Plato's Individuals

Mary M. McCabe

Published by Princeton University Press 1994

Plato's Individuals

Mary M. McCabe

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691219448

Overview
Contents

About this book

Contradicting the long-held belief that Aristotle was the first to discuss individuation systematically, Mary Margaret McCabe argues that Plato was concerned with what makes something a something and that he solved the problem in a radically different way than did Aristotle. McCabe explores the centrality of individuation to Plato's thinking, from the Parmenides to the Politicus, illuminating Plato's later metaphysics in an exciting new way.

Tradition associates Plato with the contrast between the particulars of the sensible world and transcendent forms, and supposes that therein lies the center of Plato's metaphysical universe. McCabe rebuts this view, arguing that Plato's thinking about individuals--which informs all his thought--comes to focus on the tension between "generous" or complex individuals and "austere" or simple individuals. In dialogues such as the Theaetetus and the Timaeus Plato repeatedly poses the question of individuation but cannot provide an answer. Later, in the Sophist, the Philebus, and the Politicus, Plato devises what McCabe calls the "mesh of identity," an account of how individuals may be identified relative to each other. The mesh of identity, however, fails to explain satisfactorily how individuals are unified or made coherent. McCabe asserts that individuation may be absolute--and she questions philosophy's longtime reliance on Aristotle's solution.

Author / Editor information

Mary Margaret McCabe is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at King's College, London. She is the author of Plato on Punishment (California) and co-editor (with Christopher Gill) of Form and Argument in Late Plato (Oxford).

Reviews

"This bold new interpretation of Plato's ontology should be studied carefully by all students and scholars of Plato."

"McCabe's exposition and defense of Plato's henology is reason enough to praise the book and recommend it to scholars of ancient philosophy and philosophers of language."---George Rudebush, Philosophy in Review

"This is a challenging book with a bold thesis."---Lloyd P. Gerson, Review of Metaphysics

"An interesting and well-argued thesis."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
One. The Problem of Individuation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. Preliminary: Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics
Two. Particulars Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Three. Forms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Part Two. The Problem Emerges
Four. The One and the Others Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Five. Bundles and Lumps Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Six. Slices and Stuffs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
Seven. Being and Talking Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
Part Three. Two Answers
Eight. Resolving Relations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Nine. The Unity of Persons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Ten. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Appendix A. On the Order of the Dialogues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Appendix B. Arguments from First Principles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Index Locorum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Index of Persons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	334
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	336