more from Plato

Single Idea 7022

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence]

Full Idea

A thing really is if it has any capacity, either by nature to do something to something else or to have even the smallest thing done to it by the most trivial thing, even if it only happens once. I'll define those which are as nothing other than capacity.

Gist of Idea

To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions

Source

Plato (The Sophist [c.359 BCE], 247e)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.269


A Reaction

If philosophy is footnotes to Plato, this should be the foundational remark in all discussions of existence (though Parmenides might claim priority). It seems to say 'to be is to have a causal role (active or passive)'. It also seems essentialist.

Related Idea

Idea 2329 Causal power is a good way of distinguishing the real from the unreal [Kim]