The Dialectic of Essence: A Study of Plato's Metaphysics

408 Pages·2003·1.05 MB·English

by  Allan Silverman

the dialectic of essence
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the dialectic of essence
a s t u d y o f p l a t o ’ s m e t a p h y s i c s
allan silverman
princeton university press
princeton and oxford
copyright (cid:2) 2002 by princeton university press
Published by
Princeton University Press,
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In the United Kingdom:
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All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Silverman, Allan Jay.
The dialectic of essence : a study of Plato’s metaphysics / Allan Silverman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-691-09178-1 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-691-09179-X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Plato—Contributions in metaphysics. 2. Metaphysics—History. I. Title.
B398.M4 S55 2002
110(cid:3).92—dc21 2001059164
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Minion
Printed on acid-free paper. (cid:2)
www.pupress.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
contents
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
introduction 1
The Dialectic of Essence 4
Pre´cis of the Chapters 9
chapter one
an overview of platonic metaphysics 13
The Philosophical Background 13
Forms 14
Particulars 17
Metaphysics and Epistemology 22
chapter two
socratic metaphysics? 28
Socrates 28
The Craft Analogy 30
Socratic Properties 32
Metaphysical Conjectures 36
The Meno 41
chapter three
the emergence of forms 49
Section One 49
The Phaedo 50
The Final Argument 57
Section Two 65
The Republic 65
Book VII 70
Section Three 78
Being and Participation 78
vi (cid:4) contents
chapter four
refining the theory of forms 104
Section One 104
Overview 104
The Parmenides 105
The First Part 108
The First Two Hypotheses 112
Section Two 121
Separation 121
chapter five
forms and language 137
Overview 137
Background to the Argument of the Sophist 145
The Sophist 148
The Interweaving of Forms 162
chapter six
not-beings 182
Overview 182
Not-Being in the Sophist: 184
The Background to 255e
Sophist 255e 8–257a7 187
Sophist 257a 8–259b5 189
Sophist 263a–263d 4 201
Collection and Division 207
chapter seven
the nature of material particulars 218
Section One 218
Overview 218
The Philebus 221
The Mixed Life 228
The Fourfold Ontology (23c–27c) 230
The End of the Philebus 240
contents (cid:4) vii
Section Two 246
The Timaeus 246
Talk of Phenomena in Flux 257
Necessity and Matter 265
The Two Theories 273
Conclusion 282
Conclusion 285
Appendix 299
Notes 311
Bibliography 367
Index Locorum 379
General Index 387
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preface
This is and is not the book I wanted to write. I wanted to model my work
on the books and articles of the various authors from whom I learned so
much. I wanted to address the extensive ancient literature on Plato and the
central topics of his metaphysics. I have fallen short on both counts. My
greatest debts are acknowledged in the body of the book and notes. Were I
not so prolix I might have been able to give proper respect to other ap-
proaches to Plato’s metaphysics. I wanted to discuss more topics, for instance
Plato’s teleology, and to examine others better. Nonetheless, the book is what
it is. Its failings are mine.
Some of the book dates back to a paper written for a Timaeus seminar
taught by John Dillon at Berkeley in 1979. I have racked up enormous debts
over the years, not least to all my teachers and friends at Berkeley. I was
fortunate to have been able to work with Gregory Vlastos throughout my
studies and to have assisted G.E.L. Owen during his memorable visit as Sat-
her Professor. Donald Davidson kindly gave me a copy of his dissertation. I
am also deeply indebted to my colleagues in the Departments of Philosophy
and Classics at Ohio State, where I have been since 1985, for their tolerance,
encouragement, and philosophy. The departments and the university as a
whole have supported my research intellectually and financially. I am grateful
to all. The Center for Hellenic Studies provided an ideal environment in
which to work through a Junior Fellowship in 1988–89. My thanks go espe-
cially to Zeph and Diana Stewart. The idea to write the book took shape
while I was a Visiting Professor at Yale in 1993 and 1994. I learned much
from conversations with Bob Adams and others in New Haven. The National
Endowment for the Humanities supported the actual beginnings of the book
with a Fellowship in 1995–96.
Parts of chapters have been read at various places—Northwestern, Pur-
due, Stanford, The University of Washington, UCLA. I thank the audiences
on all those occasions for their comments.
I cannot count the individuals to whom I owe thanks: friends, students,
colleagues, hosts, and visitors over the years. But there are some special debts
to acknowledge. Bob Batterman, Sylvia Berryman, Lee Franklin, Peter King,
George Pappas, Diana Raffman, William Taschek, and Neil Tennant have
read or conversed with me about various parts of the book at Ohio State. I
was abetted by conversations with June Allison, Dirk Baltzly, Simon Black-
burn, Chris Bobonich, Myles Burnyeat, Marc Cohen, John Cooper, Pat Curd,
Nick Denyer, John Dillon, Michael Ferejohn, Gail Fine, Charles Griswold,
Adam Hayward, Verity Harte, Sally Haslanger, Richard Kraut, Jonathan Lear,
M. M. McCabe, Connie Meinwald, Henry Mendell, Julius Moravcsik, Calvin
Normore, Richard Patterson, Chris Rowe, Dory Scaltsas, Malcolm Schofield,