The Whole-Part Dilemma: A Compositional Understanding of Plato’s Theory of Form

The Whole-Part Dilemma: A Compositional Understanding of Plato’s Theory of Form

In this paper, I suggest a way of resolving the whole-part dilemma suggested in the Parmenides. Specifically, I argue that grabbing the second horn of the dilemma does not pose a significant challenge. To argue for this, I consider two theses about Forms, namely, the oneness and indivisibility these...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organon F Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 246 - 267
Main Author: Seong Soo Park
Format: Journal Article
Language:Czech
Published: Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak Academy of Sciences 01-05-2022
Subjects:
one and many
parmenides
plato
theory of forms
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this paper, I suggest a way of resolving the whole-part dilemma suggested in the Parmenides. Specifically, I argue that grabbing the second horn of the dilemma does not pose a significant challenge. To argue for this, I consider two theses about Forms, namely, the oneness and indivisibility theses. More specifically, I argue that the second horn does not violate the oneness thesis if we treat composition as identity and that the indivisibility thesis ought to be reinterpreted given Plato’s later dialogues. By doing so, I suggest a compositional understanding of Plato’s theory of Forms, which can resolve the whole-part dilemma.
ISSN:1335-0668
2585-7150
DOI:10.31577/orgf.2022.29204