Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Causes and Counterfactuals' and 'Philebus'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts


2 ideas

9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / c. Unity as conceptual
A thing can become one or many, depending on how we talk about it [Plato]
     Full Idea: It is through discourse that the same thing flits around, becoming one and many in all sorts of ways.
     From: Plato (Philebus [c.353 BCE], 15d)
     A reaction: This is not scepticism about wholes on Plato's part, but a reminder of an obvious fact, that in thought we can break the world up and put it back together again. It is a touchstone of the debate, though.
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 5. Composition of an Object
If one object is divided into its parts, someone can then say that one are many and many is one [Plato]
     Full Idea: Someone can theoretically divide an object into constituent parts, concede that they are one object, and then claim that therefore the one is many and the many are one.
     From: Plato (Philebus [c.353 BCE], 14e)