible, they fail to unify a life which respects the demands of justice. It is evident that in the Republic and other ancient ethical works humans are presented as acting out of concern for the good of others. They show respect for justice and act from altruistic motivation, and this is one source of value …
The ‘Digression’ In Plato’S Theaetetus: A New Interpretation, David Levy
The ‘Digression’ In Plato’S Theaetetus: A New Interpretation, David Levy
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
In this paper I argue that the “digression” (Tht. 172D-177C) plays a central role in Plato’s overall critique of Protagoras’s measure doctrine. Properly understood, the digression itself constitutes an argument against accepting a particular interpretation of the measure doctrine. This argument is based upon the unacceptable moral and political consequences that result from an institutional validation of extreme conventionalism. Commentators, such as Robin Waterfield and Gilbert Ryle, who dismiss this passage as pointless, and translators, such as Gwynneth Matthews, who omit the passage entirely, fail to draw the important connections among the measure doctrine, the Athenian legal system …
Athetizing The Catharsis Clause In The Poetics, Gregory Scott
Athetizing The Catharsis Clause In The Poetics, Gregory Scott
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
I start with Aristotle’s theory of definition in order to claim that Aristotle could not reasonably have included the catharsis clause in the definition of tragedy on his own strictures. Moreover, in case we could solve this problem, I expose some very serious shortcomings that result in the Poetics itself, which are never or rarely acknowledged, if the catharsis clause is kept. Finally, given statements of Strabo and Plutarch, I suggest that the clause was probably a mistaken interpolation by an editor who repaired a damaged Aristotelian manuscript or who imagined that he was augmenting deficient Aristotelian doctrine. M.D. Petrusevski …
Sex & Mysticism In Plato, John Thorp
Sex & Mysticism In Plato, John Thorp
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
It is a commonplace that Plato seems to entertain two rather different pictures of our access to knowledge of the forms. On the one hand there is anamnesis, remembering a knowledge that we had before our incarnation and that we have since forgotten – thus the Phaedo and the Meno. On the other, there is something that looks far more like abstractive generalization from sensible particulars – the Symposium is the best example, though there are elements of it also in the Republic and the Sophist. This paper argues that there is also a third epistemological model at work, …
Change And Contrariety: Problems Plato Set For Aristotle, Charles Young, James Bogen
Change And Contrariety: Problems Plato Set For Aristotle, Charles Young, James Bogen
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Plato's views on change and contrariety arise from concerns about definition and explanation in the aporetic Socratic dialogues that find more systematic analysis and resolution in the more constructive dialogues that follow. After developing these concerns, analyses, and solutions, we sketch Aristotle's quite different treatment of the same and other related issues.
Failure And Expertise In The Ancient Conception Of An Art, James Allen
Failure And Expertise In The Ancient Conception Of An Art, James Allen
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The ancient notion of an art (τέχνη) embraced a wide range of pursuits from handicrafts like shoemaking and weaving to more exalted disciplines not excluding philosophy (cf. Plato Gorgias 486b; Hippolytus Refutatio. 570,8 DDG; Sext. Emp. Μ II13). Nevertheless, there was a sufficient amount of agreement about what was expected of an art to permit debates about whether different practices qualified as arts. According to the conception which made these debates possible, an art is a body of knowledge concerning a distinct subject matter which enables the artist to achieve a definite type of beneficial result. Obviously, the failure of …
Aristotle On Property Rights, Fred D. Miller Jr.
Aristotle On Property Rights, Fred D. Miller Jr.
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The thesis is that a theory of private property rights can be reconstructed from the remarks about property scattered throughout Aristotle’s writings. His working concept is as follows: X has a property right in P if, and only if, X possesses P in such a way that the use of P is up to X and the alienation of P (giving P away or selling P) is up to X. It is argued that Aristotle provides clear answers to the important questions which should be answered by a theory of property rights: (1) What individuals can properly hold rights to …
How Learning Mathematics Helps Us Be Virtuous, Joan Kung
How Learning Mathematics Helps Us Be Virtuous, Joan Kung
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
A number of passages in the Timaeus make a connection that strikes us as odd, even bizarre perhaps. Who nowadays thinks that the study of geometry or number theory has anything to do with being a good person? Yet these passages emphasize the importance for human virtue and happiness of mathematical studies, especially the study of the ratios of numbers and the geometry of solids in motion, the harmonies and revolutions of the world or of the god. We are told, for example, that by learning to know and compute these rightly we shall bring our souls into order and …
What Plato's Demiurge Does, Richard D. Mohr
What Plato's Demiurge Does, Richard D. Mohr
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The paper argues that the project of Plato’s craftsman-like god is directed to an epistemological end rather than an aesthetic one. The Demiurge is chiefly bent on improving the world’s intelligibility rather than its looks. Specifically, the paper argues that what the Demiurge does is to introduce standards or measures into the phenomenal realm by imaging as best he can the nature of Forms where Forms are construed as standards or measures. The two most spectacular examples of Demiurgic crafting on this model are: 1) his crafting the rational world-soul, which serves both as an object of human cognition, and …
Metriopatheia And Apatheia: Some Reflections On A Controversy In Later Greek Ethics, John M. Dillon
Metriopatheia And Apatheia: Some Reflections On A Controversy In Later Greek Ethics, John M. Dillon
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The controversy about metriopatheia and apatheia, which generated such heat in later Greek philosophy, is one between the concept of a bipartite or tripartite soul, in which the lower part of parts can never be eradicated - at least while the soul is in the body - but must constantly be chastised. In practice, Stoic eupatheia in practice is very similar to a properly moderated Platonic-Aristotelian pathos, but that is irrelevant to the main point. We find in Plutarch and other Platonists of the period a remarkable unwillingness or inability to comprehend what the Stoic position was.
Language, Plato, And Logic, Ronald B. Levinson
Language, Plato, And Logic, Ronald B. Levinson
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
No abstract provided.