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Samuel Baron - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Mathematical explanation and epistemology: Please mind the gap
Ratio, 2015Co-Authors: Samuel BaronAbstract:This paper draws together two strands in the debate over the existence of mathematical objects. The first strand concerns the notion of extra-mathematical explanation: the explanation of physical facts, in part, by facts about mathematical objects. The second strand concerns the access problem for platonism: the problem of how to account for knowledge of mathematical objects. I argue for the following conditional: if there are extra-mathematical explanations, then the core thesis of the access problem is false. This has implications for nominalists and Platonists alike. Platonists can make a case for epistemic access to mathematical objects by providing evidence in favour of the existence of extra-mathematical explanations. Nominalists, by contrast, can use the access problem to cast doubt on the idea that mathematical objects play a substantive role in scientific explanation.1
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Can Indispensability-Driven Platonists Be (Serious) Presentists?
Theoria, 2013Co-Authors: Samuel BaronAbstract:In this article I consider what it would take to combine a certain kind of mathematical Platonism with serious presentism. I argue that a Platonist moved to accept the existence of mathematical objects on the basis of an indispensability argument faces a significant challenge if she wishes to accept presentism. This is because, on the one hand, the indispensability argument can be reformulated as a new argument for the existence of past entities and, on the other hand, if one accepts the indispensability argument for mathematical objects then it is hard to resist the analogous argument for the existence of the past.
Nora Hämäläinen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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what is a wittgensteinian neo Platonist iris murdoch metaphysics and metaphor
Philosophical Papers, 2014Co-Authors: Nora HämäläinenAbstract:AbstractThe aim of this paper is to present a perspective on Iris Murdoch conception of metaphysics, starting from her puzzling contention that she could describe herself as a ‘Wittgensteinian Neo-Platonist’. I argue that this statement is a central clue to the nature both of her philosophical method which is strongly reminiscent of Wittgenstein's, and of her Platonism, which in its emphasis on the everyday and metaphorical aspects of his work differs starkly from received modern interpretations. Placing Murdoch between Plato and Wittgenstein can help us to understand the nature of her metaphysics as a complex, continuous, pictorial activity, which shows a deep awareness of and is compatible with the late twentieth century and contemporary distrust of large metaphysical systems or explanations.
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What is a Wittgensteinian Neo-Platonist?–Iris Murdoch, Metaphysics and Metaphor
Philosophical Papers, 2014Co-Authors: Nora HämäläinenAbstract:AbstractThe aim of this paper is to present a perspective on Iris Murdoch conception of metaphysics, starting from her puzzling contention that she could describe herself as a ‘Wittgensteinian Neo-Platonist’. I argue that this statement is a central clue to the nature both of her philosophical method which is strongly reminiscent of Wittgenstein's, and of her Platonism, which in its emphasis on the everyday and metaphorical aspects of his work differs starkly from received modern interpretations. Placing Murdoch between Plato and Wittgenstein can help us to understand the nature of her metaphysics as a complex, continuous, pictorial activity, which shows a deep awareness of and is compatible with the late twentieth century and contemporary distrust of large metaphysical systems or explanations.
Lloyd P. Gerson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Plotinus the Platonist
Platonism and Naturalism, 2020Co-Authors: Lloyd P. GersonAbstract:This chapter assesses the contributions of Plotinus to the completion of the Platonic project. In the time between Plato and Plotinus, there were some six hundred years of reflections on the dialogues, Aristotle's testimony, and the indirect tradition. These reflections left multiple seemingly intractable problems and a susceptibility among self-declared Platonists to various charges of inconsistency. The chapter outlines Plotinus's efforts to solve these problems and to introduce consistency into the systematic framework. The three basic principles or hypostases of Plotinus's system unite the elements of Ur-Platonism and the foundational principle. That is, antinominalism, antimaterialism, antimechanism, antiskepticism, and antirelativism have their theoretical foundation in the hierarchically and causally ordered series One/Good, Intellect, and Soul. What this means, among other things, is that the correct version of what Aristotle calls the science of ultimate principles and causes will arrive at this triad. The chapter then looks at Plotinus's critique of Stoicism, distinguishing between Platonic and Stoic wisdom.
