Plato's Parmenides

by Scolnicov, Samuel

• ISBN13: 9780520224032
• ISBN10: 0520224035
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

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

Author Biography

Samuel Scolnicov is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES	vii
ABBREVIATIONS	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xi
Introduction	1	(42)
Plato Versus Parmenides	1	(2)
The Problem of Method	3	(3)
Elenchus	6	(2)
Aporia and Euporia	8	(1)
The Method of Hypothesis	9	(3)
Two Principles of Noncontradiction	12	(4)
The Verb 'to be'	16	(2)
Parmenidean Being and Platonic Being	18	(4)
The Dialogue	22	(17)
A Note on the Translation	39	(4)
PARMENIDES
Proem	43	(10)
The Frame Story	43	(2)
The Problem: The many cannot be	45	(3)
The Thesis: Forms Participate in Each Other, and Sensible Things Participate in Forms	48	(5)
Part I: Aporia	53	(26)
The Dilemma	55	(18)
The Necessity of Positing Forms	73	(1)
The Method	74	(5)
Part II: Euporia	79	(88)
Hypothesis: The One Is	80	(67)
Argument I	80	(14)
Argument II	94	(45)
Argument III	139	(5)
Argument IV	144	(3)
Hypothesis: The One Is Not	147	(19)
Argument V	147	(10)
Argument VI	157	(2)
Argument VII	159	(4)
Argument VIII	163	(3)
General Conclusion	166	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	167	(8)
INDEX LOCORUM	175	(8)
INDEX NOMINUM	183	(4)
INDEX OF GREEK WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS	187	(2)
GENERAL INDEX	189