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Single Idea 15845
[filed under theme 4. Formal Logic / G. Formal Mereology / 1. Mereology
]
Full Idea
Someone first distinguishes a person's limbs and parts and asks your agreement that all the parts are identical with that unity, then ridicules you that you have to admit one is many, and indefinitely many, and again that the many are only only one thing.
Gist of Idea
It seems absurd that seeing a person's limbs, the one is many, and yet the many are one
Source
Plato (Philebus [c.353 BCE], 14e)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.402
A Reaction
This is a passing aporia, but actually seems to approach the central mystery of the metaphysics of identity. A thing can't be a 'unity' if there are not things to unify? So what sorts of 'unification' are there?
The
25 ideas
from 'Philebus'
371
|
Reason, memory, truth and wisdom are far better than pleasure, for those who can attain them
[Plato]
|
373
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Pleasure is certainly very pleasant, but it doesn't follow that all pleasures are good
[Plato]
|
15845
|
It seems absurd that seeing a person's limbs, the one is many, and yet the many are one
[Plato]
|
374
|
If one object is divided into its parts, someone can then say that one are many and many is one
[Plato]
|
4447
|
If the good is one, is it unchanged when it is in particulars, and is it then separated from itself?
[Plato]
|
15856
|
A thing can become one or many, depending on how we talk about it
[Plato]
|
376
|
Would you prefer a life of pleasure without reason, or one of reason without pleasure?
[Plato]
|
377
|
If you lived a life of maximum pleasure, would you still be lacking anything?
[Plato]
|
378
|
A life of pure pleasure with no intellect is the life of a jellyfish
[Plato]
|
379
|
The good must be sufficient and perfect, and neither intellect nor pleasure are that
[Plato]
|
381
|
We feel pleasure when we approach our natural state of harmony
[Plato]
|
382
|
It is unlikely that the gods feel either pleasure or pain
[Plato]
|
385
|
Some of the pleasures and pains we feel are false
[Plato]
|
386
|
Intense pleasure and pain are not felt in a good body, but in a worthless one
[Plato]
|
387
|
A small pure pleasure is much finer than a large one contaminated with pain
[Plato]
|
388
|
Hedonists must say that someone in pain is bad, even if they are virtuous
[Plato]
|
9865
|
Daily arithmetic counts unequal things, but pure arithmetic equalises them
[Plato]
|
389
|
How can you be certain about aspects of the world if they aren't constant?
[Plato]
|
9867
|
It is absurd to define a circle, but not be able to recognise a real one
[Plato]
|
14503
|
If a mixture does not contain measure and proportion, it is corrupted and destroyed
[Plato]
|
15857
|
Any mixture which lacks measure and proportion doesn't even count as a mixture at all
[Plato]
|
390
|
If goodness involves moderation and proportion, then it seems to be found in beauty
[Plato]
|
391
|
The good involves beauty, proportion and truth
[Plato]
|
392
|
Neither intellect nor pleasure are the good, because they are not perfect and self-sufficient
[Plato]
|
393
|
Good first, then beauty, then reason, then knowledge, then pleasure
[Plato, by PG]
|