6/4/2023 0 Comments Plato and parmenidesSome scholars believe that the dialogue is incomplete, and that Socrates would have proceeded to prove to Parmenides that there was indeed a form of the good. Recall that Parmenides argued that the One, the only real and true thing, has no differentiation in it at all, all difference being an illusion. While Plato has Socrates argue that there is indeed a form of the good in other late dialogues, in the Parmenides Socrates is not able to counter Parmenides, and in the end is undecided as to whether or not the good has a distinct form. Plato’s dialogue the Parmenides, in which a young Socrates encounters Parmenides and Zeno and debates with them about whether or not there are ideal forms or a distinct form of the good, is known to be one of Plato’s most challenging dialogues. It is complicated, however, as Parmenides did say that Pythagoras was right about the form of the world, but that this form was an illusion. It was mentioned with Plato’s later dialogues that Plato revered Parmenides as well as Pythagoras, but in giving a form of the good, he is much more Pythagorean than Parmenidean. For this lecture, read Plato’s Parmenides.
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