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Synopsis of Plato

Socratic dialogues : Euthyphro, Apology, Protagoras

  • Primarily moral issues are treated.
  • Nascent version of the doctrine of forms is presupposed, not argued for.
  • Use of the elenchus dominates dramatic development.
  • “What is it?” (Ti esti?) question and Socratic definitions of central interest.
  • Aporia/Socratic ignorance is typical.
  • “In word and in deed”: Soc. offers a “two-tiered” defense in the Apol.
  • Unity of virtues and impossibility of akrasia argued for in the Protag.

Middle period : Phaedo, Republic, Parmenides

  • Metaphysics & epistemology figure more centrally.
  • Elenchus drops out; Socrates is much more forthcoming, offering numerous moral definitions in the Rep.
  • Doctrine of forms is developed more fully and explicitly argued for; “two-worlds” view distinguishes Being and Becoming (Parmenidean vs. Heraclitean).
  • Socrates claims at Phaed. 96a-d to have no interest in natural science (the study of Becoming).
  • Problems with the doctrine of forms (esp. the nature of participation and the separation of Being and Becoming) raised in the Parm.

Late dialogues : Timaeus, Theaetetus, Philebus

  • Socrates virtually disappears.
  • Doctrine of forms is retained, but revised and put to new uses.
  • New item added to Plato’s ontology: the receptacle.
  • Demiurge (divine craftsman) interposed between forms and phenomena as a causal/intentional agent.
  • Participation is cashed out partly in terms of intentional relations.
  • The world-soul (and human souls) are construed as mixtures of indivisible Being and divisible being; thus, the two realms are not entirely separate.
  • Forms are portrayed as paradigms for, rather than exemplars of, their instances.
  • New cosmology is thoroughly Pythagorean; a rigorous chemical theory is developed.
  • Natural science is now a respectable discipline (contra Phaed. 96a-d), since the cosmos is a fine, divinely-created image of the form of Living Being.
  • The creative activities of the demiurge are exploited for a moral purpose: our goal as humans is to become as god-like as possible, imposing order on the naturally disordered movements of our soul.

The Doctrine of Forms

Intended as a multi-purpose philosophical tool, providing the basis of several types of theory.

  • Moral: forms are the standard against which human action and character are to be judged. (Euthy.Apol.Protag.Rep., Theaet., Phileb.)
  • Psychological: (dim) recollection of forms permits humans to experience the perceptible realm in a relatively coherent and stable way.  (Phaed.)
  • Ontological: forms are the source of being, the models after which perceptible objects are fashioned. (Phaed., Rep., Tim.)
  • Epistemic: forms are the objects of knowledge. (Phaed., Rep., Theaet., Phileb.)
  • Semantic: (dim) recollection of forms is required for the meaningful use of ordinary predicates and facilitates successful communication. (Phaed., Rep., Parm.)
  • Cosmological: forms are the models after which the entire cosmos was created. (Tim.)