Plato's Natural Philosophy

Plato's Natural Philosophy
Author: Thomas Kjeller Johansen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2004-07-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107320119

Plato's dialogue the Timaeus-Critias presents two connected accounts, that of the story of Atlantis and its defeat by ancient Athens and that of the creation of the cosmos by a divine craftsman. This book offers a unified reading of the dialogue. It tackles a wide range of interpretative and philosophical issues. Topics discussed include the function of the famous Atlantis story, the notion of cosmology as 'myth' and as 'likely', and the role of God in Platonic cosmology. Other areas commented upon are Plato's concepts of 'necessity' and 'teleology', the nature of the 'receptacle', the relationship between the soul and the body, the use of perception in cosmology, and the work's peculiar monologue form. The unifying theme is teleology: Plato's attempt to show the cosmos to be organised for the good. A central lesson which emerges is that the Timaeus is closer to Aristotle's physics than previously thought.

Plato's Theory of Explanation

Plato's Theory of Explanation
Author: A. Freire Ashbaugh
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 1988-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780887066078

Here is the question: what constitutes a good explanation of phenomena? Whereas true being (forms) can be known through dialectic, concrete phenomena can only be explained. An explanation is verisimilar of dialectical knowledge as concrete things are images of eternal ones. Ashbaugh shows how Plato subtly develops the notion of imaging and explaining, accounting for how physical things can be different from forms and how they are connected to forms.

Plato: A Very Short Introduction

Plato: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Julia Annas
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2003-02-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019157922X

This lively and accessible introduction to Plato focuses on the philosophy and argument of his writings, drawing the reader into Plato's way of doing philosophy, and the general themes of his thinking. This is not a book to leave the reader standing in the outer court of introduction and background information, but leads directly into Plato's argument. It looks at Plato as a thinker grappling with philosophical problems in a variety of ways, rather than a philosopher with a fully worked-out system. It includes a brief account of Plato's life and the various interpretations that have been drawn from the sparse remains of information. It stresses the importance of the founding of the Academy and the conception of philosophy as a subject. Julia Annas discusses Plato's style of writing: his use of the dialogue form, his use of what we today call fiction, and his philosophical transformation of myths. She also looks at his discussions of love and philosophy, his attitude to women, and to homosexual love, explores Plato's claim that virtue is sufficient for happiness, and touches on his arguments for the immortality of the soul and his ideas about the nature of the universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Plato on the Metaphysical Foundation of Meaning and Truth

Plato on the Metaphysical Foundation of Meaning and Truth
Author: Blake E. Hestir
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2016-04-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107132320

Blake E. Hestir's examination of Plato's conception of truth challenges a long tradition of interpretation in ancient scholarship.

Plato's Philosophy of Science

Plato's Philosophy of Science
Author: Andrew Gregory
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2015-03-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472502388

In this illuminating book Andrew Gregory takes an original approach to Plato's philosophy of science by reassessing Plato's views on how we might investigate and explain the natural world. He demonstrates that many of the common charges against Plato - disinterest, ignorance, dismissal of observation - are unfounded, and shows instead that Plato had a series of important and cogent criticisms to make of the early atomists and other physiologoi. Plato's views on science, and on astronomy and cosmology in particular, are shown to have developed in interesting ways. Thus, the book argues, Plato can best be seen as a philosopher struggling with the foundations of scientific realism, and as someone, moreover, who has interesting epistemological, cosmological and nomological reasons for his approach. Plato's Philosophy of Science is important reading for all those with an interest in Ancient Philosophy and the History of Science.

Plato's Theory of Explanation

Plato's Theory of Explanation
Author: Anne F. Ashbaugh
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 195
Release: 1988-03-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780887066085

Here is the question: what constitutes a good explanation of phenomena? Whereas true being (forms) can be known through dialectic, concrete phenomena can only be explained. An explanation is verisimilar of dialectical knowledge as concrete things are images of eternal ones. Ashbaugh shows how Plato subtly develops the notion of imaging and explaining, accounting for how physical things can be different from forms and how they are connected to forms.

Plato's Theory of Knowledge

Plato's Theory of Knowledge
Author: Francis MacDonald Cornford
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2013-12-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317830210

This is Volume V of ten on a series on Ancient Philosophy that includes the works of Aristotle, Plato and the history of Greek philosophy. Originally published in 1935, this study looks ‘the ‘Theaetetus’ and the ‘Sophist’ of Plato translated with a running commentary.

Plato's Parmenides

Plato's Parmenides
Author: Samuel Scolnicov
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2003-07-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0520925114

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.

Plato's Theory of Explanation

Plato's Theory of Explanation
Author: A. Freire Ashbaugh
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1988-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780887066078

Here is the question: what constitutes a good explanation of phenomena? Whereas true being (forms) can be known through dialectic, concrete phenomena can only be explained. An explanation is verisimilar of dialectical knowledge as concrete things are images of eternal ones. Ashbaugh shows how Plato subtly develops the notion of imaging and explaining, accounting for how physical things can be different from forms and how they are connected to forms.

The Republic

The Republic
Author: By Plato
Publisher: BookRix
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2019-06-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3736801467

The Republic is a Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around 380 BCE, concerning the definition of justice, the order and character of the just city-state and the just man. The dramatic date of the dialogue has been much debated and though it must take place some time during the Peloponnesian War, "there would be jarring anachronisms if any of the candidate specific dates between 432 and 404 were assigned". It is Plato's best-known work and has proven to be one of the most intellectually and historically influential works of philosophy and political theory. In it, Socrates along with various Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and examine whether or not the just man is happier than the unjust man by considering a series of different cities coming into existence "in speech", culminating in a city (Kallipolis) ruled by philosopher-kings; and by examining the nature of existing regimes. The participants also discuss the theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the roles of the philosopher and of poetry in society.