back to ideas for this text


Single Idea 15855

[from 'The Sophist' by Plato, in 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 6. Nihilism about Objects ]

Full Idea

To dissociate each thing from everything else is to destroy totally everything there is to say. The weaving together of forms is what makes speech [logos] possible for us.

Clarification

'Logos' might translate as an account, or as understanding

Gist of Idea

If we see everything as separate, we can then give no account of it

Source

Plato (The Sophist [c.359 BCE], 259e)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.283


A Reaction

This I take to be the lynchpin of metaphysics. We are forced to see the world in a way which enables us to give some sort of account of it. Our metaphysics is 'inference to the best logos'.