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Aristotle and Other Platonists
2005Co-Authors: Lloyd P. GersonAbstract:"Aristotle versus Plato. For a long time that is the angle from which the tale has been told, in textbooks on the history of philosophy and to university students. Aristotle's philosophy, so the story goes, was au fond in opposition to Plato's. But it was not always thus."-from the Introduction In a wide-ranging book likely to cause controversy, Lloyd P. Gerson sets out the case for the "harmony" of Platonism and Aristotelianism, the standard view in late antiquity. He aims to show that the twentieth-century view that Aristotle started out as a Platonist and ended up as an anti-Platonist is seriously flawed. Gerson examines the Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle based on their principle of harmony. In considering ancient studies of Aristotle's Categories, Physics, De Anima, Metaphysics, and Nicomachean Ethics, the author shows how the principle of harmony allows us to understand numerous texts that otherwise appear intractable. Gerson also explains how these "esoteric" treatises can be seen not to conflict with the early "exoteric" and admittedly Platonic dialogues of Aristotle. Aristotle and Other Platonists concludes with an assessment of some of the philosophical results of acknowledging harmony.
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What is Platonism
Journal of the History of Philosophy, 2005Co-Authors: Lloyd P. GersonAbstract:The question posed in the title of this paper is an historical one. I am not, for example, primarily interested in the term 'Platonism' as used by modern philosophers to stand for a particular theory under discussion – a theory, which it is typically acknowledged, no one may have actually held. I am rather concerned to understand and articulate on an historical basis the core position of that 'school' of thought prominent in antiquity from the time of the 'founder' up until at least the middle of the 6 century C.E. Platonism was unquestionably the dominant philosophical position in the ancient world over a period of more than 800 years. Epicureanism is perhaps the sole major exception to the rule that in the ancient world all philosophers took Platonism as the starting-point for speculation, including those who thought their first task was to refute Platonism. Basically, Platonism sent the ancient philosophical agenda. Given this fact, understanding with some precision the nature of Platonism is obviously a desirable thing for the historian of ancient philosophy. One might suppose that the task of determining the nature of Platonism can be handled in a relatively straightforward and perspicuous manner if one stipulates that Platonism is the view or collection of views held by all those who called themselves 'Platonists' or followers of Plato. Thus, we could take a purely phenomonological approach: Platonism is just whatever anyone in the relevant period identifies as Platonism. A similar approach could be made in determining who is a Platonist. As a strictly historical method, this is not an unreasonable way to proceed. Nevertheless, it have several drawbacks. First, the fact that philosophers did not self-identify as Platonists until sometime in the 2 century C.E. means that we would have to exclude from our construction of Platonism, on the
José L. Zalabardo - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Wittgenstein on accord
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 2003Co-Authors: José L. ZalabardoAbstract:The paper deals with the interpretation of Wittgenstein's views on the power of occurrent mental states to sort objects or states of affairs as in accord or in conflict with them, as presented in the rule-following passages of the Philosophical Investigations. I shall argue first that the readings advanced by Saul Kripke and John McDowell fail to provide a satisfactory construal of Wittgenstein's treatment of a Platonist account of this phenomenon, according to which the sorting power of occurrent mental states is to be explained by reference to the mind's ability to grasp universals. I contend that the argument that Kripke extracts from Wittgenstein's discussion doesn't succeed in undermining the Platonist position. Then I argue that McDowell's reading exhibits a more serious shortcoming: the position that he ascribes to Wittgenstein is indistinguishable from the Platonist account. Then I put forward a proposal as to how to articulate the relationship between Wittgenstein's views and the Platonist position.
John Dillon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the great tradition further studies in the development of platonism and early christianity
1998Co-Authors: John DillonAbstract:Plato and the Golden age a Platonist Ars Amatoria Speusippus on pleasure reclaiming the heritage of Moses - Philo's confrontation with Greek philosophy the formal structure of Philo's allegorical exegesis "orthodoxy" and "eclecticism" - middle Platonists and new-Pythagoreans Plutarch and the end of history logos and trinity - patterns of Platonist influence on early Christianity pleroma and noetic cosmos - a comparative study the mind of Plotinus Plotinus, the first cartesian? notre perception du monde exterieur selon Plotin et Berkerly singing without an instrument - Plotinus on suicide a kind of warmth - some reflections on the concept of "grace" in the neoplatonic tradition Plotinus and the Chaldaean oracles Porphyry's doctrine of the One Porphyry and Iamblichus in Proclus - commentary on the "Parmenides" Iamblichus and Henads again philosophy and theology in Proclus - some remarks on the philosophical and theological modes of exegesis in Proclus' Platonic commentaries the neoplatonic exegesis of the statesman myth Damascius on the ineffable some aspects of Damascius' treatment of the concept of Dynamis the roots of reason in John Scottus Eriugena Solomon ibn Gabirol's doctrine of intelligible matter.
