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Single Idea 287

[filed under theme 2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic ]

Full Idea

It takes expertise in dialectic to divide things by kinds and not to think that the same form is a different one or that a different form is the same.

Gist of Idea

Good analysis involves dividing things into appropriate forms without confusion

Source

Plato (The Sophist [c.359 BCE], 253d)

Book Ref

Plato: 'The Sophist', ed/tr. Bernadete,Seth [University of Chicago 1986], p.49


The 16 ideas from 'The Sophist'

Wickedness is an illness of the soul [Plato]
A soul without understanding is ugly [Plato]
Didactic education is hard work and achieves little [Plato]
In discussion a person's opinions are shown to be in conflict, leading to calm self-criticism [Plato]
What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato]
Some alarming thinkers think that only things which you can touch exist [Plato]
To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions [Plato]
We must fight fiercely for knowledge, understanding and intelligence [Plato]
If statements about non-existence are logically puzzling, so are statements about existence [Plato]
Good analysis involves dividing things into appropriate forms without confusion [Plato]
Good thinkers spot forms spread through things, or included within some larger form [Plato]
Dialectic should only be taught to those who already philosophise well [Plato]
The not-beautiful is part of the beautiful, though opposed to it, and is just as real [Plato]
If we see everything as separate, we can then give no account of it [Plato]
The desire to split everything into its parts is unpleasant and unphilosophical [Plato]
Whenever there's speech it has to be about something [Plato]