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Single Idea 1641
[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism
]
Full Idea
One group drags everything down to earth, insisting that only what offers tangible contact is, since they define being as the same as body, despising anyone who says that something without a body is. These are frightening men.
Gist of Idea
Some alarming thinkers think that only things which you can touch exist
Source
Plato (The Sophist [c.359 BCE], 246b)
Book Ref
Plato: 'The Sophist', ed/tr. Bernadete,Seth [University of Chicago 1986], p.39
A Reaction
Intellectually speaking, Plato seems to have been rather timid. Dualism, and its world of ideas, seemed obvious to him, but physicalism is clearly more plausible in the age of neuroscience (even if it is still rejected).
The
16 ideas
from 'The Sophist'
1636
|
Wickedness is an illness of the soul
[Plato]
|
1637
|
A soul without understanding is ugly
[Plato]
|
1638
|
Didactic education is hard work and achieves little
[Plato]
|
20478
|
In discussion a person's opinions are shown to be in conflict, leading to calm self-criticism
[Plato]
|
11278
|
What does 'that which is not' refer to?
[Plato]
|
1641
|
Some alarming thinkers think that only things which you can touch exist
[Plato]
|
7022
|
To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions
[Plato]
|
1642
|
We must fight fiercely for knowledge, understanding and intelligence
[Plato]
|
1643
|
If statements about non-existence are logically puzzling, so are statements about existence
[Plato]
|
287
|
Good analysis involves dividing things into appropriate forms without confusion
[Plato]
|
16122
|
Good thinkers spot forms spread through things, or included within some larger form
[Plato]
|
1644
|
Dialectic should only be taught to those who already philosophise well
[Plato]
|
10422
|
The not-beautiful is part of the beautiful, though opposed to it, and is just as real
[Plato]
|
15855
|
If we see everything as separate, we can then give no account of it
[Plato]
|
1645
|
The desire to split everything into its parts is unpleasant and unphilosophical
[Plato]
|
10784
|
Whenever there's speech it has to be about something
[Plato]
|