Forms and sensibles: Phaedo 74B-C

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Humanities
Department Philosophy
Creator White, Nicholas P.
Title Forms and sensibles: Phaedo 74B-C
Date 1987
Description In Phaedo 74b6-c6 Plato offers an important argument for the proposition that such things as "the equal itself," i.e. such things as are often called "Forms," are distinct from sensible objects. The argument is especially important because it is one of a very small number of explicit arguments-perhaps only two-that Plato gives for this proposition. I wish to isolate this argument to concentrate on what I take to be its philosophically most interesting features as an argument for the existence of Forms distinct from sensibles. I am not here concerned with its other interesting features, such as its role in Plato's argument for the kind of a priori knowledge that he calls "recollection." I am especially interested in what must be presupposed if the argument is to be thought cogent (though I certainly do not believe that it is in fact cogent), and what is likely to have been presupposed by Plato. I am also concerned to show just how narrow a basis Plato wishes to use for the argument. In particular, I would like to make it clear how little of his view about Forms is presupposed in the argument, and how little of that view one can infer simply from interpreting the argument itself, as contrasted with the surrounding context.
Type Text
Publisher University of Arkansas Press
Volume 15
Issue 2
First Page 197
Last Page 214
Subject Plato; Forms; Sensibles
Subject LCSH Plato; Form (Philosophy;)
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation White, N. (1987). Forms and sensibles: Phaedo 74b-c. Philosophical Topics, 15(2), 197-214.
Rights Management (c) University of Arkansas Press
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 3,868,912 Bytes
Identifier ir-main,2632
ARK ark:/87278/s6r78zc9
Setname ir_uspace
ID 702873
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6r78zc9