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Unity And Logos: A Reading Of Theaetetus 201c-210a, Mitchell Miller

Mitchell Miller

Abstract for “Unity and Logos” (Anc Phil 12.1:87-111):

A close reading of Socrates' refutation of the final proposed definition of knowledge, "true opinion with an account." I examine the provocations to further thinking Socrates poses with his dilemma of simplicity and complexity and then by his rejections of the three senses of "account," and I argue that these provocations guide the responsive reader to that rich and determinate understanding of the sort of 'object' which knowledge requires that the Parmenides and the Eleatic dialogues will go on to explicate.

This paper is available at http://pages.vassar.edu/mitchellmiller/.

Heidegger's Attentiveness To Language: A Question Of Translation And "Original Contents", Alexander M. Moore

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Antisthenes' Theory Of Unique Enunciation: Similarities, Differences, And Possible Influences, Fouad Kalouche

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In this paper I will focus on Antisthenes’ theory of unique enunciation, and will then discuss its similarities and differences with, and/or possible influences on, other theories on language that flourished around the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. I showed elsewhere that Antisthenes’ theory of language is a practical application or a strategy that has direct implication for his ethical project. My aim here is merely to highlight the originality and relevance of Antisthenes’ theory by presenting it and contextualizing it, before assessing relevant similarities and differences between certain positions of Antisthenes and those of some Skeptics, Sophists, Cyrenaics, and …

Plato On Episteme And Propositional Knowledge, Denis Vlahovic

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Epistêmê cannot just be a matter of knowing a logos. Knowledge, it appears, is demonstrated not in the knowledge of any particular logos, but in the ability to defend a logos against refutation. It is precisely the latter ability that is characteristic of epistêmê. This ability, furthermore, cannot be imparted by means of a logos. For, no logos suffices to endow its possessor with the ability to defend it (i.e., the logos) against refutation.

Given that Plato appears to have believed that no knowledge of a logos—no matter how elaborate the logos—is sufficient for epistêmê, one can see why he …

Aristotle's Formal Language, Mary Mulhern

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

A formal language was invented by Aristotle and used by him in his lectures. This formal language consisted of Greek capital letters used as placeholders, arrayed in the schemata of the three figures recognized as authentically Aristotle’s. In these arrays, arcs under the placeholder letters indicate how the terms are linked in the premisses and conclusion and are read as some inflection of ΰπάρχειν, used by Aristotle as a second- order expression to convey the relation that the terms—not the designata of the terms-of a syllogism have to one another. It is further possible that Aristotle elaborated the three- term …

Is There A Focal Meaning Of Being In Aristotle?, Jiyuan Yu

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

At the beginning of Metaphysics Γ Aristotle claims that there is a science which is concerned with being qua being. 'Being’ is said in many senses. Different beings are not said to be purely homonymous, but rather to be “related to one thing (πρόσ ἕν)”(1003a33- 4). G.E.L Owen translates this ττρός ἕν formula as "focal meaning", and in his paraphrase, it means that all the “senses [of ‘being’] have one focus, one common element”, or “a central sense”, so that “all its senses can be explained in terms of substance and of the sense of ‘being’ that is appropriate to …

Aristotle On Good And Bad Actualities, Owen Goldin

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This paper is a discussion of one of the more neglected passages in the central books of Aristotle's Metaphysics, Θ 9 105la4~19. In this passage Aristotle makes some assertions concerning relations that hold among potentialities and actualities, both good and bad. These assertions seem to be made as an afterthought, and their relation to the analysis of potentiality and actuality that precedes is unclear. I shall argue that in this passage Aristotle is in effect providing a metaphysical foundation for the normative component of a teleological analysis of composite substance. I consider certain difficulties in reconciling the text with the …

The Truth Of Antiphon's 'Truth', Michael Gagarin

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My intention in this paper is to explore some of the implications of the fact that the fifth century sophistic thinker Antiphon entitled his main "sophistic" treatise, published in two books. Truth (Alêtheia). As in the case of Protagoras' treatise of the same name, this title may be understood as an indication that Antiphon is responding to Parmenides' "Way o f Truth" and is affirming his own view of the truth about the world, that physis is more real or truer than nomos, or in other words, statements are true if and only if they correspond to physis, but not …

Unity And Logos: A Reading Of Theaetetus 201c-210a, Mitchell Miller

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Abstract for “Unity and Logos” (Anc Phil 12.1:87-111):

A close reading of Socrates' refutation of the final proposed definition of knowledge, "true opinion with an account." I examine the provocations to further thinking Socrates poses with his dilemma of simplicity and complexity and then by his rejections of the three senses of "account," and I argue that these provocations guide the responsive reader to that rich and determinate understanding of the sort of 'object' which knowledge requires that the Parmenides and the Eleatic dialogues will go on to explicate.

