Single Idea 24227

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / b. Partaking]

Full Idea

You do not know how else [when one is added to one it becomes two] except by sharing in a particular reality, which does not have any other cause of becoming two except by sharing in Twoness, …as that which is one must share in Oneness.

Gist of Idea

One and one can only become two by sharing in Twoness

Source

Plato (Phaedo [c.374 BCE], 101c)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.87


A Reaction

Close readers of such passages have always been baffled by what sharing [partaking, metechein] could actually mean. How can two apples 'share' a pure eternal idea? The best approach is, I'm afraid, mental files.