Fooloso4

It is significant that you start this statement with "cultural context" because a cultural context is not a product of an evolutionary process. Althou...

Whether or not they are so is not addressed. This stands in stark contrast to Socrates standard practice of questioning what is said. It is left as on...

"Scientists" is an infelicitous translation, Pangle has "men considered wise by young people". (890) This explains why the poets are included. Things ...

It is because the Forms cannot be grasped by reason. They are not objects of reason.

By the divine do you mean the intelligible soul? The Athenian says: Whether or not it does is an open question. In Anaxagoras' account Nous orders all...

This is a pretty common view, but not one I share. Socrates says the Forms are hypotheticals, the way in which his mind organizes the world according ...

Prishon must know himself/herself. Way ahead of the rest of us on his Socratic quest.

I would say that they are not known. That they are is not known. What they are is not known. To ask what they are is problematic because they are supp...

Perhaps you could ask.

I don't know what this means. The Platonic forms are eternal forms, or so the hypothesis states. According to Plato, it is not the objects themselves ...

First, although there is some disagreement, mathematical objects, including Platonic solids, are not Forms. See above: https://thephilosophyforum.com/...

The Forms are hypothetical. In the Phaedo Socrates says: The Forms are an attempt to make sense of the world. In the Republic Socrates will tell a tal...

This is related to the problem of the uncompleted task of the Timaeus, explaining how cosmogony leads to the city. I take it you mean this: The concer...

A few points should be noted. First, they are making laws. The law itself is not natural. The city itself is not natural. Second, in the Timaeus neith...

In other words, only the dead can judge the truth of death, but they are dead and, if death is like a dreamless sleep, then they cannot judge either. ...

A distinction needs to be made between the discussion of mathematical objects in the works of Plato and mathematical objects as they are thought of by...

Timaeus said: The problem, of course, is where to begin. For every natural beginning is there something that stands outside that beginning? Must the s...

I am referring to their Socratic apologies compared to their Socratic dialogues, Socrates in a public, legal forum versus Socrates in private conversa...

As to whether the sun was a rock, he neither affirms nor denies it. As to whether Anaxagoras' Mind is a cause, he found it problematic. Anaxagoras' ex...

The sophists were a diverse group. Three dialogues often referred to as the trilogy, Sophist, Statesman, and Theaetetus (the subject is knowledge) add...

Both Plato and Xenophon defend Socrates in a way that he does not defend himself in their accounts of the trial. What we read of his piety should be s...

But we have no signs of Socrates' piety. We have the stories of Plato and Xenophon who wrote in light of the trial and prosecution of Socrates. There ...

[Accidently posted before complete.

When reading Plato the problem of concealment stands together with the problem of interpretation. Someone lacking the ability to interpret is not even...

Although the images are vertical - ascent, higher, the importance of lateral exchange should not be ignored. It is often a matter of a shift in focus ...

They still spend most of their time in philosophy and return to the cave out of necessity. (540b) If the philosopher does this for the benefit of the ...

As I noted earlier, both Plato's Laws and Cicero's Laws, as opposed to their Republic which takes place in the light of the sun, take place in the sha...

That assumes that they could not free themselves from the idea that the cosmos is a product. Aristotle argued that the cosmos is eternal, that it did ...

What counts as a causal explanation? Those who desire a reason why, a teleology, or some kind of intentional act or actor will find physical explanati...

I agree. Socrates has respect for the conventional. His civic piety requires a demonstration of piety toward the gods. This is the other side of it. W...

It is a matter of his rude disregard and intolerance for views on Plato that differ from his own. The moderators have seen fit to delete many of his p...

Your petty small mindedness is something that neither Plato or anyone else can fix for you, so live in the bliss of your ignorance of your ignorance. ...

Appropriately enough, in this case the dance is as inelegant as his writing. It's got a good beat though, if you like ponderous marches.

Although dialectic is depicted in the Republic as a way out of hypothesis of the Forms to knowledge of the Forms, Socrates famously says that he knows...

If you think that was elegant you should see me do interpretative dance. I do all the major philosophers.

@"Tom Storm" Unfortunately, Socratic skepticism has been misrepresented in this discussion. If it is to be understood, it must be distinguished from o...

If anyone is reading this and is interested, I will tie some things together in order to make sense of all this. Strauss introduces Cicero in order to...

Is English your first language? Not believing you does not make me a liar. From Dictionary.com: Strauss comments in order that those who know Cicero's...

Once again, he says: Strangely, you go on to quote this but still this he is not discussing Cicero. If his point was simply that people normally seek ...

And you avoid discussing what Cicero does discuss and how it relates to Strauss' discussion. But of course you cannot discuss it because you know noth...

I'll take this as an admittance that you cannot answer the questions raised and don't understand what Strauss is saying, which is not surprising since...

Yes, but a lack of imagination is not a lack of being.

Why would he mention Cicero if only to say what everyone knows and does in summer and winter? He says: Have you read them? Do you know the meaning of ...

The only ignoramus here is you! What seems to you to be a contradiction is not.

He is talking about Socrates as depicted by Cicero. It is right there in the text if only you would look!

It is never clear whether you are incapable of understanding what is said, or if you just imagine that your argument will appear to be persuasive if y...

You make several good points. Recognition of our ignorance is the essential condition for philosophy. Following Thrasymachus, Gorgias, and other sophi...

In the first part he is not talking about Plato, he is discussing Cicero's Republic and Laws, as can be seen by looking a few lines before what you qu...

And that is exactly what is required to distinguish knowledge from fanciful speculation. But, as was seen in the Phaedo, argument ends in aporia. So w...

There are always those who want to eff the ineffable. They don't know what the eff they are talking about.