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6 - The Kinship Argument

77d–80d

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2023

David Ebrey
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona
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Summary

This argument (typically called the “affinity argument”) is central to the structure of the Phaedo, setting up much of the remainder of the dialogue. Moreover, it develops the dialogue’s most detailed account of the forms and of ordinary objects, and it argues for an innovative account of the nature of the soul, which is relied upon in Socrates’ ethical account in the next section. Despite this, the argument has received very little scholarly attention, supposedly because scholars widely view it as an especially bad argument. This chapter shows that the argument is much more precise and stronger than has been appreciated. In doing so, it argues that Socrates describes here a new, fundamental feature of the forms: they are simple in a way that makes them partless – in strong contrast to ordinary objects, whose complex structure allows them to have opposing features at the same time.

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Plato's Phaedo
Forms, Death, and the Philosophical Life
, pp. 131 - 161
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Kinship Argument
  • David Ebrey, Universitat de Barcelona
  • Book: Plato's <I>Phaedo</I>
  • Online publication: 02 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108787475.007
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The Kinship Argument
  • David Ebrey, Universitat de Barcelona
  • Book: Plato's <I>Phaedo</I>
  • Online publication: 02 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108787475.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Kinship Argument
  • David Ebrey, Universitat de Barcelona
  • Book: Plato's <I>Phaedo</I>
  • Online publication: 02 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108787475.007
Available formats
×