This thesis undertakes to prove that the unity of Plato's Philebus depends on the terms in which its methodological coherence is understood. The dialogue is concerned with principles: the principles of sciences, dialectic and the good human life and how we arrive at them. These principles are studied in the respect in which they are hypothesized as or in fact are, units or ones. This aspect is studied both in its application to sciences and in the context of a new conception of dialectic that studies units as structures and not as ultimates. In sciences units as postq.lates are shown to be operative within a system of restricted scope. The method of analyzing epistemic structures in music, rhythm and language is valid only insofar as its results are acknowledged as provisional and non-ultimate. Dialectic on the other hand determines everything with regard to its specific place within the larger structure of Being. The new description of the tasks of the dialectician has its origins in the' studies of the late dialogues on the problems of the strict individuality of the Forms. It has impressive consequences, however, in the realm of ethical deliberation. Good human life is a unit that necessarily evolves as an intelligible structure but is itself derivative from the unity of Being as a whole. As a result, the self-sufficiency of a good human life is not to be judged by the criteria of any rational system, but by the standards of unity and containment that are at work in the cosmos at large. Althoq.gh this requires the attainment of a perspective that only the wise may achieve, once the principle of Goodness as a unity condition of Being is recognized for what it is and what it involves, a successful selection of the ingredients of the good human life and their appropriate ranking should follow without fail.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:289715 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Vassiliou, Anastasia |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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