What the forms are not: Plato on conceptualism in Parmenides 132b–c

Philosophical Studies 177 (2):353-368 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Conceptualism—the view that universals are mental entities without an external, independent, or substantial reality—has enjoyed popularity at various points throughout the history of philosophy. While Plato’s Theory of Forms is not a conceptualist theory of universals, we find at Parmenides 132b–c the startling conceptualist suggestion from a young Socrates that each Form might be a noēma, or a mental entity. This suggestion and Parmenides’ cryptic objections to it have been overshadowed by their placement directly after the notoriously difficult Third Man Argument, and before the Likeness Regress. However, in the background of 132b–c, we find illuminating assumptions behind Parmenides’ arguments against the Theory of Forms in the first half of the dialogue. We also find in this text a set of implied criteria for Platonic concepthood. While in the Platonic corpus, Forms are explanantia for many of the phenomena explained by concepts in contemporary philosophy, concepts do seem to have an important epistemic role in Plato’s philosophy. An account of Platonic concepthood therefore opens the door for new ways of understanding the Platonic corpus as a whole. My focus in this paper is to uncover these assumptions and criteria through a close reading of Socrates’ conceptualist suggestion and Parmenides’ truncated objections to it at Parmenides 132b–c.

Similar books and articles

Parmenides in Plato’s Parmenides.Andreas Graeser - 2000 - Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch Fur Antike Und Mittelalter 5 (1):1-16.
Ser E discurso no parmênides de platão.Eliane Christina Souza - 2010 - Philósophos - Revista de Filosofia 15 (1):87-118.
Plato's Forms in Transition: A Reading of the Parmenides. [REVIEW]Kenneth M. Sayre - 2008 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 46 (1):169-170.
The Relation of Socratic Discourse to Truth in Plato's "Parmenides".Steven Howard Klein - 1985 - Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Plato and Scoon: A Reply.James W. Miller - 1953 - Review of Metaphysics 7 (1):128 - 131.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-12-21

Downloads
482 (#35,554)

6 months
148 (#18,234)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Sosseh Assaturian
University of Washington

Citations of this work

Peri tou (mē) ontos. Melissus and Gorgias at the ontological crossroad.Stefania Giombini & Massimo Pulpito - 2021 - Archai: Revista de Estudos Sobre as Origens Do Pensamento Ocidental 31.

Add more citations

References found in this work

[Letter from Gilbert Ryle].Gilbert Ryle - 1932 - Philosophy 7 (26):250 -.
Aristotle's criticism of Plato and the Academy.Harold F. Cherniss - 1944 - Baltimore,: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Plato's progress.Gilbert Ryle - 1966 - Cambridge,: Cambridge University Press.

View all 23 references / Add more references