This new translation of a significant late Platonic dialogue offers a fresh perspective, accompanied by an extensive commentary that challenges prevailing scholarly interpretations. The work delves into critical themes and ideas, providing readers with a deeper understanding of Platonic philosophy and its relevance.
On Plato's Theaetetus, a Commentary and Translation
The Theaetetus, subtitled peri epistemes and peirastikos, explores the nature of knowledge through three failed definitions proposed by Theaetetus, structured in a cascading reduction. This regress serves to indirectly demonstrate that knowledge cannot be defined merely as 'opinion plus.' Each ill-fated attempt builds on the previous one, outlining essential elements for a potential theory of judgment. The dialogue weaves together themes of knowledge and judgment, wisdom and character, sophistry's relationship to philosophy, Socrates' trial, and the Socratic dialectic. It also touches on appearance versus reality, Heracliteanism, Eleaticism, forms and participation, unity and plurality, identity and difference, and the nature of memory and time. The guiding question of how to define knowledge remains theoretical, with reasoning becoming increasingly abstract. Yet, the dialogue consistently links theoretical conceptions of knowledge to practical implications in human action and deliberation. Ultimately, the exploration of knowledge intertwines with a broader dialogue about wisdom, emphasizing the significance of understanding knowledge in the context of human experience.