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Single Idea 217

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / c. Self-predication]

Full Idea

It is impossible for anything to be like an absolute idea, because a third idea will appear to make them alike, and if that is like anything, it will lead to another idea, and so on.

Gist of Idea

Nothing can be like an absolute idea, because a third idea intervenes to make them alike (leading to a regress)

Source

Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 133a)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Plato IV (Cratylus,Parmenides,Hippias Maj, Min)', ed/tr. Fowler,H.N. [Harvard Loeb 1926], p.221