Ideas from 'Episteme and Logos in later Plato' by Alexander Nehamas [1984], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Virtues of Authenticity' by Nehamas,Alexander [Princeton 1999,0-691-00178-2]].

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2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 2. Logos

17950

The logos enables us to track one particular among a network of objects

			Full Idea: The logos (the definition) is a summary statement of the path within a network of objects that one will have to follow in order to locate a particular member of that network.
			From: Alexander Nehamas (Episteme and Logos in later Plato [1984], p.234)
			A reaction: I like this because it confirms that Plato (as well as Aristotle) was interested in the particulars rather than in the kinds (which I take to be general truths about particulars).

17951

A logos may be short, but it contains reference to the whole domain of the object

			Full Idea: A thing's logos, apparently short as it may be, is implicitly a very rich statement since it ultimately involves familiarity with the whole domain to which that particular object belongs.
			From: Alexander Nehamas (Episteme and Logos in later Plato [1984], p.234)
			A reaction: He may be wrong that the logos is short, since Aristotle (Idea 12292) says a definition can contain many assertions.