Plato Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus

xvii

Plato is here at work on his own great problem: if what we know is a single, permanent law under which a multitude of things are ranged, what is the link between the one and the many? The Sophist contains some of his ripest thought on this increasingly urgent question; his confident advance beyond Socratic teaching is indicated by the literary form, which hardly disguises the continuous exposition of a lecture. We observe an attention to physical science, the association of soul, motion, and existence, and the comparative study of being and not-being. The Politicus returns to the topic of state-government and carries on the process of acquiring perfect notions of reality through the classification of things. Perhaps we should see in the absolute “mean,” which is posited as the standard of all arts, business, and conduct, a contribution from Aristotle. The Philebus, in dealing with pleasure and knowledge, dwells further on the correct division and classification required if our reason—as it surely must—is to apprehend truth. The method is becoming more thorough and more complex, and Plato’s hope of bringing it to completion is becoming more remote. However, he is gaining a clearer insight into the problem of unity and plurality.

The magnificent myth of the Timaeus, related by a Pythagorean a follower of the philosopher Pythagoras, who believed that number and mathematical harmony defined the universe, describes the structure of the universe to show how the One manifests itself as the Many. We have here the latest reflections of Plato on space, time, soul, and many