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Truth and Falsehood in Plato's Sophist University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy Philosophy 2014 Truth and Falsehood in Plato's Sophist Michael Oliver Wiitala University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Wiitala, Michael Oliver, "Truth and Falsehood in Plato's Sophist" (2014). Theses and Dissertations-- Philosophy. 3. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/philosophy_etds/3 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Michael Oliver Wiitala, Student Dr. Eric Sanday, Major Professor Dr. David Bradshaw, Director of Graduate Studies TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD IN PLATO’S SOPHIST DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Michael Oliver Wiitala Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Eric Sanday, Associate Professor of Philosophy Lexington, Kentucky 2014 Copyright © Michael Oliver Wiitala 2014 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD IN PLATO’S SOPHIST This dissertation is a study of the ontological foundations of true and false speech in Plato’s Sophist. Unlike most contemporary scholarship on the Sophist, my dissertation offers a wholistic account of the dialogue, demonstrating that the ontological theory of the “communing” of forms and the theory of true and false speech later in the dialogue entail one another. As I interpret it, the account of true and false speech in the Sophist is primarily concerned with true and false speech about the forms. As Plato sees it, we can only make true statements about spatio-temporal beings if it is possible to make true statements about the forms. Statements about the forms, however, make claims about how forms “commune” with other forms, that is, how forms are intelligibly related to and participate in one another. If forms stand in determinate relations of participation to other forms, however, then forms, as the relata of these relations, must compose structured wholes. Yet if they compose structured wholes, there must be a higher order normative principle that explains their structure. This creates a regress problem. In order to ground the structure of spatio-temporal beings, forms must be the highest explanatory principles. The theory of the “communing” of forms, however, makes it seem as if the forms require further explanation. This dissertation argues (1) that in the Sophist Plato solves the regress problem and (2) that, by doing so, he is able to ground true and false speech about the forms. I demonstrate that he solves the regress problem by differentiating a form’s nature from a form qua countable object. Then I show that this distinction between a form’s nature and a form qua countable object explains how true and false statements about the forms are possible. KEYWORDS: Plato, Metaphysics, Theory of Forms, Truth, Falsehood. Michael Oliver Wiitala July 30, 2014 TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD IN PLATO’S SOPHIST By Michael Oliver Wiitala Dr. Eric Sanday Director of Dissertation Dr. David Bradshaw Director of Graduate Studies July 30, 2014 εἰ δ’ ἄγ’ ἐγὼν ἐρέω, κόμισαι δὲ σὺ μῦθον ἀκούσας, αἵπερ ὁδοὶ μοῦναι διζήσιός εἰσι νοῆσαι · ἡ μὲν ὅπως ἔστιν τε καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἔστι μὴ εἶναι, Πειθοῦς ἐστι κέλευθος (Ἀληθείῃ γὰρ ὀπηδεῖ), ἡ δ’ ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν τε καὶ ὡς χρεών ἐστι μὴ εἶναι, τὴν δή τοι φράζω παναπευθέα ἔμμεν ἀταρπόν · οὔτε γὰρ ἂν γνοίης τό γε μὴ ἐὸν (οὐ γὰρ ἀνυστόν) οὔτε φράσαις - Parmenides, Fragment 2 ἀφ’ οὗ δὲ ἕκαστον, οὐχ ἕκαστον, ἀλλ’ ἕτερον ἁπάντων - Plotinus, Ennead V.3.11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has undergone a number of revisions and writing it has truly been a transformative experience. I would like to thank all those who helped me along the way. I am indebted to my director, Eric Sanday, for encouraging me to write about the Sophist and for forcibly dragging me “up the rough, steep path” out of the cave. Likewise, I would like to thank each one of my committee members. I am grateful to David Bradshaw for introducing me to Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and the Greek theological tradition, all of which have been influential on my philosophical and personal development over the past five years. I want to thank Ron Bruzina for his support, insight, and enthusiasm for philosophy. I owe a debt of gratitude to Hubert Martin for encouraging me and assisting me in my study of Ancient Greek, and to Robert Rabel for being willing to join my committee at the last minute as an outside examiner. I could not have written this dissertation without the continual help and support of my good friend, colleague, and fellow Platonist, Paul DiRado. We have spent countless hours talking through the ideas found in this dissertation and I owe many insights to him. I would also like to thank David Kaufman for encouraging and assisting me to look at variants in the manuscript tradition of the Sophist, and finally my father, Jeff Wiitala, for his help proofreading. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I: SITUATING THE SOPHIST ACCOUNT OF BEING AND LOGOS ..................... 1 §1. AN OVERVIEW OF MY ARGUMENT ........................................................................................ 1 §2. STANDARDS FOR INTERPRETING A PLATONIC DIALOGUE ..................................................... 3 §3. AN OUTLINE OF THE BACKGROUND TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FORMS IN THE SOPHIST ...... 6 §4. THE DRAMATIC CONTEXT AND THE CHARACTER OF THE ELEATIC STRANGER .................. 12 A. The Basic Dramatic Setting of the Sophist ................................................................... 12 B. The Guiding Question of the Sophist and Statesman and the Identity of the Eleatic Stranger ................................................................................................................................. 14 B(i). Differences in How Socrates and the Eleatic Stranger Approach Philosophical Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 18 B(ii). The Art of Refutation, Socratic Elenchus, and the Stranger’s Elenchus ................. 20 C. The Significance of Plato’s Use of the Eleatic Stranger .............................................. 23 §5. IMPORTANT PHILOSOPHICAL NOTIONS FROM DRAMATICALLY RELATED DIALOGUES ...... 24 A. Causal Priority: The Euthyphro ................................................................................... 25 B. Priority in Logos: The Euthyphro and the Structure of Definition throughout the Dialogues .............................................................................................................................. 31 C. Wholes and Parts: The Theaetetus and Sophist ........................................................... 37 §6. SYNTAX, SEMANTICS, AND TRANSLATION OF THE VERB “EINAI” (“TO BE”) ..................... 48 CHAPTER II: DIFFICULTIES WITH BEING AND NON-BEING (236C9-245E8) .................. 54 §1. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM OF NON-BEING AND FALSEHOOD (236C9-237B6) ......... 57 §2. ORIENTING THE INQUIRY INTO THE PROBLEM OF NON-BEING (237B7-241C6) .................. 60 A. A1—“What is not” cannot be Meaningfully Said (237b7-e7) ...................................... 61 B. A2—What is Not is Unthinkable, Inexpressible, Unutterable, and Unsayable (238a1- 238c12) .................................................................................................................................
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