Plato's Account of Falsehood: A Study of the Sophist

322 Pages·2011·1.985 MB·English

by  Paolo Crivelli

PLATO’S ACCOUNT OF
FALSEHOOD
IntheSophist, Platoaddressesthe‘falsehoodparadox’, anargument
whichpurportstoprovethatonecanneithersaynorbelievefalsehoods
(becausetosayorbelieveafalsehoodistosayorbelievesomethingthat
isnot,andisthereforenottheretobesaidorbelieved).Inthisbook
Paolo Crivelli closely examines the whole dialogue and shows how
Plato’s brilliant solution to the paradox is radically different from
those put forward by many modern philosophers. He surveys and
critically discusses the vast range of literature which has developed
around the Sophist over the past fifty years, and provides original
solutionstoseveralproblems.Hisbookwillbeimportantforallwho
areinterestedintheSophistandinancientontologyandphilosophy
oflanguagemoregenerally.
paolo crivelli is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the
University of Geneva. He is the author of Aristotle on Truth
(Cambridge,2004).

PLATO’S ACCOUNT OF
FALSEHOOD
A Study of the Sophist
PAOLO CRIVELLI
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Crivelli,Paolo,Dr.
Plato’saccountoffalsehood:astudyoftheSophist/PaoloCrivelli.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes.
isbn978-0-521-19913-1(hardback)
1.Plato.Sophist. 2.Ontology. 3.Truthfulnessandfalsehood. 4.Language
andlanguages–Philosophy. 5.Meaning(Philosophy) I.Title.
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Contents
Acknowledgements pageix
AbbreviationsoftitlesofPlato’sworks x
Noteonthetext xi
Introduction 1
0.1 ThemainproblemsaddressedbytheSophistandtheirsolutions 1
0.2 Methodology 11
1 Thesophistdefined 13
1.1 Charactersandtaskofthedialogue 13
1.2 Themethodofdivision 15
1.3 Themasterofappearance 23
2 Puzzlesaboutnot-being 28
2.1 Whatisnotisunsayable 28
2.2 Imagesareimpossible 48
2.3 Falsehoodisimpossible 51
2.4 Falsebeliefsandfalsesentencesdescribed 60
3 Puzzlesaboutbeing 71
3.1 Howmanybeingsarethere? 71
3.2 Whatarebeingslike? 86
3.3 Therefutationofthefinalcharacterizationofbeing 95
4 Thecommunionofkinds 102
4.1 Thelate-learners 103
4.2 Thecombinationofkinds 109
4.3 Identityanddifferencearedifferentfromchangeandstability 118
4.4 Identityisdifferentfrombeing 136
4.5 Differenceisdifferentfrombeing 140
4.6 Apparentlyinconsistentsentences 149
4.7 Not-beinganddifference 166
vii
viii Contents
5 Negationandnot-being 177
5.1 Negativepredication 177
5.2 Negativekinds 204
5.3 Thebeingofnot-being 214
6 Sentences,falsesentences,andfalsebelief 221
6.1 Sentences 221
6.2 Falsesentences 233
6.3 Falsebelief 259
Appendix: TheSophistontrueandfalsesentences:formal
presentation 261
References 275
Indexofnames 290
Indexofsubjects 294
Indexofpassagescited 296
Acknowledgements
Drafts of parts of this book were presented in Cambridge, Florence, and
Oxford. The Arts and Humanities Research Council funded one term of
sabbaticalleave.Amongtheindividualswhoinvariouswayscontributedto
bringtheprojecttocompletion,IshouldliketothankFrancescoAdemollo,
Francesco Adorno, Alexander Bown, Lesley Brown, Ettore Casari, Walter
Cavini, David Charles, Thomas Coates, Francesco Del Punta, Michael
Frede,Fritz-GregorHerrmann,StefanKoller,ScottLiddle,StephenMenn,
Benjamin Morison, Massimo Mugnai, Robert Parker, David Robinson,
AnnamariaSchiaparelli,ChristopherStrachan,andTimWilliamson.Iam
grateful also to two anonymous referees for Cambridge University Press,
who provided a wealth of comments and saved me from many mistakes.
RobertColbornskilfullypreparedtheindexofnamesandthatofpassages
cited,andtheFacultyofPhilosophyoftheUniversityofOxfordgenerously
provided funds for this. The responsibility for the remaining errors is of
courseonlymine.
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