This paper is available at http://pages.vassar.edu/mitchellmiller/.

A New Look At The Ergon Argument In The Nicomachean Ethics, Alfonso Gomez-Lobo

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It is commonly assumed that the ergon argument consists in an inference which starts from the powers specific or peculiar to man and arrives at a definition of the human good. This would commit Aristotle to some form of naturalism which is either fallacious or at least not available to us because we cannot share his views about human nature. The purpose of the present paper is to show that this interpretation is unsatisfactory. Aristotle's argument is based on a general principle which may be reformulated as follows: "For any x, if x has an ergon y_, then x will …

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 …

Form And Content In Gorgias' Helen And Palamedes: Rhetoric, Philosophy, Inconsistency And Invalid Argument In Some Greek Thinkers, Arthur Adkinis

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I ask whether Gorgias indulges in rhetorical flourishes in which form takes precedence over content, and whether the presuppositions of the Helen and Palamedes are inconsistent with one another. More generally, are the presuppositions and inconsistencies of Gorgias shared with other early Greek philosophers.

Symbol And Structure In Heraclitus, Raymond Adolf Prier

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Prier reviews the interpretations of Heraclitus by Guthrie and Hegel in terms of a scientific viewpoint and an idealist viewpoint. Prier follows a suggestion by Cherniss to examine the fragments in symbolic and structural terms.

Mind's Commitment To The Real: Parmenides B8.34ff, Alexander P.D. Mourelatos

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It is through an analysis of this passage that I can explain most clearly and directly a certain conception of the relation of mind to reality for which I also find evidence in other texts, in some of the characteristic aspects and themes of Parmenicles' poem, and which I consider philosophically and historically important.,

The Creation Myth In Plato's Timaeus, Leonardo Taran

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the question whether the creation myth in Plato's Timaeus is to be taken literally or not. My reason for reopening the discussion is the recent publication by Professor Vlastos of a paper entitled "Creation in the Timaeus: is it a Fiction?" In this paper Vlastos tries to answer the arguments that Professor Cherniss gave in favor of the metaphorical interpretation, in the course of which arguments he attacked Vlastos' earlier article "The Disorderly Motion in the Timaeus?. My reason for concentrating on Professor Vlastos ' papers is that his is the most …

An Inquiry Into Aristotle's Use Of Proportionality, Thomas Olshewsky

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This paper is an exploratory investigation of the use of analogy in Aristotle's works. The thesis is that Aristotle's analogia is not simply a classification of terms as certain scholars suggest (e.g., Joseph Owens and Harry Wolfson); that it is rather a more or less precise methodological device that Aristotle uses throughout his writings and indicates certain ontological presuppositions on the part of the Stagirite. We will first investigate the etymological background of analogia, and then consider Aristotle's uses of it. On the basis of these considerations, we will attempt to formulate its ontological and historical significance. Finally, we will …

The Unity Of The Laches, Michael J. O'Brien

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

On the level of ideas the dialogue remains incomplete. A satisfactory conception of courage is never formulated. On the level of personalities, however, there is a solution, in the person of Socrates. He has fought bravely at Delium and has matched or surpassed Laches in steadfastness. But he can also examine courage rationally and realizes the importance of knowledge to virtue, like Nicias. Neither Laches nor Nicias is fully worthy as a person of courage, as Socrates is. But there is a harmony between the incomplete definitions they offer and their own characters. The unity of the Laches is both …

The Functionalism And Dynamism Of Aristotle, John Herman Randall Jr.

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It is the contention of this paper that Aristotle's thought is relevant and suggestive for two of the most important present-day philosophical movements, the concern with language, and the concern with natural processes and their analysis. Aristotle can be viewed today as the outstanding functionalist of the Western tradition. Aristotle's philosophy is more than important, it is true.