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The Handbook of Platonism
1993Co-Authors: Alcinous, John DillonAbstract:The Handbook of Platonism or Didaskalikos, attributed to Alcinous (long identified with the Middle Platonist Albinus, but on inadequate grounds), is a central text of later Platonism. In Byzantine times, in the Italian Renaissance, and even up to 1800, it was regarded as an ideal introduction to Plato's thought. In fact it is far from being this, but it is an excellent source for our understanding of Platonism in the second century AD. Neglected after a more accurate view of Plato's thought established itself in the nineteenth century, the Handbook is only now coming to be properly appreciated for what it is.It presents a survey of Platonist doctrine, divided into the topics of Logic, Physics, and Ethics, and pervaded with Aristotelian and Stoic doctrines, all of which are claimed for Plato. John Dillon presents an English translation of this work, accompanied by an introduction and a philosophical commentary in which he disentangles the various strands of influence, elucidates the complex scholastic tradition that lies behind, and thus reveals the sources and subsequent influence of the ideas expounded.
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Platonism, Early and Middle
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1Co-Authors: John DillonAbstract:Platonism is the body of doctrine developed in the school founded by Plato, both before and (especially) after his death in 347 bc. The first phase, usually known as ‘Early Platonism’ or the ‘Early Academy’, ran until the 260s bc, and is represented above all by the work of Plato’s first three successors, Speusippus, Xenocrates and Polemo. After an interval of nearly two centuries during which the Academy became anti-doctrinal in tendency, doctrinal Platonism re-emerged in the early first century bc with Antiochus, whose school the ‘Old Academy’ claimed to be a revival of authentic Platonism, although its self-presentation was largely in the terminology forged by the Stoics. The phase from Antiochus to Numenius is conventionally known as Middle Platonism, and prepared the ground for the emergence of Neoplatonism in the work of Plotinus. Its leading figures are Antiochus, Eudorus, Plutarch of Chaeronea, Atticus, Alcinous, Albinus, Calvenus Taurus and Numenius. Its influence is also visible in major contemporary thinkers like the Jewish exegete Philo of Alexandria and the doctor Galen. Like Neoplatonism, Early and Middle Platonism were founded on a very close reading of the text of Plato, especially the Timaeus, often facilitated by commentaries, and further supplemented by knowledge of his ‘unwritten doctrines’. However, Early and Middle Platonists did not develop nearly so elaborate a metaphysics as the NeoPlatonists, and there was a much greater concentration on ethics. Most Middle Platonists regarded Aristotle as an ally, and incorporated significant parts of his thought into Platonism, especially in ethics and logic. Some were Neo-Pythagorean in tendency, and most claimed in some sense to be able to trace Platonic thought back to Pythagoras. The Platonists developed the dualism of the One (an active, defining principle) and the Indefinite Dyad (an indeterminate, material principle), bequeathed by Plato, especially through his oral teachings. These eventually emerged as, respectively, God and matter, supplemented by the Platonic Forms, which Middle Platonists typically identified with God’s thoughts. The world-soul was distinguished from the demiurge or creator, who was in turn either distinguished from or collapsed into the primary divinity, a supreme intellect. Some, notably Plutarch, postulated in addition a counterbalancing evil world-soul. As regards the human soul, Plato’s division of it into a rational plus two irrational parts was maintained, along with his doctrine of transmigration. There was also an increasing focus on the intermediary role played by daemons in the functioning of the world. In ethics, most Middle Platonists came to effect an assimilation between Plato’s and Aristotle’s views. All agreed with Plato and Aristotle, against the Stoics, that as well as moral there are also non-moral goods, such as health and wealth. While there was a consensus that the latter are not necessary for happiness, some, notably Antiochus, defended the view that non-moral goods are indispensable, at least to supreme happiness. In addition, Aristotle’s doctrine that virtue lies in a ‘mean’ became a central feature of Platonist ethics. As for the ‘goal’ or ‘end’ (telos) of life, this came from the first century bc onwards, perhaps starting with Eudorus, to be specified by Platonists as ‘likeness to God’. Finally, the issue of determinism was, in the wake of Hellenistic philosophy, recognized as important by Middle Platonists, who defended the existence of free will. Platonism never developed its own logic, but adopted Peripatetic logic, including both syllogistic and the theory of categories, both of which, it was claimed, had been anticipated by Plato.
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Alcinous (c. 2nd century AD)
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1Co-Authors: John DillonAbstract:Long misidentified with the Middle Platonist philosopher Albinus, Alcinous is author of a ‘handbook of Platonism’, which gives a good survey of Platonist doctrine as it was understood in the second century ad. The work covers logic, physics and ethics, and shows considerable influence from both Stoicism and Aristotelianism, in both terminology and doctrine, while remaining in all essentials Platonic.
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Celsus (late 2nd century AD)
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1Co-Authors: John DillonAbstract:The Greek philosopher Celsus of Alexandria was a Middle Platonist, known only for his anti-Christian work The True Account. The work is lost, but we have Origen’s reply to it, Against Celsus. In it Celsus defends a version of Platonist theology.
